Welcome back to these lectures on Western
Civilization, part one.
We’re going to spend the next few lectures
talking about the Protestant Reformation.
Let me give you the significances first, and
then in this lecture we’re going to talk
about some of the causes, and then the case
made – by the Reformers – against the
church.
We’ll do another lecture on Martin Luther,
specifically.
We’ll do another one on John Calvin and
the rise of Calvinism.
And then finally, we’ll talk about the Catholic
response to the Reformation; we call this
the Counter Reformation.
So let’s start with significances – The
greatest significance of the Protestant Reformation
is that it shatters the Christian unity of
Europe.
The Catholic Church’s hold over the minds
of man – or minds of men – is going to
be turned upside down here, and the unity
of the Christian faith in Europe is going
to be shattered by this Reformation in the
16th century.
Other significances – The Reformation will
lead to a series of catastrophic wars in Europe.
The wars of religion, they’re called, pitting
Protestant against Catholic.
Another significance of the Reformation ¬– It’s
going to aid in the creation of what we think
of today as the modern nation state as the
kingdoms of Europe are now going to be divided
by religion.
There’s an increasing sense of nationalism,
and the emergence of modern nation states,
as opposed to weak, feudal kingdoms, where
everyone was basically on the same page regarding
religion.
After the Reformation, people are not going
to be on the same page.
That uniformity will vanish.
Other significances – We’re going to have
a rise of witchcraft, or at least of accusations
of witchcraft.
I believe when people’s religious world
is shattered in this way, they look for scapegoats;
they look for someone to blame for this upheaval,
and so you’re going to have an upsurge in
witchcraft accusations.
It’s worth asking why these accusations
are directed mostly towards women, and historians
believe there’s a couple of reasons for
this, one – women are not physically strong
enough to defend themselves, generally; two
– and perhaps more importantly – it goes
back to the Christian archetypes of women.
There are generally two – Eve and Mary.
Mary, of course, is perfect.
Eve, is not – disobedient; perhaps greedy;
lustful; things like this.
So witches are borne of that Eve archetype.
Now women – it’s probably fair to say
that the medieval woman was viewed as lesser,
a lesser man; she was not as smart, not as
big.
She was kind of viewed as an empty vessel
in which the devil could pour his mischief.
Women were vain and gossipy, and so it was
natural that they should be accused of witchcraft.
Other significances – The Reformation is
going to be spread to the New World.
When we think of the pilgrims, as they’re
called, that settled in Massachusetts in the
early 17th century – These are Protestants
– quite often, Calvinists – seeking a
place in the New World in which to practice
their peculiar brand of Christianity.
So Protestantism will be spread in this way.
Causes – Some long-term causes of the Reformation,
and there are a few here – The great schism
of the 14th century, where there were multiple
popes.
This tended to weaken people’s faith in
the church.
The church apparently had become more political
as opposed to spiritual in dividing itself
up.
The other causes would include – I’ve
heard one historian talk about the impact
of the Black Death, the Bubonic plague, and
its destruction of Latin speakers.
Latin, of course, was the language of the
church and of educated men, and the diminishment
of Latin speakers led to the rise of the vernacular
languages – the common, provincial languages
– Italian; Portuguese; Spanish; French – and
that this had an impact on the church.
And of course, the Black Death also weakened
people’s faith in the church because the
local priest was afraid to come to the house
of the sick fearing that he, too, would catch
the plague and die – and of course, if the
priest has no more faith than that, then what
is the common layperson supposed to think?
So we have these long-term causes, and I want
to take a few minutes and talk about the case
made by the Reformers against the Catholic
Church – the errors, how the church had
been led astray by its leadership.
Much - These complaints, or this case made
against the church, a lot of it centers around
money.
So we’ll talk for a moment here about the
church’s income.
The church makes income in a variety of ways.
Tithing, of course, is the most common.
But there are other ways.
The church sold to its parishioners, I guess
what today we would call long-term disability
insurance, and it worked sort of like this.
The parishioner will bequeath their property
to the church upon their death, in exchange,
the church will take care of the parishioner
when they’re old; sick; lame; or blind.
So this is an exchange for long-term care
and property.
Another way that the church made money was
to sell – I guess today we’d call it fire
insurance – and this was not fire insurance
to protect the hovel you lived in.
This was fire insurance to protect you from
eternal damnation in hell.
Again, you would bequeath your property to
the church upon your death, and the church
would – in return – intercede for you
with God to assure your final destination
would be heaven and not hell.
Other ways of raising money – Of course,
there are indulgences.
This is probably the most famous.
Luther talks about indulgences in his Ninety-Five
Theses, and we’ll talk about that in the
next lecture.
The church had lost its way.
The Reformers refer to Imitatio Christi, the
Latin phrase – to be like Jesus, to be like
Christ, and the Reformers said the church
had lost its mission.
Instead of looking after the spiritual needs
of its people, it had now begun to act as
a great empire; it was more concerned with
money and wealth and status, than it was in
the salvation of its parishioners.
So it had lost its mission, lost its way.
Reformers said that the biggest bribes in
Europe are paid at the Vatican, that the church
had become corrupt, that the leadership of
the church – the pope and the cardinals
and bishops – were not chosen for their
piety.
They were chosen instead for their political
connections or their personal wealth.
This clearly diverges from Imitatio Christi,
that original mission of the church.
The Reformers said that the local priest was
often unprepared or unqualified for his duties.
They accused the local priests of spending
more time in the brothel than in the chapel,
or in the local tavern.
Some priests were even illiterate.
So these charges against the church extend
from corruption to the way that they gather
money, to the practices of priests at the
local level.
The two men who are going to both make these
charges and then follow them to their conclusions,
are Martin Luther and John Calvin, and they
will be the topics of our next discussion.
Thank you.
