THE BACKGROUND OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Dan Petty

The Protestant Reformation began in 1517, when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. The background of the movement is complex. The movement was conditioned by political, social, economic, moral and intellectual factors. But it was above all a religious movement led by men interested in a genuine reform of Christianity.

The Decline of Papal Power

The rise of national monarchies in the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries came at the expense of the power of the papacy. This fact is illustrated by Pope Boniface VIII’s struggle with the king of France, which resulted in the pope’s humiliation and untimely death in 1303. The papacy was subsequently located in Avignon, France for an approximately seventy-year period known in history as the Avignon Papacy or the Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy (1303-77). During that time the papacy was dominated by the French monarchy. Efforts to restore the papacy to Rome at first only resulted in a division, known as the Great Schism. Rival popes claimed legitimacy until the situation was finally resolved in 1417.

Such scandalous affairs in the highest leadership of the Roman Catholic Church led to increasing corruption and a loss of confidence in the church. Many questioned the absolute authority claimed for the pope. Others increasingly called for a reform of the church in “head and members.”

Moral Corruption in the Leadership of the Church

The years leading up to the Protestant Reformation were also plagued by moral corruption and abuse of position in the Roman Catholic Church. The priesthood was guilty of several abuses of privilege and responsibility, including simony (using one’s wealth or influence to purchase an ecclesiastical office), pluralism (holding multiple offices simultaneously) and absenteeism (the failure to reside in the parish where they were supposed to minister). The practice of celibacy which was imposed by the church on the priesthood was often abused or ignored, leading to immoral conduct on the part of the clergy. Secular-minded, ignorant priests corrupted their position by neglect or abuse of power.

During the fifteenth century the worldliness and corruption in the church reached its worst. The problem of corruption reached all the way to the papacy.

Among those who spoke out for a reform of the church was the Dominican Giralamo Savonarola (1452-1498) of Florence, Italy. This fiery preacher spoke out against the corrupt morals of the city’s leaders and the abuses of the papacy. The people were won over to Savonarola’s cause in Florence, but because of religious rivalries and political circumstances, the movement was short-lived. Savonarola was hanged and burned for heresy in 1498.

Early Reforming Religious Movements

During the late middle ages several movements arose that challenged some of the basic doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of these movements were officially condemned by the church as heresy and were severely suppressed.

The Albigensians arose in southern France in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. The Abigensians (also called Cathari) held to a strict dualism similar to the ancient gnostics. They held the New Testament to be the sole standard of authority – a challenge to the authority claimed by the pope. The sect became the object of a terrible campaign of persecution when pope Innocent III launched a crusade against them in 1204.

A movement known as the Waldensians was probably founded in the eleventh century by Peter Waldo. Traveling preachers known as the Poor Men of Lyons emphasized the study and preaching of the Bible. They translated the New Testament into the vernacular, rejected the Catholic doctrines of the priesthood and purgatory, and advocated a return to the Scriptures as the only authority in religion.

In England, John Wycliffe (1324-84), a well-known professor at Oxford, also challenged the authority of the papacy. During the Avignon Papacy, he argued that all legitimate dominion comes from God and is characterized by the authority exercised by Christ on earth – not to be served but to serve. During the Great Schism, Wycliffe taught that the true church of Christ, rather than consisting of the pope and church hierarchy, is the invisible body of the elect. He promoted the study of Scripture over the Tradition of the church. He taught that the Scriptures ought to be put into the hands of the elect, and in their own language. Wycliffe thus provided an English translation in about 1384.

Wycliffe was eventually condemned for heresy, but his influence continued. His followers, called “Lollards,” spread his teachings as an underground movement in England. They rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation, the veneration of images, clerical celibacy, and other Catholic doctrines as abominations. They were an important influence in England on the eve of the Protestant Reformation.

Another early voice calling for reform was John Huss (1369-1415), a Bohemian preacher and scholar. Influenced by Wycliffe’s writings, Huss argued that the true church was not the institution as defined by Catholicism, but the body of the elect under the headship of Christ. He insisted the Bible is the final authority by which the pope or any Christian is to be judged. Huss was burned for heresy in 1415, about a century before Luther’s stand in Wittenberg. The Hussite movement continued to grow after their leader’s death, preparing the way for the Protestant Reformation.

Religion Mystical and Pietistic Movements

In the late middle ages a form of religious mysticism arose in Germany. Many of the mystics, such as Meister Eckhart, emphasized apprehending the divine through mystical contemplation, rather than through a rational approach to religion.

