a people’s history of christianity may 24, 2015

May 24, 2015

Pentecost Sunday

A People’s History of Christianity

A period of massive change in the church.Creation of the protestant churchThe Church of England and the later

Episcopal church is a product of the Reformation.

Matthew Fox: Four historical forces necessary for Reformation:1. The printing press2. The rise of nation-states3. Emergence of an educated elite4. Corruption of religious institutions

The Reformation (1500 – 1600ish)

What in the church needs to change?What is one change you would like to see at St.

Andrew’s?

What is one change you would like to see in our diocese or in the larger Episcopal Church?

What is one change you would like to see in the church around the world?

The Reformation TodayConversation Groups (10 minutes)

Breakdown of Denominations

Early ReformersJohn Wycliffe (1324-1384)

Interested in authority of clergy.

People should be able to interpret and read the Bible on their own.

Lived during Western Schism (more than one pope).This caused questioning

about Papal Authority.

Early Reformers Cont…Jan Hus (1369-1415)

He wanted Bishops elected and not appointed by Pope.

At the Council of Constance, he made his case but he was burned at the stake for his beliefs.

Spiritual leader of the Moravian Church, which is the oldest Protestant denomination emerged from the Czech Reformation.

Early Reformers Cont…Erasmus (1466-1536)

“Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched.”

Erasmus remained committed to reforming the Church from within.

He also held to Catholic doctrines such as that of free will.Which some Protestant

Reformers rejected in favor of the doctrine of predestination.

What happens to spark the Reformation? Pope Leo X needs

money to build St. Peter’s Basilica…so he sells indulgences. Indulgences- were

pardons issued by the pope that people could buy to reduce a soul’s time in purgatory = (People could buy forgiveness)

Martin Luther’s Ninety Five Theses

Language BarriersMost uneducated people didn’t understand

Latin, but knew the local common language or “vernacular”. Almost all Bibles were written in LATIN before

the Reformation.

It was the job of the church clergy to translate the Bible to lay people.

Martin Luther Luther was a German

monk and professor of theology (religion) at the University of Wittenberg.

One of the many leaders of the Protestant Reformation.

Luther objected to a saying attributed to Johann Tetzel that "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

Luther’s 95 Theses

In 1517, the 95 Theses were nailed to a church door. They were written in Latin.Luther’s intention: not to break with the

church, but to reform it. Criticized: 1.Indulgences2.Power of Pope3.Wealth of Church

God’s Grace won by faith alone. Catholic View: Good Works

ExcommunicationIn 1520 Pope Leo X excommunicated

Luther.

Excommunication- expelled him from the church.

Holy Roman Emperor Charles V passed measures to suppress Luther’s writings.

Lutheran princes in Germany issued a protestatio or protest.

Hence the term Protestant.

Other Reformations

Ulrich Zwingli in SwitzerlandTheocracy

A government in which church and state are joined and in which officials are considered to be divinely inspired.

John Calvin in SwitzerlandPredestination

God knows who will be saved, even before people are born, and therefore guides the lives of those destined fore salvation.

John Knox in ScotlandLaid grounds for Presbyterian Church

In England, the Reformation began with the King of England, Henry XIII

King Henry’s older brother Arthur (named after the famous tale King Author and the Knights of the Round Table) dies… Arthur was married to Catherine of Aragon (from Spain) before she married Henry.This becomes the grounds for his annulment (because

Catherine can’t produce a son). She does however give birth to a daughter named Mary. She later becomes a queen of England and restores the Catholic Church. History knows her as Bloody Mary.

Catherine of Aragon, Henry's first wife.  Catherine, a Princess of Spain, was married to Henry for many years.  Her determination to stay married to Henry, in the face of his desire for Anne Boleyn, would change the course of history forever.

The Reformation ParliamentWas a gathering that led to the decision that

England was no longer under the authority of the pope.

Act of Supremacy Subjects were required to take an oath

declaring Henry VIII to be “Supreme Head of the Church of England”

Longstanding Effects of Henry VIII

His legitimate children: Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward (dies).Queen Mary I or “Bloody Mary”

Raised Catholic like her mother Catherine of Aragon; she reestablished the Catholic Church in England. She killed many protestants and had approximately 300 heretics burned at the stake.

Queen Elizabeth I (Ends the House of Tudor)Raised Protestant and ruled England for 44

years. Ruled during the Spanish Armada, and never married…known as the Virgin Queen.

The Life of Queen Elizabeth I

Elizabeth Tudor was born on September 7, 1533 to King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn.

The Roman Catholics of England considered her an illegitimate child.

The Elizabethan Religious Settlement

Elizabeth’s solution to the religious instability and division that had wracked England under Henry

VIII, Edward VI and Mary I

Elizabeth’s dilemna Putting aside her own beliefs and preferences:

• A Catholic settlement would please the continental powers, but not the British protestants.

• A protestant settlement would alienate British Catholics, France, and Spain.

Act of Uniformity (1558)Required the population to attend Sunday

service in an Anglican churchNew compromise version of the Book of

Common Prayer Removed abuse of the pope from the liturgy Wearing of the surplice permittedRituals like the sign of the cross maintained.

Act of Supremacy (1558)• Reestablished the situation under Henry VIII• Elizabeth > Supreme Governor• ‘Governor’ rather than ‘Head’ appeased

conservatives concerned about a woman claiming the latter title.

• Clergy had to swear an oath of loyalty to Elizabeth but the laity did not.

The Settlement’s Success• Elizabeth's settlement thinks Protestant but

looks Catholic. It appealed to the most cherished traditions of both, the Word for Protestants and the ritual and structure for Catholics.

• The longevity of Elizabeth’s reign.• It’s ‘compromise’ component shouldn’t be

overstated – Elizabeth excommunicated by the Pope in 1570.

Puritanism• Puritanism - purify the Church of England from all Catholic

remnants• Label arose as a pejorative term used by opponents – no

single doctrine, rather, defined by a common tendency• Marian exiles who had returned under Elizabeth to build a

new Israel.• Adultery and sabbath breaking should be capital offense• Issues over vestments worn by priests came up, where the

Catholics were bright and colorful, the Puritans desired black only. They also want no organ, no making the sign of the cross, and no holy days.

• presbyterian or Congregationalist structure (instead of rule by bishops)

• persecution of protestants – they fled England