THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

The Protestant Reformation must be viewed as a movement apart from that of the Renaissance.

  1. both movements , however , were interconnected and spurred by:
  2. the rise of the middle class
  3. the growth of individualism
  4. more activity in biblical scholarship ( in the north)
  1. the movements had different ideals
  2. the Renaissance emphasized the secular spirit, individualism, and humanism
  3. the Reformation urged the return to a stronger, common faith, and preached man’s sinfulness and inadequacy
  1. the Reformation also had strong political undertone, reflecting the growth of nationalism. The Renaissance was more worldly and international in outlook.

The underlying causes of the revolt. Many factors spurred the Protestant Revolt: economic, political, social, intellectual and religious. The Church was already weakened by such events as the Babylonian Captivity, the Great Schism and the Councilor Movement.

  1. RELIGIOUS FACTORS: That glaring religious abuses existed is denied by no one. Many churchmen recognized the obvious need for reform and worked to achieve it but the reform achieved was too little too late. Some of the religious abuses were:
  2. SIMONY: sale of church offices. Offices were often sold to the highest bidder, who would use this office for personal for personal gain. Many churchmen were thus unfit to render spiritual aid.
  3. PLURALISM: when a person held several church offices at the same time. Many pious people felt that the clergy was more often concerned with its own financial betterment than with the spiritual welfare of the laity.
  4. IMMORALITY OF THE CLERGY: the laws of celibacy were ignored by many of the clergy on all levels.
  5. SALE OF DISPENSATIONS: remission of certain church laws. For example, a person could purchase a dispensation that would allow him to marry his cousin.
  6. SALE OF INDULGENCES: indulgences were granted for the partial or full remission of punishment due to sins which were forgiven in confession. The indulgence may be applied to individuals other than persons earning them. For example, a living person may apply them to a dead relative believed to be in purgatory. The theory behind them is that the saints stored up a great amount of grace thru their good works on earth. The church may therefore draw on this grace in order to apply it to others in need of it. An indulgence cannot be purchased, but a contribution was usually given. There was some confusion in the minds of the people of the 16th century (confusion not cleared up by the church at that time) that the indulgence had to be purchased, and then the punishment would be remitted.
  7. FALSE SACRED RELICS: were sold as authentic; a common practice.
  8. NEPOTISM: appointing relative to church positions was common even in the papal court.
  9. OPPOSITION TO CHURCH DOCTRINE: church doctrine insisted that man must be saved thru the church – since it was the only institution which had the power to administer the sacraments. The Protestants denied the necessity of the church.
  1. THE HUMANISTS: The humanists in northern Europe concentrated on biblical scholarship (more so than Italy)and attacked the abuses of the church, thus precipitating the Reformation. Erasmus, for example, pleaded for the revival of simple Christian piety based on renewed study of the Bible. (Christian humanism).
  2. POLITICAL FACTORS: By the 15th century, many European secular rulers were successfully challenging the church. These rulers were in a stronger position than before, because they had greater power over their states. They often regarded the Church as a foreign (Italian) interest threatening their control. In addition, the Church tried citizens in its own courts, owned much land in the states, and was exempt from many of the taxes. Many secular rulers thus wished to limit the Church’s wealth and power by
  3. Confiscating Church holdings
  4. Controlling appointments to profitable Church offices
  5. Limiting the Church’s political power
  1. ECONOMIC FACTORS: Much of the revenue obtained by the Church flowed out of European nations to Italy, and the rulers, the middle class and many peasants resented the loss of the wealth. Indeed, many religious people resented the fact that monies collected were being used for non-religious purposes. Many of the secular rulers were jealous of the enormous wealth of the Church which obtained its wealth from:
  2. Extensive land holdings throughout Europe
  3. Bequests
  4. Church taxes, such as Peter’s Pence (a yearly tax on all Christians) and the Tithe (a 10% income tax on every Christian). The Church also received money from the sale of indulgences and dispensations, fees for administrating sacraments and annates (dues yielded by the new Church office holder from his first years income).

