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What Are We
Protesting About?
Martin Luther
and the
Reformation
What are We Protesting About?:
Martin Luther and the Reformation
• 4/26/2009: The Medieval Church and the
Seeds of Reformation
• 5/3/2009: Martin Luther’s Problems with
the Church
• 5/10/2009: Luther’s Bible and the Spread
of Lutheranism
• 5/17/2009: Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
The Medieval Church and the
Seeds of Reformation
• Three weeks ago…
– A.D. 743-756: Pope Zachary and Pope Stephen II
conspired with Pepin the Short, making Pepin King of
the Franks in exchange for the eliminating the threat
of the Lombards and creating the Papal States, a
kingdom ruled by the Popes.
– 1305-1378: The Avignon Papacy; 1378-1414: The
Western Schism. St. Peter’s Basilica fell into
disrepair.
– 1513: Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici becomes Pope
Leo X, bankrupting the papacy and necessitating
increased fundraising, including indulgences.
Martin Luther’s Problems
with the Church
• Two weeks ago…
– 1505-1517: Martin Luther entered a monastery and
was later ordained a priest. He was obsessed with
his own sinfulness and couldn’t understand how God
could accept him.
– His reading of Romans 1:17 gave him an
understanding that our faith alone justifies us before
God.
– 1517-1520: Preached against sale of indulgences
(and other perceived problems with the Church)
which conflicted with this theology.
– 1521: Luther was excommunicated by the Pope and
declared a heretic by the Holy Roman Emperor at the
Diet of Worms, but was abducted on his way home…
Luther’s Bible and the
Spread of Lutheranism
• Last week…
– 1521-1522: Luther spent 11 months in Wartburg
Castle, under Frederick III’s protection, writing and
translating the New Testament. He returned to
Wittenberg in March 1522.
– 1524-1525: Peasant’s War, a populist uprising in the
Holy Roman Empire, used Luther’s writings as
propaganda.
– 1529-1530: Luther and Zwingli failed to reach an
agreement and unify Protestantism. The Diet of
Augsburg failed to reconcile Catholicism and
Lutheranism, though it did create the Augsburg
Confession, the Lutheran statement of faith.
– 1546: Martin Luther died at age 62.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• John Wycliffe (c. 1350-1384)
and Jan Hus (c. 1372-1415)
predated Martin Luther by over
a century, but are often
considered the first reformers
of the church.
• Wycliffe was a professor at
Oxford, and was concerned
about the temporal powers of
the Popes and the Church. He
insisted that the Church should
be poor, like it was in the days
of the apostles, and so
therefore the Church should
not rule nations (e.g., the
Papal States) or collect tribute
from other nations.
Image: Wycliffe Giving ‘The Poor Priests’ His Translation of the Bible,
by William Frederick Yearnes (1835-1918). Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
Image: Beginning of the Gospel of John
from a Wycliffe Bible. Via Wikimedia commons.
• Wycliffe had a powerful defender in John of
Gaunt, the eldest surviving son of the dying
King Edward III and uncle and soon-to-be
regent of the next king, Richard II. England
wasn’t interested in paying the 33 years’ worth
of back tribute England owed at the time.
• Wycliffe also produced the first English
vernacular translation of the bible (based on the
Vulgate).
• His theology was that the “Church” is not found
in the Pope and the hierarchy, but rather
consists of all believers who are predestined for
heaven. Those who are not predestined for
heaven have no part in it. The head of the
church is Christ, not the Pope, against whom
Wycliffe wrote several tracts.
• Followers of Wycliffe in England became known
as Lollards, which remained underground for a
century or so until the English reformation took
hold.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Jan Hus was a priest in Bohemia (part of
the Holy Roman Empire at the time, now
the western half of the Czech Republic)
and Rector of Charles University in
Prague. He learned of Wycliffe when
Richard II and his queen, Anne of
Bohemia, went to visit her family.
• Like Luther, Hus was concerned about
the sale of indulgences, which were
being pushed by all three Popes (this
was during the height of the Papal
Schism). Antipope Alexander V
excommunicated Hus for his teachings,
but the Bohemian government took the
side of Hus, knowing they had two other
popes they could choose. Hus was
eventually imprisoned, tried, and burned
at the stake for his beliefs.
Image: Jan Hus burned at the stake. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• While the Peasant’s War raged in the HRE,
the English King Henry VIII had a problem.
Long before he became king, his older
brother, Arthur, had died only a week after
marrying Catherine of Aragon (aunt of the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V), and she
had instead been betrothed to Henry. By
1525, Catherine was 40 years old and they
had only one surviving child, a daughter.
• Up to this point, no woman had ever
succeeded in claiming the English throne,
which meant the next person in line would
likely be James V, King of Scots, and
Henry’s nephew…and England and
Scotland were at war. He felt he needed a
male heir, and so he pursued one Anne
Boleyn and tried to figure out how to annul
his marriage to Catherine.
