Outline of the March 2nd Lecture / L. Babaoğlu

REFORMATION AND COUNTER REFORMATION:
CHANGE IN RELIGIOUS CULTURE

- Definition of the Reformation, A movement in religion and thelogy; a split in Christian
belief .

- Causes of the Reformation;

a) Concerning the general historical context of 16. century Europe : The impact of the
Renaissance, the impact of the discoveries, the rise of the capitalistic mode of production,
the growth of national consciousness

b) Concerning the history of the Christian religion.: Why and how did the early 16.century
upheavals bring about a reformation?

- The theological disputes of the Reformation:

The corruption and abuses of the Catholic church.

Sales of dispansations: Exemption from law of the church, e.g., fasting.
Sales of indulgences: Forgiveness of the guilt created by the sin.
However, according to the Christian belief, the faithful should earn –and not buy- salvation.. Forgiveness should be gained by prayer and good Works.

- The outcome of the Reformation: The religious unity of Western Europe was broken. The Medieval church lost its authority concerning spiritual matters as well as thisworldly matters.


The theological doctrines:

1) The Doctrine of Justification by Faith;
Or the theology by St: paul (3-64 AD); Faith in Jesus colud bring men salvation.

2) The Doctrine of the Papal Supremacy;
Or the Doctrine of St. Peter: Jesus delegated his supernatural powers to St. Peter and gave him the keys to the kingdom of heaven. St. Peter went to Rome and became the first bishop of Rome. To this day, whoever is elected the Bishop of Rome continues the ministry given to St. Peter. So each new Bishop of Rome becomes the Pope, which means father.

3) The Doctrine of Predestination;
Or the Theology of St. Augustine (354-430 AD): Is based on the assumption that man is
sinful by nature. God created the world in the knowledge that some men would respond to
the divine invitation to lead holy lives and that others would resist to cooporate. In this
way God predestined those to be saved.

This doctrine placed man’s faith entirely in the hands of God and rendered the apparatus and the functions of the Church unnecessary.

4) The theologies of Peter Lombard and St. Thomas Acquinas (1225-74);
Men had a free will and had the power to choose good and evil. But he could not made the
choice unaided, thus he had to recieve the sacraments. Out of 7, the most important 4
were indispensible:

Baptism: Cleaning of previous sin
Penance: The sinner was absolved from guilt
Communion: Infusion of the Christian believer with the spirit of Christ.
Eucharist: Bread and wine symbolising the blood and flesh of Jesus.

According to the Petrine Doctrine, only members of the clergy had the authority to cooporate
with God in forgiving sin.

This doctrine strengthened the authority of the priesthood and was opposed by the reformers.


Martin Luther (1483-1546), prof. of theology at the University of Wittenberg, nailed in 1517 a paper of 95 thesis to the door of the castle church and attacked the practice of selling indulgences. Luther held that man was justified by faith alone. Faith was created by giving oneself to the message of the Gospel. Luther stressed religious individualism and rendered the hole apparatus of the church which was designed to mediate between man and God superfluous.
His views proved revolutionary and his reform signalled the end of the Medieval Church.

John Calvin (1509-1564), a French lawyer made the Protestant movement an international religious rebellion.
Like Luther, he stressed the sole authority of the Bible but he was much more radical. He rejected the entire ecclesiastical hierarchy and the ceremonial aspects of worship.
Both, Luther and Calvin, upheld the separation of church and state.

The Catholic response to the Reformation was the Counter Reformation, i.e., the church made a number of attempts to reform itself.

During 1540s the Church decided to undertake,1) a thorough examination of doctrines and practices; 2) the instruction and education of all Christians.
The desired effect was the reunification of the Church, but a separation of the doctrinal lines was drawn.

As an outcome, the religious unity of Western Europe was broken. The Protestant movement among other facts, gave birth to the Modern Era in the West.