Survey of Church History

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Survey of Church History

• BI 3325-3

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Long before Martin Luther attacked indulgences
  others had been critical of RC doctrine and
  practice and some had broken away into separate
  religious communities.
• Peter Waldo
• A wealthy merchant of Lyons, France, W. was
  impressed with the way of poverty and service to
  Christ as the way to heaven (based on Mt. 1921)
  in 1176 he sold most of his possessions and gave
  the proceeds to the poor.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• He retained some property for his wife and
  daughters.
• Shortly, he was joined by others, men and women,
  who called themselves the Poor in spirit, and
  undertook an itinerant ministry of preaching
  repentance and living on the handouts of
  listeners.
• As RCs, they appealed to the Third Lateran
  Council in 1179 for permission to preach but were
  refused because they were thought to be ignorant
  laymen.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Convinced that they should obey God rather than
  man, they continued to preach.
• In 1184, Pope Lucius III excommunicated them
  this act brought them numerous supporters and the
  movement spread into southern France, Italy,
  Spain, the Rhine Valley and Bohemia.
• The Waldensians seem to have taken the NT as a
  rule of faith and life in a legalistic sense.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• They went about two by two, wearing simple
  clothing, preaching repentance, frequently
  fasting, and living from the gifts of others.
• They rejected purgatory and masses and prayers
  for the dead and insisted on vernacular
  translations of Scripture.
• They insisted on the right both lay men and women
  to preach, but did have an organization with
  bishops, priests, and deacons.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• While Waldo (also Valdez or Valdes) seems never
  to have achieved primitive Christianity, he
  opened the door for others.
• The Waldensians were severely persecuted for
  centuries part of the reason for their spread
  was that they were driven from their homeland.
• In Bohemia they became a part of the Hussite
  movement in the Alps between France Italy
  (their real home by the Reformation) they adopted
  the theology government of the Geneva Reformers
  in 1532.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• In 1545, 3-4,000 were massacred in France
  finally in 1848 they won toleration in the
  kingdom of Sardinia and later in a united Italy.
• They are the only late medieval separatist group
  to survive to the present, though with changes in
  organization and teaching.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Wycliffe
• W. (1330?-1384) also brought to bear the
  teachings of Scripture on practices of the RCC.
• He also engaged in Bible translation and was
  responsible for the first English version (before
  the printing press) its widespread use had an
  influence on the development of the English
  language.
• Educated at Oxford, he later became master of
  Balliol College there.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Wycliffe
• As chaplain to the king, with access to
  Parliament, he was able to reach some of the
  upper class, but sought to reach the common
  people and sent out lay evangelists (Lollards) to
  instruct them.
• Pope Gregory XI condemned him in 1377, W. was
  protected by John of Gaunt, who was Duke of
  Lancaster and son of Edward III.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Wycliffe
• This was the period of the Hundred Years War and
  no Englishman would surrender one of their
  outstanding countrymen to a pope at Avignon.
• For W. Scripture was the sole authority for the
  believer decrees of the pope were not infallible
  unless they were based on Scripture.
• Clergy were not to rule, but to serve and help
  people.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Wycliffe
• Christ and not the pope was the head of the
  church if the pope were too eager for worldly
  power, he might even be regarded as the
  antichirst.
• Ultimately he came to repudiate the entire papal
  system he attacked transubstantiation and seems
  to have come to a belief similar to Luthers.
• He condemned the dogma of purgatory and the use
  of relics, pilgrimages and indulgences.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Wycliffe
• Followers of W. were suppressed by force in 1401
  and afterward went underground and helped prepare
  the way for Reformation principles that would
  come to England over a hundred years later.
• Bohemians studying at Oxford in Ws time carried
  his ideas (in lecture notes) to their homeland
  and influenced the teachings of John Hus.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Hus
• H. (1372?-1415), professor of philosophy at the
  U. of Prague and preacher at Bethlehem Chapel was
  influenced by Wycliffe but also was in the
  tradition of a native Czech reform movement.
• Hs approach was similar to W. and his influence
  on the Continent was even greater.
• Hs great work was entitled On the Church.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Hus
• He taught that all the elect are members of
  Christs church, of which Christ rather than the
  pope is head.
• He argued against simony, indulgences, and abuses
  of the mass he demanded a reform in the lives of
  the clergy and asserted the right of the laity to
  take both the bread and win in the Communion.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Hus
• Almost the whole nation supported H. in spite of
  his excommunication by the pope.
• After his death reform continued and ca. the
  middle of the 15th c. the Bohemian Brethren rose
  from the embers of the fire H. had built they
  still exist as the Moravian Brethren.
• When the pope summoned H. to the Council of
  Constance, emperor Sigismund ordered him to go
  and promised safe conduct.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• John Hus
• But when the council condemned him and burned him
  at the stake, Sigismund did not have the power to
  save him.
• Europe was not as ready for the Reformation in
  1415 as it would be a century later.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Savonarola
• S. (1452-1498) was a forceful preacher against
  the worldliness and corruption of church and
  society in Florence.
• A Dominican, he was transferred to Florence in
  1482 his studies in the OT prophets and the book
  of Revelation helped to make him a powerful
  preacher against the corruption of society.
• He served as spiritual leader of the party that
  came to power with the flight of the Medici in
  1494.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Savonarola
• Exercising virtual dictatorship over the city, he
  tried to reform both the state and church.
• With the passage of time opposition to him
  increased.
• Pope Alexander VI excommunicated him in 1497 and
  in 1498 he was arrested and tried from sedition
  and heresy and cruelly tortured finally he was
  hanged and his body burned.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Savonarola
• Unlike Wycliffe Hus, S. had no quarrel with the
  teachings or organization of the church.
• But because he openly condemned the evil
  character and misrule of Alexander VI and the
  corruption of the papal court, he won the
  opposition of the papacy.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Brethren of the Common Life
• Contemporary with Wycliffe and Hus was a mystical
  movement that flowered in Holland, Belgium,
  northern France and northern Germany during the
  latter 14th the 15th centuries.
• Emphasizing Bible reading, meditation, prayer,
  personal piety and religious education it
  produced such figures as Jan Van Ruysbroeck
  (d.1381), who wrote The Seven Steps of Spiritual
  Love, and Gerhard Grote (d. 1384) who founded the
  Brethren of the Common Life.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Brethren of the Common Life
• Their primary aim was to bring about a revival of
  practical religion.
• They gathered in houses rather than monasteries,
  held property in common, worked to support
  themselves and avoided the negative reactions
  from the community by not seeking tax exempt
  status or begging.
• They generally had good relations with the
  people, but sometimes incurred the suspicion or
  opposition of the clergy.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Brethren of the Common Life
• They attended parish churches and had no peculiar
  doctrinal positions.
• The movement is commonly called the new
  devotion (devotio moderna) they could be
  described as cells of devotion or true piety in
  the community.
• They were deeply devoted to the cause of
  education and established schools in the
  Netherlands and Germany that were known for
  scholarship and piety.