Image: Henry VIII after Hans Holbein the Younger. Painting in
the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• The question turned on two
conflicting pieces of scripture: First,
that when a man dies, his younger
brother should marry his widow
(Deuteronomy 25:5-6); second, that
a man should not lie with his
brother’s wife (Leviticus 20:21).
• Henry wanted the Pope to rule on
this and hopefully grant him an
annulment…but Rome had been
sacked the year before by Charles
V, Holy Roman Emperor, since
Clement VII had sided against
Charles in a war with France.
Charles wasn’t about to allow
Clement to divorce his mother’s
sister.
Image: Queen Catherine of Aragon’s official portrait, 16 th century.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
Image: Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canturbury.
Portrait by Gerlach Flicke, 1545.
Painting in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Nevertheless, Henry continued to look for
ways to annul his marriage. When the
Archbishop of Canterbury, William
Wareham, died in 1532, he arranged that
Thomas Cranmer, the Boleyn family
chaplain, should get the post.
• Cranmer had been involved in a secret
group called “Little Germany,” that met in a
tavern at Cambridge to discuss Lutheran
ideas. Also in 1532, Parliament passed
several acts which increased the King’s
power over the Church.
• Finally, in 1533, Henry got Anne pregnant
and married her, and Cranmer declared
Henry’s marriage to Catherine annulled.
• By 1536, the break with Rome was final
and Cranmer began writing the first Book
of Common Prayer (completed 1548).
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Next, we turn to John Calvin
(originally Jean Cauvin)
(1509-1564).
• Calvin’s early years were
mirror images of Luther’s.
Whereas Hans Luther wanted
his son to be a lawyer and
wound up with a priest
instead, Calvin’s father
expected him to become a
priest and wound up with a
lawyer instead! While in law
school, he apparently had a
religious conversion.
Image: Portrait of Young John Calvin,
from the Society of the Historical Museum of the Reformation,
Geneva. 16th Century. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• In 1533, a close friend of Calvin’s, Nicholas Cop, who was rector of
the Collège Royal in Paris, gave his inaugural address on the need
for reform in the Roman Catholic Church. The faculty denounced
him as a heretic, and he was forced to flee the country.
• Calvin also fled and wound up in Basel (part of the HRE at the time,
now in Switzerland). There, he published Institutio Christianae
Religio, his explanation and defense of his reformist ideas.
Image: Courtyard of the College de France, formerly the College Royal, Paris. Photo by Roy Boshi, 2006. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• This theology, now frequently known as Calvinism,
differs from Lutheranism or Catholicism in several ways.
• First, Calvin denied that human beings have free will.
We are all sinful and have fallen from grace, and there is
nothing we can do to change that. Whether we are
saved is therefore entirely up to God, who has mercifully
chosen to save some humans. This is the principle of
sovereign grace.
• The Roman Catholic Church insisted that we have free
will (so, the blame for sin is entirely on the sinner) and
Luther insisted that free will is restricted for sinners.
• Calvin also espoused the regulative principle of worship,
which requires that any form of worship be instituted in
the Bible.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• The following year Calvin was on
his way to Strasbourg (then an
Imperial Free City in the HRE, now
part of France) when he was
forced to detour to Geneva to
avoid the French army. He
intended to stay one night, but his
host, William Farel, convinced him
to stay and help reform the church
there.
• Within a few months, he was made
“Pastor” and started leading
services, weddings, baptisms, and
so on, though he was not
consecrated.
Image; William Farel, portrait by Theodore Beza (1519-1605). Via
Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• In 1537/1538, a disagreement arose
between reformers in Bern and
Geneva as to the use of unleavened
bread in the Eucharist. Calvin was
ordered by the city council to use
unleavened bread, and he instead
refused to offer Eucharist at all that
Easter. The city rioted, and Calvin
was forced to leave.
• At the invitation of Martin Bucer, he
wound up in Strasbourg where he
continued reforming and leading
church services (and married), and
intended to remain permanently, but
stayed only three years before
Geneva invited him back.
Image: Martin Bucer, portrait by Jean Jacques Boissart (1528-1602).
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
•
•
•
Image: Session of the Council of Trent, Rennaisance print.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Back in Rome in 1545, the leadership
of the Roman Catholic Church finally
understood that the reformers had a
point, and decided that the Church
needed to make some changes.
Pope Paul III, who had succeeded
Clement VII, called the Council of Trent,
a commission of Cardinals who were
tasked with reforming the institutions of
the Church and addressing concerns
with clerical abuses, including
indulgences. This is also known as the
Catholic Counter-Reformation.
They met over an 18-year period,
eventually developing the Roman
Catechism (which is still in use today).
Appointment of Bishops for political
reasons was forbidden, and discipline
and administration within the church
was improved.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Back in England, Henry VIII died in
1547, and his nine-year-old son (via
Jane Seymour) became King Edward
VI.
• The English Reformation continued
during his short reign, but he died just
six years later, and it was now clear that
a woman would succeed to the throne
of England, since all the descendants of
Henry VII still alive were women.
