Protestant Reformation Flashcards
John Calvin
- Franco-Swiss lawyer reformer from France… fled to Geneva Switzerland
- 1536- Institutes of the Christian Religion. Laid out absolute power of God + powerlessness of humanity
- Good works necessary for salvation
- Church’s duty to promote moral progress… was then exiled after he tried to require public confession + allow church leaders to discipline sinners
- 1541: back with his own Reformed church: preachers, teachers, deacons (congregation’s material needs), elders (dominated civil gov.)
- Elect- chosen by God. “Sign of divine benevolence”
- -wealth
- Church courts - made up of community elders who enforced moral + religious values**
- Purged churches of superstition. Rejected Saints. Removed paintings & statuaries that they thought were indications of idolatry
Charles V
- 1521: Called parliament at Worms to deal w/ Luther’s insubordination. Luther refused to recant- religious decisions must be based on personal experience + conscience bc both were informed by a study of Scripture
- Really huge empire
- Desired world monarchy
- Opposed Protestants & Turks but wanted to unite Cristendom against Turkish threat
“Bloody Mary”
- Mary Tudor - daughter of Catholic Henry
- Voided reform decrees
- Cardinal Reginald Pole- rooted out Protestants within church
- 300 Protestants tried + executed by church courts, earning her title of “Bloody Mary”
Indulgences
*Remission of penalties owed for sins
Sold by the Catholic Church by Tetsel
Protestant Reformation
- Created clearly defined Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran churches
- Emphasized individual belief & religious participation
- Didn’t want to create new Church- just wanted to re-purify Christianity
Martin Luther
- Theologian, German monk
- Protested against Catholic Church and its wrongs
- 1517- 95 Theses
- 1520- Pope Leo X condemns Luther’s teachings
- 1521- Diet of Worms
- Argued against importance of priest & all clergy
- Argued for a “priesthood of all believers”
- -Lepzig debate (1519):
- “Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation” - urged princes to reject papal claims of temporal & spiritual authority
- “On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church” - Sola scriptura - church must teach based on Bible
- “On Christian Freedom” - “A Christian has all he needs in faith and needs no works to justify him.”
Queen Elizabeth
- Dad is King Henry 8
- Catholic
- Worked to bring back reforms that were killed under Tudor’s reign
- 1559 Act of Supremacy and an Act of Uniformity
- “Elizabethan Settlement” was not a Protestant victory… she actually still favored the Anglo-Catholics and have them concessions
- -Anglican Church came about… middle ground between Catholicism and radical Lutheranism
Church Abuses
Clergy getting prostitutes
Indulgences
Nepotism
Causes of the Reformation
- Economic: Pope indulgences
* Church abuses
Justification by Faith
- Luther doctrine
- God’s gift to the faithful… cited from New Testament
- Believing in God is enough… No cycle of sin, confession, contrition, & penance necessary
- Acts of charity important, but also unnecessary because Christ’s sacrifice had brought supreme justification
- Human in never-ending cycle of sinner-saved… preparing for death = pointless
Anabaptists
- Radicals
- Rejected infant baptism
- Interpreted the Bible more literally than most
- Believed Christians should live apart in communities of the truly redeemed
- Thomas Müntzer - preacher. revelation thru dreams. poor = true elects. Captured & executed by German princes post-rebel defeat
- “Kingdom of Righteousness” - rebaptized those who joined the cause, expelled those who opposed them (reformers of Münster). Abolished property rights. Leader Jan of Leiden took over, but prince-bishop took it back. War broke out and movement turned inward.
- Post-Münster revolutionaries: Menno Simons & Jakob Hutter. Rejected violence, connections w/ civil society, military service, & civil courts. Believed their communities were composed of the elect. Closed themselves off from outsiders & had strict member rules
Act of Supremacy
*1559 under Elizabeth reinstated royal control of the English church & re-established uniform liturgical + doctrinal standards
Council of Trent
*3 sessions
*Marked & defined Roman Catholicism for 400 yrs
*Full of conservatives
*Condemned Protestant heresy & marked orthodox positions of Catholic Church
*Said church always recognized validity of traditional teaching & understanding
*Affirmed apostolic succession- bishop authority chain leading back to popes thru St. Peter
*Bishops to reside in dioceses
*Establish seminaries to see to the education of parish clergy
*Should make certain that laity participated in sacramental life of the church
Issued reform
Pope Leo X
*Condemned Luther’s teachings and excommunicated him in 1520
Counter-Reformation
- Rejected theological positions championed by Protestants
- Re-purify Catholic Church
- Reforming Bishop Gian Matteo Giberti - visited religious institutions in Verona, preached tirelessly, worked hard to raise educational level of his clergy, and required that priests live within their parishes
- Austere prayer + contemplative devotions
