World Civilizations 112
Lecture Outlines
The Protestant Reformation
Martin Luther: The German Reformation
Ninety Five Theses in 1517
Justification by Faith Alone
He that goes from the gospel to the law, thinking to be saved by good works,
falls as uneasily as he who falls from the true service of God to idolatry;
for, without Christ, all is idolatry and fictitious imaginings of God,
whether of the Turkish Qur'an, of the pope's decrees, or Moses' laws; if
a man think thereby to be justified and saved before God, he is undone.
The Human Record, Ch.1, p7
Table Talk by Martin Luther
1522-1546
The Reform of the Church
The pope and his crew can in no way endure the idea of reformation; the
mere word creates more alarm at Rome than thunderbolts from heaven or the
day of judgement. A cardinal said the other day: Let them eat, and drink,
and do what they will; but as to reforming us, we think that is a vain
idea; we will not endure it. Neither will we Protestants be satisfied,
though they administer the sacrament in both kinds, and permit priests
to marry; we will also have the doctrine of the faith pure and unfalsified,
the righteousness that justifies and saves before God, and which expels
and drives away all adolatry and false-worshiping; with these gone and
banished, the foundation on which Popedom is built also fails.
The chief cause that I fell out with the Pope was this: the Pope boasted
that he was the head of the church, and condemned all that would not be
under his power and authority; for he said, although Christ is the head
of the church, yet, notwithstanding, there must be a corporal head of the
church upon earth. With this I could have been content, had he but taught
the gospel pure and clear, and not introduced human inventions and lies
in its stead. Further, he took upon him power, rule, and authority over
the Christian Church, and over the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God; no
man must presume to expound the Scriptures, but only he, and according
to his ridiculous conceits; this was not to be endured. They who, against
God's word, boast of the church's authority, are mere idiots.
The Council of Trent
Pope Paul III, understanding the breadth of discontent with the church
in northern and western Europe, call a council of the Bishops of the Church
in the city of Trent which was a town in the south Austrian Alps. The council
met for 18 years, ended in 1563 and clarified numerous theological issues
and outlined a broad program for the Church's reform and revival.
Justification by Faith vs. Justification by Good Works
Justification is the process by which a person is freed from the penalty
of his or her sin and is accepted by God as worthy of being saved.
If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works,
whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law,
without divine grace through Jesus Chris, let him be an anathema.
If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning
that nothing else is required in order to obtain the grace of justification,
and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed
by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.
If anyone says that the commandments of God are, even for one that
is justified and constituted in grace, impossible to observe, let him be
anathema.
If anyone says that the justice received is not preserved and also
not increased before God through good works, but that those works are merely
the fruit of signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of its
increase, let him be anathema...*
*Anathema refers to a person made subject to excommunication
and extreme condemnation by an official ecclesiastical authority. Good
works refers to all of the ceremonies and pious activities such as pilgrimages,
relic veneration, and attendance at Mass that the Catholic Church promoted
as vehicles of God's grace and eternal salvation.
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531)
He was the leader of the Swiss Reformation. Strongly influenced by Erasmus.
By 1518, Zwingli was widely known for opposition to the sale of indulgences
and religious superstition. He became the people's priest in Zurich. He
believed in the literal interpretation of the bible. Zurich became a Protestant
city and the center of the Swiss Reformation. The new Protestant regime
imposed a harsh discipline and is the first example of a puritanical Protestant
city (another example was early Boston).
The Anabaptists
They believed only in ADULT baptism (Anabaptism is derived from Greek word
meaning to re-baptize). They formed idealistic rural communities and were
the first example of Millinarian, religious communities which flourished
in America later on.
John Calvin (1509-1564)
His work was centered in Geneva, Switzerland which became his permanent
headquarters after 1540. He and his followers were motivated by a burning
desire to transform society morally. The Calvinists abolished both allegiance
to the Catholic Church and the traditional mass. Calvinist churches were
ruled by a judicial body called a consistory which was composed of clergy
and laity. Clergy could marry and have children. The consistory enforced
the strictest moral discipline.
Henry VIII and the English Reformation
In 1529, the Reformation Parliament convenes and passes the "Submission
of the Clergy" act. This placed canon law and the clergy under the authority
of the King. In 1534, Parliament passed the Acts of Succession and Supremacy
which essentially removed the authority of the Pope over the King of England
and, in effect, created an independent church loyal to the King. However,
in 1539, Henry VIII condemned Protestantism and reasserted traditional
doctrine. So, the English church emerged as both conservative and independent.
The English Reformation
The Independence of the English Crown from the Catholic Church in the Late
Medieval Period.
Edward I (1272-1307) rejected efforts to exempt clergy from taxes
Parliament curtailed payments and judicial appeals to Rome
Parliament limited the Pope's power of appointment in England
Humanism and widespread anticlerical sentiment prepared the way for English
reformation. The precipitating factor, however, was Henry VIII's uncontrolled
libido.
Henry VIII (1509-1547)
Henry VIII was the third Tudor king. The Tudors grasped power in the middle
of the 15th Century following 30 years of chaos and civil war called the
War of the Roses.
Henry had a roving eye for the ladies not unlike some current world
leaders. The difference was that he enjoyed nearly complete executive power.
