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
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 1 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. 2