WHY THE REVOLT BEGAN IN GERMANY

  1. Church influence was particularly strong in Germany, which was divided into many states and did not have a strong ruler to prevent Church encroachments as Spain and France did.
  2. Church abuses, such as the sale of indulgences, were especially prominent there.
  3. The German peasants were suffering great economic hardships at the time.

MARTIN LUTHER AND LUTHERANISM

  1. the man who sparked the revolt in Germany was an Augustinian monk
  2. Martin Luther (1483-1546) came from a German miner’s family. He was studying law when he experienced a life threatening event. He survived and entered an Augustinian monastery in 1505. Greatly troubled by the conviction that he was damned and rigorous attempts to apply traditional Catholic penances failed to settle his fears. He threw himself into a study of the Bible and the writing of Church theologians such as St. Paul and St. Augustine..
  3. Inner peace was finally achieved while reading the works of St. Paul. He developed a theology stressing faith in God rather than good works to achieve salvation (justification by faith). He considered man too sinful to earn salvation through his own actions.
  4. Luther late became an important official of the Augustinian order. He was sent to Rome in 1510 and was shocked at what he encountered. He was a popular professor at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony, where he developed his new religious concepts.
  5. In 1517, Luther vehemently objected to the commercialization of indulgences which was being carried out by the Dominican monk Johann Tetzel. Tetzel was carried away with his hope for profit and seems to have misrepresented the facts regarding indulgences. He neglected to insist that the buyer be repentant (penance). Indignant at these tactics, Luther, in the customary fashion of the day, posted his protest on the church door in Wittenberg in the form of his Ninety-Five Theses. They attacked the doctrine of indulgences as well as Tetzel’s improper claims. Luther’s document was based on theological and moral grounds. The existence of the printing press spread the theses over Germany. The result was that the sale of indulgences fell sharply in Germany.
  6. The discontented groups in Germany quickly made Luther, at first reluctantly, their hero for reform. Luther’s broad popular support made the revolt successful. Actively supported by secular rulers, Lutheranism spread throughout northern Germany.
  7. In 1519, the Church sent eminent theologian Johann von Eck to Wittenberg. The Church could no longer ignore Luther. The Leipzig Disputation resulted in Luther backing John Hus an condemned heretic. A bitter controversy began between the supporters of Luther and the Church. The Church sent a papal bull 1520 excommunicating Luther, which he burned publicly. Considered an “outlaw” by the papacy, which asked the HRE Charles V to punish him, Luther obtained the protection of the ruler of Saxony, Frederick the Wise (Elector)
  8. As the split between Luther and the Church widened, Luther extended his attack on the Church. In his writings, such as his Address to the Nobility of the German Nation and On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther :
  9. Made a nationalistic and politically astute appeal to the princes
  10. Denied the importance of the Church hierarchy since the “Church” according to Luther is the body of all those who believe in Christ. He rejected the authority of the popes and felt the people were their own priests
  11. He held the Bible as the final authority in religious matters
  12. He recognized only two of the seven sacraments – Baptism and the Eucharist
  13. He denied transubstantiation in favor of consubstantiation
  1. At the imperial Diet of Worms 1521, Luther reiterated his theological stand before the Emperor, but Charles V ordered him to recant. He refused for both religious and political reasons – “here I stand, I can do no other”. The Diet issued the Edict of Worms, Luther was branded an outlaw and heretic, placed under the ban of empire and his writings were banned.
  2. Luther was spirited away for his own safety by Frederick the Wise and he translated the Bible into German while in seclusion.
  3. Lutheranism soon spread throughout Germany. Many peasants adopted it because they were suffering economic hardship. Unrest flared into open warfare:
  4. The Knight’s War- an uprising of the lesser nobility= which was put down (1522)
  5. The Peasant’s Rebellion, which destroyed manors and monasteries; the peasants put forth their grievances in the Twelve Articles and looked to Luther for support. Luther, however. Exhorted the nobility to put down the rebellion with violence, a command which was carried out (1524-25); 130,000 were killed. (The peasants of southwestern Germany proceeded to return to the Catholic Church). Luther showed himself to be a defender of established rule.
  6. Luther also lost the support of the humanists who wished for reform of not a revolt against, the Church.
  7. In 1530, an assembly was called in Augsburg by Charles V to reconcile the Catholic and Protestant groups. The Protestant position, the Augsburg Confessions, was drawn up in a conciliatory manner, but was rejected. Fearing that the Catholic Charles V would use his power in support of the Catholics, the Lutheran states banded together in a defensive league, the Schmalkaldic (Protestant) League. War finally broke out in 1546. Known as the Schmalkaldic War, it ended in 1555, and the Peace of Augsburg was signed. Charles had been unable to win a decisive victory. It provide that:
  8. The prince of a German state could decide the religion (he who rules, his religion)
  9. Only Lutheranism and Catholicism could be permitted-no others
  10. Ecclesiastical Reservation: Churchmen who became Lutheran had to leave the area; 1552 a land status quo
  11. From Germany, Lutheranism spread to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland.
  12. Luther’s Church: was conservative; it kept much Catholic doctrine and practices; clergy had no special privileges; monastic orders were ended (Luther married an ex-nun); Church was subject to the state.
  13. He was intolerant of other Protestant sects
  14. He eventually decided to interpret the Bible due to excessive diversity.

