Reformation Notes
Huttmeier's Views
Huttmeier supported the marriage of priests but differed from Anabaptists. Unlike most Anabaptists, he believed Christians could be magistrates and use temporal force for civil defense. Most Anabaptists were pacifists.
Melkor Hofmann's Theology
Hofmann began as an Anabaptist but shifted towards a spiritual view. He taught the "heavenly or celestial flesh of Christ," claiming Mary only provided nourishment, not Christ's flesh. This minimized Christ's humanity and emphasized his deity. Hofmann had visions, preached about Daniel and Revelation, and predicted the coming millennial kingdom. He was imprisoned for predicting the second coming and eventually tortured and killed.
Mino Simmons and the Mennonites
Mino Simmons, from the Netherlands, was disciplined by the church ban and advocated pacifism. His Christology posited that Christ's nature did not derive from Mary's flesh but was composed of celestial flesh. Simmons' followers migrated to North America and became known as the Mennonites.
Anabaptist Theology
Anabaptist theology followed the New Testament model, emphasizing scripture as the guideline. They rejected infant baptism, advocating believers' baptism, and observed the Lord's Supper. Key tenets included volunteerism and the autonomy of the local church, where congregations elected, supported, and disciplined their pastors. This contrasts with Reformed theology and influenced free churches like the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church Disciples of Christ from the Stone-Campbell movement.
Radical Reformers
Radical reformers diverged into: biblical, spiritualistic, and rationalistic factions.
Biblical reformers used the Bible to reconstruct the primitive church, influencing the English Baptists.
Spiritualistic reformers emphasized the revelation of the Holy Spirit and new prophetic revelations that could augment or supersede scripture, as seen with the Zwickau prophets and Thomas Müntzer.
Rationalistic reformers prioritized human reason in interpreting scripture and the primitive model, challenging doctrines like the Trinity and vicarious atonement. Michael Servetus, who wrote against the Trinity, was executed in Geneva with John Calvin's approval.
Anti-Trinitarianism and Socinianism
Faustus Socinus, an exiled Italian humanist, further shaped anti-Trinitarianism. He joined the Polish Brethren, applying baptism only to gentile converts and rejecting infant baptism. Socinus denied the deity of Christ and the Trinity; his beliefs led to Socinianism and later Unitarianism. Barton Stone, in early conversations with Alexander Campbell, was accused of Socinianism due to his anti-Trinitarian views.
Spread of Anabaptism
Anabaptism spread from centers of movement to areas with high density, marked in pink.
John Calvin's Early Life and Conversion
John Calvin was born in France and studied law. He received a humanist education, became a scholar of the classics, and was an excellent linguist. Around 1532-1534, he experienced a sudden conversion and dedicated himself to reforming the church but never publicly discussed his conversion. Within a year, he and his friends faced trouble with civil and ecclesiastical authorities.
Calvin's Theological Development
Calvin is considered Protestantism's most important systematizer. He developed a system of Christian theology known as Calvinism, which includes doctrines of predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God in the salvation of human souls from death and eternal damnation. Implicated in a heretical offense with a friend, he fled to Basel and then hid in Geneva, a city of refuge. Calvin's move to Geneva occurred when the French monarch could no longer protect him. In Geneva, he studied and expanded Zwingli's theological errors.
Calvin's Influence in Geneva
When Calvin arrived in Geneva, the Catholic clergy had been expelled, but there was no permanent governing structure. In 1536, Calvin published Institutes of the Christian Religion, outlining his views as an apologia or defense of his faith and a statement of the doctrinal position for Calvinist reformers. It was intended as an elementary instruction book for those interested in the Christian faith and was updated and republished throughout his life. The Institutes set laws and guidelines for the people of Geneva. Those who did not follow the new church were punished, imprisoned, tortured, banished, or executed. Calvin aimed to reform the immoral behavior, crime, and excesses prevalent in Geneva.
Calvin's Expulsion and Return
Calvin's ideas became unpopular, leading to his expulsion from Geneva. He traveled to Strasbourg, continuing his theological studies. Geneva fell into disarray, and the city council, realizing their mistake, asked Calvin to return and restore order.