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Forerunners of the Reformation

• Brethren of the Common Life
• Four of their best known students were Nicholas
  of Cusa, Erasmus, Luther, and Thomas a Kempis,
  who is credited with writing the Imitation of
  Christ.
• There were numerous other movements in the
  period, but it was Martin Luther who provided a
  channel for all this energy in what is now called
  the Protestant Reformation.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Politics

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Politics
• Around the fringes of Europe national states were
  rising, challenging the supranational power of
  the papacy.
• In central Europe the HRE (now essentially a
  German entity) had an emperor checkmated by
  numerous with slight allegiance to him.
• Muslim hosts knocked at the doors of the empire
  soon after Luther nailed his theses to the church
  door.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Politics
• Charles, a Hapsburg with holdings in central
  Europe and king of the Netherlands and Spain, was
  elected in 1519 as Charles V of the HRE.
• Francis I of France made an alliance with the
  Ottoman Empire in 1526 to apply a pincer move
  against his enemy.
• Since Charles needed the help of all the German
  princes and therefore could not force Frederick
  of Saxony to surrender Martin Luther.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Humanism and Individualism
• H., a main feature of the Renaissance, was a new
  emphasis on man and his culture and an effort to
  make the world a better place in which man might
  live.
• The pull of the future life was not so strong as
  it had been in the Middle Ages.
• In a return to the literature of the classical
  age, humanists put new emphasis on the study of
  Greek (and Hebrew) in an effort to read the
  classics in the original languages.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Thus the emphasis on ancient languages led many
  to the Scriptures.
• Zwingli, Calvin, Melanchthon and Erasmus were
  examples of the more biblical of the literary
  humanists.
• That Erasmus, among others, was a great satirist
  of the evils of the institutional church, as well
  as of the evils of society in general,
  underscores the fact that criticism of Romanism
  by Renaissance leaders contributed to the
  Reformation.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Also advancing the effectiveness of the
  Reformation was the Renaissance spirit of
  individualism, which paved the way for Luthers
  emphasis on the priesthood of the believer and
  its attendant ideas of the right of believers to
  go directly to God and to interpret the
  Scriptures for themselves.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Printing/Universities
• Without the invention of movable type and the
  spread of printing, Reformers could not have had
  the same effect in fact, the literary activity
  of the Reformers was largely responsible for
  building the printing trade in many areas.
• Also, the rapid growth of universities, which
  provided education for a larger number of people,
  fostered the critical spirit, and provided a
  means whereby the leaders could be reached with
  Reformation principles and a place where they
  could be trained to promulgate them.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Religion
• The religion of E. was in decay the evils of the
  church were manysimony, economic oppression, the
  purchase of salvation through indulgences,
  immorality of many of the clergy, etc.
• The effects of the Babylonian Captivity and the
  Papal Schism had been great.
• The secularism of the 15th c. had affected all
  levels of church life from the common people to
  the Pope.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Religion
• Decadence led to many calls for reform.
• The Observant Franciscans in England, the Oratory
  of Divine Love in Italy and the Brethren of the
  Common Life in the Lowlands were symptomatic of
  this concern.
• Books of devotion found a wide audience.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Society and Economics
• Feudalism was on the decline and was largely
  extinct and was paralleled by the rise of towns
  and nation-states.
• In these a new middle class emerged, as did a
  degree of social mobility not known for 1000
  years this new class wanted to become social,
  political and economic insiders.
• The rising middle class felt that they were the
  equals of the old aristocracy.

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On the Eve of the Reformation

