Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
The Protestant Reformation Erasmus, Luther, Calvin and the split from the Catholic Church The Protestant Reformation In the 15th century northern Europe was a vast and doubtful place. The shape and size of the earth was uncertain; the Western Hemisphere was a blank; and the continents of Africa and Asia were practically uncharted except for the recurrent warning “Here be dragons.” The Protestant Reformation The ruler of the world was God, Creator of a man-centered universe. Nature was dark and mysterious. There were few dependable scientific laws. The divine scheme of life was the redemption of sinful man to the heavenly kingdom that Adam and Eve had lost, and in the material world man was on trial everyday. The Protestant Reformation Europe before the Italian Renaissance had fallen on hard times. Trading ships from the East brought luxury goods and spices as well as diseased rats which decimated Europe’s population with the Black Death. The Plague recurred again and again. Trade sagged; fields went fallow; men who didn’t die from the plague died from hunger. The Protestant Reformation The Europeans of the era shrank before the mighty example of God who consigned His own Son to the appalling death on the cross; before the inscrutable will that had caused millions to be carried off dead in an inexplicable pestilence; before an angry God who showed himself in the rustling of dry leaves, in the howling of distant beasts in the deep forest at night, in the flight of birds across the moon. Fear was everywhere. Hellfire rather than paradise was the incentive to righteous living. The Protestant Reformation Europe was still essentially agrarian, and rural life went on in tune with the cycle of the seasons. Grain was the staple food, and not until harvest time was there an abundance—and then only if fortune smiled and the yield was good. Even so, much of the produce had to be divided between storage to last until the next harvest, and seed to be sown for the next crop. The Protestant Reformation Cattle and oxen, which in summer provided dairy products and labor, could not be kept alive on the scant supply of hay that remained in the winter, and people could not spare their own meager rations to feed the animals. The Protestant Reformation Most of them therefore had to be slaughtered in the fall for meat and their hides; their flesh preserved by salting and smoking, and then rationed out during the long, lean winter ahead. The autumn slaughtering was a time of feasting and merrymaking before nature closed down and confined men to their cramped shuttered dwellings, where they would mark the time until the new spring weaving cloth, making or mending their clothes, and making tools. The Protestant Reformation During the Middle Ages up through the Renaissance, all Christians in Western Europe were Roman Catholics. They were members of the (same) Church and they followed the directions of the Pope in Rome as handed down through their bishops and local priests. The Protestant Reformation The Church, up through 1500, was many things…It was a government that taxed and a court that administered justice. It controlled the lives of everyone, from the lowliest peasant to the most powerful king. The Protestant Reformation But by the year 1500, the Church was over 1000 years old, and as such, it was the oldest and best established institution in the Western world. With its growth had come such wealth and power it was feared by kings and commoners alike. The Protestant Reformation But before (and during) the Renaissance the Roman Catholic Church fell on hard times. Christians grew impatient with the corruption of the clergy, the worldliness excesses of the Church, the inability to explain the Black Death, and the religious in-fighting and bickering which for a time resulted in there being three men who claimed to be Pope. The Protestant Reformation Between 1450 and 1520 there was a series of popes—known as the Renaissance popes –which failed to meet the needs of the faithful. The Protestant Reformation These popes were supposed to be spiritual leaders but they were more often concerned with Italian politics and worldly things. The Renaissance popes were also patrons of the arts and went on massive building sprees, especially around Rome. The Protestant Reformation Because of the constant need to raise more and more money, the popes sold high offices and the Church sold indulgences, both of which were the subject of much abuse. The Protestant Reformation According to the Church, the forgiveness of God was contingent upon confession and a penance (or punishment). Over the centuries, the indulgence developed as a kind of substitute: the payment of money replaced the performance of the deed of penance. But as money and indulgences became intertwined, abuses greatly increased. The Protestant Reformation These abuses called for two major responses. On the one hand, there was a general tendency toward anti-clericalism, that is, a general but distinct