Renaissance and Reformation

The Renaissance

A. The Renaissance movement of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries opened new educational opportunities and reawakened European interest in the classical era.

B. Renaissance thinkers desired to recover ancient thought and culture, which they believed had been lost or distorted by the Middle Ages.

i. One of the recurring slogans of the Renaissance was ad fontes, which means “to the fountains” or “to the sources.”

ii. The western culture of the classical period was seen as being superior to that of the medieval period.

iii. In the minds of Renaissance scholars, the mechanical and wooden Latin of Thomas Aquinas compared unfavorably to the beautiful and eloquent Latin writing of Cicero.

C. The revival of interest in ancient Latin works also stimulated interest in other ancient languages such as Greek and Hebrew.

i. Despite the growing interest in ancient Greek culture, knowledge of the Greek language had nearly been lost in the West.

ii. However, when Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453, many Greek scholars fled to Western Europe with ancient Greek texts.

iii. Equipped with a newfound knowledge of Greek and Hebrew, Western scholars began to examine Scripture in the original languages for the first time in centuries.

D. The invention of the movable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid 1400s significantly aided the rapid distribution of Bibles and other ancient texts.

i. Scholars, clergy, and laypeople now had access to unprecedented educational opportunities.

ii. After reading ancient writings, many people became aware of differences between the ancient church and the Roman Catholic Church of their day.

E. Certain scholars, equipped with this new knowledge, brought clarity and scrutiny to some of the church’s claims.

i. After studying the Donation of Constantine, Lorenzo Valla proved that it could not have been written during Constantine’s lifetime and was, therefore, a forgery.

ii. This discovery, in effect, undermined the pope’s claim to political authority over Western Europe.

iii. Desiderius Erasmus provided a new Latin translation of the Bible, providing clarity in certain places where the Vulgate’s wording had been vague or misleading.

iv. Because the language of this translation was more vivid and more accessible, many people who read it gained a greater understanding of Scripture.

F. Although the Renaissance sometimes fostered an unnecessarily negative view of the medieval past, it nevertheless helped to lay the foundations for a Christian rediscovery of God’s Word.

G. For the first time in centuries, Christians were equipped to see past centuries of traditions and assumptions in order to access Scripture and the earliest Christian writings.

As the church continued to consolidate its power and define its beliefs, it did not always act and speak with one voice. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, certain churchmen began to speak out against the corrupt practices and unbiblical doctrines that had become increasingly common within the medieval church. Emphasizing the authority of the Bible and a life of genuine piety, these leaders quickly gained a large following among the spiritually hungry common people. These early reformers were fiercely opposed by the church, and often were killed

Reformation Forerunners

A. The idea that there were medieval forerunners to the Protestant Reformation is a controversial one.

i. There were not any theologians in the Middle Ages who completely shared the Reformation point of view.

ii. Although many medieval leaders called for reform within the church, it is not certain that they all would have supported the Reformation if it had come during their lifetimes.

iii. To speak of forerunners to a movement can sometimes imply that the movement was inevitable from a human point of view, which is a very bold claim.

iv. Is it truthful, then, to associate these men with events that took place long after their deaths?

B. While this may be a controversial concept, it is nevertheless a useful one.

i. As Protestants, we do not claim that the church died out during the Middle Ages and had to be resurrected at the time of the Reformation.

ii. Instead, Christ has always fulfilled His promise that He would build His church and that the gates of hell would not prevail against it.

iii. Though the gospel was at times misunderstood and clouded over, it was not stamped out during the Middle Ages.

iv. Throughout the Middle Ages, there were many staunch defenders of a biblical, Augustinian, grace-oriented understanding of the gospel.

v. Among these defenders of the gospel, several spoke out prophetically as critics of the growing problems within the church.

John Wycliffe

A. John Wycliffe was born in the 1320s and lived until 1384.

B. He was educated at Oxford and was recognized for his intellectual talents.

C. Eventually, he became a respected lecturer at Oxford.

D. As he continued his studies of the Bible, Wycliffe became increasingly critical of certain tendencies within the church.

i. Although the pope claimed to be the head of the church on earth, Wycliffe openly taught that Christ was the only head of the church.

ii. Wycliffe argued against the pope’s claim to political authority, a stance which pleased the king of England.

iii. Against the notion that the church encompassed all of Christendom, Wycliffe emphasized the invisible church as the elect of God.

E. As Wycliffe’s views became known, church leaders became increasingly critical of Wycliffe, which, in turn prompted Wycliffe to become even more radical in his views.

i. Wycliffe eventually equated the pope with the spirit of antichrist.

1. In response, the church condemned Wycliffe’s teachings.

2. Interestingly, Wycliffe’s colleagues at Oxford defended his theology as orthodox.

ii. Wycliffe critiqued the perpetually binding monastic vow and the practice of clerical celibacy, which he claimed were not biblically warranted and were out of step with the freedom and mercies of Christ.

iii. Wycliffe rejected the necessity of oral confession to a priest, thereby denying the sacrament of penance.

