Bible Students

A personal reflection on “Christianity’s Dangerous Idea” by McGrath (chapters 3-5)

This week’s reading covered many of the early Reformation history. The beginning problems with Protestantism were covered, as well as the introduction of Calvin’s theology and the impact of Geneva. Finally, Anglicanism sought to find a middle ground between Catholicism and Protestantism. 

Chapter three covers the advance of Lutheranism and the Reform into the local regions. Many cities followed after Luther post-Reformation. Apparently, there had been a lot of theological strife behind the curtains, which Luther had only brought out into the open. The vast array of geographical responses to Luther led to many theological differences as the Reformation responded to local threats. Protestantism, as a result, was an amalgamation of many theological camps protesting against the centralized Catholicism. Protestantism developed from outside opposition in each geographical reason, and was banded together by their opposition to Catholicism, rather than shared theological beliefs. Karlstadt was one man, for instance, who opposed Luther in desiring to abolish infant baptism. Zwingly, another man of the Reformation, contributed greatly to the theological development of the movement. By adopting the Reformation, cities were able to break free politically from Catholicism. This was a huge political step, as the Catholic church was the head of politics for many regions due to their religious prowess. Many Protestant groups opposed one another, almost as much as they opposed Catholicism. Anabaptists, as one example, came and opposed the baptism of children. Luther and other Reformers were staunchly opposed to this. In some sense, it is wise to oppose the new ideas brought by some of the radical groups in order to keep a somewhat united Reformation against the main theological corruptions of the Catholic church. In fact, some of the new groups were opposing even the Trinity, in addition to other core Christian beliefs. With the entrance of Protestantism many heresies were brought in, but were opposed by other Reformers. 

Chapter four covers a new contender, Calvin. Calvin was a Reformer who brought order to the new movement. The atmosphere in the church was crazy, especially due to the radicals of the time who claimed the end was near. Many extremists had been propagating the idea that the ecclesiological chaos spelled disaster for the church and the world. However, Calvin was one of the major figures who was able to stabilize the fledgling movement. The law of the land is that whoever rules the region rules its religion. This understanding came from a long train of disagreements and strife, but resulted in the individual rule of each region religiously. Calvin visited Geneva and was eventually rejected. He was young and immature. However, later in his life after leaving Geneva, Calvin was able to make significant theological progress in his writings. He wrote much, especially regarding the Institutes of the Christian Faith. Later in his life, Calvin had a hand in the public execution of an anabaptist. He was extremely opposed to the anabaptist beliefs, as they were too radical for the time. Calvin had his work done in the uncommon language of the time. Books were an especially helpful resource at the time, as they could cross borders without detection and spread information like wild-fire. While Luther never visited England, his books were sent there. Through this, Luther’s ideas as well as the ideas of the Protestant Reformation spread throughout the entire land without the Reformers physically going to new places. One problem with the Protestant Reformation is the multiplicity of interpretations. There is no final central authority of the interpretation of Scripture. The early editions of the Institutes was less frustrated at Calvin’s opponents than the later editions. In the later editions, Institutes shifted to abuse his opponents. After some time, Calvin returned to the small church in Geneva. Lutheranism and Calvinism continued to grow apart and become distinguished theological camps. They wrote doctrinal statements in order to distinguish themselves. One especially hot disagreement between the two camps is on the topic of communion and the physical or spiritual presence of Christ in the elements. 

Chapter five discusses Anglicanism. Many people believed Catholicism should be revised from within, not from without. The Catholic church was not gone and done, but needed to be reformed. Puritanism was the counter-reformation from Anglicanism. Puritanism is the group who believed Anglicanism was dead and unbiblical. Puritanism sought to be pure. In fact, Puritans used books as a form of polemic against the Anglican church. The Puritans used a new book, the Book of Common prayer, to attempt to reform the culture around Anglicanism away from Catholicism and closer to the Protestant beliefs. The Book of Common Prayer was revised and used as a more and more progressive polemic against Catholicism. Smaller groups were fragmented from Protestantism and began to oppose each other. Some of the new Reformers who came after the original movement desired to stress the Sacraments and did not see the original Reformers favorably. They believed Catholicism needed to be reformed from within, and did not call themselves Protestant, but Evangelical. These are the founders of Anglicanism. At the time, there was some agitation toward the clergy. The Catholic church did have some undeniable failings, and even the Anglican church acknowledged this. However, Evangelicals did not want to join either Zwingli or Luther, on other side of the Protestant theological camp. They were accused by Protestants of being too loyal to Catholicism in the now-Protestant-ruled land, and so moved away from more Catholic-leaning theologies. Rather, they moved to a more confessional evangelicalism. The Mass was celebrated by Anglicans, even though England became more and more merged with Lutheranism. The supreme head of the church was offered to the king’s daughter, Mary. When the king died she was offered the poisition of high church leader, but she believed that belonged solely to the Pope. The shift of power has moved toward Protestantism in England, even in the more Catholic-leaning Anglicanism. Anglicanism became the common middle-ground between Catholicism and Protestantism. The liturgy of the church had been changed in England, though the church offices continued to function as in the Catholic ecclesiological system. 

Some of the bigges take-aways from this section has been the way the church responded to the fragmentation of the theological camps. Some camps fought tooth and nail against others, resulting in the deaths of many. While I do not agree with this practice, there may be a time for keeping the theological camp pure in the beginning of a movement in order to stand a chance against the united enemy. Additionally, later in the life of the movement, it may be wise to experiment with the implications of the original ideology when the movement becomes stable.