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what was the reformation?

2/8/2015

26 Comments

 
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Before becoming Catholic, I was an evangelical Protestant for about twenty years, an ordained Protestant minister for more than eleven. My conversion was hard. I broke a lot of glass coming into the Church. Because of my background and situation, becoming Catholic wasn't something done quickly. It was the result of intensive thought and prayer over the course of some four years. It involved a rethinking of my entire worldview as a Christian --- the teaching of Scripture, the history of the Church.

Given this experience, I can't talk about Catholicism and Protestantism without instinctively making the case for the one and against the other. At the same time, I can't talk about Protestantism without deep affection for those I still consider my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

The Most Serious Division in Christian History

Catholic philosopher Peter Kreeft has referred to the division that occurred at the time of the Reformation (and that still exists between Catholic and Protestant) as “the most serious division” in the history of Christianity. It certainly was, and is. And the Catholic Church acknowledges that it is not without blame for the fracturing of Christ's one Church that occurred in the early 16th century. 

In fact, whatever blame may be assigned for what happened back then, it certainly is not the fault of Protestants alive today and Catholics accept them as fellow Christians. 

Quoting the official Catechism of the Catholic Church:
In this one and only Church of God from it's very beginnings there arose certain rifts....
But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church -- for which, often enough, men on both sides were to blame. 

However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers (par. 816-818)
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I have no doubt in my mind that I was a Christian for 20 years before I ever became a Catholic --- that I knew Christ.
I also have no doubt in my mind that the Spirit of God was present and active in the evangelical Protestant churches I attended and served during those years. 

And our Catechism agrees with this as well. In fact, in the very next paragraph we read:
Christ uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church (par. 819).
And so, with respect and affection, over the course of the next several postings I want to ask the questions: What was the Reformation? And why did it happen? My goal is to help Catholics to better understand those we often refer to as our "separated brethren."

In this post, as best I can I want to ask and answer the first question..


What was the Reformation?

Discussing this same question, Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc began by emphasizing what the Reformation was not. First, he said, it was not a matter of individual Christians introducing one or two or three particular false doctrines that needed to be dealt with. It more more general than that.

Nor, Belloc continues, was it the creation, the introduction, of a new and separate religion, as was the case with Islam in the seventh century. 

I sometimes hear Catholics speak of Protestants as though they were members of a different religion: “Oh, he belongs to a different religion, he’s a Baptist.” I’ve even heard Catholics says, “Oh, she’s not a Catholic. She’s a Christian!” Allow me attempt the impossible and put a permanent stop to this. Wrong! The division between Catholicism and Protestantism is a division within Christianity. Catholics and Protestants are both Christians. The Reformation was not the creation of a new religion.

Well, if it wasn't a matter of disagreements over a doctrine or two or even three. And it wasn't the introduction of a new religion, what was the Reformation?  What Belloc emphasizes is that Protestantism created "a certain separate moral atmosphere," which he characterizes as that of "reaction against a united spiritual authority."  This moral atmosphere, he says...
...so continued in vigor as both to break up our European civilization in the West and to launch at last a general doubt, spreading more and more widely.
Reaction Against the Authority of the Catholic Church

We can see this in lives of the Reformers.

For instance, you read Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and he doesn’t seem to have gone into his study and come forth with one or two or three “improvements” on Catholic theology, a couple of doctrines he believes the Church to be mistaken about. Rather, he seems to have taken his Bible and gone into his study and come forth with his own total vision of Christianity.

Catholicism is something that is rejected outright. There's the sense that he is reinventing the wheel, starting over, returning to the original sources and taking a fresh look at Christian theology. And when he speaks about the Catholic Church, he doesn’t about her "errors" so much as her "evils." 

What comes through is “a certain moral atmosphere” that could be characterized as a reaction against a united spiritual authority. In particular, a reaction against the authority of the Catholic Church.

We can sense this same "moral atmosphere" in the attitudes of Catholics today who oppose a number of the Church’s settled teachings --- on women in the priesthood, priestly celibacy, birth control, the authority of the bishop of Rome, abortion, divorce and remarriage...

