POPE & CIRCUMSTANCES THAT LEAD TO THE REFORMATION LOOKING IN THE REARVIEW AS THE CHURCH DRIVES FORWARD LESSON 8: WHAT LED UP TO THE REFORMATION?
I. Pope And Circumstances
A. The Catholic Pursuit: One Nation Under A Respublica Christiana The pope as the dual sovereign ruler over spiritual and temporal (political) realms Augustine of Hippo espoused this governmental concept The Reformation and Renaissance would end this pursuit
The RCC Wanted One Nation after: Heretical Movements The Great Split (1054) The Babylonian Captivity of the church Pope Clement V moves the papacy from Rome, Italy to Avignon, France in 1309 The Great Schism 2 competing popes in Avignon and Rome Several national monarchs who were able to defy many of the popes
B. The Catholic Power
1. Excommunication The pope had power over people by pronouncing excommunication To be anathematized was to be set apart from the church, thus grace was denied and salvation would be declined A bishop would read the sentence of excommunication, ring a funeral bell and extinguish a candle, as if the person had died If the excommunicate individual entered the church during Mass, the priest would either stop the Mass or physically remove the person
2. Interdict Excommunication is the removal of a person from the church. The interdict locked a whole nation from the church The pope could order the suspension of worship and sacraments (baptism, extreme unction) Pope Innocent III used the interdict 85x against temporal leaders who would not submit to his orders
Bruce Shelley: Wielding these spiritual weapons Innocent and his successors in the papal office during the thirteenth century led Christianity to its peak of political and cultural influence. We simply cannot understand the pope s place in our own times without some understanding of these years. (Church History In Plain Language)
3. The Inquisitions The Fourth Lateran Council specified how the Inquisition would take shape The Inquisition would be used to question and call Roman Catholics suspected of heresy to repent or be purged But eventually, the Inquisition was used beyond the Roman Catholic church and was used as a tool over Jews and Muslims It was also a tool to remove movements that were inconvenient to the pope: Waldenses, Cathari and Albigensians, for example
The Inquisitions, continued Though employed for hundreds of years, the medieval form rose to prominence with Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) The Dominicans and Franciscans presided over the Inquisition Painful and torturous tools were used to extract the confession they wanted The Inquisitions were secretive and no legal representation was possible for the accused
C. The Catholic Problems
2. Heretical Threats Paulicians 7 th century dualists (like Marcionism), denied OT and Peter s writings (only accept Paul s) Bogomils denied Trinity and sacraments, advocated asceticism, Eastern European Cathari / Albigensians / Patarenes from previous 2 groups + Gnosticism, southern France, big target of Inquisitions
II. The Scholasticism
A. The Rise Of Universities The Scholastic intellectual movement emerged between 1050 and 1350 The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) under Innocent III mandated greater educational impetus It developed in cathedral and monastery schools Gr. schole a place of learning (school) Scholasticism sought to rationalize theology by strengthening one s faith through reason
Schools of Scholasticism Relation of faith and reason Nature of reality Realism I believe in order that I may know Universalia ante rem Universality before fact Moderate Realism or Conceptualism I know in order that I may believe Universalia in re Nominalism I believe separated from I know Universalia post rem Men Anselm Aquinas and Abelard William of Ockham and Roscellinus Works Proslogion Monologion Summa Theologiae Modern proponen ts Evangelicalism Roman Catholic Church Renaissance and Enlightenment
B. The Debate About Knowledge 1. Realism There are universals or objective realities which exist apart from our minds 2. Conceptualism An idea is universal, but there is no universality of things that correspond to the idea or mental representation 3. Nominalism There is no universality of a concept or objective reality
Earle Cairns: After 1050 the Scholastics replaced the fathers of the church as the main guardians of the truth, and doctor became as great a term of honor as father had been earlier in the history of the church. (Christianity Through The Centuries, p. 231)
C. The Significant Scholars
A Lofty Lombard? Peter Lombard c. 1000-1060 Professor at a cathedral school in Paris and bishop of Paris He was one of the earliest synthesizers and expositors of Christian doctrine Further defined RCC s Sanctification precedes Justification view
And Some Anselm? Anselm of Canterbury 1033-1109 Considered the Father of Scholasticism He sought to use reason as a tool to comprehend faith Concerning the atonement, Anselm would argue that Christ could die on behalf of man because He was a man and satisfy God s wrath because He is God (in his work Why the God Man?)
An Able Abelard? Peter Abelard 1079-1142 Taught in Paris Taught that Christ s death on the cross was an example for believers to follow Denied the substitutionary atonement of Christ
A Keen Aquinas? Thomas Aquinas 1224-1274 Heralded as one of the greatest thinkers, writers and theologians of all time. He was a Dominican teacher in Paris His books include the definitive Catholic theology Summa Theologica
Outcome Occam? William of Occam c. 1285-1347 A Franciscan He denied that the fall of man was disastrous to man More similar to Pelagius than Augustine Excommunicated by pope for believing that reason could not prove God s existence Philosophy and theology were two separate realms and did not co-exist
Occam s Razor: Plurality should not be posited without necessity Or When multiple explanations are possible, prefer the simplest.
