The Reformation in Christianity - Article Example

The Reformation in Christianity The Reformation in Christianity was the movement that resulted in the emergence of Protestant churches and the decline of the Catholic church (www.atheism.about.com). The objective of the Reformation was to return Christianity to its original beliefs that were based purely upon the Bible and eliminating later additions to the religion that had arisen out of tradition. The Reformation also brought about a movement away from the Catholic Church and its traditions. With the development of the printing Press and the swift movement of ideas and documents, Reformers leaders like Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and John Calvin pressed for a return to the teaching of the Bible, eschewing the elaborate rituals and ceremonies that had become a part of the Catholic church and separated the common man from the word of God. Melanchthon (2006) examines developments in Lutheran theology in England during the half century after the break from the Catholic church in Rome. These years were characterized by conflict as the radical new ideas propagated through the Reformation, such as the belief in justification by faith alone, so that “good works” are in fact the “goal of justification” (Melanchthon 62). It was during the reign of Elizabeth I that Lutheran theology was fully recognized in England as being the congruent with the form of the apostolic church. Protestant Reformation was the core belief system that changed man’s way of thinking and allowed for a gradual disassociation to occur between traditional captive religion and the origin of scientific thought. For instance, the Reformation affected the traditional understanding of miracles and prayer, leading to an attack by early physicist John Tyndall on miracles while formulating a deterministic model of the Universe. Such events have laid the foundation for scientific thought and encouraged its progress.(Mullin, 2003). In terms of assessing the impact of the reformation on the lives of ordinary people, it has been argued that the Reformation in effect failed, because common folk remained as embroiled in superstition 50 years after the reformation as they had been 50 years before.(Matheson, 2006). But there is little doubt about the widespread prevalence and adoption of Reformation. Protestantism was “claimed by moist English people” (Matheson 79). From a theological perspective, individuals who were first exposed to the Reformation began to read scripture, ask theological questions and teach themselves, so that our Reformation ancestors in effect, gained a “new confidence in their theological knowledge” (Matheson 215). The role of the clergy was considerable reduced and the omniscient role they had once played was no longer the norm after the onset of the Reformation. The previously institutional framework that had provided the controlling edge to the priests through the “process of confessionalization” had reduced the “public role of the laity in religious discussions.” (Matheson 266). Thus, the positive side of reformation was that it deeply affected popular piety and life in general, which changed for common people after the Reformation. They were able to connect much more deeply and intimately with theological issues and concerns such as salvation and love of neighbors, thereby also bringing about changes in the social context as attitudes of people changed in terms of their responses to Islam, Jews and refugees, as well as to the poor. (Matheson 254-57). The Reformation is viewed as a strong and positive historical and religious force that has contributed towards an increased contact of the laity with scripture. But one of the unfortunate developments is the tendency to literalism in reading of the scriptures. Literalism means that “the letter or exact wording of a text carries the whole weight of its meaning, excluding any unmentioned or extraneous data.” (Ruthven, 41). This has contributed to the rise of fundamentalism across the globe, as well as in Europe, where the tendency to literally interpret the religious texts has often been a tool contributing to prejudice and intolerance, since the religious text is viewed as perfect and unalterable. The increased access to the Bible has put more members of the laity in direct contact with the laity, but the tendency to understand texts in their literal sense, as distinct from their mythical or allegorical meanings, has functioned as an impediment to progress, in that it has hindered scientific development. Literalism functions as a spur leading to religious fundamentalism, or the point where “traditionalism becomes self consciously reactive.” (Ruthven 43). The fundamentalist is forced to defend his literal interpretation of religious text, and as a result, inconsistencies or inaccuracies in the text are not acknowledged; rather the fundamentalist makes the effort to shift the burden of proof from God to humanity, so that they can be explained as “errors of human understanding rather than flaws in the text itself.” (Ruthven 44). The origin of