For the most part, it’s not as though these people have rigorously studied the scriptural and theological arguments in favor of the Church’s positions on each of these issues and answered them. Their stand is a stand against the idea of a unified spiritual authority. Their protest embodies and conveys a certain moral atmosphere. They don’t like being told what is right and wrong. They want the freedom to decide for themselves what they think about women in the priesthood, birth control, and so forth.

This is at the heart of what the Reformation was. 

It was a dispute over the issue of authority that tore the Church apart in the early 16th century. And the separation that occurred at that time between Catholic and Protestant --- it was a separation between those who continued to embrace the spiritual authority of the Catholic Church and those who rejected that authority to stand, with Luther, on the authority of Scripture alone.

What Protestants Have in Common

Now, Protestantism began immediately to take numerous forms. 

Martin Luther began by saying, “I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, in matters of faith each Christian is his own pope and counsel."  Within a very short time (two years!) he was complaining, "There are as many sects and beliefs as there are heads!"

Protestantism fragmented almost immediately because of disagreements among the various reformers and churches created by the Reformation. But the one thing Protestants had in common was this reaction against the idea that there existed on earth a united spiritual authority outside of the Bible itself, and that the Catholic Church represented that spiritual authority.

And this is still the essence of the disagreement.

There are a great number of Protestant sects and denominations in the world today. And they differ with one another on a number of issues doctrinal and moral. But there’s one thing they’re in perfect agreement on: “The Catholic Church has no spiritual authority over me. God has given us his Word in the Bible. God has put his Spirit in our hearts. He’s given us pastors and teachers to assist us in understanding the Holy Scriptures. What more do we need?" 

Sola Scriptura

Another way to express this is to say that the foundation of the Protestant worldview is sola scriptura -- the belief that the Bible serves as the "sole infallible rule of faith and practice" for the individual believer, and for the church as well. This is how evangelical Protestants think. 

This is how I thought for many, many years. And for the most part, it wasn't a position I came to as a result of some serious in-depth analysis of the Protestant and Catholic “claims” with respect to the issue of authority. For the most part, it was simply assumed.  Every Christian I knew thought this way, as well as every church I attended and every teacher I listened to.

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So how did Protestants come to think like this?  

What were the causes of the Reformation in the 16th century?  And how is it that so many at that particular point in history came to react against the spiritual authority of the Church?  

This is where we'll pick up next week...

By the way, I remember some years back watching an entire season of 24 with my family -- straight through. The way Hollywood structured the series, it seemed at the time impossible to do anything other. (Don't start watching Breaking Bad. That one has over 50 episodes.)  Anyway, I'm aware that theological cliff-hangers do not possess the same level of power. But it's the best I can do.

26 Comments
Pearl McCarthy
2/8/2015 11:51:11 am

I would like you to address the issue of culture in talking about being Catholic or Protestant. I grew up Jewish and later read the New Testament on my own and was searching for the right church. I went to over ten churches and basically decided that the Catholic church was the original church. I have also over the years gone to Protestant Bible studies. The Apologetic's College weekend was very helpful and I am very grateful to have gone. What I discovered that a lot of Catholics have gone to Protestant churches. I also find that a lot of people who grew up in the Catholic church just left and don't go to any church. When I went to Protestant Bible studies there were always women (I always went to women's Bible studies) who didn't accept I was a Christian even though I happen to have been baptized by immersion and believed Jesus suffered and died for my sins, etc. There are so many dynamic programs in the Protestant Churches, I think it is a culture that feel refreshing to some people. I am praying for the Catholic church, and it's people like you that are really refreshing. The Catholic church honors tradition and changes really slowly and it's important that we are welcoming and loving. It saddens me when I hear people tell me they were brought up Catholic and don't go to church anymore. If someones goes to a Protestant church who was brought up Catholic they are going there because they like the preaching, music, programs, their spouse, at least they are going to church.
There are really anointed things about every church, There is a love of scripture that is slowly creeping into the Catholic church that I see as coming from the Protestant churches. I love that with You tube, radio, media you really can listen and read who ever you want.

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Joe
2/8/2015 01:44:18 pm

Great post, Pearl. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am excited to have you part of the family.