• Society and Economics
• Both national governments and the middle class
  needed a ready supply of cash.
• All this naturally hindered the flow of wealth to
  the church, and efforts of the church to drain
  money from an area were met with something less
  than enthusiasm by king and middle class alike.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born the son of a
  miner Hans Luther was able to build an adequate
  estate and to provide Martin with an excellent
  education.
• After early studies at Mansfeld, Magdeburg (where
  he was taught by Brethren of the Common Life),
  and Eisenach, L. earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at
  the U. of Erfurt.
• Afterward, on his fathers urging, he entered law
  school at the university.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• But in the same year, when knocked to the ground
  by lightening, he vowed to enter a monastery if
  spared from death.
• There was more to the decision L. hoped to find
  at the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt the peace
  his soul could not find otherwise.
• As L. lived the monastic life, he saw Christ as a
  stern judge and he spent many days in fasts and
  bodily mortificationall designed to seek release
  for his sinful soul.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• At this period he came under the influence of
  Johann Von Staupitz, vicar-general of his order,
  who urged him to think on Gods love for sinners
  as evidenced in Christs death in the meantime
  L. studied the Scriptures assiduously.
• Staupitz became dean of the faculty of theology
  at the new U. of Wittenberg in Saxony and
  arranged for L. to join the faculty in 1508.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• When L. received his doctor of theology in 1512,
  he succeeded Staupitz as professor of theology,
  the position he held until his death in 1546.
• During 1513-1518 L. lectured on Psalms, Romans,
  Galatians, Hebrews, and Titus and sometime during
  the period accepted the doctrine of justification
  by faith.
• He abandoned the prevailing Scholastic and
  allegorical interpretation for a more strictly
  literal and grammatical interpretation.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• His students responded enthusiastically to his
  teaching.
• In 1515 the town council of Wittenberg called him
  to the pulpit of City Church, where he continued
  to minister the rest of his life.
• From that pulpit he could take his ideas directly
  to the common people.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• The issue that brought L. notice was indulgences.
• In the beginning, an indulgence provided
  remission of punishment imposed by the RCC on one
  who was guilty of a specific sin an indulgence
  was based on the principle that sinners were
  unable to do sufficient penance to expiate all
  their sins hence it was necessary for them to
  draw on the treasury of merits, to which
  Christ, the Virgin Mary, and saints contributed
  and which could be dispensed by the pope.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Earlier, one might gain an indulgence for risking
  his life in fighting the infidel during the
  Crusades gradually, however, financial sacrifice
  was accepted in lieu of physical risk.
• The financing of building of churches,
  monasteries, hospitals, etc., could be designated
  by the pope as worthy of indulgences.
• During the later Middle Ages, they came to
  involve not only remission of punishment imposed
  by the church, but also absolution of guilt
  before God (remission of sin).

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Pope Leo X (1513-1521), like Julius II before
  him, sought funds for the building of St. Peters
  in Rome by indulgence sales.
• His needs coincided with those of Albert of
  Brandenburg A., just 23 years old, had gone
  heavily into debt to purchase a bishopric and two
  archbishoprics.
• It was decided that indulgences would be sold in
  Alberts territories and the proceeds split
  between the archbishop and the pope.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• L. knew nothing of the popes involvement.
• What bothered him was the promise of full
  remission of sin and punishment in purgatory for
  living persons further, it was promised that
  dead loved ones in purgatory could be forgiven
  their sins without confession or contrition.
• Frederick of Saxony (Frederick the Wise), Ls
  prince, forbade the sale in his domain, so there
  was no traffic in Wittenberg itself but citizens
  traveled across the river to purchase them.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• When L. saw the effect of the sale on the moral
  and ethical standards of his parishioners, he
  posted the Ninety-five Theses (topics for debate)
  on the door of Castle Church at Wittenberg on
  Oct. 31, 1517 printed copies quickly were
  circulated far and wide.
• L. sent a copy of the theses and a letter of
  explanation to Albert early in 1518, still not
  believing the pope had approved the sale, he sent
  an explanation (the Resolutions) to Leo X.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Members of the papal court persuaded Leo to
  demand Ls appearance in Rome as a suspect of
  heresy.
• L. appealed to Frederick the Wise for advice and
  requested a hearing be held in Germany.
• Nationalistically minded Frederick arranged a
  meeting at Augsburg in 1518 which ended in
  standoff between the two parties.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• L. gradually rejected the authority of the pope
  and councils and looked to the authority of
  Scripture alone.
• The pope could not reach L. because of
  Fredericks protection the new HRE, Charles V,
  was reluctant to come to the popes aid and thus
  alienate Frederick, because Saxony was the most
  powerful state in Germany and the emperor needed
  all the support he could get for his war against
  the Turks.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Finally in 1521, L. sent to the Diet of Worms (a
  parliament of the empire) under an imperial safe
  conduct.
• There he uttered the famous words I cannot and
  will not recant anything, for it is neither safe
  nor hones to act against ones conscience. God
  help me. Amen.
• On the way home Fredericks men kidnapped L. to
  protect him and took him to the Wartburg Castle,
  where he translated the NT into idiomatic German
  in just 11 weeks.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• While in Warburg he was informed of extremism and
  violence at Wittenberg so he returned to quell
  the disturbance.
• Excommunicated and living under an imperial ban
  that deprived him of physical protection, L.,
  with Fredericks help launched a new religious
  movement.
• The Diet of Speyer (1529) resolved to forbid
  further spread of the Lutheran movement a number
  of German princes and free cities entered a
  protest against this action.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• The protesters came to be known as protestants
  and the name Protestant passed on to the whole
  movement.
• In 1530 Protestant princes joined together in
  what was called the Schmalkald League.
• Still pressed by the Ottoman Turks who appeared
  before the gates of Vienna in 1529, Charles V
  finally granted religious freedom to the princes
  in 1532 and did not interfere for several years.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Roman Catholics, alarmed by the increase of
  Protestantism, formed the Holy League.
• War broke out in 1546, the year L. died.
• After initial victories by the RCs, Protestants
  finally defeated the imperial forces the Diet of
  Aubsburg (1555) ended the struggle and provided
  for a recognition of Roman Catholicism and
  Lutheranism as legal religions in the HRE, with
  the rule that the religion of the prince was the
  religion of the people.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• In other words, RC and Lutheran state churches
  were established in each of the principalities of
  the Empire and minorities were not tolerated.
• State churches were to be the order of the in all
  the countries where the Reformation was
  successful.
• Religious liberty and pluralism, so much taken
  for granted in the USA, were not accepted
  concepts in 16th c. Europe.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Ls close associate, Philipp Melanchthon
  (1497-1560), directed the organizational,
  educational, and publishing side of the
  Reformation.
• He is often called the teacher of Germany he
  aided in establishing primary and secondary
  schools and did much to train the clergy.
• Recognizing the need for organizing the church
  that L. had brought into being, he prepared a
  manual for that purpose.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• He also wrote a systematic theology, commentaries
  on NT books and was largely responsible for
  preparing the various statements of faith that
  the Lutherans presented at some of the diets
  where they met papal foes.
• In his preaching L. set forth 3 great
  distinctives justification by faith, salvation
  by grace alone and the Bible alone as the source
  of the believers authority for doctrine.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• He also had much to say about the priesthood of
  the believer every believer was a priest and had
  the right to go to God directly Christ was the
  only mediator between God and man.
• Moveover, all believers had the right to
  interpret the Scripture for themselves under the
  guidance of the HS God spoke directly to the
  believer-priest believers could address God
  directly in prayer and especially in their songs.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• L. gave the German people not only a Bible in
  their own tongue, but also a hymnbook in his
  hands the hymn became a powerful spiritual weapon
  and he became the father of evangelical hymnody.
• But L. has often been criticized because he did
  not go far enough in his reform (the retained the
  crucifix, candles, and other elements of RC),
  because he placed the church under the control of
  civil authority, and because he failed to
  cooperate with Swiss Reformers and thus present a
  solid block of Protestants against Roman Catholic
  power in Europe.

