CONSTANTINE S CONVERSION & THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY REFORMATION

Transcription

1 CONSTANTINE S CONVERSION & THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY REFORMATION

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3 CONSTANTINE S CONVERSION & THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY REFORMATION: Three Essays on Two Important Events in Church History ANDREW FRANCIS WOOD DONUM DEI PRESS SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

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5 Cover art: Luther Burns the Papal Bull in the Square of Wittenberg Year 1520 by Karl Aspelin ( ) Cover design by Claudia Harb Grafikdesignfx Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved Andrew Wood St John Centre for Biblical Studies, Sydney Published 2016 by Donum Dei Press Sydney Australia ISBN-13: ISBN-10: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture passages have been taken from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic edition. Copyright 1946, 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. All rights reserved. Note: This volume may have made minor changes in capitalisation to some of the Scripture quotations herein. Please consult the original source for proper capitalisation.

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7 CONTENTS Preface... iii How the Conversion of Constantine affected Christianity... 1 The Roman Empire... 1 The Early Church... 5 Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus or Constantine ( ) The Effects of Constantine s Conversion on Christianity The Reformation Part One: How the Reformation in England differed from that in Germany The State of the Church in Europe on the Eve of the Reformation The Reformation in England The Reformation in Germany The Difference between the Reformation in England and the Reformation in Germany ~ i ~

8 CONTENTS The Reformation Part Two: How the Notion of Reform differed between the Protestant Reformation in England and Germany, and the Catholic Reformation Issues facing the Church at the Time of the Protestant Reformation The Manner by which the Protestants attempted Reform The Counter or Catholic Reformation The Council of Trent Saints and Movements of the Catholic Reformation Catholic and Protestant Reforms Compared Bibliography Appendix Emperor Constantine s Edict of Milan (313) Emperor Theodosius I s Edict of Thessalonica (380) King Henry VIII s Act of Supremacy (1534) ~ ii ~

9 PREFACE As the pace of the modern world seems to forge ahead at an alarming rate, today a fear of the future looms within the hearts of many. Where we are headed may well be uncertain, but where we have come from is definitely not. An understanding of the future can be gained by delving deeply into the past, for as the great 20th Century English writer, Gilbert Keith Chesterton ( ), so brilliantly said: We cannot be certain of being right about the future; but we can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past. 1 Since nothing but the past can shape the present, and provide direction for our future, it is important to know where we have come from in order to grasp where we are going. Consequently, in the history of Christianity, that great religion which has so profoundly influenced the Western World, there are two important events which cannot be underestimated: The conversion to Christianity of Constantine ( ); and the rift within Christendom which began in the 16th Century Reformation. As I hope to show in the following three 1 Gilbert Keith Chesterton, The Future of Democracy, in What I Saw in America. The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Vol. 21 (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990), 255. ~ iii ~

10 PREFACE essays, these two events are the most momentous, since they have had the deepest and most lasting consequences. Constantine s conversion to Christianity, the first Roman Emperor to do so, not only marked the end of Rome s persecutions of the Christians, which had gone on for a full three-hundred years from the time of the Apostolic Church, but it also paved the way for Christianity s widespread acceptance throughout the Empire, which finally resulted in Emperor Theodosius I s ( ) Edict of Thessalonica (380) also known as Cunctos populous (Latin: All the Population) which ordered all Rome s citizens to confess the Catholic Faith as it was then known and practiced, making the Christianity of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (325) the State religion of the Roman Empire. 2 Rome s acceptance of the new religion decidedly changed many important attitudes of its inhabitants. Now, those outside the Christian fold had very different reasons for joining the newly sanctioned religion. Previously, thousands chose to follow Christ with such a radical life-commitment that it would more than likely lead to their bloody 2 For the Edict of Thessalonica, see Sidney Z. Ehler and John B. Morral (ed.), Church and State through the Centuries: A Collection of Historic Documents (New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1967), 6-7. Ehler and Morral s translation of this Edict can be found in the appendix to these essays. ~ iv ~