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John Peters
2/8/2015 02:40:41 pm

Thankyou Pearl for your thoughts. I just love the way God is calling back those separated from the Catholic Church, and using them to inspire and instruct us in our faith. We are so blessed to have them, and cradle Catholics like myself can only grow in faith from the benefits of the experiences of these wonderful people. We as catholics have no excuses not to know our faith better, given the large numbers of new, and returned Catholics fired up with the Holy Spirit, and so well versed in all things Catholic. And I agree with you, their love of scripture seems to have been ignited by their experiences in their protestant traditions. I feel we are on the brink of a wonderful revival, with Catholics no longer taking their faith for granted,thanks to the inspired instruction of these wonderful people

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lovelett knight
2/10/2015 11:12:34 pm

I came into the Church from an evangelical background after I witnessed the beautiful change in my husband when he returned to the sacraments. I loved the Lord and His Church before I entered and since then my understanding and ability to love more the way Christ loves has grown, so much peace and harmony in my life now.

Tiah
2/13/2015 02:00:43 am

I pray for the same, and I'm a cradle Catholic.. your reply was heart warming

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Jim Anderson
2/8/2015 01:23:03 pm

Thank you, Ken, for your great insight on these issues. I have been listening to your new talks on Luther during my commute to and from work. I strongly recommend these talks to all. God bless you!

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Patty Berry
2/8/2015 02:17:58 pm

I'm really enjoying your teachings here on line. You have much to offer us cradle Catholics who never really had to search and struggle to find the truth intellectually. I praise God that you are sharing your background, knowledge and experience from your Protestant life to enrich our understanding of these very important historical data that so impacted the Church. You and Jeff Cavins share very similar experiences and are both a wonderful blessing to our Church as teachers. I THANK the Lord for YOU!! (really enjoyed hearing you at that Legatus meeting a few weeks ago!)

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scott spence
2/8/2015 07:04:13 pm

I have heard the term many times "separated bretherin" and I think there is some truth to it but the term is used very generally. You might have been as well as others a Christian for many years but to claim Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life is not the sole unifying element and is sometimes the only similar idea. Happy talk a Kreeft term is a sincere attempt but a sad reality. Looking forward to the next installment

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Ken
2/9/2015 03:17:57 am

Thanks, all. It's encouraging to hear that someone is benefiting.

Scott, the term "separated brethren" arises pretty naturally from the quotations I offered from the Catechism. And of course it's a general way of speaking, not meant to apply necessarily to every individual Protestant, or evangelical Bible Christian. And I'd hasten to add that not every person to whom the term "Catholic" is applied is a brother in Christ. The point of the Catechism is that there is much truth in these separated communities which the Holy Spirit uses as means of grace. The state of each individual is ultimately known to God alone..

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Doug
2/10/2015 01:13:08 am

Thanks for putting these issues out on the table, Ken. I'm looking forward to the rest of the story. I've always heard the Protestant side, it'll be interesting to see how the other side understands it. It is always difficult to play the part of the neutral moderator especially when one's soul is dedicated to one side or the other. Godspeed in that endeavor.

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Rusty
2/10/2015 09:36:14 pm

Great article and looking forward to the next one! FYI I think there might be a typo in the third paragraph of the "What was the Reformation?" section. I think you meant "Catholics AND Protestants are both Christians."

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Ken
2/10/2015 11:28:15 pm

Thank you! I fixed it.

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Mary Jo
2/10/2015 10:28:16 pm

Not sure if it's just me or not, but I think your topic is important, so here goes. Perhaps have someone read or edit your posts before posting as I had to "double-back" a few times. Don't want people to dismiss your message due to sentence structure. It might just be me, as this may be the nature of blog posts, but I care about your message. Thank you very much for your efforts!!!

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Ken
2/10/2015 11:27:51 pm

Mary Jo, thank you. Can you give me an example I can look at? Maybe I read too many older books where sentences were a page long with seventeen semi-colons... But I always want to learn.