distrust and dislike of the clergy. Some people began to argue that the layperson was just as good as the priest when it came to matters of faith. The Protestant Reformation On the other hand, there were calls for reform. These two responses created fertile ground for conflict of all kinds, and that conflict would be both personal and social. During the second half of the 15th century, the Renaissance spread north of the Alps and spawned a movement called Christian Humanism, whose major goal was to reform Christendom. The Protestant Reformation The Christian humanists believed in the ability of human beings to improve themselves through education that would instill an inward religious feeling that would bring about a reform of Church and society. These humanists felt that to change society, they must first change the men and women who composed it. The Protestant Reformation The most influential of all Christian humanists was Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536). Erasmus popularized the reform movement of Christian humanism. The Protestant Reformation He called his conception of religion “the philosophy of Christ,” by which he meant that Christianity should be a guiding philosophy for the direction of daily life instead of system of dogmatic beliefs and practices that the medieval church seemed to stress. Dogma is an official system of principles or tenets concerning faith, morals, behavior, etc., as of a church (i.e. doctrine). The Protestant Reformation He emphasized inner piety (devoutness) and deemphasized the external forms of religion (like the sacraments, pilgrimages, fasting, worshipping relics, celibacy, confession, and the burning of heretics). To Erasmus, the reform of the Church meant spreading an understanding of Christian philosophy, providing enlightened education in the sources of early Christianity, and criticizing the abuses of the Church. The Protestant Reformation Even though Erasmus had a revolutionary mind, he was not a revolutionary at heart, so he did not shake up the world as Martin Luther was about to. But Erasmus’ work helped prepare the way for the Protestant Reformation, as contemporaries proclaimed “Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.” The Protestant Reformation In that era, there were no newspapers to express your opinions, so it was a customary practice for a scholar to post his ideas in a public place. On October 31, 1517—the date was significant because it was the eve of “All Saints Day” and the town would be crowded with peasants and pilgrims—a monk and theology professor named Martin Luther, tacked up his 95 theses (or ideas) for debate on the great doors of Wittenberg (Germany) Castle Cathedral. The Protestant Reformation Luther was fed up with the circus-like performances of a fellow monk named Johann Tetzel hawking Church indulgences. The Protestant Reformation Luther was disgusted with Tetzel taking advantage of the poor with his favorite slogan: “As soon as the coin in the coffer sings, the soul from purgatory springs.” Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was trying to raise money to help pay for the new church being built in Rome, St. Peter’s Basilica (the Vatican). The Protestant Reformation According to the Church, indulgences took their existence from the surplus grace that had accumulated through the lives of Christ, the saints, and the martyrs. The purchase of an indulgence put the buyer in touch with this grace and freed him from the earthly penance of a particular sin, but not the sin itself. The Protestant Reformation But Tetzel's sales pitch implied that the buyer was freed from the sin as well as the penance attached to it. Tetzel also sold people on the idea that an indulgence could be purchased for a relative in Purgatory – this meant the relative's soul would now fly to Heaven. The Protestant Reformation Luther believed that anyone truly penitent would not whine to have punishment for their sins lifted, but would welcome the punishment as Christ had. Neither the Pope nor any man, Luther said, had jurisdiction over purgatory, therefore the indulgence vendors who proclaimed release from purgatory were deceiving the people. The Protestant Reformation The public generally paid little attention to the academic debates of theologians but they were electrified by Luther’s ideas. Luther had sent copies of his ideas to a few friends; they in turn circulated it among other friends who passed it to printers, who sent it to several German cities. Within a few months, Luther’s ideas were all over Europe. The Protestant Reformation When Tetzel (d. 1519) read Luther’s theses he crowed: “Within three weeks I will have the heretic thrown into the fire.” Luther, unwavering in the face of the rising furor, wanted to make sure everyone knew exactly what he said in his 95 theses (to clear up any misunderstandings among the people) so he wrote a simplified version of his views in German (it was originally written in Latin). The Protestant Reformation Luther found himself hailed on one