The Reformation

Response to Question 3 of HIST-04b Mid-term Exam #2
From our vantage point, one might look back on the Middle Ages and say that the Reformation was inevitable. The Catholic Church had strayed so far from its Christian roots, the clergy was so corrupt and decadent, and the church as an institution was so wealthy, beyond its ability to distribute or responsibly manage, such that reform and indeed revolution was inevitable. The wonder is more that a religion such as the Muslim faith has NOT had a "reformation", rather than that the Christian religion DID. This paper will show that the Reformation was a natural outgrowth of the Middle Ages, that it was an organic and necessary growth, and that its impact was beneficial and, indeed, life-saving for the religion, the practitioners, and the culture we study today as "Western Civilization".

What IS "The Reformation", and When Did It Begin?
The Reformation, which many say began in 1517 with Luther's act of rebellion (see Who was Luther, and What Did He Do?), was actually a process, or movement, or series of events that occurred during the 15th and 16th Centuries in Europe. It began as a long, slow process of questioning the behavior of the clergy of the Catholic Church, and it ended, for many, with a questioning of the entire basis of that institution itself. In the end, millions turned away from the Catholic Church, or died in the process of doing so. The "Wars of Religion" of the 16th and 17th Centuries were a direct result of this process, and the formation of the United States of America, with its representative democracy and its separation of Church and State, was a fortuitous by-product. None of us is unaffected by this cataclysmic series of events, and Western Civilization is the most obvious result of what happened so long ago in the period now known as the "Late Middle Ages".

What Catalyzed the Reformation?
The Humanists had been questioning the way in which the Church was operating for a long, long time. Many scholars, who later became identified as being "Humanists" (as opposed to "Scholastics"), wrote that the Church had strayed long and far from its roots, as a religion based on the teachings of Christ. In fact, the Church in the Middle Ages was far from Christian in how it operated, or in how it treated its members and its community.

What was Humanism?
Humanism was an educational curriculum that arose as a reaction to Scholasticism. The Humanists favored the study of the humanities - all those subjects beyond religion and science. The Scholastics, who preceded the humanists, were interested in logic that was based on syllogisms, and that produced certainty. The Humanists, in contrast, were more interested in the study of rhetoric. That is, they studied that which enables one to persuade another of a particular truth, rather than the certainty of the truth itself. "The humanists stressed invention over syllogism that is, discovering arguments that would persuade people of the truth of what they were saying rather than convincing them of the certainty of that truth."6

The humanists were small in number, but had a significant place in Medieval society. They were hired by universities and nobility and the papacy as educators and administrators. They focused on the classical authors of the Romans and the Greeks, and they offered new translations into the local languages. "Simply put, humanism is a rediscovery and re-evaluation of the aspects of classical civilization (ancient Greece and Rome) and the application of these aspects to intellectual and social culture. It is also in many ways a reaction against scholasticism, the dominant intellectual school of the Middle Ages. Scholasticism, while a vital and dynamic method in its early days in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had, in the eyes of its detractors, by the fourteenth century become little more than organized quibbling over minor points of philosophy and theology...In contrast, the early humanists espoused a return to study of the original texts, rather than a reliance on the glosses and commentaries produced by the scholasticists."7

This way of thinking freed an entire generation from the dogmas of received truth, and opened the door to thinking for oneself. Desiderius Erasmus, a humanist who lived from 1466-1536, was a prominent forerunner of the Reformation that emerged. His experience is perhaps typical of the results of this new atmosphere of questioning what came before, and imagining what could be better. When the movement of ideas went far beyond what he had envisioned, into a questioning of the Catholic Church itself, he was helpless to stop it. Thus, this openness to inquiry and the examination of errors within the Church led many to a fundamental questioning of the Church itself. 8

What Role Did the Crusades Play?
The Crusades, from 1095 to 1291 (see a timeline here), opened the door to new ideas, and new ways of doing things. The returning knights could no longer simply return to the world they knew without questioning that world, and its legitimacy. Their eyes had been opened, and their thinking and feelings followed. Much later, when the Byzantine Empire was dismantled in 1453 (when the Seljuk Turks took over Constantinople), the fleeing Greek scholars sought refuge in the security of the Italian city-states. This combination of new experiences by locals and renewed contacts with classical scholars from abroad was certainly the soil out of which humanism emerged.

What Was Wrong with the Church?
The Catholic Church had become, in the Late Middle Ages, one of the wealthiest landlords and one of the strongest political players around. It rivaled the Kings that ruled the Empires, and in fact it had become, or tried to become, the empire that ruled over all! In many ways, the Church had ceased being a church of worship, and had instead become an economic behemoth that was the enemy of the peasants and the new urban dwellers. In fact, the peasants (serfs and shareholders), often turned to the nobility as refuge and protection FROM the church itself!

