REFORMATION:
1. Lutheran Reformation
Centers around the personal influence of Martin
Luther
Primary concern was with the recovery of the
theological doctrine of justification by faith
Appeal to the sole authority of Scripture as
the source of the rift between Luther and Roman Catholic Church
Primarily instituted within the German provinces
2. Calvinist Reformation
Extends theological reforms of Luther by a more
concentrated attempt to reform the morals and worship of the Church --
i.e., "Their reforming program was institutional, social, and ethical,
in many ways similar to the demands for reform emanating from the humanist
movement"
Reform seeks to restore the biblical pattern
of morality and worship
Originated with Huldrych Zwingli; culminates
in John Calvin
Geneva as the political and intellectual center
of its influence
Theological source of English and American 'puritanism'
3. Radical Reformation
Begins with the movement of the 'Anabaptist'
-- the insistence that only those who had made a personal profession of
faith should be baptized
Consider themselves to be the true heirs to
the New Testament church, by allowing only those practices that were expressly
sanctioned or ordained by Scripture
Common elements of radical reformers:
general distrust of external authority and tradition, rejection of infant
baptism, common ownership of property, an emphasis on pacifism, and iconoclastic.
Common
Features of Protestantism:
-
Rejection of Papal
Authority
-
sought a return to a simpler
model of Church leadership as revealed in the New Testament
-
Priority of the Bible
-
Bible as the ultimate
foundation and criterion of Christian thinking
-
Rejection of Medieval
Sacramental System
-
Protestants generally
affirm only 2 sacraments as having Biblical authority: baptism and
communion
-
Priesthood of Believers
-
includes the celebration
of communion in 'both kinds', the belief in the religious value of 'secular'
vocations, and active role played by the laity in Church matters
-
Rejection of Catholic
belief in Purgatory
-
Protestants believed purgatory
was without biblical justification
-
Diminished role of
the cult of the saints and the adoration/devotion expressed towards Mary
-
Protestants generally
believed that this practice tended towards idolatry
Protestant Spirit:
warning against absolutizing
the relative, or warning against idolatry
an ongoing self-critique
insistence on the absolute
sovereignty of God and the relativity of all human institutions
4. Catholic Reformation
Refers primarily to the structural reforms instituted
by the Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1545)
Catholic reforms included:
clarification of doctrine -- reaffirmation
of communion in 'one kind', authority of the Latin Vulgate, and the necessity
of the 7 recognized sacraments
discipline of the clergy -- laid down
strict rules regulating activity of bishops and clergy
emphasis on religious education
advocation of missionary activity
Stimulated within the Catholic church by the
internal reforms of old orders and by the establishment of new orders (e.g.,
Jesuits)
e.g., Ignatius Loyola: founder of the
Society of Jesus
Jesuits given official papal approval in 1540
Spiritual Exercises set out 4-week program
of prayer, meditation, and refelction
Supplemented tradition 3 vows of religious orders
(poverty, chastity, obedience) with the promise to be personally and directly
responsible to the Pope
Most profound influence was in religious education
and through missionary activity