side and slandered on the other. The local Archbishop realized the brewing controversy and called upon the Pope for advice in the matter. The Protestant Reformation The pope (Pope Leo X b. 1475-d.1521) was a humanist and not bothered by theological nitpicking, so he preferred not to make too much of what he called “monkish squabble.” The Protestant Reformation Catholic doctrine emphasized that both faith and good works (prayer + honoring the seven sacraments) were required of a Christian to achieve personal salvation. The seven sacraments are: Baptism Eucharist (Communion) Reconciliation (Penance) Confirmation Marriage Holy Orders (Ordination for Priests) Anointing the Sick The Protestant Reformation In Luther’s eyes, humans were weak and powerless in the sight of God and could never do enough good works to merit salvation. Luther believed that humans were not saved by their good works but through faith alone. The Protestant Reformation This doctrine of salvation, or justification by grace through faith alone, became the primary doctrine of the Protestant Reformation. Because Luther had arrived at this conclusion from studying the Bible, the Bible became for Luther (and other Protestants) the chief guide to religious truth. The Protestant Reformation Luther argued that indulgences could not release a soul from purgatory nor could they cancel a person’s sins, and up until 1518, the Church considered Luther little more than a nuisance. Angry at the Church for not taking his ideas seriously, Luther began writing profusely and he rapidly became a bestselling author. The Protestant Reformation As excitement spread about his ideas, Rome took more of an interest in his writings. In 1518 he was summoned to a meeting with a Cardinal representing the pope and he was told to recant; Luther quoted scripture in support of his belief that men were redeemed by faith and not by the purchase of indulgences. The Protestant Reformation When the Cardinal said indulgences were a matter of Church doctrine, Luther denied it and became more radical. He believed that the Bible, not the Church, was the sole source of religious truth. Up to this point, Luther was willing to believe that the abuses in the Church existed without the Pope’s knowledge. The Protestant Reformation But because of his meeting with the Pope’s representative, Luther became convinced that papal authority was a manmade fabrication, that the Pope was a human invention (not a divine one), and that this was the root of a viscous perversion of the Christian faith. Luther was left alone because the Pope didn’t have time to deal with him…the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (mostly today’s Germany) had died and the Pope was too busy focused on German politics. The Protestant Reformation In August of 1520, he published a pamphlet titled To the Nobility of the German Nation where he called upon German nobles to be the leaders of reforming the Church and to defend their nation from the “corrupt” Italians in Rome. The Protestant Reformation Luther declared that since the Church couldn’t reform itself, it had to be done by secular (state) authorities. Luther argued that in times of crisis, Scripture allowed for secular powers to act independently of the Pope. To suggest the Church and Pope were negligent in their duty and should be taken to task by state authorities was revolutionary. The Protestant Reformation In October (1520) Luther moved onto even more controversial ground when he wrote and published a pamphlet titled On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. The Protestant Reformation He argued that in 1,000 years of captivity under Rome, Christianity had been corrupted in faith, morals, and ritual. Basing his judgment on the New Testament, Luther discarded five sacraments (of seven) that he couldn’t find…keeping only Baptism (washing away original sin) and Communion (sharing the bread and wine at the last supper). The Protestant Reformation • Luther also condemned papal authority (the Pope) as a human invention, not a divine one (because it’s nowhere in the Bible), going so far as to claim the Pope was the Antichrist. • In his earlier quarrels with the Church, Luther had been condemning practice; now he was attacking dogma. The Protestant Reformation The Babylonian Captivity struck a direct and piercing blow to the Church’s ecclesiastical and economic core and threatened to completely discredit the authority of church officials from the Pope all the way down to parish priests. This was an act of revolution, a revolution the Church hoped to avoid by trying to persuade Luther, under threat of execution, to publicly deny that he ever wrote it. The Protestant Reformation In November (1520), Luther published another pamphlet that was a blow to the Church. Called Freedom of a Christian (sometimes titled Treatise on Christian Liberty) it stated that faith, not good works, led to salvation. Luther declared that man was bound only to the law of the Word of God, and the Word of God was Scripture. The Protestant