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João Felipe Melo
2/10/2015 10:33:42 pm

Nice! It must be emphasized that during the Reformation period: the Cruzade's centuries XI-XIII finally reunited the christendom, after the political complication of the IX and X centuries, but the period that follows it and serves as the background for the Reformation isn't great. Where there is war, there is faith, sure, but also money. Lots of it. During these centuries, government and the Holly Church became much more intimate, with the clergy assuming secular administration positions. It is easy to see that complains on the clergy started to emerge from every side.
The Reformation wouldn't be such a devastating event if the nobility wasn't involved in it, but it was, unfortunately. It was much more a political crisis, than a theological one. Part of the guilt, of course, is a cross the Catholic Church will carry for eternity; the popes took too long to act (Trento was held in 1545, but the intensification of the Reformation's events had started 20 years before or even more, if we consider Erasmo of Rotterdam as a part of it, not just a critic).
As a Roman Catholic, the more I study about it, one thing gets more and more clear: the Church didn't change what is was in face of division. Trento reafirmed was the Church already was, not what it should be to be pleasant to the Reformation. (By the way, I consider the word "reformation" really out of place; it can be applied to the christendom, in the sense of "division", but not to the Catholic Church, as meaning "change").

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Ken
2/10/2015 11:31:52 pm

Good information. Thank you. The Reformation is the common way historians (and Protestants) speak of the event I'm talking about, so I'm OK using that term even though I agree with you that what took place was not a Reformation of the Church. And I believe this will become clear in the following lessons.

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Ana
2/10/2015 10:44:38 pm

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Kathy
2/11/2015 02:20:45 am

Doesn't the idea of "every Christian is his own pope and council" reverberate as the Old Testament's "in those days there was no king in Isreal, and every man did what was right in his own mind?

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Marin Putilin
2/11/2015 08:10:46 pm

Indeed, a fair observation... Yet the thing is that there is a king - God's anointed king, yet they insist that there is "no king".

But nevertheless children are not to be judged like they are mere subjects... Cheers

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Shanon
2/11/2015 03:25:52 pm

Born and raised in a Southern Baptist family, I came into the Catholic Church after years of spiritual unrest which started while I was attending a Baptist Theological college. The Reformation is an event I've wished to learn more about from the Catholic perspective, and this article has helped answer questions and given me a new direction with which to approach my research.

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Dave K
2/22/2015 10:57:17 am

Great article. Let us not however forget the Orthodox Christians and the Coptic Christians. It seems that every 500 years, a major schism occurs. Around 500, the Copts left. Around 1000 the Orthodox left. Around 1500 the Protestants left. Looks like it is time for the next schism. Most likely between the orthodox RC's and the rest.

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Art Sippo link
2/22/2015 11:08:23 pm

A very nice piece. It does go to the heart of the Deformation program. I think that the situation was and is somewhat more complicated.

From the beginning the Protestants GENERALLY attack the traditional understand of Baptism as given in Romans 6. They denied sacramental efficacy apart from an deepening of faith in one who already believed. (Some exceptions exist in the Anglicans Communion, some Lutheran sects, and the Campbellite "Church of Christ.") Nevertheless, the form and intention of Baptism has become so corrupted that many denominations use an invalid form and/or intention for the practice and even dispense with it altogether (e.g., the Salvation Army). Strictly speaking this places such people formally and materially outside of the Church.

Similarly, there are virtually no validly ordained ministers anywhere in Protestantism or its allies so that the confection of other sacraments (marriage needs further discussion) is not possible. Also they do not possess the apostolic succession necessary to transmit the Holy Spirit to future generations as in 2Tim 1:6.

Which brings us to what I think is the real problem. The only authority that Protestants recognize is that of their own interpretations of the Bible guided by merely human powers. They reject the idea that the Holy Spirit was promised to the Church by Jesus to "teach you all things." In the Catholic Church we believe that het Holy Spirit exists not only in the hierarchy but in the rank and file of all the members of the Church so that whether a doctrine is taught by the Pope, an Ecumenical Council, the episcopal hierarchy, or by the acclamation of the sensus fidei of the Catholic people, the authority to teach it comes from God himself through the Holy Spirit.

In short, the Protestant means of discerning doctrine is actually "theological Pelagianism" in which they try to determine eternal truths by mere human effort alone. To claim as some of them do that their views are from "Scripture alone" is naïve and ignorant nonsense. Texts are neither self-attesting nor perspicuous. Furthermore, though many Protestants and others (e.g., Mormons) try to appeal to "a burning in the heart" that they claim comes from the Holy Spirit, it is really a spirit of confusion because they all come to many different conclusions allegedly deriving from the same text.