Calvin's Reforms in Geneva
The council passed a new constitution for the church in Geneva, turning the city into a theocracy governed by church leaders. Ecclesiastical ordinances defined four ministerial functions:
Pastors: to preach and administer sacraments.
Doctors/Teachers: to instruct believers in the faith.
Elders: to provide church discipline.
Deacons: to care for the poor and needy.
The consistory, an ecclesiastical court composed of elders and ministers, was created with the power to mete out sentences, excommunication being the harshest. Calvin established a code of conduct, emphasizing sobriety, self-restraint, hard work, thrift, and godliness. Calvinists abstained from pleasure and frivolity (dancing, songs, drinking, gaming) and found guidance in daily Bible reading. This marked the emergence of the Puritan ethos in the English-speaking world.
Calvin's Influence on France
In his final years, Calvin was committed to reforming his homeland of France. He supplied the dogma, liturgy, and moral ideas of the new religion, and created ecclesiastical, political, and social institutions. He corresponded with French Protestants and sent over a hundred ministers from Geneva to France between 1555 and 1562 to spread Calvin’s theology. He aimed to convert Catholic France into a Protestant nation.
Calvin's Death and Theology
Calvin died in 1564 at age 64. To prevent a cult of personality, he was buried in an unmarked grave. His theology accepted Luther’s maxims: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia. He believed in predestination, dividing the world into saints and sinners. Calvin advocated for civic administration controlled by the ecclesial. He denied the true presence in the Eucharist, aligning more with Zwingli than Luther. His belief in double predestination and denial of free will defined his theology, often referred to as the Reformed Church, with similarities to Augustine's theology.
Calvin's View of Sacraments and Humanity
Calvin defined a sacrament as an earthly sign associated with a promise from God and accepted only two sacraments under his view of the new covenant: baptism and the Lord's Supper. He rejected Catholic transubstantiation and the treatment of the Supper as a sacrifice. He also couldn't accept Lutheran's doctrine of consubstantiation where Christ was in, with, and under the elements, embracing closer to Zwingli’s symbolic view.
Calvin emphasized the power of God over sinful and corrupt humanity, demanding obedience. The distance between God and humanity is bridged only by Christ. He explained salvation in terms of predestination, where God grants grace for inscrutable reasons, knowing in advance who will be saved and condemned.
Calvinist Doctrine: TULIP
Calvinist doctrine is summarized by the acronym TULIP:
Total depravity of humankind
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of saints
Calvin's Political Thought and Work Ethic
Calvin understood work as believers expressing gratitude to God for redemption and serving their neighbors. Everyone is obliged to work, and loafing and begging were rejected. Economic success was seen as a visible sign of God's grace, a concept that became more prominent in the 20th century and influenced Max Weber’s theory of the Protestant work ethic.
Geneva as a Center of Protestant Education
Geneva became a center of Protestant education, welcoming Protestant refugees. Those educated in Geneva returned home as evangelical missionaries. Calvinism extensively influenced the Protestant movement, especially in Scotland with Presbyterians, France with the Huguenots, and England with Puritanism. Reformers from across Europe visited Geneva and spread Calvin’s ideas, leading to its establishment in Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland by the end of the 16th century, sparking religious wars across Europe.
Rise of Protestantism and Nationalism
In the 17th century, the English version of Calvinism, known as Puritanism, acted as a moral force and reform movement in the Church of England. Out of the Swiss-French with Calvin came the reformed tradition of Presbyterianism. Out of the Swiss Brethren arose the Anabaptists and Congregationalists who identified with the English Puritans.
The rise of Protestantism, along with the growth of nationalism, economic changes, and shifts in social relationships, led to reformations in England, particularly around the politics of reform.
Tudor Dynasty
Early on, the English had endured the War of the Roses. The emblem for the House of York was the white rose and the emblem for the House of Lancaster was the red rose. The final victory went to the Lancastrian king, Henry the seventh. He defeated the Yorkist King Richard the Third at the Battle of Bosworth Field in August 1485, thus creating the Tudor dynasty. To quell conflict, Henry Tudor married Elizabeth, the daughter of the previous Yorkist king, Edward the fourth, and united the red and white roses. To strengthen international ties, he used matrimonial diplomacy.
He married his oldest son, Arthur, to Catherine, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain.
He married his daughter, Margaret, to James the fourth of Scotland.