11 THREE ESSAYS ON TWO IMPORTANT EVENTS IN CHURCH HISTORY martyrdom, now politics would begin to play its part as many began to convert to Christianity from more worldly reasons. Although this change in atmosphere could not tarnish the Church s teaching, since it had the guarantee from Christ himself that it would not falter, 3 it did have an impact on how the Faith was practiced by many, though indeed not all. In the first of these three essays, therefore, I expose some of the effects Constantine s conversion had on Christianity itself. By understanding these effects it is hoped one will come to a better appreciation of how Christianity rapidly grew in numbers and influence throughout the Empire, and how it built upon the good already present, and reject what the Christians understood as unhealthy. Regarding the second of our two most important events, the Reformation, in his recent study, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society, Brad S. Gregory proposes that, What transpired five 3 See Mt 16:18-19, And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. See also, Mt 28:20, I am with you always, to the close of the age. ~ v ~

12 PREFACE centuries ago continues today to profoundly influence the lives of everyone not only in Europe and North America but all around the world, whether or not they are Christians or indeed religious believers of any kind. 4 From the time of the 16th Century the West has undergone massive transformations in all areas of life and society. From the religious upheavals of that era, our way of life has become more and more estranged from that of our pre-reformation forebears, not only by the fact that Christianity in the West suffers today from the deep scars of religious disunity in worship, practice and doctrine, but also by the fact that, as opposed to our pre- Reformation forebears, our modern society is now byand-large a thoroughly secular reality where religion is supposed to play only a very minor role, if any, not only in the affairs of the State but also, and more importantly, in the affairs of the lives of individuals. What is more, many of our young people today are simply unaware of the historical roots of our modern world, and of the origins of many of their own unintended convictions and prejudices. Consequently, our second and third essays briefly explain the historical beginnings of the Reformation in England, 4 Brad S. Gregory, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012), 1. ~ vi ~

13 THREE ESSAYS ON TWO IMPORTANT EVENTS IN CHURCH HISTORY and on the European Continent, especially within Germany. In the first I explain how the Reformation differed in these two countries, especially concentrating on their original thrust, while in the second I explain at how the notion of Reform differed between what is known as the Catholic Reformation and the Protestant Reformation. In concentrating our efforts on these important aspects of the Reformation it is hoped that avenues for discussion and investigation will open regarding how they have influenced history up to our own day, thus shedding light on the modern Western situation. The intention of writing these three short essays was by no means to add to the copious literature on these topics. It is also not my intention to present them as a scholarly contribution, for they definitely fall short of that! I have merely been moved by the attitudes of many of my students who confess that they are intellectually lost in the modern world. Whenever I have had the opportunity to ask them about their knowledge of the history of Christianity although, admittedly, there are exceptions many invariably draw a blank. I feel that it is therefore important to make these essays available in order to merely spark an interest in those who dedicate the time to read them, and thus to inspire a desire to know more about these two important historical events and their ramifications. In turn, I hope that those who read these essays will come to better appreciate the world ~ vii ~

14 PREFACE they have inherited, and thus to better understand themselves. I also hope you enjoy reading these three essays as much as I have enjoyed compiling them. Andrew Wood 22 June Feast of Saint Thomas More ( ), saint of the English Reformation. ~ viii ~

15 HOW THE CONVERSION OF CONSTANTINE AFFECTED CHRISTIANITY In order to understand the impact Constantine s conversion had, not only on the early Christian Church, but indeed on the Western World in general, we need to appreciate this event within its own original context. In this essay, I therefore begin by highlighting some important aspects of the Roman Empire as it was before the Christian era; especially its worthwhile pre-cursory aspects, which provided the rich soil for the seed of Christianity to sprout. After this, I outline some essential aspects of the early Church prior to Constantine s conversion. Here I concentrate on some of its original and peculiar doctrines and liturgical practices, showing how they were received by Roman society, and what effect this reception had on the Church. After this, I explain the manner by which Constantine acceded to the imperial throne, preceding his conversion. From these vantage points we will better identify the effects Constantine s conversion had on the early Church, and understand something of its influence down through the ages. The Roman Empire In his work, Europe and the Faith, the great English historian, Hilaire Belloc ( ), says: The history of European civilization is the history of a certain ~ 1 ~