Reformation To Luther, even though the clergy had legitimate functions in administration and teaching, they were not to be elevated above the rest of mankind for all believers were priests. The Pope issued a papal bull condemning Luther’s works and ordered them to be burned. Luther was given 60 days to recant or be excommunicated. The Protestant Reformation Luther’s ideas inflamed the German nation and all along the route to Wittenberg, the papal bull met with obstruction. Students rioted and burned anti-Luther publications instead of Luther’s works and they threatened physical violence to the bearers of the bull. The Protestant Reformation Luther responded to the papal bull: “This bull is the sum of all impiety, blasphemy, ignorance, hypocrisy, lying—in a word, it is Satan and his Antichrist…You then Leo X, you cardinals, and the rest of you at Rome…I call upon you to renounce your diabolical blasphemy…and if you will not, we shall consider your seat as oppressed by Satan and the damned Antichrist.” The Protestant Reformation Because of these works and his earlier theses, Luther was summoned to appear before the Diet (or assembly) of the Holy Roman Empire (in the city of Worms) to face charges of heresy (April 1521). When the Emperor arrived, they found the city of Worms overwhelmingly on Luther’s side (poems, placards, pictures of him and stacks of his writings were everywhere). The Protestant Reformation One of the Pope’s officials wrote to the pontiff “Nine tenths of the people are shouting ‘Luther’ and the other tenth shouts ‘Down with Rome.’ Luther was given a trial, but it was not at all what he expected. He thought he would be asked specific questions and given the opportunity to explain his views. The Protestant Reformation Instead, 20 of his writings were piled on a bench and he was asked to recant the heresies contained within. He asked for time to consider his choices and was given 24 hours. Luther was advised to deny his teachings and beg forgiveness (to spare his life) but he refused. The Protestant Reformation Luther before the Diet of Worms: The Protestant Reformation He returned to the Diet the next evening and made a famous reply that became the battle cry of the Reformation: Your Majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply. I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen. The Protestant Reformation The young Emperor Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (who was only 19) was outraged. He famously said “A single friar who goes counter to all Christianity for 1000 years must be wrong…Therefore, I am resolved to stake my lands, my friends, my body, my life, and my soul to defend the Church of Rome.” The Protestant Reformation A month later Charles V issued the Edict of Worms declaring Luther excommunicated and an outlaw to be killed on sight and his writings were to be burned. It was a crime to shelter Luther or read or print his writings. But he was neither captured nor killed mainly because several German princes, many knights, and thousands of peasants threatened rebellion if Luther was harmed. The Protestant Reformation Luther was secretly taken to a mountain fortress (the Castle of Wartburg) where he remained in hiding for almost a year. He spent that year translating the Vulgate (Latin) Bible into German (Why was that important?) The Protestant Reformation But neither the Edict of Worms nor Luther’s seclusion could stem the tide that now swept over Germany. The Reformation was under way and no one could stop it. Luther’s attacks on Church authority and the Pope quickly caused the sale of indulgences to drop to about 20% of their “pre-Luther” levels. The Protestant Reformation Luther had brought into open debate several issues against the Church, and while he was hidden at Wartburg, some men took these ideas and put them into practice. One of Luther’s theology professors celebrated Mass on Christmas Day 1521 without clerical vestments and he conducted the Mass in German (not Latin). The Protestant Reformation Others eliminated days of fasting and confession. Priests began to marry, and so did monks. Luther himself married a former nun four years later and his family became the model of the Protestant family. The Protestant Reformation Luther reflected the traditional role of the husband as ruler/master and the wife as the obedient servant whose chief duty was to please her husband. Luther once stated: The rule remains with the husband and the wife is compelled to obey him by God’s command. He rules the home and the state, wages war, defends his possessions, tills the soil, builds, plants, etc. The woman on the other hand is like a nail driven into the wall…so the wife should stay at home and look after the affairs of the household…she does not go beyond her most personal duties. The Protestant Reformation For women, obeying their husbands and bearing children was part of the divine plan. The role of a mother and wife was a holy vocation and it left few alternatives for women. For most women, family life was