He married his daughter, Mary, to Louis the twelfth of France.
This dynastic conflict occurred against a backdrop of economic depression, government financial issues, and the decline of the feudal system. However, the Tudor victory brought economic growth driven by the wool trade. During Henry the seventh’s reign, England doubled its revenue from the cloth trade, and economic prosperity ensured dynastic stability.
English Anticlericalism and Reform Movements
Throughout Europe, the Catholic Church faced anticlericalism, fueled by clergy of low character. This was also true in England, where bishops often neglected their dioceses, leaving poorly educated curates to care for the parishes. English clergy were often royal servants chosen for their usefulness to the crown, and wealth and power corrupted some. Anticlericalism was fed by reform movements like Lollardy, derived from Oxford theologian John Wycliffe. Lollardy was stimulated by clerical corruption, and after Wycliffe's death, the Lollards became an underground church with a special affinity for the vernacular Bible. This group of English laypeople met and associated with English humanists, forming an inter-church reform movement. This group met at the White Horse Inn in Cambridge, the first meeting place for the first English Protestant group.
Early Protestant Sympathizers
Out of this group emerged William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, and other early Protestant sympathizers who became bishops in the Catholic Church and suffered martyrdom. William Tyndale was the most significant of these early Protestants. After studying at Oxford and Cambridge, Tyndale served as a tutor and became convinced of the necessity of translating the Bible into the vernacular. In 1522, he proposed an English translation to the bishop of London, who declined. In 1524, he went to Wittenberg, Germany, and began translating the New Testament using Luther’s German translation as a model. Beginning in March 1526, copies, as well as parts of the Hebrew Bible, flooded into England. Tyndale's translations were influential for the next century, as others incorporated much of them into subsequent editions of the Bible. Tyndale found refuge in Antwerp, enjoying legal immunity, but he was betrayed, imprisoned, brought to trial, and found guilty. He was strangled and burned at the stake. His publishing of the scriptures initiated much of the Protestantism and reforms.
Henry the Eighth and the English Reformation
The most significant reform to the church in England came out of Henry the eighth. Late medieval England had a reputation for maintaining the rights of the king against the pope. Religious leaders had called for church reform since the 1300s, and by the 1520s, many English clergy were toying with protestant ideas, but England's break from the Catholic Church was not the work of religious leaders. It was a result of the political leader.
Henry the eighth wanted to end papal control over the English church for political reasons, not religious. After succeeding his father to the throne, Henry the eighth wanted to end papal control over the English church. Henry the eighth dynasty includes: Henry VIII, son Edward, and others.
Henry's Marital Issues
The journey that led Henry to break from Rome began when his brother, Arthur, married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, in 1502. Arthur was sickly and died months later, leaving Catherine a widow. Henry became the heir apparent and took the crown in 1509. He then took his brother’s widow as his wife. According to church law, such a marriage was forbidden, and only the pope could grant a special dispensation. Pope Julius the second granted it, arguing that the marriage was never consummated.
Six children were born to the couple, but only their daughter, Mary, survived. When Catherine turned 41, Henry realized that a male heir was unlikely, an important dynastic issue, because England had never had an undisputed queen. Besides dynastic succession, Henry's decision was propelled by:
Theological Scruples: God denied him a legitimate male heir over his marriages with Catherine.
Desire for Anne Boleyn: One of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting.
Henry wanted to set Catherine aside and take Anne as his wife, but could not do this in Catholic England without a papal annulment of the marriage. Pope Leo bestowed upon Henry the title of "Defender of the Faith." Henry's advisors conceived a plan to declare the king supreme in English spiritual affairs just as in English political affairs. Remember Pope Leo, because of his writings against Luther, named Henry the eighth, defender of the faith.
Reformation Parliament
A reformation parliament with changes made by those under the king allowed him to become head of the Church of England. Henry began to change some of the church's rituals, though very little, but what was more important was this public support of the Catholic church. Henry was determined to marry Anne Boleyn because she was pregnant with Henry’s child, but he was still married to Capron. Once this reformed reformation parliament allowed him to become head of the church of England, he and the parliament legalized his divorce in 1533. Along the way, the Protestant sympathizer Thomas Cranmer cozied up to Henry and justified his ability to get a divorce.