What was the Last Straw?
Beginning in the 12th Century, the Church began running out of funds. Hospitals and other religious charities began, literally, begging for money. The Church came up with a solution which, while completely successful, came to undermine the very purposes for which it was created. This solution was the sale of indulgences. (For a papal definition, see: indulgences in the New Advent; for an economic definition, see Richard Hooker's glossary in World Civilizations.)

Richard Hooker's fascinating economic explanation tells why indulgences arose in the Church, and what a "brilliant innovation" they were - that is, had they not been so scandalous, so impoverishing, and so alienating. As he says, "In the spiritual life of sinners, indulgences function exactly the same way money functions in their economic life. Here's the logic: since the expiation of sin involves temporal punishment and this temporal punishment involves the doing of good works, why not substitute someone else's good works for the good works you're required to do? Why not pay someone else to do the good works demanded of you as temporal punishment? Church officials argued that clergy were doing more good works than they needed to; they had, you might say, a budget surplus of good works in the spiritual accounts. Why not sell them? So that's what the church did. With the approval of the pope, individual bishops could sell indulgences which more or less paid off any temporal punishment or good works that the individual believer had accumulated in the previous year. It substituted the good works of the Catholic clergy for the good works required of the individual believer. Proof of this substitution was in the indulgence itself, which was a piece of paper, like a piece of money or a check, that certified that the good works of the clergy had paid off the 'good works debt' of the individual believer." 3

In many ways, this was a very creative solution to a problem the Church faced in that era - the taxes paid by and rents collected from the peasants was no longer enough to pay for the glorious artifacts we now marvel at - the great Gothic Cathedrals which exist throughout Europe. "Inspired by the need to raise money, indulgences reproduced the very logic of money. In place of the real thing (good works), indulgences substituted a completely valueless piece of paper. The only reason this worked is because everybody accepted this as a valid substitution, just like money. Indulgences, like money, had their critics from the very beginning. With the invention of the printing press, however, indulgences became big business for the church and the critics grew."

What Role did the Printing Press Play?
Numerous sources cite the invention and popularization of the Gutenberg printing press as a catalyzing event that facilitated the emergence of the Reformation. What they fail to mention, however, is how the printing press was like a sword that cuts both ways. The fact that the Bible could now be printed in the vernacular languages of the people meant that they could actually read the Bible, and decide for themselves what it meant. From there, it was only a small step to determining that the Catholic clergy had gotten the story and the structure of the church all wrong. What was most interesting to me, however, was to discover that it was Gutenberg himself, and his new oil-based (longer-lasting) ink printing press, with its movable type, that actually printed the indulgences that were so inflammatory in the their effect.1 Thus, the same printing press that empowered the Church to demand greater "tribute" in the form of indulgences, at an ever-alarming rate, also empowered the population at large by giving it a chance to verify that this practice was not, in fact "biblical" (let alone "Christian"). One of the ironies of history, no doubt. In 1454, Gutenberg printed letters of indulgence for the Catholic Church, who intended their use to finance a crusade against the Turks.

Who was Luther, and What Did He Do?
Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, and he died February 18, 1546 in Wittenberg, Germany.4 He trained as a lawyer, as his father wanted, but was not content, due to his religious inclinations. Eventually Luther entered the monastic order of the Augustinian Hermits in Erfut, and then went on to earn his doctorate in 1512, and to teach at the theological facility at the University of Wittenberg.9 On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther hung a list of what's commonly called the 95 Theses, a "DISPUTATION ON THE POWER AND EFFICACY OF INDULGENCES," onto the door of the Cathedral at Wittenberg.5 And the rest, as they say, is history.

What Was He Thinking? What Was He Upset About?
Martin Luther was a very serious and conscientiously religious man. "Luther did not see himself as either an innovator or a heretic, but his involvement in the indulgence controversy propelled him into an open confrontation with church officials and forced him to see the theological implications of justification by faith alone. Luther was greatly distressed by the widespread selling of indulgences, certain that people were guaranteeing their eternal damnation by relying on these pieces of paper to assure themselves of salvation."10 Furthermore, the indulgences that Gutenberg had printed in 1454 to raise funds to fight the Turks were now being sold to aggrandize St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. What was once an innately objectionable practice was now intolerably repugnant. AND - it threatened the lives of the believers, because it did NOT, as it was purported to do, guarantee salvation! Luther, like Erasmus, had never intended for a wholesale overthrow of the Catholic Church. He was a believer who wanted it reformed. But history rarely holds still for those who start the ball rolling, and Luther's life showed his was no exception. He was NOT one of the ones burned at the stake, or beheaded, or simply incarcerated. However, he was hounded all his life by those who questioned his right to disagree and to criticize the Catholic order (as defined by the Papacy in Rome).