fundamentalist views is largely a function of the Reformation, since according to the culture of Protestantism, “biblical authority outweighed the cumulative tradition represented by the teaching and authority of the Catholic church.” (Ruthven 45). Fundamentalism has been the root cause for persecution of peoples, and caused conflict in that the basic separation of mythos (mythology) and logos or the mind and ways of thinking and acquiring knowledge is blurred and the fundamentalist reads “religious texts as blueprints for practical action.” (Ruthven 52). This has produced political unrest and religious persecution through the ages. Hans Hillerbrand (2007), who has been one of the Deans of Reformation Studies, argues that the reformation represented a striking interplay of two different kinds of forces- religious and political. In an exhaustive book on the impact of the Reformation movement, he articulates the significance of the movement as follows: “It formed a rich matrix of diversity but also of common themes and motifs. Its cohesiveness derived from the common determination to restore what was perceived to be biblical religion, and do so in a striking relationship to the civil authorities. “(Hillerbrand, x) He points out how during different phases of the Reformaiton movement, religious and political causes became intermingled with each other in new and different ways that had not existed before. The interesting aspect about his observations however, is that he does not view the pre-reformation era as an incendiary time period. He acknowledges the existrence of tension in society and the church that fuelled the development of the Lutheran rebellion, but this was not necessary of crisis proportions. He states further: “To say…….that the time before the Reformation was a powderkeg with a lit fuse, invokes a neat metaphor but not an accurate appraisal of the time.” (Hillerbrand, 25) One factor that must be taken into consideration is the fact that most of the momentous events of the sixteenth century, such as the encounters of the Europeans with non European people, were not solely about the Reformation but pertained to related issues. The reformation in Christianity and the trend towards interpretation of religious texts have fuelled the trend towards more rational thought patterns, which have also conditioned the responses to non European tribals such as the American Indians. Dominican Francisco de Vitoria was one of the reformers responsible for a change in the direction of intellectual life in Spain. He was of the opinion that “the opinion of the majority is nothing short of certain knowledge.”(Pagden 63). This belief was based upon a natural law premise that if elements conceived to be true by a majority of men is indeed not so, then God is to be held at fault. Vitoria articulated this as follows: “Our intellect is from God and if it were to have a natural inclination towards error or falsehood then this would have to be attributed to God.” (Pagden 63). Since such a hypothesis was untenable, this produced a natural conclusion that knowledge is the thing on which all men are in agreement. This formed the foundation for the belief in the humanity of man, disassociated from its base in Christianity and the application of the natural law, so that this meant in effect that “there must exist a community of all men.” (Pagden 63). When applied in the context of the American Indian, this belief in the humanity of all men posed a significant challenge, especially in view of behavior and beliefs in these American Indians that was often viewed as aberrant and plain unnatural. But the evolution of more rational thought patterns have helped humanity to rise above the circumscribed boundaries of religion, towards new ways of thought in the constant striving for knowledge, which is an endowment of God. In conclusion, it may this be noted that the Reformation movement revolutionalized religious thought. But more importantly, it has produced two divergent trends – on the one hand is the move towards scientific thought and progress, with knowledge uniting all of humanity in a common quest. On the other hand is the tendency towards fundamentalism and literal interpretation of religious texts, which hinders that progress by clinging to regressive ideas. Works cited: * Hillerbrand, Hans, 2007. “The division of Christendom: Christianity in the Sixteenth Century”, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press * Matheson, Peter, 2006. “Reformation Christianity: A People’s history of Christianity” (vol 5), Fortress Books * Mullin, Robert Bruce. “Science, Miracles and the Prayer Gauge Debate”, IN “When Science and Christianity meet” (David C Lindberg and Ronald L Numbers edn) (2003), University of Chicago Press. * Pagden. Anthony, 1987. “The fall of natural man: the American Indian and the origins of comparative ethnology”, Cambridge University Press * Reformation. http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_reformation.htm; * Ruthven, Malise, 2007. “Fundamentalism: A very short Introduction”, Oxford University Press. Read More