Thomas Cranmer's Role
Thomas Cramner gets appointed as the Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry the eighth because Crammer cozies up to Henry. Henry weds the pregnant Anne Boleyn with Thomas Cramner officiating. Anne gave birth to another girl, Elizabeth and suffers miscarriages, is accused of adultery, imprisoned, and beheaded by sword, even though the charges against her were false. This parliament made the king the highest court of appeals for all of the subjects of English subjects as well: invalidation of his first marriage came when Cranmer (with Protestant leanings) was appointed to the Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry the eighth.
Acts of Parliament
There was a Reformation Parliament where acts to officially break from Roman papacy were passed, and Henry the eighth would be the head of the Church of England. The Act of Annulce prevents payment of money to the Pope. The Act of the Restraint of Appeals forbids appeals from being taken to Rome. The Act of Supremacy, in 1534, declared Henry, and not the pope, the official head of the Church of England. It's the act of succession that made Anne Boleyn's children legitimate heirs to the throne, that act supremacy again, only supreme head on earth of the Church of England.
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Henry closed all the English monasteries and seized their wealth. The Catholic Church owned 20% of all the land in England, which greatly increased Henry’s wealth. It also led to massive poverty amongst the monks and the nuns living in those monasteries because Henry was taking the money and not giving money back to the church for their support. Despite breaking from Rome, the English church was still Catholic in doctrine:
Latin Mass
Reaffirming Clerical Celibacy
Reaffirming the Need for Confession
And reaffirming Transubstantiation.
Six Wives of Henry VIII
There are six wives of Henry the eighth, who you can read a bit about each of them. Henry dies in 1547 increasingly supportive of continental reformers.
Edward VI
Edward the sixth, Mary, and Elizabeth - when his son Edward was born, Henry finally has a male heir. Edward is only nine years old when crowned king. He is influenced by John Dudley, the duke of Northumberland, who enacted the Protestant Reformation. With Dudley, clerical marriage is sanctioned, communion with the cup is sanctioned. Thomas Cranmer (Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury) takes the Church of England into a Protestant direction by composing The Book of Common Prayers, becoming standard norm for all of the church services. Images and the altars were removed from the churches, and Protestants started coming into what was Catholic England. Cranmer's confession of faith is adopted as this moderate Protestant doctrine, but it still requires church attendance: Justification by faith, supremacy of the holy scripture, denial of transubstantiation, and recognition of two sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist.
Lady Jane Grey
Edward becomes ill and dies at age 16 and wanted lady Jane Grey, who was Henry the seventh's great granddaughter to be queen. Henry wanted these Protestant reformations to continue and felt they would under lady Jane Grey. For a brief period of time, we get a queen of England finally in 1553 who is a Protestant, but she is only queen for nine days. Lady Jane Grey is thrown into prison and then beheaded.
Mary I (Bloody Mary)
The next Tudor monarch is Queen Mary the first, known as Bloody Mary. She is determined to restore England to the Roman fold and passed the Heresy Act, killing 300 protestants during her reign. Turned England back to Catholicism, and bible translators are burned and executed. And she reinstates a new archbishop of Canterbury and the primary object of persecution is Thomas Cranmer, who declared her mother's marriage invalid and legitimated her father's marriage to Anne Boleyn. Mary married Philip in 1554, but the marriage was protested by those not wanting England to become a satellite of Spain.
Elizabeth I and the Anglican Church
After Mary dies, the throne passes to Elizabeth in 1558, establishing the Anglican Church, a moderate Protestantism doctrine with Catholic ritual. Elizabeth the first formally establishes the Anglican Church, over which she will be head more tolerant and moderate in some of her religious issues. With this Elizabethan settlement settlement. Her policies a compromise between Protestant and Catholic practices
Elizabethan Settlement
Elizabeth's religious settlement includes:
Reaffirmation that the monarch is the head of the Anglican church.
Using her skills to restore unity to England, making England a firmly Protestant nation.
The Act of Supremacy passes parliament and repeals all anti Protestant legislation from Mary Tudor, asserting Elizabeth's rights as supreme governor over affairs.
Elizabeth introduced the Act of Uniformity, mandating a revised version of the second book of common prayer for every church.