OTHER PROTESTANT REFORMERS

Once the revolt started it could not be contained and it quickly spread beyond the borders of Germany and into other areas of Europe. The Church’s response to the crisis was slow in coming and not until the damage was done to its universality.

  1. Zwingli (1484-1531)was a Swiss reformer who led several states (cantons) to convert from Catholicism to Protestantism. As an influential priest in Zurich, Switzerland, he had led a campaign against Church abuses, winning the support of the city in his desire to effect religious changes. Like Luther, he believed in salvation through faith, and regarded the Bible, not the pope, as the final religious authority. Zwingli also insisted that Baptism and the Eucharist were mere symbols. From Zurich, Zwingli’s brand of Protestantism, known as Reformed Protestantism, spread to all but 5 of Switzerland’s 13 cantons. Tensions developed and war broke out in 1531; the Catholic cantons (rural and forest regions) emerged victorious and Zwingli died in the fighting. A peace treaty was signed in 1531permitting each canton to decide its own religion.
  2. Calvin and Calvinism. Calvin had a tremendous influence on the religious thought of the age.
  3. With Zwingli’s death, the reform movement in Switzerland became leaderless until John Calvin (1509-1564) succeeded him.
  4. Calvin’s early life: trained as a lawyer, he fled his native France when his religious beliefs met with disfavor fron the Catholic authorities.
  5. His religious ideas were set forth in his most famous work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion, an extremely influential work which helped spread Protestantism throughout Europe (and whose style had a great effect on the development of the French language). The work is very logical and systematic if you accept his premise about the nature of God and man.
  6. Calvin, like Luther, believed the Bible should be the final authority. Calvin viewed man as sinful and corrupt, not deserving salvation. Calvin formulated the doctrine of Predestination = God has already predetermined those on earth He wishes to save, the Elect, and those he wishes to damn. The fate of all is determined at creation – there is no choice. His thought followed St. Augustine.
  7. Calvin thus denies the Catholic position that performing good works can enable a man to save himself. Good works, according to Calvin, are only the outward sign that an individual is saved; the elect will therefore, uphold God’s teachings and lead otherwise exemplary lives. This also questions the existence of free will.
  8. When Calvin fled to Geneva, he was enlisted to assist in the organization of a ProtestantChurch. Continued disorder led the city council; to invest him with strong political powers and he became the ruler of a theocratic state, making the moral laws of Geneva considerably more severe in the name of God. He forbade any outward show of ostentation; lives of the people were closely regulated. The state should serve and protect the Church. Geneva became the Protestant Rome. A state where heresy was unacceptable. It provided the religious ideology for revolt against the state.
  9. Calvinism spread throughout Europe. The French Protestants the Huguenots looked to Calvin as leader. Calvinism spread to Scotland (1559) through the influence of John Knox (1515-1572), a disciple of Calvin’s. Known as the Presbyterian Church.
  10. English Calvinism was known as Puritanism. It also spread to Holland as the Dutch Reformed Church.