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The Lutheran Reformation

• Although Lutheranism spread early to many
  countries of Europe and later to the New World,
  it became the dominant faith of Scandinavia
  between the 1520s and 1554 it was established in
  all the Scandinavian countries.
• L. also spread at the eastern end of the Baltic,
  in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, after 1539.

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The Swiss Reformation

• Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531) sparked the
  Reformation in German-speaking Switzerland.
• Z. was parish priest at Glarus where he studied
  the classics in the original languages, thus
  laying the ground work for his future Reformation
  work.
• In 1516 he moved to the monastery church of
  Einsiedeln there studied the Greek NT published
  by Erasmus he claimed that there in 1516 he had
  begun to found his preaching on the gospel.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The monastery church had a well-known image of
  the Virgin Mary making it a pilgrimage
  destination Z. began to preach to pilgrims that
  religious pilgrimages were not a means of
  obtaining pardon.
• Z. became priest at the cathedral of Zurich in
  1519 and gradually became more open in his
  reforming views he broke with the papacy and
  married and preached openly against celibacy.

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The Swiss Reformation

• When the Zurich city council decided that
  religious matters should be decided by the
  council, Z. presented his Sixty-seven Articles
  he was so convincing that the council declared
  that thereafter all religious teaching was to be
  based on the Bible alone and the state would
  support this principle.
• The council dissolved the Zurich monasteries and
  took control of the Great Minster (the Cathedral).

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The Swiss Reformation

• Tremendous changes followed many priests married
  and set aside the mass.
• Some dissented but the council stood behind the
  Reformation and eventually abolished the mass and
  image worship altogether (1525).
• Switzerland was a network of 13 small states, or
  cantons, loosely federated and generally
  democratic as political tensions heightened,
  some Protestant cantons formed a Christian Civic
  League.

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The Swiss Reformation

• RC cantons organized also and allied themselves
  with Ferdinand of Austria.
• In 1531 5 RC cantons attacked Zurich, which was
  unprepared for war, and Z. died in battle.
• The Second Peace of Kappel (1531) prohibited
  further spread of the Reformation in Switzerland.
• Heinrich Bullinger, Zs son-in-law, took over
  leadership.

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The Swiss Reformation

• Z. directed Swiss reform along civic lines, with
  a view to establishing a model Christian
  community.
• Z. held that the Lords Supper was a symbol or
  remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ he could
  not agree with Luther, who held that the body and
  blood of Christ were really present in the
  Communion this matter kept the German Swiss
  reformers from uniting at Marburg in 1529.
• The Zwinglian movement merged into Calvinism
  later in the 16th c.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• Not every one who broke with Rome agreed with
  Zwingli or Luther as early as 1523, in Zurich,
  Protestant separatists Conrad Grebel and Felix
  Manz questioned a number of the teachings and
  practices of Romanism and began to insist on
  adult baptism.
• The council persecuted them and many of their
  followers and fellow preachers were exiled,
  spreading the movement into Germany and Moravia.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• Anabaptistbaptized again, 2nd baptism
• In time Anabaptist became a general term applied
  by Zwinglians, Lutherans, RCs, and others to
  those who rejected a connection between church
  and state, and who rejected infant baptism or for
  some reason insisted on rebaptism later in life.
• Persecution of Anabaptists was severe and often
  cruel in many countries of Europe.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• Anabaptist was a general descriptive, and
  especially in the first generation widely diverse
  views were held among the various groups.
• Some were pantheistic, some extremely mystical,
  some anti-Trinitarian, some extremely millenarian
  and some quite biblical.
• Modern Baptists who place themselves in the
  Anabaptist tradition do not always know their
  history well.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• Also, although they insisted on water baptism for
  adults, many of them did not baptize by
  immersion.
• Their doctrinal position is more closely related
  to the modern Mennonite viewpoint than to Baptist
  theology.
• Anabaptists are usually described as the left
  wing of the Reformation, or as the radical
  Reformation.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• Often they are categorized in 3 groups
  Anabaptists proper, spiritualists and religious
  rationalists.
• Generally, all of them opposed meddling with the
  religious affairs of the people by the state or
  state churches, though some of the early on trued
  to set up a revolutionary theocracy or accepted
  protection of the state.

70
The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• The rationalists among them tried to put
  intuitive or speculative reason alongside
  Scripture as a basis of authority.
• From this seedbed came the anti-Trinitarian
  efforts of Socinius and Servetus.
• Spiritualists either sought revolutionary change
  in society as they set up communities designed to
  be utopias or quietly awaited the dawn of a
  millennial day.