How Important Was Luther?
Luther's act of rebellion, his posting of the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral, was actually only one of many other acts of protest. And Luther himself was only one of many, including a half-dozen other prominent clergy, who had "had enough", and wanted reform.

Hus
Jan Hus was appointed by Good King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia in 1402 as rector of the University of Prague. By 1415 he was burned at the Council of Constance. This sparked the Hussite wars, from 1419-1436, during which thousands of followers were slaughtered. This war between Protestants and Catholics subsequently morphed into a Civil War in Bohemia, and eventually spread throughout Europe. "It was a religious struggle between Hussites and the Roman Catholic Church, a national struggle between Czechs and Germans, and a social struggle between the landed and peasant classes."24 A final resolution to the religious wars of was not reached until the Peace of Westphalia which followed the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), and only after millions of lives were lost, and families, communities, and entire nations were torn asunder. Hus was a student of John Wycliffe, who had translated the Bible into English in 1382.11 The crime of Hus? He had "urged the elimination of the worldliness and corruption of the clergy and attacked the excessive power of the papacy within the Catholic Church. Hus's objections fell on receptive ears. Criticism of the Catholic Church was already widespread because the church was one of the largest landowners in Bohemia. Moreover, many clergymen were German, and the native Czechs' strong resentment of the Germans who dominated Bohemia also won attention for Hus's movement."12

What's Gunpowder Got to Do With It?
"The Hussite Wars were arguably the first European war in which hand-held gunpowder weapons such as muskets made a decisive contribution. Light cannons were also used, especially by the Hussites who used them masterfully in defensive positions."13 Gunpowder had first appeared in the European arena during the "Hundred Years War" between France and England (which actually took place from1337-1453). "Important to the French success was the use of the cannon, a new weapon made possible by the invention of gunpowder. The Chinese had invented gunpowder in the eleventh century and devised a simple cannon by the thirteenth century."14 Ironically, "In 1430, Joan of Arc dictated a letter on March 23 threatening to lead a crusading army against the Hussites unless they returned to the Catholic Faith; but her capture by English and Burgundian troops two months later would keep her from carrying out this threat."15 It's hard to tell "the good guys" from "the bad guys"!

Who Else was Involved?
Calvin
John Calvin (1509-1564) was a Frenchman who was forced to flee to Geneva, Switzerland, along with many other persecuted people. He was known as a very strict and "orthodox" Christian. "In 1536, Calvin began working to reform the city of Geneva. He established a church government that used both clergy and laymen in the service of the church. The Consistory, a special body for enforcing moral discipline, was set up as a court to oversee the moral life and doctrinal purity of Genevans. The Consistory had the right to punish people who deviated from the church's teachings and moral principles."16 What our text neglects to say is that the local Genevans found Calvin a little too strict for their tastes, for he was expelled in 1538!17 The silver lining is this event was that he met in Strasbourg the man who became his mentor (Martin Bucer) and the woman who later became his wife (Idelette). In 1541 Calvin was invited back to Geneva when things had gotten too far out of hand. He received some glory here, and remained until his death in 1564. 18 Geneva, by the way, was one of the many places that became vibrant centers of Protestantism.19

Knox
John Knox (1514?-1572) was a remarkable Scots man from whom we are all, as Americans, indebted. It was his innovations in the re-working of the Christian religion that, together with the political reforms of Oliver Cromwell, became the basis of our American political system. "John Knox is the great Protestant reformer of Scotland who not only brought Scotland to Presbyterianism in the mid 1500s, but also left a legacy that was key to shaping not only Presbyterian ("Reformed") Protestantism but also representative democracy in the American middle colonies (from New Jersey to South Carolina) in the 1600s and 1700s."20 And Knox, in turn, was indebted to Calvin. "Shortly after the accession (1553) of the Catholic Mary I to the English throne, Knox went into exile on the Continent, living chiefly in Geneva and Frankfurt. In Geneva he consulted with John Calvin on questions of church doctrine and civil authority."21

Zwingli
Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) was another one who was attracted by Luther's actions. He was a cathedral priest in Zürich in 1518 whose sermons by 1523 sparked controversy and debate. Under his influence, "Relics and images were abolished; all paintings and decorations were removed from the churches and replaced by whitewashed walls. The Mass was replaced by a new liturgy consisting of Scripture reading, prayer, and sermons. Monasticism, pilgrimages, the veneration of saints, clerical celibacy, and the pope's authority were all abolished as remnants of papal Christianity."22 When Zwingli tried to form an alliance between the Swiss reformers he represented and the German reformers Luther represented, they were unable to come to terms because they could not agree on the Lord's Supper (shades of scholasticism...) Like the early martyrs of the Church, Zwingli was murdered, cut up, and burned in October 1531 during the war between Swiss Protestant and Catholic cantons. Yet unlike the early Christian martyrs, this reformer was murdered by a Christian mob. "The Swiss civil war of 1531 provided an early indication of what religious passions would lead to in the sixteenth century. Unable to find peaceful ways to agree on the meaning of the Gospel, the disciples of Christianity resorted to violence and decision by force."23

