Reform and Renewal of the Christian Church

A much-criticized disorder in the Catholic Church in the 1500s.
When clerics (especially higher ecclesiastics) held several benefices, or offices, simultaneously, collecting revenues from each of them. Many Italian officials in the papal curia held benefices in England, Spain, and Germany, taking revenues from all three countries to pay their salaries and provoking nationalistic resentment.

A much-criticized disorder in the Catholic Church in the 1500s.
Pluralist clerics seldom visited their benefices, let alone performed the spiritual responsibilities those offices entailed. They hired a poor priest, paying him just a fraction of the income to fulfill the spiritual duties of a particular local church.
Italian officials holding offices in three countries were often accused of absenteeism.

Paying for a church title.

A group of pious laypeople, beginning in Holland in the fourteenth century. They lived in stark simplicity while daily carrying out the Gospel teaching of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick. They taught in local schools with the hope of preparing devout candidates for the priesthood. The Brethren sought to make religion a personal, inner experience, and stressed the centrality of the Scriptures in spiritual life.
By the mid-1400s, they had become a true religious revival with houses in the Netherlands, central Germany, and the Rhineland.

*The Imitation of Christ* was a fine expression of the Brethren of the Common Life's spirituality. This book by Thomas á Kempis gained wide appeal among laypeople. It urges Christians to take Christ as their model and seek perfection in a simple way of life.

Pope Julius II expressed concern for reform by summoning the 1512-17 ecumenical council, which met in Rome. Most of the bishops were Italian and didn't represent a broad cross-section of international opinion, so the term "ecumenical" (universal) is not very appropriate to describe their meetings. However, the bishops and theologians strove earnestly to reform the church, recommending higher standards for education of the clergy and instruction of the common people. They placed the responsibility for eliminating bureaucratic squarely on the papacy and suggest significant doctrinal changes.

Martin Luther, a German Augustinian friar, launched the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Albeit not a typical person of his time, Luther articulated the widespread desire for reform of the Christian church and a deep yearning and concern for salvation.

Martin Luther was born at Eisleben in Saxony, the second son of a copper miner and, later, mine owner. He earned a master's degree with distinction at the young age of 21. Badly frightened during a thunderstorm, he vowed to become a friar. He entered the monastery of the Augustinian friars at Erfurt in 1505 and was ordained a priest two years later. He earned a doctorate of theology, and served as Scripture Professor at the University of Wittenberg until his death.

Luther was a very conscientious friar. However, his scrupulous actions only gave him temporary relief from his anxieties about sin and ability to meet God's demands. These apprehensions led him to doubt the value of the monastic life, but since the medieval church held that such a life was sure road to salvation, he was more confused and anxious.
After studying Paul's letters, Luther arrived at a new understanding of his letters and Christian doctrine. He believed that salvation comes not through external observances and penance but through a simple faith in Christ. Faith, he believed, is the means by which God sends humanity His grace, and it is a free gift that cannot be earned.

Martin Luther, severely that ignorant people believed they had no farther need for repentance once they had purchased an indulgence, wrote a letter to Archbishop Albert protesting them, intending it for academic debate.
Through 1518-19, he studied the history of the papacy and denied the pope's authority and a general council's infallibility. The papacy commanded that his books be learned, but he retaliated by publicly burning the letter. He refused to change his mind.

The doctrine of indulgence rested on three principles. First, God is merciful and just. Second, Christ and the saints, through their infinite virtue, established a "treasury of merits", on which the church could draw, due to its special relationship with Christ and the saints. Third, the church had the authority to grant sinners the spiritual benefits of those merits.
An indulgence was originally a remission of the priest-imposed penalties for sin - the church had often granted Crusaders such indulgences in the twelfth century. By the later Middle Ages, people widely believed that an indulgence secure total remission of penalties for sin - on earth or in purgatory - and ensured swift entry into Heaven.

Pope Leo X, eager to continue the construction of Saint Peter's basilica, but hard-pressed for funds, authorized Archbishop Albert to sell indulgences in Germany (because he had given the Pope money.)

