 |
|
Western Civilization I page. |
1500-1570
I. DISSENT AND PIETY
SOURCES OF MALAISE
- INCREASING NUMBERS OF DEEPLY PIOUS PEOPLE WERE FINDING THE CHURCH'S EMPHASIS ON RITUAL AND STANDARDIZED PRACTICE UNHELPFUL IN THEIR DESIRE FOR A MORE PERSONALIZED QUEST FOR SALVATION.
- PEOPLE WERE VERY CONCERNED WITH THE FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION OF HOW BEST TO OBTAIN SALVATION.
- THE PAPACY'S SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY HAD WEAKENED AS A RESULT OF:
1) BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY AT AVIGNON UNDER FRENCH CONTROL.
2) THE GREAT SCHISM THAT FOLLOWED.
3) ATTEMPTS OF THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE TO SUBORDINATE PAPAL AUTHORITY TO CHURCH COUNCILS.
4) SECULARIZATION OF THE PAPACY.
- POPES PUSHED FOR MORE LAND GAINS IN THE PAPAL STATES.
- POPES BECAME PATRONS OF THE ARTS AND SURROUNDED THEMSELVES WITH ELABORATE COURTS.
5) ABUSE OF SPIRITUAL OFFICES AND INDULGENCES BY SELLING THEM.
- ABUSES WERE WIDESPREAD AT LOWER LEVELS AND EVEN PARISH PRIESTS BEGAN SELLING INDULGENCES AS FUND-RAISING DEVICES.
- AROUND 1500, GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA, A DOMINICAN PRIEST FROM FLORENCE, LED A POPULAR PIETY MOVEMENT.
- HE ATTEMPTED INTERNAL REFORM OF ABUSES BUT FAILED AS WAS EXECUTED BY THE CHURCH.
PIETY AND PROTEST IN LITERATURE AND ART
- INVENTION OF THE PRINTING PRESS MADE READING MATERIAL MORE AVAILABLE.
- EVEN THE ILLITERATE COULD BE INFLUENCED BY THE PRINTED WORD THROUGH READINGS AT TOWN GATHERINGS IN THE EVENING.
- BOOKS BECAME POWERFUL WEAPONS IN THE GROWING STRUGGLE OVER RELIGION.
- 1533 AND 1535 - FRANCOIS RABELAIS PUBLISHED HIS GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL WHICH WERE SATIRES ON THE CLERGY AND THEIR LACK OF SPIRITUALITY.
- HE IS CONSIDERED THE MOST GIFTED SATIRIST OF HIS AGE.
- CONCERN FOR SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS THEMES PERMEATED THE WORK OF NORTHERN ARTISTS IN THE LATE 15TH AND EARLY 16TH CENTURY.
- ALBRECHT DüRER WAS THE FINEST NORTHERN ARTIST OF THE PERIOD. HE MADE GREAT USE OF THE ART OF WOODCUT IN HIS RELIGIOUS THEMES.
- WOODCUT ALLOWED FOR PICTURES TO BE REPRODUCED.
II. CHRISTIAN HUMANISM
UNLIKE THE HUMANIST MOVEMENT IN ITALY, NORTHERN HUMANISM (CHRISTIAN HUMANISM) ADDED A SIGNIFICANT RELIGIOUS DIMENSION.
- DEVOTED ATTENTION TO EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE:
1) THE BIBLE
2) WRITINGS OF THE CHURCH FATHERS IN AN ATTEMPT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND CURRENT RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND TO ACT AS A GUIDE TO TRUE PIETY AND MORALITY.
- IT WAS A DEEPLY RELIGIOUS UNDERTAKING.
THOMAS MOORE (1478 - 1535) - MAIN FIGURE OF CHRISTIAN HUMANISM IN ENGLAND.
- HIS GREATEST WORK WAS UTOPIA IN WHICH HE DESCRIBES THE IDEAL COMMONWEALTH WHICH ABOLISHES PRIVATE PROPERTY, GREED AND PRIDE AND ACHIEVES TRUE MORALITY.