their only destiny. Do you think the lives of Catholic women were any different? The Protestant Reformation Luther approved of the orderly changes taking place while he was hidden away, but soon the situation took a turn towards violence. Students rioted and desecrated churches and their altars. Luther would not condone the violence and returned to Wittenberg to help restore order. The Protestant Reformation A transformation had taken place in him during his seclusion in the Wartburg. He grew a beard and a full head of hair (he had been tonsured). The Protestant Reformation He gained weight and seemed much more poised. He took charge of Wittenberg and in a few days had returned the town to peace and order. The power of his personality would dominate Wittenberg for another 25 years, as long as he lived. The Protestant Reformation Luther’s battles were not over, because he didn’t anticipate other men would read the same Scriptures and come to different conclusions. But Luther had precipitated reform where other men had tried and failed for more than a century. He seems to have appeared at a decisive moment in history. The Protestant Reformation Luther’ Germany, more than any other country in Europe, wanted to detach itself from Rome. Luther spoke to the people in a language they understood, not the intellectual elite like Erasmus. Thanks to the fortune of Luther’s timing and to his remarkable facility with language, Germany became the theater of religious conflict that was to sweep through Europe in less than fifty years. The Protestant Reformation In 1525, Luther became involved in a peasant uprising known as the German Peasants’ War. The Protestant Reformation The peasants fully expected their hero, Luther, to support their demands, as Catholic and Protestant princes joined forces to crush the rebellion. They were to be disappointed. The Protestant Reformation Armies of the princes destroyed those of the peasants, and within a year, nearly 100,000 peasants had been killed or wounded. Even though Luther chastised the princes for their brutality, he condemned the peasants for their insurrection…God ordained rulers and they should be followed, even if they are bad. The Protestant Reformation Though Charles V remained true to his faith, he was not able to subdue the rebellious princes of his Empire. In 1556 he abdicated his throne and went to Spain to die in a monastery. Not all of the princes went over to the Reformation, but the universal character of medieval religion was broken, never to be restored. The Protestant Reformation As the Protestant Reformation grew, the Catholic Church began to reform itself. The Church had been battling opposition for several hundred years before Luther, and so in reaction, it developed a series of reforms to try to keep Protestantism in check. However, these measures ended up being too little, too late. The Protestant Reformation In 1545, and for the next 20 years, the Council of Trent met to set the course of Catholicism. The Council decided to emphasize church pageantry and ritual and the decoration of churches (as opposed to Protestant austerity). The Council said that salvation came from faith and good works, not faith alone. The Protestant Reformation Bishops to forced to live in the region where they presided over their churches and Rome stopped the sale of Church offices. The Council reaffirmed that the bread of communion became the body of Christ. The Council rejected divorce, permitted by Protestants, and it legitimized the sale of indulgences. The Protestant Reformation But perhaps the most important thing that came out of the Council of Trent was the schism between Catholic and Protestant became permanent. The increased religious zeal, however, led to widespread intolerance and persecution on both sides. The Protestant Reformation In the Holy Roman Empire, an aging Emperor Charles V in 1555 compromised with the followers of Luther and agreed to the Peace of Augsburg. This allowed each German prince to determine the religion of his own territory…but it excluded Calvinists, Anabaptists, or any other dissenting group (Catholic or Lutheran only). The Protestant Reformation With the Peace of Augsburg, the division in Christianity was formally acknowledged in Germany; Lutheran states were to have the same legal rights as Catholic states. Although the German states were now free to choose between Catholicism or Lutheranism, the Peace of Augsburg did not recognize the principle of religious toleration for individuals. The Protestant Reformation Not long after Luther’s success in Germany, two major Reformation movements formed in Switzerland—Zwinglianism and Calvinism. The Swiss were kindred to the Germans through language, but they were distinct in terms of temperament and politics. Throughout history foreigners had tried to subdue the Swiss (to no avail) which created an independent, very patriotic Swiss national character. The Protestant Reformation Switzerland was made up of 13 cantons (states) that had a remarkable degree of democracy. Even