The Road to Reformation

© John Stevenson, 2008

Class ObjectivesClass Objectives

• To recognize, interpret and discuss the impulses for change and reform in the Western Church from the late medieval period (14th century) through the Reformation and its aftermath (16th and 17th centuries).

• To identify and evaluate the state of the Church in the 14th and 15th centuries and defend the responses of people like John Hus and John Wyclif.

Class ObjectivesClass Objectives• To differentiate between the doctrines

and ideas of Martin Luther from those of the Roman Catholic Church and evaluate the Catholic Church’s response.

• To recognize the differences in the theology and ecclesiology of the Reformers and how they affected European society.

• To describe and evaluate how the political developments affected path of the Church in England in the 16th and 17th centuries.

10001 500 1500 2000

TheMedievalChurch

TheReformed

Church

TheAncientChurch

CrusadesCrusades

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

Francis of

Assisi

Peter Waldo

East/West East/West SchismSchism

Peter WaldoPeter Waldo1140-12181140-1218

• Wealthy merchant of Lyons who gave away his possessions to live a life of poverty

• Had parts of the Bible translated into French

• Taught that New Testament is to be the only rule of life for Christians

Peter WaldoPeter Waldo1140-12181140-1218

• Sent out street preachers who embraced poverty

• Emphasized the Sermon on the Mount

• Waldensians came into conflict with the rich excesses of the church

• They were eventually declared to be a heresy

Peter WaldoPeter Waldo1140-12181140-1218

• Translated Scripture into common language and memorized large portions

• Refused to fight in Crusades; adopted pacifism

• Waldensians embraced the Reformation when it finally emerged

CrusadesCrusades

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

““Babylonian Babylonian Captivity”Captivity”

East/West East/West SchismSchism

Francis of

Assisi

Peter Waldo

John Wyclif

Black Plague

The Morning Star of the ReformationThe Morning Star of the Reformation(Died 1384)(Died 1384)

• Studied theology at Oxford

• Distinction between temporal rule versus spiritual rule

• Translated the Vulgate into English

• Lollards: “Poor priests”

• Bones exhumed and burned

CrusadesCrusades

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

““Babylonian Babylonian Captivity”Captivity”

East/West East/West SchismSchism

Francis of

Assisi

Peter Waldo

John Wyclif

Black Plague

““GreatGreat Schism” Schism”

1342-14161342-1416

• While very ill, she had a series of “visions” of Jesus

• Wrote Revelations of Divine Love

• Walled into an anchorage with windows to the church, to the street, and to her servant’s quarters

1342-14161342-1416

“I am sure that no man asks mercy and grace with

sincerity, without mercy and grace

being given to him first.”

1380-1471

• Lived in the Netherlands

• Priest and scribe

• Devotional writer: Imitations of Christ

• Quiet, reflective life

1380-1471

In things essential, In things essential, unity; in doubtful, unity; in doubtful,

liberty; in all things, liberty; in all things, love. (love. (Imitation of Imitation of

Christ 1:3Christ 1:3).).

1380-1471

I would rather feel contrition I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it. than know how to define it.

For what would it profit us to For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by know the whole Bible by

heart and the principles of heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we all the philosophers if we live without grace and the live without grace and the love of God?love of God? ((Imitation of Imitation of

Christ 1:1Christ 1:1).).

1380-1471

Ah, Lord God, my holy Ah, Lord God, my holy Lover, when You come into Lover, when You come into my heart, all that is within my heart, all that is within

me will rejoice. You are my me will rejoice. You are my glory and the exultation of glory and the exultation of

my heart. You are my hope my heart. You are my hope and refuge in the day of my and refuge in the day of my

tribulation (tribulation (Imitation of Imitation of Christ 3:5Christ 3:5).).

CrusadesCrusades

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

John Wyclif

John Hus

East/West East/West SchismSchism ““Babylonian Babylonian

Captivity”Captivity”

Francis of

Assisi

Peter Waldo

John HusJohn Hus1372-14151372-1415

• Lived in Bohemia (modern Czech Republic)

• Influenced by the teachings of Wyclif– The Bible is basis of our

doctrines– Only God forgives sin

(against indulgences)

John HusJohn Hus1372-14151372-1415

“It is thus that you silence the goose,

but a hundred years hence there will arise a swan

whose singing you shall not be able

to silence.”

John HusJohn Hus1372-14151372-1415

CrusadesCrusades

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

John Wyclif

““Babylonian Babylonian Captivity”Captivity”

John Hus

East/West East/West SchismSchism

Martin Luther

Gutenberg's Printing Press

Francis of

Assisi

Peter Waldo

Constantinoplefalls

Pope Innocent VIIIPope Innocent VIII1432-14921432-1492

• Purchased his way into the papacy

• Already had several children and had several more as pope

• Made it a regular practice to sell church offices to the highest bidder

1452-14981452-1498

• Dominican priest in Florence, Italy

• Preached against the moral corruption of the clergy

• Took political control of Florence following its overthrow by Charles VIII of France

1452-14981452-1498

• Homosexual practices made a capital offense

• Bonfire of the Vanities

• Excommunicated by the Pope

• Tortured on the rack until he signed a confession

• Burned alive

1483-15461483-1546

• Classical education

• Entered an Augustinian Monastery

• Doctorate in Theology

• Teacher

• Visit to Rome

““If anyone could have gained heaven as a monk, If anyone could have gained heaven as a monk, then I would indeed have been among them.”then I would indeed have been among them.”

1483-15461483-1546

““I did not love, I did not love, indeed I hated this indeed I hated this just God, if not with just God, if not with open blasphemy, at open blasphemy, at

least with huge least with huge murmurings, for I murmurings, for I

was indignant was indignant against Him…”against Him…”

1483-15461483-1546

• Conversion: The Just shall live by faith

• Indulgences

• 95 Theses: October 31, 1517

• Debates with Eck

• Excommunication

• Diet of Worms (1521)

I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is

bound to the word of God. It is

neither safe nor honest to act against one’s

conscience. Here I stand. God help me. I cannot do

otherwise.