- HE WOULD BECOME LORD CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND.
- WAS EXECUTED BY HENRY VIII FOR REFUSING TO RECOGNIZE HIM AS THE HEAD OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH.
DESIDERIUS ERASMUS (1466? - 1536) - THE GREATEST REPRESENTATIVE OF CHRISTIAN HUMANISM.
- DOMINATED THE EUROPEAN WORLD OF LETTERS.
- MOST FAMOUS WORK WAS PRAISE OF FOLLY.
- INCLUDED SATIRICAL ATTACKS AGAINST MONKS, THE POPE, CEREMONIES, AND LAPSES FROM WHAT HE PERCEIVED TO BE THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SPIRIT.
- HE BELIEVED THE CHURCH HAD LOST SIGHT OF ITS ORIGINAL MISSION.
- HE WAS A NON-REVOLUTIONARY WHO WANTED A REVIVAL OF PURER FAITH WITHIN THE TRADITIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH.
III. LUTHERAN REFORMATION
MARTIN LUTHER (1483 - 1546)
- AUGUSTINIAN MONK WHO WAS ON THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY IN WITTENBERG (CAPITAL OF SAXONY WHICH WAS HIS HOME STATE).
- GRADUALLY CAME TO BELIEVE THAT THE FORGIVENESS OF SIN AND ATTAINMENT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WAS ACHIEVED BY FAITH ALONE WITHOUT THE NEED FOR GOOD WORKS.
- INFLUENCED HEAVILY BY WORDS OF ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.
- WAS OPPOSED TO INDULGENCE SELLING AS PART OF A FUNDRAISING EFFORT TO PAY FOR THE NEW CHURCH OF ST. PETER IN ROME. JOHANN TETZEL, A DOMINICAN MONK, WAS SELLING INDULGENCES NEAR WITTENBERG.
- TETZEL WAS OFFERING COMPLETE RELEASES FROM PURGATORY WITHOUT REPENTANCE FOR BUYING INDULGENCES.
- OCTOBER 1571 - LUTHER ISSUED HIS FAMOUS 95 THESES (STATEMENTS) ON INDULGENCES ATTACKING THE CURRENT SELLING PRACTICES.
- THIS ATTACK HURT THE EFFORTS OF TETZEL TO SELL INDULGENCES.
- 1520 - LUTHER CHALLENGED THE AUTHORITY OF THE PAPACY IN 3 PAMPHLETS WHICH INCLUDED STATEMENTS SUCH AS:
- THE CHURCH CONSISTED OF ALL CHRISTIANS INCLUDING THE LAITY AND THAT LAY PEOPLE, e.g., NOBLES HAD AS MUCH RIGHT TO GOVERN THE CHURCH AS THE CLERGY.
- ONLY BAPTISM AND HOLY COMMUNION ARE LEGITIMATE SACRAMENTS - THE OTHER FIVE ARE NOT, e.g., CONFESSION (PENANCE) SHOULD BE ABOLISHED.
- 1520 - POPE LEO X EXCOMMUNICATED LUTHER.
- 1521 - CHARLES V, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR, SUMMONED LUTHER TO DEFEND HIS POSITION AT A DIET OF THE EMPIRE IN THE CITY OF WORMS.
- LUTHER REFUSES TO APOLOGIZE ' "I CANNOT AND WILL NOT RECANT....HERE I STAND....GOD HELP ME. AMEN."
- CHARLES V CALLS FOR THE ARREST OF LUTHER BUT THE ELECTOR OF SAXONY, THE LOCAL RULER, PROTECTED HIM.
- MANY PRINCES JOINED LUTHER IN BREAKING WITH THE CHURCH.
- PRINCES CONFISCATED HOLDINGS OF MONASTERIES AND CHURCHES IN THEIR AREAS.
- PRINCES COULD FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THEIR INDEPENDENCE FROM EMPEROR CHARLES V WHO REMAINED UNDAUNTED IN UPHOLDING THE ORTHODOXY OF THE CHURCH.