John Tetzel, hired by Archbishop Albert to sell indulgences, mounted an advertising blitz. One of his most successful slogans was "As soon as coin in coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs." He permitted men and women to buy indulgences for themselves and for deceased family or friends. He drew up a chart with specific prices for the forgiveness of particular sins.

An argument on "The Power of Indulgences", which Martin Luther sent to Archbishop Albert in 1517. His disciple reported that they were posted on the Wittenberg Castle Church door on the Halloween of 1517. They had been translated into German and were read throughout the empire within months.
Their arguments were meant for academic debate. He argued that indulgences undermined the seriousness of the sacrament of penance, competed with the preaching of the Gospel, and downplayed the importance of charity in Christian life. He firmly rejected the notion that salvation could be achieved by good works, such as indulgences. He challenged the pope's power to grant indulgences and criticized papal wealth. He rested his fundamental argument on the principle that there was no biblical basis for indulgences.

Luther worked out the basic theological tenets that became the articles of faith for his new church.
He defined freedom as independence from the authority of the Roman church, but not to legally established secular powers. he believed rebellion would hasten the end of civilized society. He exalted the state, subordinated the church to it, and exalted the powers that be. He believed in a personal, faith-based religion recalling the spirit of the early church, the centrality of the Scriptures, and the abolition of elaborate ceremonies. He believed that painting and sculpture had value in spreading the Gospel message. He believed that God took delight in the sexual act, but believed that marriage was a woman's career.

Luther's treatise helped fuel the peasant revolts because they thrilled to his belief that a Christian man was a "free lord" - contributing to social unrest.
He believed that a Christian man was subject to none but servant to everyone. Man was both spiritual - the soul - and body - the flesh. A true Christian was turned inward and any outer influences would not change his beliefs or affect his salvation as long as he held to the Word of God.

He ordered Luther to recant his beliefs.
He was a nineteen-year-old Habsburg prince chosen as Emperor to Germany.
He inherited a diverse group of peoples, each governed differently. He believed that he was to be world ruler and had to maintain the unity of Christianity - the last medieval ruler.
When he opened the first diet after securing the imperial title, he believed that he would be the "one" ruler. However, he placed other parts of the empire before German interests.
He defended Catholicism, but because he wasn't interested in Germany's constitutional problems, he couldn't oppose Protestantism there.

Charles V's first diet (an assembly of the Estates of the empire). He summoned Luther to recant, and when he wouldn't, Luther was declared an outlaw. The decision was not enforced because the German princes would not enforce it.

Where Lutheran Protestant thought was officially formulated.

The Catholic dogma that by the priest's consecrating words during Mass, the bread and wine become the actual Body and Blood of Christ - He is then fully present in the host.

Luther's belief that after consecration the bread and wine undergo a spiritual change whereby Christ is really present (Real Presence), but the bread and wine are not transformed.

Fifteenth century Germany witnessed peasant revolts because their economic condition was deteriorating and crop failures only aggravated the situation. They believed that the Scriptures and Luther conformed to their demands.
Massive revolts broke out through Germany, using the slogans "God's righteousness" and "Word of God" to secure justice. The nobility ferociously crushed the revolt, so it strengthened lay rulers' authority.

Representatives of Swabian peasants drew up the Twelve Articles, expressing their grievances. They condemned lords and summarized their crisis. They complained that nobles had seized village common lands, imposed new rents on properties and new services on peasants, and forced the poor to pay death duties with their best animals.

An Austrian house - the strongest ruling family in the German Empire and an international power. With their Maximilian I's marriage to Mary of Burgundy, they became more powerful and angered the French. They never renounced their claim to Burgundy, creating centuries of Habsburg-French conflict.

Five times, Charles V went to war with the French Valois kings - disputing Burgundy. The fighting occured in Germany, keeping it divided. Because the Catholic French king supported the Lutheran princes in their challenge against Catholic Charles V, this long struggle advanced Protestantism and promoted Germany's fragmentation.

Charles agreed to the Peace of Augsburg, which officially recognized Lutheranism. Each prince was permitted to determine the religion his territory must follow - there was no freedom of religion.

