English 233: Introduction to Western
Humanities: Reformation to Enlightenment
- A particular quandary that arose in
the wake of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th
Century:
- how a combination of shared and divergent positions on
key issues contributed to severe civil and international
violence.
- Positions special to
- the Catholic view
|
- Positions in common between
- Catholic & Protestant views
|
- Positions special to
- the Protestant view
|
-
- (2)
-
- (4a),(4b),(4c),(4d),etc.
|
- (1)
-
- (3)
-
- (5)
- (6)
|
-
- (2)
-
- (4a),(4b),(4c),(4d),etc.
|
The numbers above refer to the positions on
issues discussed below.
Note the logical relationships among certain of
these issues (questions):
- Question (or Issue) 2 arises from the answer (or position) arrived
at on Question 1.
- Question 4 arises directly from the answer
arrived at on Question 3. And the answer to Question
4 depends, indirectly, on the answer arrived at to
Question 2.
- Question 6 is provoked by the answer
arrived at on Question 5.
In some cases, but not all, hints are given as to the
foundation (or at least to part of the rationale for) the answers given to the
questions (the positions adopted on the issues).
(1)
Issue: [Primary Authority] What is the ultimate authority in all matters?
Clarifications:
Position:
|
The ultimate authority in all essential
matters is the will of
God.
Clarification:
|
|
(2)
Issue: [Secondary Authority] How are human beings to discover God’s will?
Clarification:
= "What is
God’s will for making his will known to
man?" [Notice: this is itself a question of
what God’s will happens to be]
Position:
|
Catholic:
Scripture as interpreted by the traditions of the
Church headed by the Pope.
Clarification: Church
tradition amounts to a progressively evolving revelation of
God's will through his chosen instrument for relating to his
chosen people after Christ's withdrawal from bodily presence in
the world (in history) -- i.e., in the aftermath of his
Assumption into Heaven (which marks the end of the Incarnation).
Foundation: This position rests upon the
Doctrine
of the Apostolic Succession.
|
|
Protestant:
Scripture alone: sola scriptura
Clarification:
Unless a warrant for God’s command is
clearly expressed in scripture, there is no such
command.
|
|
(3) Issue: What is the most important knowledge of
God’s will for human beings to acquire?
Position:
|
The knowledge of God's will of most urgent importance to Man
concerns the conditions of salvation ("how those who
will be saved will be saved").
Clarifications:
This = the proper
understanding of God’s plan for overcoming
the effects of sin in those whom he has chosen to
save
OR: a grasp of what is the
correct theory of "justification"
Foundation: the doctrine
of Original Sin, and in particular of its effects on
postlapsarian humanity.
|
|
(4)
Issue: [Justification] what
(then) is the correct theory of justification?
Position:
|
Catholic:
(4a) Justification
a process of collaboration between divine grace
and human merit (acquired by good works)
(4b) Role of
sacraments important in justification.
Example:
communion (Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist)
è [elaborate this]
(4c)
Predestination by foreknowledge
("prescience") alone.
etc.
{Can you
elaborate?]
|
|
Protestant:
(4a) Justification
by faith alone
Clarification:
sola fide plus the principle that
authentic faith is a work of god in man
(i.e., not a human work — not a
meritorious "personal achievement"
[good work on man’s part] which God
rewards)
(4b) Sacraments
play no role in justification
Example:
communion (Lord’s Supper, the eucharist)
è [elaborate this]
(4c)
Predestination by foreknowledge plus operation
Luther:
God’s free decision (from eternity) as
to whom he confers faith upon, and from whom
he withholds it (the latter proceeding, by
inheritance of Original Sin, to eternal death
for want of this saving grace)
Calvin:
God both saves those whom he chooses, and
actively intervenes to darken the counsels
and strengthen the (bad) will of those whom
he rejects.
etc. [Can
you elaborate?]
|
|
(5) Issue: What is idolatry?
Position:
|
Idolatry is a violation of the First
Commandment to "have no other gods before me"
Clarifications:
- It is a contravention of God’s will [= a
disobedience]
- It is not limited to the
worship of physical statues, but includes the
worship of any sort of false god.
- If God is falsely conceived,
and this falsely conceived God is made the
object of worship, then there is idolatry.
Clarification:
a false conception of God does not originate
in God, but is a human construction
("work").
- One’s understanding
(false or true) of God’s will
(providence) is an essential part of
one’s conception of God.
- Hence those believers who have
a false conception of God’s will are
idolaters: their faith is misplaced.
|
|
(6) Issue: What is God’s will concerning
idolatry?
Position:
|
God abominates idolaters.
Clarification:
- God will punish idolaters in
this life and, if they persist, in the
afterlife..
- God will also punish, in this life,
true believers who tolerate idolaters in
their midst.
- è God wills that his
faithful servants suppress idolatry
in their neighborhood
- = True believers have
an obligation to suppress idolaters
among their neighbors.
|
|
Conclusion:
Catholics and Protestants felt compelled to use "the
sword" (the physical power of the state) to suppress the
preaching & practice of each other’s beliefs. [At the same time,
each felt that the other was unjustified in suppressing their own religious
activity, since (obviously) God does not endorse the persecution of those who are
obeying his will.]
We must of course keep in mind
that this was not so for each and every Catholic or
Protestant individual. Nevertheless, it was a
predicament that prominent theologians found themselves led
to, and that political authorities in the main felt in
conscience bound to comply with.
Also: this social quandary has not
remained a historical constant. Over the centuries Catholics and
Protestants -- and political sovereigns (monarchic as well as democratic)
reached a different understanding either of God's conception of what
constituted idolatry (Issue 5) or of God's will in the matter of
suppressing idolatry (Issue 6), or both. How this came to be is a
fascinating story.
If you are interested in learning more
about how this came about, you might want to consider the Extra Credit
Assignment on the scholar Roland
Bainton's account of the development of "The Struggle for Religious
Liberty".
Certainly one of the major factors in
stimulating the thought that resulted in this change was the historical
consciousness, on the part of later generations, of both the severity of the
social consequences of this quandary and of the logical structure the
compulsion under which the mutual persecutors were acting. The outline
above should help you reach an understanding of the latter. But you
should also make the effort to imagine the scope and ugliness of the violence
that this picture of divine will resulted in.
Go to the Home
Page of the course.
Suggestions, comments and questions are
welcome. Please send them to lyman@ksu.edu
.
Contents
copyright © 2001 by Lyman
A. Baker.
Permission is granted for non-commercial educational use; all other
rights reserved.
This page
last updated 06-Mar-02 09:57 PM
.