LECTURE 3/4: Superstition and Reform Flashcards
What was the traditional belief replaced by?
Superstition and magical beliefs and practises are replaced by reason/ science. This change was assisted by the Reformation as it began the process by attacking superstition and magic.
What was life like?
Survival in rural world is hard with the poor diet, high mortality, fragility of life and the ‘presence’ of the supernatural.
What were people obsessed with?
The world beyond, they seek reassurance/ a supernatural world to help control/ transcend their dull reality.
Was magic and beliefs important to people?
Magic brought efficacious results.
Society believed in spiritual and mystical solutions to problems. These were remnants of ancient pagan cults.
What were the importance of relics?
They held supernatural powers.
What did the Reformation do?
Rejected the debasement of Christ.
It set itself against superstition and magic by condemning the unification of the secular and the sacred.
It attacked means whereby the secular and the sacred were mixed.
It rejected the cults of saints, relics, and pilgrimages.
It recognised that there is supernatural intervention in daily life but you don’t practise to manipulate/ invoke the use of magic. It only comes from God.
What problems were there?
Problem of authority – traditionally the church controlled the interpretation of the bible and now the only alternative is the reliance on the conscience of the individual.
What was the justification through faith?
The centrality of sincerity of beliefs.
Extreme acts were irrelevant to salvation. Good acts will come from a good heart but are useless in themselves.
Soul searching/ to relieve religious anxiety.
How did printing help?
It helped the wider spread of ideas and communicate with different people.
Luther sold 300000 copies 1517-20. But there were still low literacy rates and so people who could read had to read it to others.
Peoples learned to read before they learned to write.
The illustrations/images were also available/affordable and demonised the Catholic church through the demonization of the Pope.
What happened in the Catholic reformation/ renewal?
A counter reformation.
It was a broader movement of change in the way religion works. It was a longstanding movement for church reform and in part a response to Protestantism.
Council of Trent 1545-63: reforming councils of the church.
What were common themes of Catholicism and Protestantism?
Regulating behaviours (prostitution, adultery etc)
Attacking superstitious practises and popular magic and claiming monopoly of ‘true religion’.
Increase in preaching.
Education f the clergy (have to have be trained and spreading ideas).
Centralisation (the pariosh was the centre of religion and was controlled by the church/state). The development of the state due to religious division, the secular authority wants to control the beliefs of people.
Why was the Council of Malines assembled?
To clarify Tridentine policies dealing with the issues surrounding the acts of magic, signs of superstition and the misuse of the holy.
What came with the counter reformation?
New saints
Miracles – new forms like Xavier water which held medicinal cures as it was water consecrated with relics of St. Xavier
Visions
This was all ironic as this heightened form of spiritual ecstasy.
Prophetic meanings were attached to natural events like storms.
These were formally validated by the church so it couldn’t be considered superstitious (Council of Malines 1607).
What were protestant superstitions?
Popular prophets – enormous taste in this post-reformation Germany.
Miracles (including exorcism)
Visions
Prophetic meaning was attached to natural events which emphasis3s God’s provincial will.
Interest in demonology.
There were still supernatural elements but less in terms of magical protection. You had to execute witches to protect yourself not use counter magic.
Are there any examples of Providential themes?
1616 Thunder, hail and lightening from heaven was seen as a punishment from God.
The Lamenting Lady story which tells us how a lady rejected a beggar women and is ‘strangely punished’ by God.