What is important about a CATHOLIC Church is that in the midst of controversy, we have the ability to utilize the Holy Spirit within the Church to foster unity, even if it is not uniformity. Some questions are left open but the critical core dogmas of the faith are revealed not by man's connivance but by the superintendence of the Holy Spirit.

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Ken
2/23/2015 02:21:41 am

Thanks for the comments, Art.

Of course you're correct that there is a lot more to the Reformation than I stated in my post -- but my goal has been to teach slowly, building line upon line... I wanted readers to get clarity on the key issue of authority. I'm going to be expanding vastly (over time) into the nature and implications of sola scriptura and much more.

Your points are well-taken.

Being aware of your knowledge of presuppositionalism, I wonder how you'd like lessons 1 - 17 on by blog. You can just use the archives to find the beginning in August. I did a bunch of lesson on the implications of atheistic materialism in a kind of presuppositionalist fashion. God bless!

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Gen
2/26/2015 05:35:51 pm

I don't have much knowledge regarding the history of the church. I was born and raised catholic in a catholic nation. I have to say though that my parents was never that knowledgeable regarding Catholicism, they know all the sacraments but never knew the reason behind it. I am currently attending a protestant church every Sundays and a catholic church with my family, so I attend to services every Sundays. Attending both, I had trouble which was true or not. Both have claims and both says they are the true church. I've decided for myself not to call myself either a catholic or protestant and focus on the similarity which is Christ. The problem of being in a catholic nation though is that because of the large population, the church cannot control the people. Only a few (very few) people have Christ in their hearts. They attend church every sundays and after that go back to their sinful ways without conviction. A lot of catholic ministers in my place do not do their job right. They preach without their heart, I don't feel the Holy Spirit within them. We have catholic schools being run by nuns and have to say that they discipline the students like they are not Christians. I am not generalizing because I have met some that are somehow different. I am praying for things to change. The part I love being part of a protestant church (born again). I have always told them from the very start that I don't like to convert, they respect that. Have never told me that catholics are bad and they respect the catholic church. They even admire the pope. In my judgement I am attending a Christ-centered protestant church and I am amazed by their passion for God, I have never been surrounded by people like these and with them I have felt what a true church is. I just don't get how people say that the Holy Spirit is not with the protestants? Why do we focus so much on our church/religion but not on our personal relationship with God? Why is their so much hate between Christians when we have to prepare ourselves for anti-christs like the ISIS?

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Joe Aboumoussa
3/17/2015 02:54:01 am

Basically the question of the Reformation hovered around the idea of mediation. The Reformers believed Christ is the one mediator between God and man as Catholics do, but they saw the Catholic Church as a middle man standing in the way of Christ instead of a Bride and Mother who helps extend the work of her Spouse. Authority in areas of teaching, governing, and sanctification soon were truncated by "Scripture only" and "faith only". Bye bye priesthood and sacraments. Not needed in their opinion if you can go to God "directly". If Catholics can help Protestants today understand that the Church as Jesus' Body is the extension of the Incarnation, then they could accept that saints, sacraments, etc. don't get in the way of Christ, but are all part of his life and connect us to Him and one another. If the nature and mission of the Church is understood in this sense, then it is easier to trace the teachings back to the apostles and Scriptures, since Catholic "practices" need not be seen as obstacles to a transforming union with Christ. It is participation in the mysteries of the New Eve, the Church, the flesh of the New Adam, that renews and divinizes man. The one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church is centered on union with the Triune God through Christ. We need to show today's non-Catholics not to fear the full inheritance they are entitled to. Often they are already better Christians than many Catholics, just as many ancient Samaritans, who lacked the fullness of Israel's revelation, were shown in the Bible to be holier than some Jews because they responded to what truth they did have with charity. It's time to do a better job inviting the "kids" who weren't responsible for the old divorces back to the family reunion in the one Church of Christ.

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Eric
4/28/2015 07:41:59 am

Thanks Ken. I am an RCIA team member and like using this type of material with our folks. "Rejecting a united spiritual authority outside of the bible." That sums it up. Excellent job! God bless.

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