• Mary, Edward’s half sister via Catherine
of Aragon, won out, but she restored
England to Catholic rule. She married
Philip, son of Charles V, but died
childless in 1558. Philip would later
become the King of Spain.
Image: Queen Mary I, portrait by Antonio Moro, 1554.
In the Museo del Prado. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• In 1555, Charles V offered the
Peace of Augsburg, which
finally legalized the Lutheran
religion in the Empire.
• It allowed each of the 225
states in the Empire to choose
which religion to follow,
Lutheranism or Catholicism
(Calvinism was still forbidden).
But this did not resolve any
religious differences.
Image: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Portrait
traditionally attributed to Titian, but now thought to be by
Lambert Sustris, 1548. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Back in Geneva, Calvin’s esteem
increased over the next several
years, especially in 1553 when
he denounced and had arrested
one Michael Servitus, a Spanish
heretic on the run from the
Spanish Inquisition.
• Starting in 1555, Calvin sheltered
several English Protestants who
were fleeing “Bloody” Mary. He
died in 1564 and was buried in
an unmarked grave, due to
concerns about his followers
“canonizing” him as a saint.
Image: John Calvin, anonymous 16th century portrait.
In the Geneva Library. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• When Mary I died, her half-sister
Elizabeth took the throne and returned
England to Protestantism. Parliament’s
Act of Supremacy that year made the
sovereign of England the “supreme head
of the Church of England.”
• Elizabeth’s 40+ year reign brought
stability to the country and its new
Church.
• Like her two half-sibling monarchs, she
died childless, but England and Scotland
had been at peace for some time and her
first cousin twice removed, James VI of
Scotland, became James I of England.
He commissioned a new English
translation of the bible, the King James
Image: Title page to a 1611 edition of the King James Version.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Version, in 1608.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• In 1617, it was clear that Matthias, Holy
Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia,
would die childless, and he selected
the fiercely Catholic Archduke
Ferdinand of Austria as his heir.
• The Bohemians, who still celebrated
Jan Hus and the Protestant Reformers,
revolted and threw Ferdinand’s
councilors out a castle window, in the
second Defenestration of Prague.
• Soon, much of the Empire was
consumed in what became known as
the Thirty Years’ War, which pitted
Protestant states against Catholic.
Danish, Swedish, and French forces
were also heavily involved, with Spain
and England, and even the Ottoman
Empire taking some part in the war, but
the majority of the war was fought
within the confines of the Empire.
Image: Defenestration of Prague, contemporary woodcut.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
Image: The Holy Roman Empire following the Peace of Westphalia.
Created by Wikipedia user Roke. Via Wikimedia Commons.
• Peace negotiations
began in 1643, and were
concluded in 1648 with
the Peace of Westphalia.
• These treaties affirmed
the Peace of Augsburg,
with the addition of
Calvinism as a valid
choice.
• The Westphalian System
of state sovereignty,
which required that
nations not interfere with
the internal politics of
other nations, was
established. This is
generally regarded as the
end of the Protestant
Reformation.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Where are they now?
– Calvinism: Now found in Reformed Churches,
including the various Presbyterian
denominations.
– Anabaptists: The Anabaptist movement
evolved into modern-day Amish, Hutterites,
Mennonites, Church of the Brethren, Brethren
in Christ, and other German Baptist traditions.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Where are they now?
– Holy Roman Empire: Devastated by
Thirty Years’ War, it never regained
anything close to its former glory.
– The Empire was defeated by
Napoleon in 1806 and partitioned into
several states. The majority of the
land became the Confederation of the
Rhine (essentially, modern-day
Germany). Remnants of the many
tiny states in the Empire include
Lichtenstein and Luxembourg.
Image; Emperor Napoleon I, portrait by Jacques-Louis David,
1812. In the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Where are they now?
Image: Giuseppe Garibaldi, c. 1861.
Photograph from the Library of Congress.
Via Wikimedia Commons.
– Papal States: Italian nationalism was
on the rise through the first half of the
19th century beginning when
Napoleon established an Italian
Republic. Most of the Papal States
were conquered and/or annexed by
the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860.
Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Red
Shirts, among others, succeeded in
unifying the various kingdoms into a
single kingdom of Italy.
– In 1861, Rome was declared capital of
the new kingdom, but Napoleon III
kept a French garrison in Rome which
prevented Italy from exercising control
over the city.
Other Reformations and the
Counter-Reformation
• Where are they now?
– In 1870, Napoleon III had to recall
the garrison to fight in the FrancoPrussian War. On September 10 of
that year, Italy declared war on the
Papal States, and captured Rome 11
days later.
– The Pope, Pius IX, and his four
successors (Leo XIII, Pius X,
Benedict XV, and Pius XI) remained
in the Vatican palace throughout
their papacies as “prisoners of the
Vatican.”
– In 1929, Pius XI and Benito
Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty,
creating the tiny state of the Vatican
City, the last remnant of the Pope’s
temporal rule.
Image; Pope Pius IX in front of his Papal Tiara.
Via Wikimedia Commons.