Others, such as Gerhard Groote, taught a more practical approach to Christianity. Groote founded the Brethren of the Common Life as an effort to call followers to renewed holiness and devotion. They followed the Devotio Moderna, a life of disciplined devotion centered on meditating on and following the life of Christ. The most influential work of this school of thought was The Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas à Kempis. While not opposed to the Catholic Church or the hierarchy, the movement was critical of corruption in the church. Their emphasis on a personal relationship with God seemed to minimize the role of the sacramental function of the church. Schools founded by the Brethren stressed scholarship and devotion and became centers for reform. Many of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation were influenced by their teaching.

The Renaissance

The Renaissance was a movement that constituted the transition from the medieval to the modern world. It began in the fourteenth century in Italy as a result of a renewed interest in the classical or humanistic culture of Greece and Rome. Renaissance scholars studied ancient manuscripts recovered from a world that was decidedly more secular and individualistic than religious and corporate. The artists of the period emphasized the beauty of nature and man. Religion in the Renaissance became less important as men turned their attention to the enjoyment of the here and now.

The Renaissance affected the popes of the period. Many of the “Renaissance popes” such as Julius II (1441-1513) were humanists who were more interested in classical culture and art than in spiritual concerns. Some, such as Alexander VI (1431-1503), lived notoriously wicked and scandalous lives. Leo X (1475-1521), the son of Lorenzo de’ Medici and pope when Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses, once said that God gave him the papacy, so he would “enjoy it.”

The Renaissance also contributed to the Reformation in other, more positive ways. The invention of the moveable type printing press by Johann Gutenberg in about 1456 provided a medium for the spread of ideas. Renaissance scholars north of the Alps shared many of the same interests – a love for ancient sources, an emphasis on the human being as an individual, and a belief in the rational abilities of the human mind. These “northern Christian humanists,” however, were less interested in the classical past than in the Christian past. They applied the techniques and methods of Renaissance humanism to the study of the Scriptures in their original languages, as well as the study of “church fathers” such as Augustine. Their chief concern for human beings was for their souls. Their emphasis was ethical and religious rather than aesthetic and secular.

The result of this emphasis was an interest in a return to the Scriptures and restoration of primitive Christianity. The Biblical humanists pointed out the evils in the church of their day and called for internal reform. Perhaps most influential was Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1466-1536). Known as the “prince of the humanists,” Erasmus used his broad scholarship to develop a text of the New Testament in Greek, based on four Greek manuscripts available to him. With the help of the printing press, Erasmus published the first printed Greek text of the New Testament in 1516. The ability to study the Bible in its original languages encouraged more accurate comparison of the church of their day with the church of the New Testament. Martin Luther, for example, made immediate use of Erasmus’ Greek text. He soon learned that the Latin Vulgate’s rendering “do penance” in Matthew 4:17 should more accurately read, “repent.” Such insight contributed to a growing realization that the sacramental system was not supported by Scripture.

Doctrinal Issues and Religious Authority

The immediate issue that prompted Martin Luther to post his 95 propositions for debate in 1517 was the abuse of the Roman Catholic system of indulgences. The doctrine of indulgences, first formulated in the thirteenth century, was associated with the sacrament of penance and the doctrine of purgatory. While the sacrament was believed to provide forgiveness of sin and eternal punishment, it was thought that there was a temporal satisfaction that the repentant sinner must fulfill in this life or in purgatory. The indulgence was a document that one could purchase for a sum of money that would free him from the temporal penalty of sin. The excess merits of Christ and the saints were believed to be stored up in a heavenly “treasury of merit” which the pope could draw from on behalf of the living. In 1517 the Dominican Johann Tetzel was selling a special plenary indulgence (promising complete forgiveness of all sin) to raise money for the church. Half of the money was to be given to Archbishop Albert, to whom the pope had given a special dispensation to hold two offices. The rest would help finance the completion of Saint Peter’s cathedral in Rome. Luther’s protest initially was against what he saw as the abuse of the system of indulgence. It was also a challenge to the papal authority that made such abuses possible.

Luther eventually rejected the Roman Catholic sacramental system altogether. More than any other factor, his conclusions arose from his intense study of the Bible. From about 1513 to 1519 Luther lectured on Scripture in the University of Wittenberg. He became convinced that the Bible was the only true authority in religion (sola scriptura), as opposed to the pope or a general church council. Through his study he came to realize that many aspects of the theological system of the Roman Church were not based on Scripture. Luther believed he had recovered the true essence of Christianity in its teaching that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ (sola fide), and not through a system of works as manifested in the Catholic sacramental system. He challenged the Catholic concept of the priesthood with the assertion that the New Testament taught the priesthood of believers.

While many factors combined to make the Protestant Reformation possible, it was above all the reformers’ belief in returning to the sole authority of the Bible that defined the movement. The extent to which they succeeded in effecting a true reformation may well be judged by how closely they adhered to that principle.