- 1529 - NUMEROUS PRINCES OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE SIGNED A DECLARATION OF "PROTEST" AGAINST THE DIET'S ATTEMPT TO STOP RELIGIOUS CHANGES.
- THEREAFTER THEY WERE KNOWN AS PROTESTANTS.
- 1530 - OFFICIAL CREED OF LUTHERAN CHURCH IS DRAWN UP - AUGSBURG CONFESSION.
- 1550's - LUTHERANISM CAPTURED 1/2 THE POPULATION OF THE EMPIRE PARTICULARLY IN THE NORTH AND EAST.
- CHARLES V TRIED TO MILITARILY SUPPRESS LUTHERANISM.
- RECEIVED VERY LITTLE HELP FROM CATHOLIC PRINCES WHO WERE FEARFUL OF THE EMPEROR BECOMING TOO STRONG.
- CHARLES HAD TO RELY ON SPANISH TROOPS.
- 1555 - DIET AT AUGSBURG
- EACH RULER WAS ALLOWED TO DETERMINE THE RELIGION OF HIS OWN TERRITORY.
- THUS THE FUTURE OF LUTHERANISM WAS SECURE AS CHARLES WAS UNABLE TO DEFEAT THE PROTESTANTS.
LUTHERAN DOCTRINE
- KEY TENANT IS THAT FAITH ALONE JUSTIFIES THE BELIEVER IN THE EYES OF GOD AND WINS SALVATION.
- GOD BESTOWS FAITH ON THOSE HE WISHES TO SAVE. GOOD WORKS, INCLUDING RECEIVING THE SACRAMENTS, WERE NOT CONSIDERED CRUCIAL TO SALVATION.
- AS MENTIONED, HE DENIED THE IMPORTANCE OF MOST SACRAMENTS.
- REGARDING HOLY COMMUNION, WHICH HE STILL RECOGNIZED, HE FELT THAT THE WAFER AND WINE UNDERGO CONSUBSTANTIATION RATHER THAN TRANSUBSTANTIATION AS THE CHURCH BELIEVES.
- THE LITURGY AT MASS WAS SIMPLIFIED.
- SERVICES WERE CONDUCTED IN THE VERNACULAR.
- 1534 - TRANSLATED THE BIBLE INTO THE VERNACULAR WITH FAMILIES BEING ENCOURAGED TO READ THE BIBLE ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT THE CLERGY.
IV. GROWTH OF PROTESTANTISM
ZWINGLIANISM
- ULRICH ZWINGLI (1484 - 1531) - SWISS PRIEST WHO SOUGHT TO SIMPLIFY RELIGIOUS BELIEF AND PRACTICE.
- ASSERTED NONE OF THE SACRAMENTS WAS A CHANNEL OF GRACE.
- PREACHING BECAME A CRITICAL COMPONENT OF HIS RELIGION.
- HIS RELIGION, ZWINGLIANISM, NEVER GREW INTO A MAJOR RELIGION BUT IT HAD CONSIDERABLE EFFECT ON SUBSEQUENT PROTESTANTISM, ESPECIALLY CALVINISM.
CALVINISM
- JOHN CALVIN (1509 - 1564) - 2ND GENERATION REFORMER.
- OUTWARDLY HIS RELIGION SEEMED TO HAVE MUCH IN COMMON WITH LUTHERANISM.
- UNLIKE LUTHER, CALVIN STRESSED PREDESTINATION IN WHICH A PERSON IS SAVED OR DAMNED.
- PEOPLE COULD DO NOTHING TO AFFECT THEIR FATE.
- BECAUSE GOD SHOULD BE PLEASED AT ALL TIMES, ONE SHOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO LEAD THE KIND OF LIFE THAT WILL BE WORTHY OF THE ELECT (THOSE TO BE SAVED) EVEN THOUGH THIS WAS NO GUARANTEE ONE WAS PREDESTINED TO BE SAVED.