though the Swiss were technically part of the Holy Roman Empire, they governed their own affairs. They had governing assemblies of elected men (some were actually the entire male citizenry). The Protestant Reformation And as the Swiss were independent of emperors, they were largely independent of popes. The most advanced city of the country was Zurich, located near the Rhine River and at a nexus point of trade between Italy and Germany. Zwingli The first Swiss reformer was Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) who was two months younger than Luther. He was a priest at the cathedral of Zurich, and beginning in 1519, he began to reform his city. Zwingli Even though Zwingli was much more of a humanist than Luther, he agreed with many of Luther’s ideas. Zwingli got rid of all pageantry, and following the Second Commandment literally (“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”), he eliminated all the implements of Catholic ritual: all relics, images, crucifixes, statues, censers and clerical vestments were abolished. Zwingli All paintings and decorations were removed from churches and replaced with plain, whitewashed walls. Zwingli The traditional Mass was replaced with a new Lutheran kind of service consisting of scripture reading, prayer, and sermons; the veneration (reverence) of saints, and the authority of the pope was abolished. Zwingli Zwingli even had church organs removed and banned the singing of hymns because he couldn’t authority in Scripture (even though he was an accomplished musician and loved liturgical music). Zwingli and Luther agreed on many points, but Zwingli did not think that Luther’s Reformation went far enough. Zwingli They both rejected the authority of the Pope and held to the authority of Scripture alone. They both agreed to the principle of justification by faith alone and rejected the concept of the mass as a sacrifice. But Luther thought Zwingli was a Schwarmer (a fanatic). Zwingli Luther believed that the body and blood of Christ were miraculously present in the bread and wine served at Communion; Zwingli (a humanist) tried to interpret the Bible through reason. Zwingli believed the bread and wine were simply symbolic commemoration of the Last Supper. Zwingli In 1529 a German prince invited Luther and Zwingli to his castle for a meeting to discuss the issue. Zwingli They tried hard to come to an agreement but they couldn’t come to terms. The meeting ended as it had begun, in disagreement. Zwingli held out his hand to shake Luther’s, but Luther indignantly refused. Luther later compared Zwingli to the Apostle Judas betraying Christ. Zwingli Also in 1529, a Protestant missionary from Zurich was burned at the stake for preaching the Gospel in the Catholic Canton of Schwyz. Zurich stopped trading with Schwyz in protest. In 1531, the Catholic Cantons declared war on Zurich and the Protestant cantons. Zwingli The Protestant cantons were mostly urban and the Catholic cantons were mostly mountain forest and conservative. The Catholic states sent an army of 8,000 men to battle Zurich. Zurich fielded an army of only 1,500…too great were the odds against Zurich that even Zwingli donned a helmet and led the fight (he famously said “They can kill my body but not my soul”). Zwingli The army of Zurich was crushed and scattered…Zwingli was felled by a pike. As the victorious Catholic soldiers scavenged the battlefield, they came across Zwingli wounded but still alive underneath a pear tree. Knowing he was near death, they asked if he wanted to confess his sins to a priest or call upon Mother Mary…he said “No.” Zwingli They told Zwingli he was an obstinate, cantankerous heretic and should get what he deserved (so they then ran him through with a sword). Zwingli When Zwingli’s body was identified, it was said a tremendous shout of joy arose in the Catholic camp. His enemies then cut up his body, mixed it with pig entrails, burned the pieces, and scattered his ashes (so he couldn’t be buried as a martyr). The leadership of Protestantism in Switzerland then passed to John Calvin of Geneva. John Calvin Calvin (1509-1564) was originally from France, but moved to Switzerland to escape persecution. He studied the law as well as religion and seems to have been influenced by Greek Stoicism. John Calvin In Basel (Switzerland) Calvin wrote The Institutes of the Christian Religion, which was both a defense of the reform movement and a textbook for instruction. It was an instant bestseller. John Calvin Calvin looked at Luther as his father in the Faith (Luther was 25 years older). Luther was very aware of the distinguished young scholar and author, and praised his Institutes. In 1536 Calvin was leaving France to live in Strasbourg when he took a detour to Geneva. His fame preceded him; when he arrived in Geneva, he planned only on staying the night. He stayed 28 years. John Calvin Geneva was a wealthy center of trade and manufacturing, a republic independent of the Swiss Confederation. When Calvin arrived, the people were boisterous and