F. Wycliffe eventually went so far as to challenge the doctrine of transubstantiation.

i. This defied the ruling of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215.

ii. This defied the church’s belief that Christ was physically present in the bread and wine during the Lord’s Supper.

iii. This defied the medieval principle ex opera operato, the belief that the sacraments were efficacious by nature of the mere fact that they had been carried out.

iv. Wycliffe expressed the need for a translation of the Bible in English so that the people could understand it, and he began producing his own English translation of Scripture.

v. Wycliffe died in prison in 1384, and his remains were later burned and scattered.

vi. Wycliffe attracted thousands of followers, who became known as Lollards and who carried his teachings throughout England and the rest of Europe.

John Huss

A. John Huss was born in Bohemia around 1369 and lived until 1415.

B. As a priest, Huss had been influenced by Wycliffe’s writings and agreed with Wycliffe’s critiques of the church.

C. In the early 1400s, Huss began to preach publicly against abuses and immorality within the church.

D. Like Wycliffe, Huss’ critiques of transubstantiation and the papacy both drew many followers and aroused the anger of church leaders.

E. Huss was summoned to appear before the Council of Constance in order for his views to be examined.

i. When he and his supporters hesitated, the council promised him safe conduct to and from Constance.

ii. After Huss arrived at Constance, he was put on trial and condemned of heresy.

iii. In spite of the promise of safe passage, Huss was burned at the stake.

Johann von Staupitz

A. Johann von Staupitz was an Augustinian monk who had been a teacher and superior to Martin Luther.

B. Although Staupitz never left the Roman Catholic Church, his life and thought marked a break with Roman Catholic theology.

i. In a treatise on predestination, Staupitz wrote that grace makes sinners acceptable to God.

ii. In the thinking of Staupitz, grace is needed to alert sinners to the danger of their spiritual condition and draw them to God.

iii. This belief marks a significant step toward a biblical, Augustinian understanding of grace.

C. Staupitz’s perspective on grace helped shape Luther’s understanding of grace.

D. Staupitz is a reminder that, though the church had become corrupt and mistaken in many ways, there were many defenders of Augustinian teaching who helped to prepare the way for the rediscovery of biblical truth.

Luther’s Childhood and Entry into the Monastery

A. Martin Luther was born in 1483 in Saxony.

B. Luther’s family was part of the emerging middle class, and his father had ambitions for Martin to study law.

C. As a law student, Luther abruptly discontinued his studies in order to join a monastery.

i. While traveling in July 1505, Luther was caught in a severe thunderstorm.

ii. Luther cried out for Saint Anne to save him from the storm, vowing to become a monk in exchange for her protection.

iii. A few weeks later, Luther joined an Augustinian monastery in the city of Erfurt.

D. For Luther and others, the Augustinian Order offered a rigorous lifestyle and abundant opportunities to study Scripture.

Luther’s Monastic Career

A. Luther embraced the monastic life at a time when the field of biblical studies was quickly expanding.

i. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, many ancient biblical manuscripts were carried to safety in Western Europe.

ii. The development of an improved moveable-type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in the mid-fifteenth century enabled the rapid production and distribution of printed works, including the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures.

iii. Like many of his contemporaries, Luther had the opportunity to learn Hebrew, Greek, and Latin and to study the Bible and the church fathers in the original languages.

B. Luther earned his Doctor of Theology degree in 1512 and joined the theological faculty at the University of Wittenberg.

i. This university had recently been established by Frederick the Wise, the ruler of Saxony.

ii. As a professor in the early 1500s, Luther’s task was to present lectures to his students based on his own studies in the Bible.

iii. Throughout the next few years, Luther devoted extensive time to studying and lecturing on the Psalms, Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.

iv. By 1516, Luther was also preaching regularly in Wittenberg, communicating God’s Word pastorally to the common people.

The Controversy over Indulgences and the Ninety-Five Theses

A. In 1517, a Dominican preacher named Johann Tetzel began to sell indulgences near Wittenberg to fund the construction of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

i. These were said to be plenary indulgences, which would secure full pardon for past and future sins.

ii. Concerned about the way that this practice misrepresented God’s Word and exploited the people, Luther responded by writing a collection of theses against the sale of indulgences.

B. Luther posted these Ninety-Five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.

i. In the sixteenth century, it was common to write and post a list of theses as an invitation to academic debate.

ii. Since Luther’s theses were written in Latin, they were only intended to reach a small audience.

iii. Rather than attack the authority of the church or the legitimacy of indulgences, these theses simply questioned the way that indulgences were currently being sold.

C. Shortly after he wrote and posted his Ninety-Five Theses, Luther experienced his “Protestant breakthrough,” in which he came to the realization that God justifies sinners by faith alone.

i. Throughout his monastic career, Luther had been tormented by a sense of his unworthiness before God.

ii. The thought of God’s righteousness was terrifying to Luther, filling him with fear and hatred.

iii. When he understood and embraced a biblical understanding of justification, Luther’s entire life and ministry changed dramatically.