The Reformation and the Bible

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The Reformation and the Bible

• Week Eight
• Theology in Context

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Session Overview

• Lecture
• Examine the myth of Protestant Origins
• Consider some contexts behind the Reformation
• Outline some aspects of the Reformation
• Consider the Reformation as Reformations
• Highlight some main themes in Reformation thought
• Overview some main Reformers and their
  differences
• Seminar
• Examine justification through faith
• Explore some issues concerning scripture and
  tradition in Protestant and Catholic thought

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The Myth of Protestant Origins

• Or, how the Reformation didnt happen
• In the midst of Catholic Europe
• A unified monolithic religious Christendom
  centred around unswerving loyalty to the Pope in
  Rome
• A monk is thinking

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Hi! My names Martin Luther. And Ive just come
to a unique realization! The teachings of the
Church have departed from the Bible. I must go
and tell everyone!
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So he marches
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from his monastery
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to the castle church
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in Wittenburg (Germany)
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and posts his complaints
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on the door
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Hi! Its me, Martin Luther, again. And Ive just
started the Protestant Reformation. Launching a
devastating attack on the power and authority of
the Pope and the entire Roman Catholic Church!
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However, this is not what happened

• so, if that didnt happen what did?
• Martin Luther did not walk from monastery to
  castle church
• He did write the famous 95 Theses but gave them
  by hand to fellow academics

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However

• Luther didnt want to attack Romes authority
• Luther wanted reform not (yet) Reformation
• Luthers theses intended only to start debate on
  indulgences (see later)
• It is a mystery to me how my theses were spread
  to so many places. They were meant exclusively
  for our academic circle here. (Luther, M.,
  letter, quoted in Miles, M., The Word Made Flesh,
  p. 244)
• So what turned a minor provincial debating paper
  into the schism that has split Western
  Christianity till today?

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Some Contexts of the Reformation

• Into (early) modernity
• The state of the church
• War and plague
• Calls for reform
• Renaissance and Humanism
• Other factors
• Luther

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Into modernity

• Medieval world gt early modern world
• feudalism gt capitalism
• Break down of old order and established
  hierarchies
• loose federation of small states gt powerful
  centralized nations
• Princes want greater autonomy and freedom
• new forms of government e.g. Republics, absolute
  monarchy
• Moves away from ecclesiastical power
• The political world of medieval Europe is
  passing
• does a new political sensibility need a new
  religious sensibility?

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The State of the Medieval Church

• Heresy
• Numerous heretical groups/ movements
• Papal crises
• C 14th 2 rival popes
• Council of Pisa 1409
• Result 3 popes
• Council of Constance 1417
• Implications
• councils more powerful than popes
• congregation of believers possess greater
  authority
• Debt
• taxes
• sell church positions
• spiritual benefits, esp. indulgences (to which we
  shall return)
• Corruption
• multiple positions (simony)
• Savonarola
• minor clergy in poverty
• The Clergy

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War and Plague

• Ravaged Europe C 13th 14th
• 100 Years War
• Black Death
• instability and doubt
• The afterlife
• Judgement
• purgatory
• apocalyptic expectations
• Joachim of Fiore
• The end of the world is nigh

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Calls for Reform

• Luther was not the first (or last) reformer
• Other (important) reformers
• Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (fifteenth century)
• trying to reform corruption - popes ambassador
  to Germany
• John Wycliff (1329-1384)
• More on him in due course
• John Hus (1373-1415)
• Rector of the University of Prague
• Influenced by Wycliffe
• Council of Constance
• safe-conduct from Holy Roman Emperor
• burnt at the stake heretic
• Irony
• never regarded himself as a heretic

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The Morning Star of the Reformation

• John Wycliff (1329-1384)
• Oxford academic
• Lollards
• Main critiques
• Bible infallible
• above church authority and tradition
• NT model to judge church
• holiness of character true test of
  righteousness
• not church position
• attacked popes involvement in political disputes
• Motivation worldly
• cult of saints debased
• magical healing or blessings
• Treasury of Merit
• A fallacy and blasphemy
• What is it and why is it so very important see
  later.

