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In last month’s newsletter we briefly looked at the Late Middle Ages (1300–1500). This
month we will begin to enter the world of the Reformation. In many ways it was a new world.
The Hammond Atlas of World History looks at the world from about 1500 on and describes it as
“The World of the Emerging West.” Similarly, Justo Gonzalez begins his third and final volume
of A History Christian Thought by looking at some of the social, political, and theological
changes that were taking place leading up to Luther’s emergence. I will follow Gonzalez’ lead
here and look at some of these changes. Because of the increasing complexity of the world from
1500 on, I anticipate slowing down our progress through history in my coming articles. I plan on
using Gonzalez’ work as a general framework to help show some of the major trends in Christian
thought over the last half millennium (although I will also adduce other sources and will also
present many of my own evaluations distinct from Gonzalez).
One significant sign of Luther’s times that Gonzalez sees is a growth in nationalism.
Feudalism had characterized the medieval time period where ‘lords’ (nobility who owned fiefs,
or lands) would allow vassals to occupy the land and protect them in exchange for some service
performed by the vassals. But by Luther’s time modern nations with centralized monarchies were
beginning to emerge. For example, from the time of the defeat of the Moors in Tours, France in
732 Spain fought until 1492 to drive the Muslims out of their country. A similar conquering
spirit impelled them to conquer Portugal as well as the new world. By the Patronato Real the
church hierarchy was subject to the crown in Spain. Nationalism was on the rise in France and
England as well, partly as the result of the bitter Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Even though
Germany remained a patchwork of practically sovereign states, nationalism was on the rise there
too both because of increased communication across feudal borders and because areas formerly
part of the Holy Roman Empire (i.e. basically “Germany”) now were forming the independent
nations of Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Bohemia.
A second significant sign of the times was the declining authority of the hierarchy of the
church. After the high point of papal power with pope Innocent III, later popes were increasingly
spending more money on luxurious lifestyles such as can be seen in their appetite for the new
Renaissance art. To try to fund the church, simony became a problem as popes created new
churchly posts only to sell them to people who would not actually perform the functions of the
job (this is also known as “absenteeism”). Out of disillusionment some Christians avoided
church hierarchy and sought refuge in mysticism as they devoted themselves to study,
meditation, and contemplation. Nominalism (see also last month’s article) also cut in to church
authority as scholars increasingly found the vast theological systems of medieval theologians to
be confusing and impractical.
A final significant sign of the times was the rise of humanism in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. When Constantinople, the capitol of the Eastern or Byzantine Empire, fell to
the Muslim Turks in 1453 numerous Byzantine scholars sought refuge in Italy and brought with
them their knowledge of the Greek language and literature. This allowed greater access to the
writings of antiquity (such as the works of Aristotle) as well as to the writings of the Church
Fathers and the original Greek manuscripts of the Bible. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the
printing press around 1450 greatly increased the circulation of these Greek works and allowed
for much greater scholarly attention to be paid to them. Erasmus came out of this tradition and
was responsible for the publication of the Greek New Testament in 1516. Erasmus gained wide
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fame throughout Europe due to his criticisms of church corruption. He had an irenic spirit, but
when push came to shove he sided with the Roman Catholic hierarchy rather than Luther, which
caused Luther’s fiery response The Bondage of the Will in 1525. Erasmus wanted a simpler,
gentler, and more ethical sort of Christianity, but there was little place for a middle position in
the firestorm between the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics.
On a test at seminary I was required to write an essay on whether Luther’s leadership or
other factors were more responsible for the vast changes to Europe at Luther’s time. In the essay
I answered that the other factors (such as I have introduced in this article) were more responsible
than Luther. The professor didn’t seem to like it (and we disagreed on a great many other things
as well), but I still think I gave the right answer. Huge changes had come onto the scene before
Luther emerged to prominence in Germany. The medieval church had run its course.
Nevertheless, Luther greatly accelerated the pace of this change and led the church that bore his
name in his own unique direction to the great consternation of the existing church authorities that
so vehemently opposed him, as we will see.
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