undisciplined, and the town council was ready for the austerity Calvin supported. The city adopted reforms like monasteries being dissolved, mass was abolished, and papal authority was renounced. John Calvin Calvin was a strong believer in behaving as God wished. There was to be no work or pleasure on Sundays. In Geneva, every sin was made a crime. John Calvin Calvin and his followers frowned on luxury and idleness and games and dancing. Calvin stopped all gambling, drinking, and singing…transgressors were exiled. Singing lewd songs could get your tongue pierced. You would be punished for drunkenness, swearing, or playing cards. Blasphemy could be punished by death. John Calvin He tried shutting down the taverns and replacing them with “evangelical refreshment places” where you could drink alcohol but that was accompanied by Bible readings. In other words, fun was considered sinful. Everyone was expected to work hard because the “devil waits for idle hands.” John Calvin Calvin’s “Bluelaws” for Inns: If anyone blasphemes the name of God or says, “By the body, ‘sblood, zounds” or anything like, or who gives himself to the devil, he shall be punished. If anyone insults any one else the host shall deliver him up to justice. The host shall be obliged to keep in a public place a French Bible, in which any one who wishes may read. He shall not allow indecent songs. Nobody shall be allowed to sit up after nine o’clock at night except informers. John Calvin Calvin created a theocracy (rule by religious, not secular, leaders) in Geneva where the law was the Bible, the pastors were the interpreters of the law, and the civil government was obliged to enforce that law as the pastors interpreted it. There are two theocracies in the world today…do you know where? John Calvin Geneva’s constitution created a Presbytery, a council of five pastors and twelve elders. This Presbytery determined the worship and oversaw the moral conduct of every citizen of Geneva. It sent an elder to inspect every house at least once a year; it might at any time summon any member of the congregation to account for their actions. John Calvin Calvin believed that man was corrupt and that God had chosen who would be saved before the world began. Known as predestination, God had predetermined who would achieve eternal salvation (known as the elect) and the others that were to be damned (known as the reprobate): neither good works nor faith would change God’s plan for men. John Calvin Calvin taught that followers must lead a God-fearing life daily, since one did not know whether or not they would be saved or doomed. You might have led what you considered a perfectly good life that was true to God but if you were a reprobate, you remained one because for all your good qualities, you were inherently corrupt and God would know it even if you didn’t. John Calvin The elect could never fall from grace. Calvinists had the firm conviction that they were doing God’s work on Earth and living a righteous life might be the sign of a person who has been chosen for salvation. This idea of predestination became the cornerstone of Calvinistic belief. Because of Calvin, Geneva became the most influential city in the Protestant movement. John Calvin A few citizens who hated Calvin called him Cain and named their dogs Calvin; but dissenters paid for their sins with their lives or eviction from Geneva. Calvin was to rule this theocracy for 23 years (until his death), and it was a rule that knew no mercy. But to most, Calvin’s idea of the elect flattered their vanity…they were proud to be the chosen of God. John Calvin Calvin’s Geneva had a large impact on Europe for the following reason: Calvin didn’t want his beliefs restricted to one area and he didn’t want Geneva to become a city of Protestant refugees. He wanted Geneva to be the heart that pumped Calvinism throughout Europe. John Calvin This spreading of Calvinism was to be the result of a new educational system based in Geneva: both primary and secondary schools were created, and in 1559 Calvin established the University of Geneva. John Calvin Calvin introduced sanitary regulations that gave Geneva a cleanliness and neatness for which it is still noted for today. He also persuaded the city council to finance new industry. John Calvin Despite Calvin’s stern ideas, during the late 1500’s Calvinism spread to France, England, Holland, and Scotland. In France, followers were known as Huguenots, and in England they were known as the English Calvinists or Puritans. Dutch Calvinists tried to ban the tradition of giving small presents to children on the feast of St. Nicholas (Christmas). John Calvin In England, the Puritans tried to ban card playing, dancing, and drinking in taverns. They at one point also tried to outlaw the celebrating of Christmas. The modern Presbyterian and Congregational faiths originally based their teachings on the ideas of Calvin. England In England, the Reformation became more of a revolt. Here, politics played a bigger role than beliefs. Ill feelings had developed