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The Swiss Reformation

• The Anabaptists
• While many of the less radical groups were quite
  ascetic and practiced communal holding of goods,
  mainline Anabaptists have been pacifists, opposed
  the use of oaths and capital punishment, favored
  the free will of man as opposed to
  predestination, stressed individual faith and
  witness, insisted on water baptism and a
  conversion experience and taught separation of
  church and state.
• Primarily they were the spiritual forefathers of
  modern Mennonites.

72
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Calvin (1509-1564) was the great second
  generation Reformer he benefited from the work
  of Luther, Zwingli, etc.
• While C. held a couple of benefices in the RCC
  early in life because his father was an aide to
  the bishop of Noyon (France), he was never
  ordained a priest.
• His father wanted him to study law he took a
  degree but also studied literature.

73
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• C. made stops at the universities at Paris,
  Orleans and Bourges at the last he studied Greek
  Hebrew and the NT in the original language with
  Wolmar.
• His conversion probably came in the year 1533 C.
  says it was sudden, through private study, and
  because he failed to find peace in absolutions,
  penances, and intercessions of the RCC.

74
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• For 3 years C. wandered as a refuge in France,
  Germany and Switzerland.
• During this period in his life, he met Martin
  Bucer, the great Reformer of Strasbourg, who
  later taught at Cambridge and aided Cranmer in
  English Reformation efforts during the reign of
  Edward VI.
• In Basel in 1536, at age 26, C. published the
  first edition of his Institutes of the Christian
  Religion (the last ed. was in 1559).

75
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Later in 1536, Calvin decided that after paying a
  last visit to his native France he would settle
  in Strasbourg he passed through Geneva on the
  way and William Farel persuaded C. to remain and
  help him with the Reformation there.
• In 1535 the city council had broken with the RCC
  and had confiscated its properties the following
  May it committed the city to live according to
  Gods law and Gods word and to abandon
  idolatry, and it enacted laws against
  drunkenness, gambling, dancing, and the like.

76
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• So when C. came the city was ready for a new
  religious order he prepared a catechism and
  articles of faith and insisted on the right of
  the church to exercise discipline over unworthy
  communicants.
• At this point a tension developed with the
  magistrate who had for centuries controlled much
  of the social behavior of the populace and did
  not want to surrender that control to the church.

77
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Farel and C. worked very hard from 1536 to 1538
  to establish the community on a theocratic basis,
  but in Feb. 1538 elections brought to leadership
  a faction more favorable to another pattern of
  reform.
• The opposition of those who wanted a less rigid
  moral control led to the expulsion of the
  reformers, C. going to Strasbourg.
• The period at S. was happy for C. he pastored a
  congregation of about 500 French refugees, wrote
  his commentary on Romans, produced the text for a
  hymn book, met with reformers in Germany,
  lectured in the academy, and married a widow.

78
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Meanwhile in Geneva the church fell into
  confusion and the RCC put on a campaign to bring
  the city back into its fold this threat made
  some look to C. for help this development and
  the rise of his friends to power, led C. to
  reluctantly return in 1541.
• C. worked there the rest of his life though he
  held no office and did not gain citizenship until
  1559, he dominated the city.

79
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• He exercised strict discipline over the morals of
  the Community and drew up a new form of
  government and liturgy for the church.
• He was also largely responsible for a system of
  universal education for the young and programs to
  care for the poor and aged and he established
  the Academy, later to be the U. of Geneva.

80
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Michael Servetus was a Spaniard under sentence of
  death by the Inquisition for his unitarian views.
• He escaped from prison in Lyons and passed
  through Geneva on his way to Zurich and thence to
  Naples evidently he had been warned ahead of
  time that if he went to Geneva it was at his
  peril.
• In Geneva he was put on trial and judged guilty
  of subversion of religion and the general welfare.

81
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Geneva consulted with other Swiss leaders and
  Melanchthon, who supported the accusations and
  recommended the death penalty.
• Oct. 25, 1563 he was judged guilty on 14 counts
  and condemned to death by fire, contrary to
  provisions of the city ordinances, which limited
  punishment to banishment.

82
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• RCs executed thousands of Protestants throughout
  the century, and they probably would have burned
  S. at the stake if he had not escaped.
• C. took part in only the one execution and he
  argued for a more humane form of execution.
• Further, the event had political overtones Cs
  enemies sought to use Servetus to overthrow C.
  and expel his friends from power in the city
  government.

83
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• C. was probably the most influential leader of
  the Reformation at the school in Geneva men were
  trained who spread Presbyterianism all over
  Western Europe.
• In part his influence was due to the fact that
  Geneva generously welcomed refugees from almost
  every country in Europe often they returned home
  to spread the variety of Christianity they had
  come to know in Geneva.

84
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• It was Cs theology and form of church government
  that triumphed in the Protestant church of
  France, the Reformed church of Germany, the
  Church of Scotland, the Reformed church in
  Hungary, the Reformed church in Holland and in
  Puritanism in England and New England.

85
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Cs biblical and theological writings also have
  been very influential he wrote commentaries on
  every book of the Bible except the Song of
  Solomon and Revelation his Institutes of the
  Christian Religion became the dominant systematic
  theology of the Reformation in all except
  Lutheran lands and he wrote numerous pamphlets
  on current issues.

86
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• His literary output was so large that he
  influenced the development of modern French he
  has been credited along with Rabelais as being
  the co-founder of modern French prose.
• C. has also been called the father of the
  historical-grammatical method of biblical
  interpretationa method that attempt to discover
  what the Scripture meant to those who wrote it,
  and what it means according to the common
  definition of its words and its grammatical
  intent.