OTHER PROTESTANT SECTS: A group of small Protestant sects, known collectively as the Anabaptists, denied the authority of the Church and infant baptism. The Unitarians, another protestant group, denied the accepted concept of the Trinity.

THE ENGLISH REFORMATION

  1. BACKGROUND:
  2. Although England was Catholic, great anti-papal feeling existed. The pope’s power had been considerably curtailed in the 14th century, but Church power in England was nevertheless strong.
  3. Early Protestant ideas, however, made some inroads. John Wycliffe (14th cent.) had severely attacked the abuses of the Church and his followers the Lollards, although persecuted, had spread them.
  4. The English humanists, such as Thomas Moore and Colet, called for an end to the materialism of the Church and helped pave the way for change.
  5. The powers of the Church and State were united under Cardinal Wolsey a worldly man who was not only the papal legate in England but Henry VIII’s Chancellor.
  1. HENRY VIII (1509-1547) BREAKS WITH ROME: Henry VIII had been considered a good Catholic by everyone. He had written a tract (In Defense of the 7 Sacraments) against Martin Luther and had been given the title of “Defender of the Faith” from the pope. Twenty years of marriage to Catherine of Aragon (aunt of Charles V, king of Spain and HRE) had failed to produce a male heir to the English throne. Henry was certain that the pope would be grateful enough for his past service to grant him an annulment. Out of this request came the English Reformation.
  2. The death of Catherine’s sons (Mary was the only child of six to survive infancy) led to Henry to appeal to the Pope for an annulment on the grounds that an impediment had existed to the marriage (Catherine had been married to Henry’s older brother Arthur and, although the marriage had never been consummated, this made them spiritual relatives in the Church’s eyes). The death of his sons, argued Henry, was evidence of divine punishment. Henry had fallen in love with Anne Boleyn and wished to marry her. He sent Wolsey, his chief minister, to negotiate an annulment. The Pope, however, was in the power of Charles V (his troops sacked Rome in 1527), and so he refused to grant the annulment.
  3. Henry then took matters into his own hands, arresting Wolsey and charging him with treason. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declared the marriage annulled. In 1534, with the support of powerful anti-papal elements in Parliament the Act of Supremacy which made the king of England the head of the Church in England (instead of the pope). As far as doctrine and ritual were concerned, however, Henry did not change anything, and the EnglishChurch remained Catholic except for the deposition of the pope. With the passing of the Act of Supremacy, monasteries were dissolved (Act of Dissolution 1536) and their lands confiscated by the monarchy and given to his favorites.
  4. The Anglican Church under Henry continued to persecute Protestants as heretics. Also enforced was the Act of the Six Articles (1539), which made basic Catholic beliefs obligatory in England.
  5. All told Henry married and divorced or beheaded six wives and produced three children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. Before his death in 1547, he had Parliament pass the Act of Succession which stated the order in which his children would succeed to the throne.
  1. PROTESTSNTISM EMERGES UNDER EDWARD VI: Until Henry’s death, the Church of England was still an independent Catholic body. During the reign of weak Edward VI, England became Protestant, through the Doctrinal Reformation, which was brought about by Henry’s adviser (T. Cranmer). He issued the 12 Articles and the Book of Common Prayer.
  2. Mary Tudor (1553-58) tried to restore the Roman Catholic Church; she persecuted Protestants and became known as “Bloody Mary”; she married Philip II of Spain (son of Charles V) luckily for England there were no heirs. Elizabeth I (1558-1603) she chose the middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism making easy for people to accept; there was little blood shed during her reign.

THE CATHOLIC COUNTER-REFORMATION