The issuance of the 39 articles of religion in 1563 made a modern Protestantism the official religion within the Church of England. 39 articles rejected transubstantiation.
Theology in the Anglican Reformation remained oriented toward Catholicism, while questioning the legalistic aspect of mandatory church attendance. Church and ministry worked together and followed a reformed view the Lord's Supper and rejected transubstantiation, Infant baptism was still Catholic but also included predestination.
Puritans
During Elizabeth's reign, Puritan ministers outwardly conformed, indicating Puritans had gone underground. They shortened the prayer book service to allow more time for preaching and offered extemporaneous prayers instead of reading from the common book of prayer. Most Puritans remain non-separating Puritans. In other words the Elizabethan settlement proved very acceptable to the vast majority of the English nation. Puritans wanted to purify the Elizabethan settlement of Catholic resemblance, particularly in the worship liturgy.
Reformation in Scotland
A reformation took place in Scotland led by John Knox who established it in 1560. The Scottish realm at the time was under the Stuart dynasty and the Catholic church, and Knox saw it a fight to establish a new church. He used their ideas of martyrdom and persecutions in his writings to act as this criticism against the Catholic institution and to preach corruption. He spent time in England working on his Protestant reform under the kingship of Edward the fifth. Was in Geneva under Calvin able to kind of learn this, you know, perfect school that provides kind of the basis to fight for Scottish Protestant Reformation. When Mary, queen of Scots returned to Scotland, Knox was anxious to push forward these Protestant reforms although Mary being a hindrance. Although Mary remained Scotland's Queen, Mary Stuart's fight for the crown would be sent to England. The Scottish Protestants now, with control, had Protestantism as the religion of the realm.
Death of John Knox
At the time of his death in 1572, Scotland was being ruled by a Protestant king, James the sixth, the son of Mary, queen of Scots, who also inherited would also later inherit the crown of England to become king James the first of England, able to unite both England and Scotland under Protestantism.
Reforms in Western Europe
Peace of Nuremberg negotiated in 1532 by the Holy Roman emperor and these Protestant princes known as the in Germany, known as the small cult or small caldic league allowed German Protestant princes in their territories to remain Protestant:
So long as they didn't propagate faith in regions other than their own.
As well, to seek reforms other than those prescribed in the Augsburg confession.
Lutheranism started spreading with King Gustavus Vasa in Scandinavia, and Scandinavia became a stronghold of Lutheranism by the fifteen forties.
French Wars of Religion
The French Catholic kings started to persecute the Protestant Huguenots/Calvinists. 40 to 50% of the French nobility were Huguenots (Calvinists were only 10% of the population), which created French wars over religion. Catherine Medici's and son moderated some of the the wars against the France and ultra Catholics, Very strict with opposition. The Ultra Catholics got support from Rome (Jesuits), who could provide troops and money. Towns and provinces most are Calvinists. King Francis the first was initially sympathetic to Luther as long as his idea stayed in Germany, but Protestantism illegal in France in 1534. The greatest persecution of the Huguenots killed for their beliefs was the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre (3 days of killing lead 3,000 Huguenots dead).
Henry of Navarre
Henry of Navarre who was Calvinist turned Catholic along the way in this course of fighting just to save his life, but the fighting continues. The Huguenots start to rebuild their forces. The ultra Catholics form their own heli league to seat a true Catholic champion on the throne in France. Turning Point: The Three Henrys include henry the duke of guy. Henry the third of France assassinated Henry the duke of Quay, and then Henry the third joins Henry of Navarre (Calvinist) to crush the Catholic Holy League and retake Paris. So what you're seeing is a lot of play between religion and politics over power. Henry the third is assassinated by a monk repelled by the Catholic king cooperating with the Protestant people
Edict of Nantes
Henry of Navarre got to claim the throne, converts back to Catholicism to avert a war, and ends the French wars of religion. Edict of Nantes in 1598 granted rights to Huguenots.
Have right to worship in certain places.
Retain their fortified towns for protection.
Given political privileges including holding public office, and recognizes Protestants.
The most powerful European nations were Catholics. Protestants started feuding over the different varieties of Protestant Christianity. There are different Protestant varieties spreading with this time. As Protestants formed into denominations there is this institutional power structure.