87
The Swiss Reformation

• John Calvin
• Modern interpreters have so taken this method for
  granted that they have little realization of the
  part that C. had in its development and of the
  fact that it was virtually nonexistent in the
  church before the Reformation.

88
The Reformation in France

• As the 16th c. wore on, the RCC in France fell
  into a progressively deplorable condition.
• In addition to the general slackness of the
  Renaissance era, it suffered increasingly from
  the Concordat of Bologna (1516).
• This agreement between Francis I of France and
  Pope Leo III gave the French king the right to
  appoint the 10 archbishops, 38 bishops, and 527
  heads of religious houses in the realm.

89
The Reformation in France

• Thus the church became a part of the vast
  patronage system, and individuals won church
  positions by purchase or service to the crown.
• Standards for parish priests declined so that
  only 10 could read.
• The kings dependence on the patronage system and
  revenues helps to explain why Francis I and Henry
  II were so zealous in their persecution of
  Protestants they could not afford to allow the
  system to crumble.

90
The Reformation in France

• Impetus for the French Protestant movement came
  from Geneva and its advance was achieved
  especially through the printed pagethe French
  Bible, Calvins Institutes, and other
  publications.
• The most literate element of the population was
  largely won converts were numerous at the
  universities and among professionals and the
  merchant classes and the artisans the illiterate
  peasantry was hardly touched.

91
The Reformation in France

• Besides the attraction of the gospel, special
  forces worked to move many into the Protestant
  camp.
• Lawyers and other professionals were
  traditionally anticlerical, merchants and
  financiers were discontented with the financial
  strain of Francis Italian wars, and many of the
  lesser nobles were at war with a social and
  political system that victimized them.

92
The Reformation in France

• Some have estimated that 40 of all French nobles
  joined the Huguenot cause.
• Many were not real converts but used
  Protestantism to weaken royal absolutism.
• In spite of persecution, Protestants increased
  rapidly at the beginning of Henry IIs reign
  (1547-1559) the number may have been 400,000 by
  the end they had come to be known commonly as
  Huguenots (meaning uncertain) and they had 2,150
  congregations with ca. 2 million adherents10 of
  the population.

93
The Reformation in France

• Some have estimated that 40 of all French nobles
  joined the Huguenot cause.
• Many were not real converts but used
  Protestantism to weaken royal absolutism.
• In spite of persecution, Protestants increased
  rapidly at the beginning of Henry IIs reign
  (1547-1559) the number may have been 400,000 by
  the end they had come to be known commonly as
  Huguenots (meaning uncertain) and they had 2,150
  congregations with ca. 2 million adherents10 of
  the population.

94
The Reformation in France

• There are several reasons why the F. Reformation
  developed as it did and why it was embroiled in
  the civil wars.
• 1. Many younger nobility became Ps entitled to
  carry swords, they often protected church
  meetings from hostile bands of RCs their
  concerns quarrel with the crown very much
  affected the actions of the church.
• 2. There were 3 major groups of mutually jealous
  nobility in France.

95
The Reformation in France

• The Bourbons controlled most of western F. their
  leadership largely Huguenot.
• The powerful Guises, staunch Roman Catholics, had
  extensive holdings in the east.
• The Montmorencys controlled much of the central
  part of the country their leadership was divided
  between Protestant and Catholic.
• 3. when Henry II died, he left behind him three
  young sons who were dominated by his queen,
  Catherine de Medici.

96
The Reformation in France

• The Bourbons controlled most of western F. their
  leadership largely Huguenot.
• The powerful Guises, staunch Roman Catholics, had
  extensive holdings in the east.
• The Montmorencys controlled much of the central
  part of the country their leadership was divided
  between Protestant and Catholic.
• 3. when Henry II died, he left behind him three
  young sons who were dominated by his queen,
  Catherine de Medici.

97
The Reformation in France

• She was determined to maintain personal control
  and advance the power of her sons and the central
  government.
• She was opposed by many of the nobility who were
  jealous of their old feudal rights and wanted to
  restrict the power of the monarchy.
• 4. Foreign affairs furnished another ingredient
  to the mix as civil war boiled, the English and
  Spanish sent aid to appropriate factions to serve
  their respective national interests.

98
The Reformation in France

• 5. The rising middle class, as political and
  social outsiders and put upon by heavy financial
  exactions, opposed the crown for reasons of their
  own the fact that they were largely Huguenot
  only complicated their antipathy to the
  establishment.
• Such animosities provided the tinder to ignite
  armed conflict 8 wars were fought between RC and
  Prot. forces in F.
• Leading the Ps early on was Gaspard de Coligny,
  but he was among the 15-20,000 who died in the
  St. Bartholomews Day massacre, Aug. 24, 1572, at
  the instigation of Catherine de Medici.

99
The Reformation in France

• Thereafter Henry of Navarre, of the Bourbon
  family, led the Ps.
• Ultimately, with the death of others in the royal
  line, he became heir to the throne.
• Lacking enough strength to complete his conquest,
  he turned RC and won the crown as Henry IV his
  switch obviously was for political reasons, and
  perhaps because he wanted to stop the blood bath.
• At any rate, in 1598 he published the Edict of
  Nantes, a grant of toleration for the Huguenots.

100
The Reformation in France

• It guaranteed them the right to hold public
  office, freedom of worship in most areas of
  France, the privilege of educating their children
  in other than RC schools, and free access to
  universities and hospitals.
• The edict was the first significant recognition
  of the rights of a religious minority in an
  otherwise intolerant age.
• Though the Hs enjoyed a period of great
  prosperity after that, they became a defensive
  minority, and finally Louis XIV revoked the edict
  in 1685 then thousands were driven into exile to
  England, Holland, Prussia and America.