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Renaissance and Humanism

• Revival of study of Greece and Rome
• Renewed study of classical languages
• Read New Testament in Greek
• Read Old Testament in Hebrew
• Challenge adequacy of Latin vulgate
• Renewed study of ancient philosophy and increased
  rationalism in study
• Challenge scholastic methods and assumptions

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Other Trends

• Printing
• widespread dissemination of Luthers ideas
• vernacular translations of Bible
• Preaching
• demand for more educated form of piety
• cities
• Personalised spirituality
• Mystical manuals (e.g. Cloud of Unknowing,
  Theologica Germanica)

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Luthers ContextOr some of them he has a lot
too

• 95 theses provoke debate
• One issue indulgences
• Not attack on whole church
• However, this provoked Rome
• Met virulent opposition
• excommunication 1521
• break with Rome
• Therefore the Reformation begins in 1521/2 not
  1517!

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So what was the indulgence issue?

• 5 Key factors
• The practice of indulgences
• Treasury of Merit
• Purgatory and the cult of the dead
• Tetzel
• Luthers arguments

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The Practice of Indulgences

• Originally
• Indulgences a form of penance
• For remittance of sins the church would impose a
  penance (i.e. fasting, pilgrimage, etc.)
• The indulgence was a certificate to say this had
  been done
• By Luthers time
• Indulgences were (essentially) sold
• While the notion of penance existed, most people
  associated getting the piece of paper with
  getting the reward
• Moreover, they could be bought for other people,
  including the dead
• They had also become associated with the idea of
  the Treasury of Merit

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The Treasury of Merit

• What was it?
• A great celestial bank account of holiness and
  good merit
• Where did it come from?
• The saints, due to their vast holiness and
  prayers, had built up more good merit than they
  needed for salvation, i.e. the Treasury of Merit
  is their surplus
• Why was it useful?
• Because it could be made available to ordinary
  believers to make up for their shortfall via the
  pope
• It could also rescue those in purgatory
• The critique?
• Wycliff
• idea pure fantasy
• pope could control blasphemy

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Purgatory and the Cult of the Dead

• From c. C 11th become standard teaching
• At death mini judgement
• Exceptionally good heaven
• Exceptionally bad hell
• Mediocrity purgatory
• A place of torture/ purgation rid soul of sins
  and make ready for heaven
• C 14th Black death and war
• Great concern with dead
• Whole families, even villages died were they
  ready?
• Late medieval faith, was a religion practised by
  the living on behalf of the deceased

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Tetzel

• Johannes Tetzel
• Indulgence seller for Archbishop of Mainz
• 3 Sees and St Peters, Rome
• As soon as a penny in the pot both ring, a soul
  from purgatory will spring
• Utterly incensed Luther
• Posted 95 theses

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Luthers arguments

• The nature of repentance
• Remission of sins from true repentance through
  Christ alone
• (Theses 16-17)
• The Popes authority
• Pope cannot forgive sin, only declare its
  forgiveness by God
• (Theses 6)
• At most, pope can only forgive church punishments
  in this life
• (Theses 20,21,24,25)
• Popes authority cannot extend to purgatory
• (Theses 13-19, 22, 25)
• Faulty theology
• No Treasury of Merit
• (Thesis 62)
• No use
• Better to give money to the poor than buy
  indulgences
• (Theses 41-45)
• Rhetoric
• Why does not the Pope empty purgatory for the
  sake of most holy love and the supreme need of
  souls?
• (Theses 82)

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From debating points to Reformation

• Why did the Reformation happen now?
• The context?

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The significance of the contexts

• Into (early) modernity
• Princes want freedom from Rome and control of
  church lands
• The state of the church
• Dissatisfaction
• War and plague
• Possibility for indulgences to be abused
• Creates dissatisfaction
• Challenge to traditional beliefs/ way of life
• Calls for reform
• It wasnt new
• A ready and primed audience
• Renaissance and Humanism
• Critique of church tradition
• New intellectual currents
• New emphasis upon religion of Jesus and Biblical
  views
• Other factors
• Luthers pamphlets spread by local printer
• A desire for a new forms of piety
• Luther

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Other factors in favour

• Loss of prestige of church
• Women vs. male hierarchy
• Peasants want new social order
• City burghers want new respect
• Other influential reformers also appear