D. The Conciliar Movement
III. The Pre-Reformers
A. The Issues The cry for reform grew strong The absolute power of the pope corrupted absolutely Clergy were purchasing higher offices (simony) Clergy had wives and concubines Forgiveness of sin or salvation was purchased (indulgence) Dante wrote Inferno placing several popes in hell Chaucer depicted a friar on the way to Canterbury as being lazy and gluttony
B. The Leaders 1. Thomas Bradwardine (c. 1290-1349) English theologian and mathematician Became archbishop of Canterbury in 1349 He taught that salvation is from God s grace, not works He died of the Black Plague 2. Gregory of Rimini (d. 1358) An Italian philosopher and Augustinian monk He taught that salvation is from God s grace, not works
3. John Wycliffe 1324-1384 The Morning Star of the Reformation His attacks on the Roman Catholic Church laid the foundation for the Reformation Studied at Oxford when it was Catholic Professor at Oxford and a pastor when 30 yrs old
Wycliffe s Positions Sola Scriptura the Bible is the sole authoritative guide for faith and practice, not the Pope + Tradition + Scripture. Sola Christo Christ is the only Head of the Church, not the pope. The pope was also said to not be able to sin, which Wycliffe also opposed. Against: Pope s authority Clergy controlling state Monks & nuns (only elders & deacons as orders) Clerical celibacy Baptismal regeneration Transubstantiation Crusade indulgences Religious orders Church collecting taxes
Wycliffe s Translation The R.C. church was against putting the Bible in the common language of the people in fear that it might corrupt them and cause a rebellion Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin (Vulgate) to English He completed the NT in 1380 and OT in 1382 With no printing press, each Bible was copied by hand, each Bible taking 10 months Distributed by Lollards (his followers)
The Wycliffe Bible RCC rejected translation Bibles and translators (Lollards) were burned Only 170 of these Bibles exist today (all handwritten before 1430)
Wycliffe s Death John Wycliffe died on Dec 31, 1384 by a stroke He was declared a heretic at the Council of Constance 1415. His body was exhumed and burned with his ashes were thrown into the Swift River in 1429.
4. John Huss c. 1373-1415 Peasant family Huss, means goose Ordained Roman Catholic priest from Bohemia (mod. Czech) Taught at U. of Prague and students brought in Wycliffe s books and refused to burn them (against RCC papal bull)
Huss The Church is about living like Christ, not the sacraments The Scripture is the church s sole authority The opposition of indulgences, transubstantiation and clerical celibacy He was quite outspoken against indulgence sold for the purpose of raising up Crusaders. Three of Huss s supporters were executed and Huss was forced to flee Prague.
Huss burned at stake In exile, Huss challenged pope Government sided with Huss Burned at the stake after condemned at the Council of Constance, 1414
Girolamo Savonarola 1452-1498 The Italian Dominican monk Instituted the Bonfire of the Vanities, which was a public burning of immoral books and implements (gambling, make-up, etc.) He preached against the immoral papacy, brought down the Medici family, called out the sins of Alexander VI and dealt with the evil behavior in Florence, Italy. He was hanged and burned for heresy in Florence
Desiderius Erasmus c. 1466-1536, Netherlands Illegitimate son of Dutch priest Brilliant Catholic scholar and Dutch Christian humanist As an orphan, he entered the monastery (1492) He advocated a peaceful reform in the church, as opposed to the fiery methods of Savonarola
Erasmus Translation & Legacy He produced the first full Greek NT in 1516 employing textual criticism (comparison of six later manuscripts) Erasmus dedicated his 1516 edition of the Textus Receptus to Pope Leo X This Greek text of the New Testament that would be the basis for Martin Luther s translation He would protest the hypocrisy and inconsistency of the Roman Catholic church He had several debates with Luther, via letters, on the topic of free will
C. The Dissenting Movements
1. Where s Waldo The Waldensians Founded by Peter Waldo (d. 1215) in southern France Compared to Puritans Read Bible without priests Bible in hands of common person and sole authority Denied purgatory Condemned for preaching without Pope s permission
Persecuted in northern Italy and Austria Consented to the Reformation in 1532 Persecution drove them into the Alps of southern France, northern Italy, southern Switzerland and western Austria They still exit as a group of around 35,000 believers in northern Italy. Known as the Vaudois in the French-Italian alps who have their origins 350+ years before Luther and Calvin Waldensians = Vaudois
2. L.O.L. With The Lollards Wycliffe established itinerant preachers known as the "Lollards They spread the English Bible Emphases: Lay preachers Pacifism Against transubstantiation, pilgrimages, auricular confession (to a priest), iconoclasm (veneration of images), purgatory and clerical celibacy
3. The Huff Over The Hussites The Hussites followed John Huss They were split into the Taborites and the Utraquists They were later known as the Unitas Fratrum or Bohemian Brethren
Sola Scriptura authority of the Bible over the church, not the pope The Scriptures should be translated in the language of the common people The laity can partake of the communion cup Against transubstantiation, veneration of saints, sale of indulgences (forgiveness of sins) and auricular confession Hussite s emphases:
They were the object of attack for five papal crusades called the Hussite Wars, but the Hussites were victorious each time (1420-1431). Within a century, 90% of the Czech people would follow Huss and deny Catholicism The Council of Basel brought compromise with the Hussites Their movement continues through the Moravian church, today The Hussite Wars
Discussion: 1. Why did the Catholics forbid the common man from reading the Bible? 2. What are the results of Biblical ignorance? 3. In what ways do we see movements and religions try to suppress the Bible today? 4. How does 2 Timothy 3:16-17 apply to this issue? 5. What other verses encourage you in the importance of reading the Word?