101
The Reformation in England

• Henry VIIIs break with Rome
• Hs marital problems led to Es break with Rome.
• Not only was he tired of Catherine of Aragon and
  enamored with Anne Boleyn, but he was concerned
  that Catherine had not provided him with a male
  heir such a situation could well have led to
  civil war after Hs death.
• H sought annulment of his marriage at the hands
  of the pope.

102
The Reformation in England

• But Pope Clement VII, under the influence of HRE
  Charles V of Spain (nephew of Catherine) would
  not agree.
• H managed to install Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop
  of Canterbury and to win from his annulment of
  his marriage to Catherine.
• Though the rupture with Rome resulted from Hs
  marital difficulties, the Reformation came to
  England for more complex reasons.

103
The Reformation in England

• Social, economic, political, cultural and
  theological factors combined with personal
  matters to contribute to the success of the
  movement.
• The general spirit of anticlericalism, antipathy
  to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Tyndales NT (1525),
  Erasmus humanism, the influence of Lollardy, the
  contributions of the New Devotion, and the impact
  of numerous Lutheran converts were additional
  specific elements that helped to spark the
  Reformation.

104
The Reformation in England

• The break with Rome came in 1534, when Parliament
  passed the Supremacy Act, making Henry head of
  the Church of England.
• Soon after, H, needing money, closed the
  monasteries of England.
• But H. did not provide a Protestant theology he
  merely changed the headship of the church his
  efforts were always directed toward political
  control rather than theological change.

105
The Reformation in England

• That he wanted no change in doctrine is evident
  from his promulgation of the Act of the Six
  Articles (1539), a very Catholic creed, and his
  persecution of individuals of a Lutheran
  persuasion.
• His one innovation was the publication of the
  Great Bible (1537) and its installation in the
  parish churches of the realm.
• Edward VI and Protestant Gains
• There was a marked change, however, during the
  reign of Edward VI (1547-1553).

106
The Reformation in England

• Coming to the throne at a very early age, he was
  ruled by regents who were of Protestant
  persuasion.
• The liturgy was changed, services conducted in
  English, a prayer book composed, marriage allowed
  for clergy, images done away with, and the mass
  abolished.
• Archbishop Cranmer and others composed the
  Forty-two Articles, which later became the
  Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England.

107
The Reformation in England

• A blend of Lutheran and Calvinist teachings, they
  were subscribed to by the king, but not by
  Parliament.
• During his reign a stream of refugees and
  immigrants came to England from the Continent,
  most of them inclined to Zwinglian or Calvinistic
  views.
• Queen Mary I and the Catholic Reaction
• Edward died in the midst of a RC reaction, so
  when Mary I (1553-1558) to the throne was a RC,
  she was well received.

108
The Reformation in England

• In 1554 she married Philip of Spain but had no
  children, so no question of the two nations ever
  arose.
• Edwards religious policy had been too sudden in
  one direction and Marys was too strong in the
  other M. brought the church once more within the
  Roman fold.
• Many Protestants fled the country some 300 were
  martyred including such leaders as Cranmer,
  Ridley, and Latimer.
• Of special importance to the future was that many
  Marian exiles went to Geneva.

109
The Reformation in England

• There they were converted to Calvinism and later
  returned to England to help launch a Puritan
  opposition to Elizabeths establishment.
• Though Mary enjoyed some success in restoring the
  RCC in England, she experienced considerable
  opposition in Parliament though the 1554
  Parliament consented to marriage to Philip, it
  refused to allow Mary to disinherit Elizabeth and
  bequeath the crown by will, and it rejected the
  restoration of laws against the Lollards, the
  reinstatement of the Six Articles, and the
  reestablishment of the monasteries.

110
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• After the persecutions by Mary and the unpopular
  Spanish alliance, the reign of Elizabeth I
  (1558-1603) was well received by the people.
• Persecution came to an end, as did the Spanish
  alliance the C. of E. was reestablished, a
  prayer book drawn up, and the Forty-two Articles
  revised to Thirty-nine and adopted by Parliament.

111
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• E. loved an ornate service, and under her
  influence the C. of E. developed its liturgy in
  that direction.
• In that development E. was opposed by the
  Puritans.
• The Ps, known to have existed as early as the
  days of Edward, stressed rigid morals, church
  discipline and a conversion experience as a
  prerequisite to church membership they
  deemphasized ritualism.

112
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• At first they did not oppose a church government
  controlled by bishops, but the oppressive
  measures by E. and the return of the Marian
  exiles with their Calvinist views changed the
  character of English Puritans.
• Ultimately a great many of them argued for a
  presbyterian form of church government, insisted
  that only Christ could be considered the head of
  the church, and called for a general purification
  of the church and English society.

113
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• Some of them came to prefer a congregational form
  and were called Congregationalists or
  Independents some Congregationalist (Brownists
  or Separatists, later Pilgrims) held to complete
  separation of church and state.
• At about the end of Es reign the Baptists
  appeared, drawing members from the ranks of the
  Puritans or Separatists.

114
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• Baptists insisted on separation of church and
  state, congregational government, and a
  conversion experience prior to church membership
  and baptism.
• Normally they also held that baptism should be by
  immersion.
• To what extent E. intended to follow a middle way
  (via media) or a compromise in the establishment
  in the C. of E. or was forced to do so by
  circumstances is open to question.

115
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• The Anglican establishment was a compromise
  between elements of Catholicism and
  Protestantism.
• The liturgy, prayer book and the government were
  largely RC the Thirty-Nine Articles and the
  theology generally, the preaching, and the
  service in the vernacular were Protestant
  elements.
• The success was due to many factors, but to none
  more than the longevity of Es reign.