between the people of England and the Pope. The English government was tired of the Pope’s interference in national affairs. England The government had to pay heavily to the Church and the English didn’t like foreigners occupying church offices in England. But the real push came from King Henry VIII in 1533. England Henry VIII was a popular and effective king; he was handsome, athletic, educated, and generous to his friends. He was also egotistical despotic, and perfidious. When he came to the throne in 1509, he married the widow of his brother Arthur. England His wife (and former sister-inlaw) was Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain (and the aunt of the Emperor Charles V). The marriage was purely political: to reinforce an alliance with Spain against France. England Henry’s marriage to Catherine had been questioned from the beginning: he needed papal dispensation for marrying his sister-inlaw—dispensation the pope granted as a favor to Ferdinand and Isabella. When there was no male heir after a decade, people quoted from the Book of Leviticus: “if a man shall take his brother’s wife…they shall be childless.” This was a religious and superstitious age, and everyone wondered if Henry was being punished by God. England Henry had become infatuated with one of Catherine’s ladies-inwaiting, so he wanted to divorce his wife of 20 years. Catherine had not provided a male heir to the throne (only a pale, thin girl, Mary Tudor). England Old (and very chubby) Henry wanted to marry the young (and very pregnant) Anne Boleyn, but the Pope refused to grant Henry a divorce (the pope was dependent on the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. England Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn (he was tired of Catherine and it was said she had grown withered and unattractive) so with the help of Parliament and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry broke with the Church and the Pope. First he married Anne Boleyn in secret. Henry’s marriage to Catherine was declared “null and void” on the grounds that it had been illegal to begin with. England Anne was crowned Queen and three months later she gave birth to the future queen Elizabeth I. The Pope (Clement VII) excommunicated Henry and declared his marriage to Anne invalid. The English overwhelmingly supported their King over the Pope. England The Catholic Church in England was abolished and the Church of England was established, with Henry, not the Pope, as the head. Henry confiscated monasteries and their wealth, appointed the clergy, and the clergy now had to swear loyalty to him, not the Pope. But Henry had no Luther-like quarrel with dogma…he wanted a divorce and he wanted power. England Henry made few changes to matters of doctrine, theology or ceremony. Today the followers are known as the Anglicans or Episcopalians and their services, in many ways, are very similar to Roman Catholic services. England The last ten years of Henry’s life were taken up with trying to find the perfect wife and acquiring a male heir. After three years, Henry tired of Anne Boleyn, mainly because she hadn’t provided a male heir. Henry had her charged with adultery (which was considered treason) and incest and had her beheaded. England His third wife, Jane Seymour, produced the long awaited male heir (Edward VI) but she died during childbirth. England His fourth marriage, to a German princess named Anne of Cleves, was arranged for political reasons and on the basis of a painting. Henry was shocked at her actual looks when he first saw her in person and soon divorced her. England His fifth wife, Catherine Howard, was more attractive but less moral. When she committed adultery, Henry wasted little time in having her beheaded. England His last wife was Catherine Parr, who outlived him. Henry died in 1547 and was succeeded by the nine year-old, sickly Edward VI, the son of his third wife. Edward lived to be 15. England When Edward VI died, he was succeeded by his much older half sister, Mary Tudor. She was dour and not well liked, especially after she disregarded national sentiment against Spain and married her cousin, King Philip II. England Mary tried to restore Catholicism as the faith of the land by reversing any religious acts her father or Edward passed. She became intolerant and harsh of Protestants (she became known as “Bloody Mary” after having 300 burned at the stake). This made people want Protestantism more—not for its dogma, but because it seemed to represent freedom from tyranny. England When Mary died in 1558 (she ruled for five years), her half-sister Elizabeth I became queen. Elizabeth proved to be a masterly ruler, in character and in politics she was the very opposite of her half-sister. Having no strong faith herself, she was careful not to offend her subjects. England Elizabeth was pragmatic enough to know that England had many Catholics, but the influential classes were Protestant. She would rule for 45 years and would be the English monarch that put Protestantism on a firm footing.