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The Reformation(s)

• IMPORTANT
• Various uses The Protestant Reformation The
  Catholic (Counter-)Reformation The Lutheran
  Reformation The Reformation
• The (Protestant) Reformation was the (natural)
  expression of long standing dissatisfaction with
  the church and its teachings
• The Reformation was not a unified event other
  currents/ thinkers either independently or
  inspired by Luther took it in different ways
• Nevertheless, certain common features exist
  against the Reformations/ Reformers

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The Main Issues in Reformation Thought

• Indulgences
• Priesthood
• Tradition and scripture
• Justification by faith alone
• Sacraments
• Central focus
• Back to basics
• establish truths from the Biblical text

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The Two Reformations

• Magisterial Reformation
• So-called because they accept civil magistrates
• Want reform of corrupt practices in church
• Traditional beliefs and practices accepted and
  adapted
• Mainstream reformers Luther, Calvin, Zwingli
• Radical Reformation
• Rejects all secular and conventional authority
• Want total reform of the church
• All beliefs and practices open to question
• Anabaptist movement (and offshoots)

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Martin Luther (1483-1546)

• Biographical
• Entered order of Augustinian Friars 1505
• Professor of Biblical Theology at University of
  Wittenberg 1512
• Public attention 1917
• Confrontation with Rome Leipzig Disputation
  1519 Diet of Augsburg 1518 Frederick the Wise,
  German soil, fled Excommunication 3rd Jan 1521
  Diet of Worms 1521 banished by Charles V
  prison Wartburg free 1522
• Theological
• Personal concerns for salvation not justified
  by being a good monk
• Rethinking of previous theology
• The theology of the cross
• Free Grace justification
• Both ideas from Johann von Staupitz spiritual
  father
• Was the Reformation a continuation of late
  medieval trends not a new movement?
• Politics
• Protection of Frederick the Wise
• Indulgences and relics
• German princes tired of Roman control
• The Peasant's War

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John Calvin (1509-1564)

• Significance
• Second generation of reformers
• Saw himself as faithful follower of Luther
• greatest theological systematizer
• theocratic state Geneva
• Model for others
• Theology
• Gods absolute sovereignty
• Humans utterly sinful - entirely dependent on
  Gods grace
• unable to do anything for own salvation
• Augustine Luther
• Predestination
• God pre-decided the elect
• gives grace
• No salvation apart from this
• Geneva
• Arrives 1536 invited to set up reform leaves
  1538 invited to return 1541
• Sets up reforming system and school - spreads

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Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531)aka Ulrich, Huldreich

• The Third Man of the Reformation
• Life
• Early role as pastor to mercenaries in papal
  employ
• Vicar of Zurich 1519
• Sets up reform programme (before Lutheran?)
• Died in battle
• Main difference with others
• Sacramental theology
• Catholic Church accepts 7 sacraments
• (Most) Reformers accept 2 (baptism and Eucharist)
• Eucharistic theology
• Catholic transubstantiation
• Luther Christs real presence
• Zwingli just a memorial

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Radical Reformation

• Often termed Anabaptist but not unified group
• Early Anabaptist movement around Zurich
• Swiss Brethren 1525
• Dispute with Zwingli
• Anaptist re-baptist
• Only accept adult baptism
• Difference reject all church tradition
• Only adult baptism in NT
• Reject anything not in NT
• Therefore (some) dispute Trinity, Divinity of
  Christ
• Most killed Munster
• Continuation Quakers, Amish

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Seminar

• Justification by faith
• Bible and Tradition

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Read LutherThe autobiographical
introductionor Preface to his Works of 1545

• Discuss the following four questions
• What change occurs in Luthers understanding of
  the term the righteousness of God
• Luther sees faith as essential to salvation.
  Discuss what it means to him in relation to these
  three terms/ ideas knowledge trust unity.
• Find the term passive righteousness. What do
  you understand Luther to mean by this? How does
  it relate to faith?
• What difference is there between Luthers
  theology of justification outlined here and what
  you know of previous medieval/ Catholic beliefs
  and practices.