Also, Henry wanted a male heir to the throne since a woman had never ruled
England before and he feared for the survival of his dynasty. His first
marriage produced only one child, Mary Tudor. Therefore, he decided to
marry Ann Boleyn who had caught his eye as a lady in waiting (something
like a White House Intern). At the time, this needed a decree of annulment
from the Pope who, unfortunately for Henry, was being held captive by Charles
V the Holy Roman Emperor. Catherine (Henry's first wife) was Charles' aunt.
In short, Henry could not get his marriage annulled.
Henry surrounded himself with Lutheran leaning advisors (Cranmer and
Cromwell) and decided to settle his own affair. In 1529, Parliament sat
for a seven year session. In 1531, the clergy formally recognized Henry
as head of the church in England. In 1533, Henry wed Anne Boleyn (now pregnant).
In 1534, Parliament ended all payments to Rome and gave Henry sole authority
over high ecclesiastical appointments. Finally, Parliament made Ann Boleyn's
children legitimate heirs to the English throne.
Henry, however, was religiously conservative in terms of doctrine and
ceremony. His English church was very close in spirit to the Roman church.
At the same time, Henry had an eye for the ladies almost until the end
of his life. He went through four more wives in his lifetime, getting rid
of each previous wife by having their heads chopped off. The last one did
survive him. Not a nice fellow. Edward VI, Henry's heir, (1547-1553) fully
enacted the Protestant Reformation. His successor, Mary Tudor, however,
was Catholic (daughter of Catherine of Aragon in Spain) and restored Catholic
doctrine and practice. She died in 1558 and was succeeded by Elizabeth
I who made a lasting religious settlement that lasted throughout her long
reign (1558-1603)
I go through the details of the English Reformation to point out that
it was carried out by the government in a largely peaceful manner. So,
unlike the continent that tore itself into shreds over the issue over which
form of Christianity to be followed, English change was gradual and tended
to strengthen the state and not divide the society.
French Wars of Religion (1562-1598)
Following an accidental death during a medieval style tournament of Henry
II, King of France, in 1559, a sickly fifteen year old ascended to the
throne. The government was run by his mother, Catherine Medicis. Three
powerful families contended for supreme power in France. Each was territorially
based in a section of the country. Two of the families developed strong
Huguenot (French Protestant) sympathies for political reasons. For the
next forty years, France was torn by this political struggle which involved
dynastic ambition, religious faith and regional loyalties. So, the conflict
was political, ethnic and religious. In a word, it was vicious. It finally
ended when following the assassination of the last Valois king, Henry III,
in 1589 by a Dominican Friar (monk). Henry IV who Bourbon and Huguenot
ascended the throne. He decided that "Paris was worth a mass" and promptly
converted back to Catholicism! This ended the conflict for a couple of
hundred years by which time other issues became more important (the French
Revolution).
Imperial Spain in the reign of Philip II (1556-1598)
Phillip II was the most powerful monarch of his time. Preoccupied with
wars with Turkey for control of the Mediterranean. Defeated the Turks in
a gigantic naval battle at Lepanto destroying a third of the Turkish fleet
and killed thirty thousand Turkish warriors. This effectively ended the
Turkish naval threat to southern Europe. The Dutch embraced Calvinism and
grew to hate Phillip II with a passion. The Prince of Orange, William of
Nassau was a political opportunist who successively passed through Catholic,
Lutheran and Calvinist stages depending on whose support he needed at the
time. Phillip II insisted that the decisions of the Council of Trent be
imposed on all of his lands which included the Netherlands. The Dutch rose
in revolt. Phillip sent the Duke of Alba to crush the revolt. Several thousand
Dutchmen were slaughtered by the Duke and the religious revolt became a
national war of liberation. There were many battles and very complicated
political maneuvering. The southern provinces of the region made peace
with Spain in 1576 and later became Belgium. The northern provinces formed
a treaty of alliance called the Union of Utrecht with the support of England
and France and drove Spanish troops out of the Netherlands. Full recognition
as an independent country came in 1648 in the Peace of Westphalia.
Phillip II was outraged at English interference in the Netherlands,
English pirate raiding of Spanish ships in the New World, English treatment
of Mary Tudor whose mother was Spanish and a relative of Phillip's and
English defiance of the Catholic Church. In short, he was truly ticked
off. So, he organized a Spanish Armada or Fleet. The fleet was several
times the size of the entire British navy. Elizabeth I rallied the English
people in a stirring call to arms. Due to mismanagement of the Spanish
fleet, the courage of the British navy and very bad luck with weather,
the Armada was defeated in 1588. This ended Spanish naval dominance. Since
Spain had completely defeated the Turkish navy several decades before,
the English navy ended up being the dominant European power on the high
seas.
The Treaty of Westphalia
In 1648, all hostilities within the Holy Roman Empire ended. The Treaty
of Westphalia asserted the major feature of the Peace of Augsburg in which
rulers were permitted to determine the religion of their lands. It also
recognized the independence of the Swiss Confederacy and the United Provinces
of Holland. It gave the Calvinist long sought legal recognition. Everyone
was exhausted by then and sick to death of killing for reasons of variation
in Christian doctrine. Never again were Europeans to kill each other on
a large scale over differences in Christianity. Of course, this did not
affect their willingness to beat, rob and kill Jews whenever the fancy
struck them nor to view Islam with unrestrained hostility nor to engage
in brutal conversions of peoples in Africa and the Americas whose religions
were viewed as idolatry. It did, however, finally stop the religious wars
in Europe forever.
Return to the Table of Contents.