116
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• During that 45 years (1558-1603) the English
  populace knew nothing but the establishment she
  had brought into being.
• By the end of her reign, for most English that
  meant only their grandparents could remember a
  time when a different religious system existed.
• There was an important political by-product of
  the E. Reformation both Henry VIII and E. sought
  the approval and support of Parliament in their
  efforts.

117
The Reformation in England

• Queen Elizabeth I
• H. did so in the break with Rome and E. in the
  formal establishment and regulation of the C. of
  E. these actions gave a power and prestige to P.
  that it had not previously had and set the nation
  on a new course politically.
• The rise of Parliament would be important for E.,
  her American colonies, and the future United
  States.

118
The Reformation in England

• James I, the Puritans, the Bible
• James VI of Scotland became James I of England in
  1603 and is significant to Protestants for his
  interest in the Bible translation that bears his
  name (1611).
• He is also important because he increased the
  opposition of the Puritans to the crown by
  arranging for Sunday sports and by encouraging
  Arminianism in England.
• This animosity grew until in the days of Charles
  I it erupted in civil war (1642-1646).

119
The Reformation in England

• James I, the Puritans, the Bible
• Prior to the outbreak of the war, many Englishmen
  had given up hope of any appreciable change in
  English religious life.
• Some, as Separatists (Pilgrims), had gone to
  Holland and/or Plymouth, Massachusetts, and
  others (Puritans) had established the
  Massachusetts Bay Colony.

120
The Reformation in England

• James I, the Puritans, the Bible
• From 1640 to 1660, Parliament and Oliver Cromwell
  ruled the nation.
• The Puritan divines worked with the commissioners
  of the Church of Scotland to compose the
  Westminster Confession, which was adopted by the
  Church of Scotland in 1647 and in part by the
  English Parliament in 1648.

121
The Reformation in Scotland

• Probably in no other country were the RC clergy
  more depraved than in Scotland at the time of the
  Reformation.
• The pioneer Reformer in S. was Patrick Hamilton
  he had been influenced by Luthers views while a
  student in Paris.
• The 2nd great leader was George Wishart, who had
  a Zwinglian and Calvinistic orientation.
• Wishart was martyred in 1546 martyrs blood
  stirred many a heart in Scotland.

122
The Reformation in Scotland

• By the time Cardinal Beaton presided over the
  martyrdom of Wishart, he had made so many enemies
  that a band of nobles (only one of whom was
  Protestant) entered his castle at St. Andrews and
  killed him.
• Wisharts most ardent follower was John Knoxa
  leader with all the enthusiasm of Luther and the
  steadfastness of Calvin.
• K. had just completed his university training at
  St. Andrews about the time of Ws martyrdom.

123
The Reformation in Scotland

• At great personal danger, K. fled for safety to
  the castle of St. Andrews, where the assassins of
  Beaton and an increasing crowd of Protestants
  were holed up after some months, a French fleet,
  coming to the assistance of the Scottish queen,
  took the castle, captured its occupants, and sold
  Knox as a galley slave after 19 mo. the English
  rescued him and he ministered in England during
  the reign of Edward VI.

124
The Reformation in Scotland

• Leaving E. when Bloody Mary came to the throne,
  he ministered briefly among English exiles in
  Frankfurt and then became pastor of a group of
  English exiles in Geneva his chapel was close to
  Calvins cathedral.
• In 1555 he made a brief visit to E. where he
  married and subsequently preached in Scotland for
  9 mo. with great courage then he returned to
  Geneva for another 3 years.

125
The Reformation in Scotland

• Meanwhile the R. message spread widely in
  Scotland important to the success was that in
  1543 Parliament legalized the reading of the
  Bible in English or Scots moreover, a great of
  Protestant doctrinal literature was coming into
  the country.
• The R. was successful among all classes of the
  population of special importance in winning them
  were the plays, ballads and pamphlets that
  blanketed the country lyrics on sacred themes
  taught doctrine, ridiculed the papacy and
  provided a hymnody for the masses.

126
The Reformation in Scotland

• Students were constantly moving to and from
  centers of learning on the Continent, where they
  came in contact with the ideas of Hus, Luther,
  Calvin and others.
• K. himself said that merchants and mariners had
  a prominent role in bringing religious books and
  ideas from the mainland.
• Amazingly, all this R. development was going on
  when there were hardly any Protestant preachers
  in Scotland and no semblance of church
  organization.

127
The Reformation in Scotland

• The political situation after the death of
  James V (1542), S. was ruled by his wife, Mary of
  Guise, from a noble French family.
• Her daughter Mary was sent to France when 6 yrs
  old for 17 months she was queen of France.
• At the time of her mothers death in 1560 she was
  occupied as queen of France thus S. was left
  without a ruling sovereign.
• Knox had returned in 1559 and set about
  organizing a reformation that had already become
  a reality.

128
The Reformation in Scotland

• Without waiting for the absent queen to express
  an opinion, Parliament approved the First
  Scottish Confession and established the Church of
  Scotland in August of 1560.
• Mary returned in 1561 and experienced the
  outspoken opposition of Knox her determination
  to restore the RCC in S. brought her many
  enemies, but her love affairs with worthless men
  sealed her downfall.

129
The Reformation in Scotland

• The refusal of the nobles to permit her third
  husband, the Earl of Bothwell (evidently a
  murderer), to rule as king led to a military
  confrontation, her defeat, and imprisonment in
  1567.
• M. abdicated in favor of her son, James VI and
  her half brother, the Earl of Moray, became
  regent.
• After M. fled to England for safety and was
  imprisoned there, plots against Elizabeth I began
  to swirl around M. finally, in 1587 Elizabeth
  was pressured into executing M.

130
Reformation in the Netherlands

• The teachings of Luther and especially of Calvin
  were readily accepted in the Netherlands.
• Erasmus of Rotterdam had already done effective
  work there, writing devastating satires on the
  Roman church and other instit