A Swiss humanist who introduced the reformation in Switzerland. When he was elected Priest, he announced that he would go "right through the New Testament", believing that the Scriptures were the sole basis of truth. He attacked indulgences, the Mass, monasticism, and celibacy. Although he was supported by civil authorities, he disagreed with Luther - he believed the Eucharist was a memorial of the Last Supper and no change occurred in the elements.

Calvin's theological writings influenced the attitudes all oer the world. This doctor of law had a religios crisis and converted to Protestantism. He believed that God had called him to reform the church. Because of his eloquence and mastery of the Scriptures, his sermons and religious education were powerful tools to deliver the Word. Calvin believed that the Body and Blood of Christ were spiritually but not physically present in the bread and wine, therefore consumed spiritually. He also believed that domesticating God would deprive Him of His glory, allowing only wall inscriptions of the Bible as long as they did not depict God or His Son. He called religious dissenters "dogs and swine".

It embodied his ideas. It explained his belief in God's absolute sovereignty and omnipotence...and our total weakness.

The viewpoint that men and women cannot work to achieve salvation, but God's infinite wisdom determined at the beginning of dime who would be saved and who damned. Although this seems pessimistic, the Calvinist believed that God has saved him/her through Christ's redemption. Predestination was an energizing dynamic forcing a person to undergo hardships in the struggle against evil.

Those who were saved.

The city that Calvin agreed to reform. He made it "a city that was a Church". God's laws and mans were enforced there and Genevans had thorough instruction in the reformed religion.

A body of twelve laymen plus the Company of Pastors, over which Calvin presided. They were to keep watch over everyone - although their eyes where everywhere, corrections were only to turn sinners toward God. It was extremely severe, and made no distinction between a crime and un-Christian conduct. Serious crimes were handled by the civil authorities, who were backed by the Consistory in the application of torture.

A Christian society ruled by God through civil magistrates and reformed ministers.

They believed that only adults could make a free choice about entry into Christianity, so baptism of children was preposterous and not backed by scriptures. They took the Gospel literally and favored a return to the early church - an association of people who had experienced an inner light.
They were religiously tolerant. Each religious community was entirely independent.
They admitted women to the ministry; shared goods; refused public offices; and wouldn't serve in the armed forces, stressing pacifism.
They were a minority.

An English king who wanted his first marriage to be annulled because he had fallen in love with another woman. He claimed that anarchy would result if his first wife's child, Mary, assumed the throne. He petitioned Pope Clement VII for an annulment, but after a refusal, formed his own church. After Wife # 2 did not produce a male, Henry VII had her beheaded and married Jane Seymour, who gave him the desired son, but then died. After three more wives, Henry got Parliament to relegitimate daughters Mary and Elizabeth after son Edward before his death.
He ended nine hundred years of monastic life because he wanted their wealth, which he sold to the nobility and used to finance a war. He retained Catholic practices but was comfortable with men of Protestant sympathies. He saw the growth of a modern state.

Although the Lollards had been driven underground, they survived in southern England. They stressed the individual's interpretation of the Bible - the only standard of holiness. They didn't value the sacraments or clerics. They opposed ecclesiastical wealth, the veneration of the saints, prayers for the dead, and war, while insisting on the individual's direct responsibility to God.

Henry VII's second wife. After failing to produce a male child, she was beheaded for "adulterous incest".

Henry VII's first wife. He had the marriage annulled.

It legalized the Reformation by declaring the king to be the supreme sovereign in England and forbidding judicial appeals to the papacy. It established the king as the highest legal authority, but led to heated debate in Parliament.

It declared the King as supreme head of the Church of England, but led to heated debate in Parliament.

The English Church, which moved in a moderately Protestant direction. Services were in English, there were no monasteries, and clergymen could marry. Apart from that, the services were quite traditional.

King Henry VII's chief minister. He developed bureaucratic machinery to manage formerly monastic land. He reformed the king's household, council, secretariats, and Exchequer. He set up new state departments and created a deficit fund for surplus money, resulting in economic efficiency.

A massive multiclass rebellion, the largest in English history, due to popular opposition to the religious changes. The pilgrims accepted a truce, and their leaders were executed.