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Luther

• Answers
• What change occurs in Luthers understanding of
  the term the righteousness of God
• From a wrathful God righteousness punishment
  of unrighteousness
• To loving God righteousness forgiveness of
  sinners
• Luther sees faith as essential to salvation.
  Discuss what it means to him in relation to these
  three terms/ ideas knowledge trust unity.
• Faith is personal not just knowledge of
  historical events
• Faith requires a leap to trust that God will
  remit sins
• Faith unites the believer to Christ
• Find the term passive righteousness. What do
  you understand Luther to mean by this? How does
  it relate to faith?
• This means that salvation is Gods work, we do
  nothing it is given
• Therefore, we do justify ourselves by having
  faith, rather, because we have faith God will
  graciously save us, but even this faith is a gift
  from God
• What difference is there between Luthers
  theology of justification outlined here and what
  you know of previous medieval/ Catholic beliefs
  and practices.
• It is a change from salvation through works the
  believer does good and purifies himself to become
  acceptable before God to belief that mans
  inherent sinfulness means he/she can never be
  acceptable before God and so salvation is pure
  graciousness

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The Bible and Tradition

• Problem 1 The translation of the text
• Problem 2 The OT the content of scripture
• Problem 3 The authority of tradition and
  scripture

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Problem 1 Translation

• The Latin Vulgate
• Accepted translation/ version of Bible
• Jerome 382 and 405 CE
• Honoured by centuries of tradition
• However
• Renaissance scholarship found flaws
• Comparison with Greek and Hebrew
• Raises many questions
• Why do some versions assume authoritative
  status, e.g. AV?
• Why does Christianity accept translations as the
  Bible (vs. Islam and Judaism and Hinduism)?
• Is it necessary to read Greek, Aramaic, and
  Syriac (several forms of each) to understand the
  NT?

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Problem 2 The Old Testament

• 3 versions
• Comparison of Vulgate against Hebrew Bible
• Extra books rejected by reformers
• Addition to Jewish canon
• Form appendix apocrypha
• another agenda some Catholic practises, praying
  for the dead, found in apocrypha (2 Macc. 12
  40-6)
• Question what scripture consists of.
• Issues arising
• Who decides what is in or out?
• Christian vs. Jewish tradition?
• New lists of scriptural works now OT in debate

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Problem 3 Grounding authority (i)

• Sola Scriptura by scripture alone
• This motto of the Reformation meant that anything
  not grounded in scripture was
• Not essential to salvation
• Was not countenanced for Christian belief
• Question what is the role of tradition for the
  reformers?

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Problem 3 Grounding authority (ii)

• Read Calvin, selected from The Institutes of the
  Christian Religion, VIII, 8, 9, 10, 11 IX, 2, 8
• Compare with The Council of Trent on scripture
  and tradition
• How would you define the difference between the
  Protestant and Roman Catholic positions on the
  relationship and role of tradition and scripture
  as expressed here?

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Problem 3 Grounding authority (iii)

• 3 theories of scripture and tradition (McGrath)
• T0 scripture as interpreted in the Spirit
• Sebastian Franck (16th) The Bible is a book
  sealed with seven seals which none can open
  unless he has the key of David, which is the
  illumination of the Spirit
• T1 scripture as traditionally understood
• Calvin The difference between us and the
  papists is that they believe that the church
  cannot be the pillar of the truth unless she
  presides over the Word of God. We, on the other
  hand, assert that it is because she reverently
  subjects herself to the Word of God that the
  truth is preserved by her, and passed on to
  others by her hands.
• T2 scripture supplemented by tradition
• Council of Trent (1546) All saving truths and
  rules of conduct are contained in the written
  books and in the unwritten traditions, received
  from the mouth of Christ himself or from the
  apostles themselves.

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Concluding Discussion

• By deciding what constituted scripture were the
  Reformers not actually asserting the tradition of
  the church (to be able to make and change the
  Christian canon) as more important than
  scripture?
• Some people have suggested that the Reformation
  rather than strengthening the prestige of the
  Bible, by providing a fundamental challenge to
  all authority including that of the text
  provided a vital step in the development of
  Biblical criticism. To what extent do you think
  this might be true?
• Many reform movements, such as the Reformation,
  have envisaged a return to the original
  revelation and the pure teachings of the text.
  Is it ever possible to return to an original
  text? What constitutes a barrier to this?