The Reformation

Re/formation

• Dictionary:

1. The act of reforming or the state of being reformed.

2. The “improvement” or alteration for the better. • Historical reference:

The Reformation is a 16th century movement in Western Europe that aimed at reforming some doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant churches.

Note:

• The Roman Catholic Church centered in Rome was the one European institution that transcended geographic, ethnic, linguistic and national boundaries. Over centuries, it extended its influence into every aspect of European society and culture.

How does the Reformation begin?

John Wycliffe John Hus

John Wycliff• On the one hand, he led a

movement of opposition to the medieval Church and to some of its dogmas and institutions, and was a forerunner of the Reformation; on the other, he was also the most prominent English philosopher of the second half of the 14th century.

• Wyclif is chiefly remembered and honored for his role in Bible translating. In the early 1380's he led the movement for a translation of the Bible into English, and two complete translations were made at his instigation. He proposed the creation of a new religious order of Poor Preachers who would preach to the people from the English Bible. The first hand-written English language Bible manuscripts were produced in 1380's AD by John Wycliffe. (King Alfred was the first to ATTEMPT to translate the Bible, only SOME of the manuscripts were translated, but we never get a whole translation of the Bible before John Wycliffe).

His death:• He published a series of severe attacks

on corruption in the Church. Wyclif's religious movement was bloodily suppressed along with the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. In 1382, all of his writings were banned. In that year Wyclif suffered a stroke, and on 31 December 1384 a second stroke killed him. After his death, his opponents finally succeeded in having him condemned for heresy.

John Hus

• If Wycliffe is the grandfather of the Reformation, then no doubt, Hus is its father.

• Hus concealed his veneration of Wycliff and said that he could only wish his soul might some time attain into that place Wycliff was.

Champion of Truth

• In seeking to bring people to an authentic relationship with God, Hus found the Church to be his greatest obstacle. What he wanted to do was to persuade the priests to live a lifestyle free from lustful greed and immorality. This message alone set the entire Church hierarchy ablaze. Hus fearlessly called for a complete reevaluation of Church doctrine and what it meant to be a priest. He stated that the true authority of the priest was linked to his character, not his office. He went on to say that the love of money had destroyed their morals.

• Hus denounced the elite attitudes of the clergy and their excessive wealth. He rebuked priests who used their churches for personal gain and prestige, who indulged in sexual immorality. In a very bold statement he declared that no one should attend a Mass conducted by a priest who was involved in providing ministerial duties for financial gain or engaged in sexual indiscretions.

Execution • The executioners undressed Hus and tied his

hands behind his back with ropes, and covered him to the neck. Still at the last moment, he was asked to save his life by a recantation, but Hus declined with the words "God is my witness that I have never taught that of which I have been accused by false witnesses. In the truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and preached I will die to-day with gladness." Among his dying words he proclaimed, “In 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.”

• Almost exactly 100 years later, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses of Contention (a list of 95 issues of heretical theology and crimes of the Roman Catholic Church) into the church door at Wittenberg. The prophecy of John Hus had come true!

Martin Luther The Father of Protestantism

• During the early phases of his life first as a university student and then as a Monk working within the church, Luther was characterized by his search for religious understanding.

• The life of a monk during Luther's time was hard, and consisted of fasting, prayer and work. A monk's day began at 3 am with the first hourly prayers. This time molded Luther, above all he found a close relationship to the Bible which characterized his later life and work.

• After receiving his doctorate in Theology in 1512, Luther took a position as Theology Professor at the Wittenberg University.

• His final conclusion of what eh was searching for (the truth) was that the church was falsely teaching the people. In other words, he realized that there are many problematic issues within the church itself, and thus decides to speak up right away.

• On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg with a hammer which echoed throughout Europe.

Luther’s 95 Theses: a break away from Catholicism• The starting point for the Reformation was

Luther’s attack in 1517 on the church’s practice of selling religious indulgences.

• The church taught that some individuals go directly to heaven or hell, while others go to heaven only after spending sometime in purgatory – a waiting period necessary for those who have sinned excessively in life but have had the good fortune to repent before death. To die in a state of mortal sin was to suffer in hell eternally. Naturally, people worried about how long they might have to spend in purgatory. Indulgences were intended to remit portions of that time and were granted to individuals by the church.

• Luther’s Theses challenged the entire notion of selling indulgences, not only as a corrupt practice, but also as a theologically unsound assumption – namely that salvation can be earned by good works. In other words, a person can earn salvation through inner religious faith, a sense of contrition for sins, and a trust in God’s mercy.

• Luther also believed that every individual can discover the meaning of the Bible without the aid of the clergy. The church, however, asserted that only the clergy could interpret the Bible properly.

• Luther argued that in matters of faith there was no difference between the clergy and the laity ( people); each person can receive faith directly and freely from God. The church, on the other hand, held that clergy were intermediaries between individuals and God, and that in effect, Christians reached eternal salvation through the clergy.

• Luther stressed that no priest, no ceremony, no sacrament could bridge the gulf between the Creator and his creators. Hope lay only in a personal relationship between the individual and God, as expressed through faith in God’s mercy and grace.

• By holding these beliefs, clergymen and the church rituals do not hold the key to salvation as people used to believe. Luther rejected the church’s claim that it alone offered men and women the way to eternal life.

• In 1520, in an Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Luther appealed to the emperor and princes to reform the church and to cast off their allegiance to the pope who used taxes and political power to exploit them for centuries.

• Politics vs. Religion (no more ONE)

Reaction to his thoughts and to his 95 Theses:

• Even though Luther never expected to receive a prompt response to his 95 Theses, copies of it have been printed and distributed. By 1522, Lutheran services were celebrated more than the Roman Catholic Church itself.

Spread of Reformation:

• Protestantism grew strong in northen Europe – northen Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and England. In France, it did not show great success, people prefered to stick to the Catholic views.

• The Reformation in England was initiated not by religious reformers, BUT, by the king himself. (Henry VIII) ……> NEXT!