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who simplified the liturgy and invited Protestant theologians to England, prepared the Book of Common Prayer which included the order of services for the Church of England in stately, dignified English.

Mary Tudor's brief reign turned the country sharply back to Catholicism. She rescinded her father's Reformation Legislation and married Catholic cousin Philip of Spain. She also executed several hundred Protestants, alienating her subjects.

Elizabeth, who had been raised a Protestant, chose a middle course. She insisted on dignity in church services and political order, but people could believe what they wanted. She styled herself "Supreme Governor of the Church of England, etc."

Elizabeth's Parliamentary legislation. It required outward conformity to the Church of England and ceremonial uniformity. Everyone had to attend services or be fined.

People who wanted the Catholic elements of the Church eliminated - to "purify" the church.

A man who dominated the reform movement in Scotland. This dour, single-minded, fearless, and passionate preacher reformed the Scottish church after Calvin's Geneva. He persuaded the Parliament to end papal authority before establishing the Presbyterian church, governed by ministers called presbyters. His Book of Common Order was the liturgical directory.

It began before 1517 and sought renewal through the stimulation of spiritual fervor. A central feature was the establishment of new religious orders.

Catholic Reformation art came into full flowering with the style known as baroque - reflecting a dynamic spirit. The church encouraged artists to touch people while conveying the church's power.
They progressed simultaneously after 1540.

A force spearheaded by the Council of Trent. It was a reaction to the spread of Protestantism, involving efforts to convince dissidents to return to the church before they corrupted the entire Catholic community. If the heretic didn't comply, reformers called on temporal authorities to defend the society by expelling/eliminating the dissident.

A modest effort at reform.

It spearheaded the reformation - pressing for reform and publishing a clear statement of Catholic faith. its achievements were impressive - dealing with doctrinal and disciplinary matters; giving equal validity to the Scriptures and to tradition; and reaffirming the sacraments and transubstantiation. It officially addressed the subject of art, declaring that veneration should be given to holy likenesses by recalling the saints' virtues and the love of God. Although it did not meet everyone's expectations (reform was not immediate, nor was there a reconciliation with Protestantism) it served as the basis for Catholic faith.

Stronger ecclesiastical discipline. They required bishops to reside in their own dioceses, suppressed pluralism and simony, and forbade the sale of indulgences. Clerics were to give up their concubines and bishops had absolute jurisdiction over the clergy of their dioceses as long as they visited every religious house once every two years. Every diocese must establish a seminary for clerical education, and give priority to the poor or those with "vocations". The uneducated laity were to be educated. A marriage must be public. They laid a basis for the church's renewal and the enforcement of correction.

A Roman aristocrat, humanist, and astrologer who made his teenagers grandsons cardinals. Albeit an unlikely person to reform, he appointed reform-minded men, established the Inquisition, and called the Council of Trent.

A saint and the first woman declared a Doctor of the Church. At age twenty, she entered a too-worldly convent. Twenty years later, through spiritual literature, she began to reform convents - fourteen in total.
Her principles were that of poverty - charity and work must support the convent; enclosure; equality; and obedience.
She also provided a scientific description of prayer and was capable of discernment of character.

A prestigious order of nuns combatting heresy through education. They were the first religious authority who concentrated on teaching future wives and mothers to re-Christianize society. They provided superior education and inculcated Catholic spiritual ideals.

A society that saw the reformation as a pastoral problem related to spiritual condition. They planned to help souls, developing into a tightly knit group. After a two year novitiate, candidates vowed to go anywhere to help souls. They had a tradition of flexibility, attracting many recruits. They were modern humanists and exerted great political influence.

A former Spanish soldier who gave up his career to become a soldier of Christ after studying religion. He gained insights that directed the imagination and will to the reform of life and piety. He was a man of considerable personal magnetism and possessed a gift for leadership.

A Sacred Congregation with jurisdiction over all of Rome. It was a six-cardinal committee with judicial power over all Catholics and it vigorously attacked heresy. It operated under the principles of Roman law. It destroyed heresy.

A catalogue of forbidden reading.