Bible Students

A reflection based on “The Story of Christian Theology” by Olson (chapters 24-27)

Chapter twenty-four covers Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Where Erasmus before him had been gentle in his theological correction, Luther was rough. He was known as a bull in a china shop, one who was abrasive to get his theological point across. While this sounds strange to me, that a great theologian would be so rough with his actions and words, the results of the Reformation speak for themselves. The church of Rome had been in serious error, and Luther was going to let the whole western Christian world know about it. Luther believed in faith alone, even apart from works. No amount of working would begin or finish salvation. While the Catholics believed in the special authority of tradition, Luther claimed the Bible as the ultimate authority, and the only inspired history. His theology especially included the priesthood of all believers during a theological setting of priestly corruption. He opposed penitence for paying off time in purgatory. Penitence was not used to buy salvation, but it was used to shave off time in purgatory, where suffering would sanctify a person until they were ready for glorification. However, many Catholic leaders of the time suggested that grace was something to be bought. Paul’s epistles were an especially strong foundation for the theology of Luther’s Reformation, specifically the explicit theology of Romans and Galatians. Before his theological scandals, Luther was a layman. He was struck by lightning and swore to become a monk if He lives. During his time as a monk, he was paranoid about not confessing something, as confession was a central part of the Catholic system. He was trained in Nominalism. After he posted the 95 Thesis (a list of the infractions committed by the Catholic church against biblical theology and orthopraxy), Luther was excommunicated. He was fiery in rallying people to himself, believing that if someone was not 100% for him and his theological mission, they were against him. Luther, suprisingly, was not a systematic theologian, though he did write much on specific topics. He believed sin had corrupted the image of God and reason in individuals. He also believed no person had the right to judge Scripture, though did somewhat oppose the importance of the epistle of straw, James. He believed there were levels of importance in Scripture, and that not all inspiration was equally helpful. In a sense, I would agree, as 1 Chronicles 1-9, which mainly consist of genealogies, can not be applied the same way as, say, Ephesians, which is almost half the length. He believed not everything about God should be expected to be understandable. He did believe sacraments were important to salvation, in some sense. 

Chapter twenty-five covers Reformed theology, which is a branch of Protestant thought which emphasizes God’s sovereign rule over all of creation and humanity. Zwingli and Calvin were some of the most well-known theologians of the Reformed tradition, both in ancient and contemporary times. Zwingli believed all Scripture was completely inspired and important, contrasted to Luther. It is important to note that almost immediately after Luther’s reform, many great Protestant theologians popped up. Clearly, Luther was not alone in his complaints against the Catholic church. Zwingli and Calvin used God’s sovereignty as the first and primary thought in their theology. Everything else flowed from that singular idea. However, even though God is sovereign even over human decisions, He is above the Law and therefore is not judged by the Law. I believe this reasoning is flawed. God is above the Law, yes, but is still the eternal source behind the Law. His character is reflected in the Law. I believe a better articulation of this idea would avoid the use of the Law, as the Law was meant for people, not for God. While Luther viewed the Law as negative, Zwingli viewed it as a good thing. I would agree that the Law is good. I believe Paul’s use of the Law as condemnation is not incompatible with the Law being good. The Law is not made to bring salvation (and so it can only condemn), but it does reveal the heart and character of our God. In time, Calvin was made to be the figure-head of Reformed theology, and often Calvinism and Reformed theology are interchangeable today, though they do mean different things. Calvin was a systematic theologian, unlike Luther, and wrote on many topics. Calvin was fiery, and demanded the deaths of some heretics, even going to far as to receive the death of one heretic by burning. 

Chapter twenty-six covers anabaptists. Anabaptism essentially means the second baptism. At the time, Catholics and Protestants were baptized as infants. Anabaptists believed in baptizing a second time as an adult, since the infant baptism was not desired by the individual at the time. Hubmaier and Simons were two important figures in this movement, and they baptized each other, which was socially and theologically outlawed at the time. The Anabaptists were persecuted by even other Protestants, having their children taken away and having the adult members drowned as an ironic symbol of their second baptism. Truly, there were many dark times during church history, even during the early stages of the Reformation. Reformers wanted to be especially careful about the small fire which had just been started, and did not want a new set of theology to come and destroy what was beginning to grow. Hubmaier had been influenced much by Zwingli. Hubmaier’s theology acted as the basis for his future theological children after him, including modern day Protestantism, which does not believe in infant baptism as a whole, but rather adult baptism. They also believed children were not responsible for their sin until the age of accountability, which is common among modern-day Baptists. The Mennonites were another splinter group during this time, started by a man named Menno. They were Christian extremists who shunned many common practices, including Christians engaging in combat. Until that time, Christians viewed combat as a sometimes necessary action (in the case of a just war or self defense) and largely viewed Christians who engaged in the military as fulfilling their vocational duty to the glory of God. 

Finally, chapter twenty-seven, the English reformation. During this time, the well-known Book of Common Prayer was written, and was used as a polemic against many groups. During this time, England was separate from Scotland for both theological and political reasons, similarly to the eastern and western church before the Great Schism. High church theology during this time was classified as Anglicanism, while the low church theology was known as Puritanism. Church theology is the ecclesiological structure. The council of Trent was one of the most important councils for Catholics, as it solidified many theological positions, including the one regarding Protestants as heretics. The Protestant church would continue to splinter after this, forming new theological groups and leanings within new cultural and geographical contexts.