What's the Big Deal?
The Big Deal is this - the population was now FREE to interpret the Bible which described the basis of their religion. And what they found, en mass, is that the Church was illegitimate. It had usurped the Christian faith, and perverted its purposes, to an extent that would have been unimaginable to the early Christian community. At least, this is what the final verdict became. However, at first, the reformers simply wanted reform. Luther wanted an end to the tyranny of indulgences. Both the impoverishment of the people and the enrichment of the clergy were a problem for Luther. The Church fathers were, in his opinion, besmirching and befouling an institution that he greatly loved and respected. Luther was, after all, an Augustinian monk. He BELIEVED in the Church, and he found the Church hierarchy had betrayed the religion. Later reformers concentrated on far more than the practice of indulgences; they fought the Church on the very foundation of the belief structure itself. But Luther was not one of these. Unfortunately for him, the Church was so far gone that "it didn't get it". What could have been a soul-searching reformation turned, instead, into a wholesale revolution. The protesters became Protestants, and the pretense of a unified, catholic faith was gone forever.

What was the Result?
"Martin Luther's call for reformation of corrupt church practices would eventually erupt into the greatest spiritual and political challenge medieval Catholicism ever faced. The doctrines and churches of Christianity would fragment into a million separate pieces; thousands of gallons of blood would be spilled by Christians killing other Christians in European wars over religion; the European state itself would be rocked to its foundations by the political implications of Luther's newly reformed church." 2 In the end, Europe would become divided along a North-South split, with Protestants in the low countries in the North, and Catholics in the South. Millions of Europeans would leave their homelands forever in the hopes of finding a place where religious tolerance existed, and separation of Church and State could flourish. Not until the twentieth century's European Union emerged would Europe find a way to reunite itself and to function as a political entity with economic and economic and cultural ties and customs.


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1 "The Time of Gutenberg: Gutenberg and Mainz", by Eva-Maria Hannebutt-Benz, from http://www.gutenberg.de/english/zeitgum.htm. Accessed 2/7/06.
2 "The Northern Renaissance" by Richard Hooker, from http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/NORTHERN.HTM, accessed online 2/7/06.
3 Hooker, ibid.
4 "Life and Times of Saint Martin Luther", http://www.reformation.org/luther.html. Accessed 2/7/06.
5 "DISPUTATION ON THE POWER AND EFFICACY OF INDULGENCES COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE 95 THESES BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER", http://www.the-highway.com/95THESES.html. Accessed 2/7/06.
6 "Humanism", by Richard Hooker, from http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REN/HUMANISM.HTM. Accessed 2/7/06, p. 5.
7 "Humanism: an Introduction", by Nicolaa de Bracton of Leicester, at http://www.byu.edu/ipt/projects/middleages/LifeTimes/humanism.html, p. 1. Accessed 2/14/06. 8 Hooker, "the Northern Renaissance", p. 4.
9 Western Civilization: a Brief History - Volume I: to 1715, 3rd Ed, by Jackson J. Spielvogel. Thomas Learning Inc., Belmont Ca, 2005, p.234.
10 Spielvogel, ibid.
11 "John Hus and Martin Luther...barred from Heaven?" at http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/gesu.htm, p.1. Accessed 2/7/06.
12 Spielvogel, p. 227.
13 http://www.answers.com/topic/hussite-wars. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hussite Wars". Accessed 2/21/06.
14 Spielvogel, p. 198.
15 Accessed 2/21/06 from http://www.answers.com/topic/hussite-wars, ibid
16 Spielvogel, p. 241.
17 "Idelette de Bure - Wife of Calvin" from "http://www.the-highway.com/Idelette.html", accessed 2/7/06.
18 "Was Geneva a Theocracy?” Michael Horton, from Modern Reformation Magazine/ACE, 1992, "http://www.the-highway.com/theocracy_Horton.html", accessed 2//7/06.
19 Spielvogel, p. 241.
20 "John Knox (1505? to 1572)", by Miles Hodges, from http://www.newgenevacenter.org/west/reformation.htm, accessed 2/21/06.
21 This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "John Knox". Accessed 2/21/06.
22 Spielvogel, p. 237.
23 Spielvogel, p. 238.
24 "Hussite Wars" from http://www.answers.com/topic/hussite-wars, accessed 2/25/06.