- CALVIN PRODUCED A COHESIVENESS AND ORGANIZATION ACHIEVED BY NO OTHER PROTESTANT CHURCH.
- HIS INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION WAS A TREATISE THAT CALVIN USED TO OUTLINE THE PRINCIPLES OF HIS NEW RELIGION.
- EVERY POINT OF FAITH AND PRACTICE WAS SPELLED OUT IN DETAIL - A BELIEVER'S DUTIES WERE ABSOLUTELY CLEAR.
- HIS CHURCH HAD A STRICT HIERARCHIAL STRUCTURE CONTROLLED BY DEACONS AND LAY ELDERS.
- HE DEVELOPED A STRICT MORAL CODE THAT BANNED ACTIVITIES LIKE DANCING.
- WHEN CALVIN DIED, HIS CHURCH HAD A STRONGHOLD IN SCOTLAND, MORE THAN A MILLION ADHERENTS IN FRANCE CALLED HUGUENOTS, AND MANY FOLLOWERS IN THE LOW COUNTRIES AND THE PALATINATE.
V. CATHOLIC REFORMATION
LED BY POPE PAUL III WHO RELENTLESSLY ATTACKED ABUSES THROUGHOUT THE CHURCH.
- MADE APPOINTMENTS TO THE COLLEGE OF CARDINALS WHICH ENSURED A STRONG LINE OF POPES SUCCEEDED HIM.
- ATMOSPHERE OF SPIRITUALLY AND MORALITY WAS RESTORED.
COUNCIL OF TRENT (1545 - 1563) MET IN NORTHERN ITALIAN CITY.
- WAS CALLED BY PAUL III TO FORMALIZE THE RESPONSE TO THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION. IMPORTANT DECREES INCLUDED:
- GOOD WORKS AS WELL AS FAITH ARE NECESSARY FOR SALVATION.
- THE SELLING OF INDULGENCES WAS TO CEASE.
- BOTH THE BIBLE AND TRADITION ARE IMPORTANT SOURCES FOR CATHOLIC FAITH.
- HUMAN WILL IS FREE - NO SUCH THING AS PREDESTINATION.
- ALL 7 SACRAMENTS ARE IMPORTANT.
- CONFIRMED THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION.
- ENDORSED THE SPECIAL POSITION OF THE PRIEST AND ELABORATE CEREMONIES.
- APPROVED THE INQUISITION AND THE INDEX OF FORBIDDEN BOOKS.
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT IMBUED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WITH A NEW SET OF VIGOR IN WINNING FORMER CATHOLICS BACK.
- MANY PROTESTANTS WERE FINDING THEIR NEW RELIGION TOO AUSTERE.
BAROQUE ART WAS THE GENRE OF THE CATHOLIC REFORMATION.
- ARTISTS PAINTED VERY ELABORATE RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS.
- ARCHITECTS BUILT ELABORATE CHURCHES.
IGNATIUS LOYOLA (1491 - 1556)
- A GREAT RELIGIOUS INNOVATOR OF THE 16TH CENTURY WHO HAD BEEN A BASQUE NOBLEMAN.
- WROTE THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES.
- DEALS WITH DISCIPLINE AND TRAINING NECESSARY FOR A GOOD CHRISTIAN.
- STRESSED INDIVIDUAL EFFORT IN OBTAINING GRACE.
- STRESSED NEED FOR GOOD WORKS AND DENIED PREDESTINATION.
- FOUNDED THE JESUIT ORDER - THE SOCIETY OF JESUS.
- JESUITS BECAME OUTSTANDING EDUCATORS AND MISSIONARIES OF THE CHURCH.
- WERE VERY SUCCESSFUL IN WINNING CONVERTS TO THE CHURCH AMONG PROTESTANTS AND NON-CHRISTIANS.
- JESUITS HAD FIERCE LOYALTY TO THE POPES AND WERE USED BY THE POPES IN CONVERTING PEOPLE TO CATHOLICISM AND COUNTERING THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION.