The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation (1517-1648)

Martin Luther (1483-1546): German theologian at the center of the Reformation that later became known as Protestant—focus of Lutheran theology is justification by faith, not by works (cf. Augustine)

                --Luther born into the family of a miner and his wife; intended to study law, but after an encounter with a severe thunderstorm during which he nearly was struck by lightning, he vowed to become a monk (“St. Anne, help me, I’ll become a monk.”)

                --Two weeks after his experience, he joins the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt where he practices a life of strict asceticism—“I kept the rule so strictly that I may say that if ever a monk got to heaven by his sheer monkery, it was I.  If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, reading, and other work.”

                                --Luther constantly racked by guilt in the Catholic Church’s delicate balance between what Roland Bainton terms “fear and hope.”

                                                --Fear of hell is a reality in the Middle Ages/early Renaissance; hell is painted in very vivid and lucid colors as a horrible place of torture and depravity

                                                --Purgatory is a chance of escaping hell, often enough of a chance that for some it was tantamount to producing complacency and ease in this life; when complacency has set in, there is another emphasis on the pains and sufferings of purgatory that are almost as bad as those suffered in hell; then the indulgences are granted to relieve anxiety about purgatory

                                                --Luther is very sensitive about the state of his eternal soul; drives his confessors crazy, confessing very frequently every minor sin, and attempting to earn enough merit to skip purgatory entirely after death; fears the real presence in the Eucharist, especially as he is conducting his first mass, because he is terrified of his own consciousness of his personal sinfulness

                                --1515, the so-called “Tower Experience”—not known whether this occurred exactly as the history books say it did, but it is an important indicator of the emphasis Luther will place on Scripture during the remainder of his life. 

                                                --While reading Romans 1:17, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

                                                -- A sense of peace comes over him; now he realizes that God alone can make righteous, and it is the righteousness produced by God alone, not by human effort

                                                --Thus salvation is by faith in Christ’s sacrificial merit, not in trying to gain our own by works.  (Sola Fide)

                --Later  criticism of indulgences and papal authority (during this time, Rome was a hotbed of arts and building, and debauchery.  Renaissance popes are not known for their moral uprightness, e.g. Pope Alexander VI who had several bastard children and was known to exact vengeance on his enemies.  During Luther’s time, Julius II had been engaged in building St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and after his death, Leo X (one of the Medici family) continued the building process.  When Luther goes to Rome, he is appalled at the immorality of the city of the See of St. Peter)

                                --Begins preaching against indulgences as early as 1515; becomes especially heated in 1517 when the Dominican preacher Johan Tetzel comes to Wittenberg on behalf of a papal fund-raising campaign for the new basilica.  Tetzel promises not only to grant time off from purgatory for those now living, but for those who are already dead and in purgatory.  “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory springs.” –Indulgences were basically for sale for a papal building project

                                --October 31, 1517, Luther posts the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, challenging the church’s doctrines of indulgences and the pope’s ability to remit punishments that he himself had not handed down.  Also, he argued that the sale of indulgences violated religion and the papacy, cheapening their importance and reducing them to mere human institutions bent on gaining power.  Indulgences also induce a sense of false hope in the recipients.

                                --Theses originally meant as a starting point for debate; become a catalyst for a religious upheaval across Europe.

                --Luther incurs the denunciation of the German Dominicans

                                --Debates Johannes Eck in 1519 at Leipzig—insists on scripture being the source and proof of the articles of faith “A council may sometimes err.  Neither the Church nor the pope can establish articles of faith.  These must come from Scripture.”  (Sola Scriptura; sola gratia)

                                --Eck wants Luther condemned as a heretic; Luther wants German national church (asks the secular powers’ help in stripping bishops of power and wealth, giving those instead to the state)

                                --Sacramental system of Rome kept people captive, said Luther.  Papacy denied the individual freedom to access God on his or her own.  Retained only baptism and Eucharist as sacraments, because those could be traced to Christ himself and thus were exclusively Christian

                                --“Good works do not make a man good, but a good man does good works.” – All vocations become sacred, not just that of the monks and clergy.

                --June 1520, Luther is condemned by Pope Leo X and given 2 mos. to recant—He is excommunicated in Jan. 1521

                --Imperial Diet of Worms (convened under Emperor Charles V) in 1521 summons Luther to account for his beliefs and writings; condemns Luther (Luther known to have said, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.  I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither honest nor safe.  Here I stand, I can do no other.  God help me.  Amen.” –It was at this meeting that the term “Protestant” came to be applied to the reformer’s movement; later it was attached to all reformers who rejected the structure of authority and tradition of the Catholic Church and followed the general formula of “sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura.”

                                --Luther given safety in Duke Frederick the Wise of Saxony’s Wartburg Castle for the  next year, where he will translate the New Testament into German (adding a few things to conform to his own theological beliefs, e.g., the righteous shall live by faith alone.”)

                                --Luther’s theological teachings gain in popularity

                                                --rampant iconoclasm in German towns

                                                --rejection of the Mass in favor of Protestant services

                                                --Support of the secular princes was on Lutheran side

                --1522, Luther returns to Wittenberg

                                --Abolishes Episcopal office

                                --Celibacy is given up by most clergy in Lutheran regions; Luther himself marries Katherine von Bora, a former nun (“There is a lot to get used to in the first year of marriage.  One wakes up in the morning and finds a pair of pigtails on the pillow which were not there before.”)

                                --Prepares a revised and translated liturgy for Lutheran church use

                                --Communion is received in both kinds, bread and wine

                                --Preaching of the Word becomes central act of Lutheran worship

                --1524, Peasants Revolt Luther originally sympathizes with peasants demanding the abolition of serfdom by way of their application of Christian freedom that Luther had taught

                                --Luther eventually condemns the movement because of its violence against established authority

                                --1525, nobility wins and 100,000+ peasants are slaughtered in the process of the rebellion. 

                                --surviving peasants reject Luther as a false prophet and return to Catholicism or turn to more radical reformation theologies

                                --Becomes apparent that Lutheran equality applies only to  spiritual matters, not to secular matters (Luther is no secular democrat)—cf. Luther’s doctrine on priesthood of believers

                --1530 at Augsburg—Luther is not present, but his colleague Philip Melanchthon is.

                                --Augsburg Confession drafted by Melanchthon, signed by the Lutheran princes and theologians present; meant to be a common confession of faith among all Lutherans

                                --Luther’s waning years see him becoming more difficult and crotchety (allowing polygamy for Philip of Hesse, a Lutheran prince because the bible did not prohibit it; denouncing other reformers in severe terms like the ones he used only for Catholic popes previously; demonstrating some anti-Semitism)

                --1531, Schmalkald League formed when Lutheran princes band together against Charles V

                                --sporadic civil war between 1546 and 1555

                                --1555, Peace of Augsburg represents an agreement among the warring parties, Catholic and Protestant wherein a choice between Lutheranism and Catholicism was given to the princes, and each prince would determine the single religion for his whole area of jurisdiction—“cuius regio, eius religio.”  --Effectively makes Lutheranism a state religion in many principalities of the HRE (cf. Constantinian Union of Church and State or the symphonia of the Eastern Empire in early Christianity)

Luther’s Legacy—the three sola; the church is the whole body of Christian believers, not just the priests and bishops; the idea of a Christian vocation, apart from the monastery or ecclesiastical hierarchy

Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531): --Reformer in Zurich, Switzerland

                --preaches bible-based sermons in the Great Minster Church of Zurich, beginning in 1519 after having been influenced by the great Dutch Catholic humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. 

                --went further than Luther (who permitted what he termed adiaphora, that which was not prohibited by the bible  and was not essential to salvation but had become traditionally accepted, e.g., vestments, candles, music, etc.) and prohibited everything not expressly prescribed by the bible (e.g., vestments, candles, music, pictures, statues, etc.) and reflected a more puritan spirit in his reform

John  Calvin (1509-1564): scholar and lawyer who becomes a leading Protestant reformer in the Swiss city of Geneva after  being invited to help the process of reform along by Guillaume Farel.

                --Emphasis in Calvin’s theological system is placed upon the sovereignty of God.  (cf. Augustine)

                --Calvin in Geneva and Martin Bucer in Strasbourg both build upon the reform theology of Ulrich Zwingli, a leading reformer in Zurich from 1519-1531.  See Zwingli above.  Zwingli is killed in battle in 1531 between Zurich’s Protestants and its Catholic neighbors

                --Heinrich Bullinger takes over the reform effort in Zurich, but by the 1540s, Geneva under Calvin’s influence becomes the recognized leader in reformed circles

--1531/32—Calvin experiences  “an unexpected conversion” and devotes his will to God while studying the classics at the University of Paris

                --Exiled in 1533 (self-imposed, due to his relationship with Nicholas Cop, rector of the university of Paris with strong Protestant leanings)—Went to Basel, Switzerland, where he publishes the first version of his Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536

                                --Subsequent revisions of the Institutes throughout the next 20 years results in a very expanded version and highly systematic and logical presentation of the Protestant Christian faith

                                --The first publication makes him an overnight theological sensation in Europe; his dedicatory letter was addressed to Francis I, King of France, as a vindication of the Protestant cause—this makes Calvin a de facto leader in the Protestant movement

                --Goes to Geneva, Switzerland, in July 1536, where Guillaume Farel invites him to stay and help in the process of reforming the city’s religion

                                --Calvin begins a vigorous program of reform that included:

                                                --a common confession of faith to be accepted by all who wished to have the status of a Geneva citizen

                                                --an educational program for all Christians

                                                --urged excommunication be practiced against non-conformists whose lives did not demonstrate the necessary moral and spiritual standards

                                --opposition from the city council over who had the right to carry out the sentence of excommunication  => Calvin being expelled, along with Farel, in 1538, only to be invited back in 1541

                                                --Between 1538 and 1541, Calvin is in Strasbourg, marries, becomes a pastor to French Protestant refugees and establishes a strict set of moral standards in his church with freedom; taught theology and even represented the city in a couple of German religious conferences

                                                --Upon his return to Geneva, Calvin predicates his resumption of his position as reformer-in-chief upon his right to implement a program of moral discipline and theological rigor

                                                                --4 church offices recognized by Calvin: pastor, teacher, elder, and deacon—all supposedly backed up by scriptural authority (notice no bishops)

                                                                --Consistory (12 elders and the ministers of the city) responsible for moral discipline of the city

                                                                --Exiles coming to Geneva from other parts of Catholic Europe were becoming prominent in Calvin’s new flock in Geneva

                                --1553—Execution of Michael Servetus (a heretic who had denied the Trinity and was fleeing persecution from Catholics) by burning at the stake; Servetus had sought refuge in Geneva, but found it was denied to him because of his heterodoxy (Calvin wanted a more merciful death than the stake, but he still wanted to get rid of Servetus, especially as Calvin’s position of authority in Geneva was under scrutiny at this time)

                                --Geneva becomes a center of training for missionaries and preachers and a refuge for those persecuted in Catholic  regions

Calvin’s Theology: Centered around the Sovereignty of God

                --Predestination a source of confidence and humility and moral power

                --3 signs of election (having been chosen by God for salvation either before (supra) or after (infra) the fall)

                                --must introduce the kingdom of God on earth—Law is pattern of moral conduct—works are signs of justification

Total Depravity—man is born into sin and cannot do good on his own apart from God’s sovereign direction

Unconditional Election—those whom God has predestined to salvation are chosen without any regard to their merits or works; only the grace of God determines who is elect and who is reprobate

Limited Atonement—the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was effective only for those whom God had predestined for salvation, not for the whole world

Irresistible Grace—once grace is offered to one of the elect, there can be no resisting it; it will be accepted

Perseverance of the Saints—the elect will persist in doing good works and living morally right lives

                --Representative assemblies empowered to resist tyranny

                --Church is to be free in purely secular matters—Church is to guide spiritually the secular governments

--Huguenots a powerful minority in France—until St. Bartholomew’s Day  Massacre of 1527

--Dutch Reformed lead the way against Spanish rule in the Netherlands

--Scottish Presbyterians led by John Knox to establish a unique Calvinist church in that region

                --Knox preached just war against oppressive Catholic monarchs

                --Scottish Civil war of 1559 brings Knox home

                --1560—Calvinists capture Edinburgh and abolish Scottish Catholicism

The English Reformation (1533 ff.)

Succession to the throne of England at the center of the controversy—who would be Henry’s heir after his departure from this life?

England is moving away from Rome for several centuries prior to this

Schism a result of Henry VIII’s lust for Anne Boleyn and his need for a legitimate heir (he had an illegitimate son or two floating around)

                --Catherine of Aragon has birthed only one child of five who lived past infancy (Mary) and was aging (she was 40 in 1525; she had also been Henry’s sister-in-law, his brother Arthur’s wife)

                --Julius II had granted a special dispensation to allow the marriage in the first place (it was prohibited in Lev. 20:21 and in Roman Catholic Canon Law to marry one’s brother’s wife)

                --1527, Henry asks Clement VII for an annulment of his marriage, but Catherine is Charles V’s niece and the pope needs the emperor on his side, so he’s not going to risk granting the annulment

                --Henry secretly marries Anne Boleyn in  Jan. 1533

                                --English ecclesiastical court annuls marriage to Catherine and grants the marriage to Anne legitimacy

                                --Anne gives birth to Elizabeth in Sept. 1533

                --Pope excommunicates Henry and Henry dissolves papal authority in England—Clergy of England easily accept Henry’s decisions

                --1534, Act of Supremacy makes Henry the Supreme Head of the Church of England, and thus all his successors to the English thrown

                                --Bishops are appointed by the king; King is merely Defender of the Faith (a title conferred on Henry in 1521 by Pope Leo X in gratitude for Henry’s vehement defense of the sacraments against Lutheran doctrines)

                                --Henry never intends a break with Catholic dogma, only with Catholic leadership

                                --suppresses the monasteries, especially the smaller ones (most monks, when given the option of going to another house or become part of ordinary society choose the latter)

                                --Bible becomes available in English

                                --Statute of Six Articles 1539—upholds traditional Catholic articles of faith, such as the private mass, clerical celibacy, and aural confession

                                                --land of the monasteries is given to the nobility and used to refill the royal coffers for Henry’s own projects

William Tyndale (d. 1536): --highly critical of clerical ignorance (hhe himself was a priest) and the ignorance of the common folk when it came to scriptures, etc. (many priests had no knowledge of Latin beyond the few  prayers they were taught as children, did not comprehend even those, let alone the texts of the bible or the liturgy—often just made up a bunch of rubbish when conducting divine services)

                --desires to make the bible available to all ordinary people

                --His fervor  to see the bible translated and distributed met with opposition at Oxford and  Cambridge and led to his fleeing to the Continent for refuge

                                --From Antwerp he begins translating the New Testament and smuggling copies into England in 1526

                                --Strangled and burned at the stake in Antwerp in 1536

                --1535—Coverdale bible, compiled by Miles Coverdale (first complete English bible; basically a compilation of various translations Coverdale had a preference for)

                --1537—Matthew’s Bible (work of John Rogers) appears; gains royal imprimatur from Henry VIII (revised by Coverdale and Thomas Cranmer and called the “Great Bible”) and ordered to be placed in all English churches

Edward VI succeeds his father in 1547 at age 10—the regents are Pro-Protestant and thus goes England

                --Dies in 1553 and Mary Tudor (daughter of Catherine of Aragon) becomes queen and returns England to the Catholic fold

                                --Bloody Mary persecutes Protestants in the realm, many burned at the stake, others are exiled

                                --Mary also marries Phillip II of Spain—English regard Mary as a traitor

                                --Foxe’s Book of Martyrs 1571 tells of the Marian persecutions of the Protestants

                1558-1603—Elizabeth I

                                --English Church’s via media to accommodate both Catholic and Protestant parties

                                --Thirty-Nine Articles (1563)—scriptural authority, 2 sacarments (Eucharist and Baptism), commonalities in liturgy between Catholicism and Anglicanism, Apostolic succession retained—many Puritans will be disquieted after they return from the Marian exile in places like Geneva, hoping to find Elizabeth’s England more reformed than they actually do….

The Anabaptists—Radical Reformation

Zurich, Switzerland, 1525—Anabaptism is born

--Anabaptists are often considered reformers of the Reformation—Luther and Calvin and others were  not seen to have gone far enough in reforming the church; they were too moderate

                --incoherent countercultural movement; the orthodox Roman Catholics and Protestants both associated them with the ancient Donatists in their desire for Church purity

                --“Anabaptist” means “rebaptizer,” a derogatory term applied to them because of their predilection for baptizing adults converted to their new, radical faith

                                --Anabaptists rejected the baptism of the Catholic Church they had all received as infants as a perversion of the biblical norm of believers’ baptism

                                --argued that nowhere in scriptures do we see infants being baptized—they preferred to call themselves simply “Baptists”

                --primarily concerned to radically separate the church and the state—theirs was every bit as political as the Lutheran and Calvinist reformations—church and state had been too closely united to allow room for the true church of Christ

                --radical reliance on the New Testament as a guide for church organization—thus, no bishops, priests or other high and exalted clergy—all were equal before God

                                --Emphasis was on a free and personal choice to follow Christ; no one in the true church should or could be compelled to accept Christianity by accident of one’s birth

                                --Churches should consist only of the true believers—baptism is for believers only

                                --Radical discipleship and separation from the world (many in the Anabaptist tradition still maintain this sort of radical separation, e.g., Amish and some obscure Quaker sects)

                                --Pacifism and apoliticism are central tenets of Anabaptist faith (no bearing arms for the state government, no holding of political office, no taking of oaths of loyalty, etc.)—the world was wicked, and the state existed to control the world’s wickedness, but Christians were to be radically different from both the wicked world and the state

                                --commonly found in Switzerland, Holland, and the Rhineland

--Zwingli’s followers Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, press for a free church of true believers not attached to the state; the symbol of membership in this free church would be believers’ baptism in the  New Testament fashion (though immersion would not be a regular practice in early Anabaptism) (Zwingli breaks with them over this issue, because his reformation needed city support to sustain itself)

                --Grebels have a child and refuse to have him baptized in 1524; others follow their lead

                --Zurich city council holds debate on 17 Jan. 1525 over infant baptism between Zwingli’s followers and Grebel’s followers; Zwingli’s side wins

                                --City council decrees that all parents should have their children baptized within 8 days of birth or face banishment from the city (those whose children were already born were given a week to comply)

                --Anabaptism born on 21 January 1525 when, at a meeting at Felix Manz’s house, George Blaurock (former Catholic priest) presents himself to Grebel for baptism after his confession of faith in Jesus Christ; Blaurock is baptized then and there; he in turn baptizes Grebel and they both baptize others present

                --the first free church is born in Zollikon, Switzerland a few days later, where Grebel and Manz and their band had gone after leaving Zurich because their act of baptism was a defiance against the state

                --Zurich officials sent to Zollikon arrest several of the Anabaptists and imprison them; upon release, they continue to preach their new reformed faith

--7 March 1526, Zurich city council announces that Anabaptists will be drowned when they are discovered (in a parody of their preference for adult baptism)—Manz is first Anabaptist martyr, martyred in Jan. 1527

--1529, imperial Diet of Speyer makes Anabaptism a heresy => persecution and martyrdom of about 4000-5000 Anabaptists during the Reformation period

                --Thus Anabaptists face the wrath of both Catholics and magisterial Protestants

                --flight northward leads to some establishing a commune in Moravia (a rather tolerant part of Europe)

                                --economic cooperation

                                --early Acts 2-style living

                                --safety in numbers

                                --the brotherhood of believers is placed above the self-interest

                                --these are the forerunners of the Hutterites

Munster Rebellion, 1534/35

--sparked by wave of chiliastic enthusiasm among followers of Jan Matthijs (who regarded himself as the return of Enoch, one of the witnesses found in Revelation)

--bishop of Munster orders his troops to besiege the city; Anabaptists there fight back (unusual for their pacifism)

--1534—Jan of Leiden seizes power in the summertime, becomes a despotic ruler, claims to be a recipient of a new revelation direct from God, introduces the practice of polygamy, and even refers to himself as “King David”

--City falls in 24 June 1535; “Anabaptism” becomes commonly associated with the fanaticism and extremism of these Munsterites after word spreads across Europe—makes persecution of Anabaptists even more legit.

Meno Simons (1496-1561):  --Ministers in the lower Rhine region –practices a radical pacifism (especially after the Munster rebellion, Meno gives hope and renewal to the beleaguered Anabaptists)

Schleitheim Confession 1527—Conference is led by Michael Sattler, former Benedictine monk who would burn at the stake for his Anabaptist confession four months later and whose wife would be drowned in the Neckar River near Rottenburg

                --this is the first major European Anabaptist common confession of faith, covering several basic tenets

                                --discipleship (transformation of lifestyle (e.g., no oaths, absolute truth telling is essential) “No one can truly know Christ unless he follow him in life.”

                                --love (pacifism [refusal to go to war, defend themselves, or participate at all in the coercive activities of the state] and non-participation in the state—mutual aid and wealth redistribution[early communism])

                                --congregational authority (early democracy in the church, no hierarchy of ordained clergy, but all were equal in the eyes of God—some still do not have any ordained clergy to this day; all decisions of doctrine and moral discipline are made by the congregation assembled)—individual priesthood and democratic scriptural interpretations in doctrinal matters

                                --separation of church and state (see our own 1^st Amendment)—the  Church is to be alien in this world (resident in the world, but not of the world)

Anabaptist Legacy: some became legalistic in seeking a pure church

                                --some lost evangelistic zeal and opted for quiet life in rural areas (e.g., the Pennsylvania Dutch)

                                --some still are in the world (e.g., many Mennonites) but not of it—approx. ½ million today

The Catholic (or Counter-) Reformation

Conversion of Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) in 1521 at Manresa, Spain

                --occurs out of an experience in battle when Ignatius had been injured; during his recovery he read a lives of the saints and a life of Christ

                --becomes a pilgrim at Montserrat a few months later, and lives in Manresa in austerity, begging, wearing a barbed girdle, and fasting extensively; experienced the “dark night of the soul” of many mystics and eventually has a spiritual breakthrough

                --=> plan to found an army that will be dedicated to the Pope and rebuilding the Christian empire, spiritually and temporally (these become the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits)

May be accurate to say that the Catholic Church’s reaction to Protestantism is both a Counter-Reformation and a Catholic Reformation, a desire to stamp out opposition and a desire to renew the spirit of the ancient faith

Mysticism had become more common in 15^th and 16^th centuries—deep, personal searches for spiritual renewal through introspection and prayer, and an attempt to reunite with God in terms very vivid, bordering on the erotic and sensual

                --Noted mystics include: Thomas More (former chancellor to Henry VIII before his execution, later sainted by the  Catholic Church for his defense of Rome against Henry); Francis of Sales; Charles Borromeo; Theresa of Avila; Juliana of Norwich; and Ignatius Loyola

--Pre-Lutheran piety was on the upswing in several places

                --Oratory of Divine Love—aristocratic group of individuals, later prominent in the Catholic hierarchy who seek to reform the church through personal renewal of the individual soul

                                --lays plans for a reforming general council

                                --stimulates reform in some monastic circles

                                --Jacob Sadoleto (a debater against Calvin); Reginald Pole (catholic Archbishop of Canterbury during Mary’s reign); Gian Pietro Caraffa (later Paul IV)

--Political conflicts delay the Catholic Church’s reaction to Protestantism and its own reform efforts

                --Emperor Charles V wants a council; the popes do not

                --Some Germans would prefer a council without a pope (reminiscent of the Council of Constance)

                --Clement VII allied with France to protect the Papal States from German incursions; alienates the Emperor to the extent that on 6 May 1527, imperial troops (whose leaders had been killed) sacked and pillaged and murdered in Rome for several weeks, eventually taking the pope prisoner for about half a year (Some considered this as a sign of judgment from God against the abuses of Rome)

Paul III (1534-1549) the first pope to attempt a serious reform of the Catholic Church (not a likely candidate for this, considering his own four bastard children and known immorality; sacking of Rome may have caught his attention and spurred his own spiritual renewal and sincerity)

                --appoints new, reform-minded cardinals to the College of Cardinals (including Sadoleto, Pole, and Caraffa)

                --creates a new reform commission headed by Cardinal Contarini (a peacemaker, with respect for the Protestant cause and a seeker of reconciliation with them and a return to apostolic ways)

                --1537 Report concerning church reform comes out of the commission

                                --disorder is rampant in the Church due to the need for reform

                                --need for clergy, especially the pope and cardinals and bishops to cease being worldly

--Paul IV and the emperor agree to call a general council to address reform issues at Trent

                --Francis I of France delays the council’s convening until 1545—fear of the German emperor having a strong political advantage from any council’s action; Francis even encourages Turkish attacks against the emperor

                --Establishment of the Roman Inquisition and the Index of Forbidden Books (including all works of the Reformers and the Protestant bibles that had been making their appearances) which will continue till the time of Paul VI (1963-1978)

Paul III approves Jesuit order in 1540 as the pope’s loyal army of missionaries and teachers who will be sent to four continents before Ignatius’s death in 1556 to convert or reconvert and instruct people in the ways of Christ and his Church (Ignatius had a strong sense of the living Christ being present in the institutional Church alone)

                --Ignatius teaches that man has free will and can discipline himself to choose God and the ways of God and to obey them

                                --the human imagination is a powerful tool in the disciplining of the will—imagining the pains and fires of hell, for example, or the glories of the heavenly life can lead to someone wanting to follow God without hesitation

                                --education (for Ignatius personally, and later for all Christians)

                                --Ignatius several times is imprisoned and investigated by the inquisitions because of his religious enthusiasm

                                --Ignatius writes his Spiritual Exercises as a path to sainthood

                                                --rigorous examination of conscience

                                                --penance

                                                --forgetting all that is in the past once confronted by God’s forgiveness

                --“Send no one away dejected.  God asks nothing impossible.”—Ignatius

--Jesuit vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience are supplemented by a complete loyalty to the pope

                --Ignatius becomes the first Superior General of the order in 1540

                --Aim of the Jesuits is to restore the RCC to spiritual and temporal greatness, to become all things to all men, as Paul would have said, and to subordinate all things to the Roman Church, wherein Christ dwelled

--Francis Xavier sent to India and SE Asia and Japan; is successful in establishing a Christian village at Nagasaki

--Others have success in the New World, in France, in the Netherlands, and in Central Europe

--Jesuit influence at Trent is crucial to the Council’s success

                --Trent is poorly attended (Italians overrepresented, French and everyone else underrepresented; Jesuits at the center of its activities)

                --Trent gives the Church its militant spirit that it will take into the 20^th century

Council of Trent (1545-47; 1551-52; 1562-63):

                --Rejection of all Protestant ways

                                --Works are justificatory, not faith alone (faith alone produced laziness and complacency)

                                --Humans must cooperate with God in their salvation, not grace alone; people have free will to choose God or reject him, not irresistible grace for the elect (Ignatius quoted as saying, “Pray as though everything depended on God alone, but act as though it depended on you alone whether you will be saved.”)

                                --the magisterium is necessary as the only teaching authority in spiritual matters, not scripture alone (scripture alone could lead to heretical interpretations)

--Thus Trent affirms the collaboration between God and man in man’s redemption

                --affirms the supremacy of the papacy

                --affirms the intercession of the saints

                --affirms the seven sacraments

                --affirms the sacrifice of the Mass

                --affirms aural confessions

                --affirms indulgences

Both Catholic and Protestant parties saw themselves as bearers of the truth and the other as the teachers of error.  Trent carried on this legacy in the Roman Catholic Church, which it would persist in until Vatican II (1962-65)