![Jan Hus
often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest,
philosopher, early Christian reformer and Master at Charles University in
Prague. After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is
considered the first Church reformer, as he lived before Luther, Calvin, and
Zwingli.
Hus was a key predecessor to Protestantism, and his teachings had a strong
influence on the states of Western Europe, most immediately in the approval
of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century
later, on Martin Luther himself. He was burned at the stake for heresy against
the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology,
the Eucharist, and other theological topics.
After Hus was executed in 1415, the followers of his religious teachings (known
as Hussite's) rebelled against their Roman Catholic rulers and defeated five
consecutive papal crusades between 1420 and 1431, in what became known as
the Hussite Wars.] A century later, as many as 90% of inhabitants of the Czech
lands were Hussites. Although the Czech Republic was the site of one of the
most significant pre-reformation movements, there are only few Protestant
adherents; mainly due to historical reasons like persecution of Protestants by
the Catholic Habsburg, restrictions during the Communist rule, and also the
ongoing secularization.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/historyreformed-161127133813/85/THE-REFORMATION-10-320.jpg)
THE REFORMATION
- 1. AN AYODELE OGUNSAKIN ORIGINAL
- 2. Introduction The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. They argued for a religious and political redistribution of power into the hands of Bible- and pamphlet-reading pastors and princes. The disruption triggered wars, persecutions and the so-called Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s delayed but forceful response to the Protestants.
- 3. Dating the reformation Historians usually date the start of the Protestant Reformation to the 1517 publication of Martin Luther’s “95 Theses.” Its ending can be placed anywhere from the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, which allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany, to the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation—a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, not tradition, should be the sole source of spiritual authority—were not themselves novel. However, Luther and the other reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.
- 4. Germany and Lutheranism Martin Luther (1483-1546) was an Augustinian monk and university lecturer in Wittenberg when he composed his “95 Theses,” which protested the pope’s sale of reprieves from penance, or indulgences. Although he had hoped to spur renewal from within the church, in 1521 he was summoned before the Diet of Worms and excommunicated. Sheltered by Friedrich, elector of Saxony, Luther translated the Bible into German and continued his output of vernacular pamphlets. When German peasants, inspired in part by Luther’s empowering “priesthood of all believers,” revolted in 1524, Luther sided with Germany’s princes. By the Reformation’s end, Lutheranism had become the state religion throughout much of Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltics.
- 5. Switzerland and Calvinism The Swiss Reformation began in 1519 with the sermons of Ulrich Zwingli, whose teachings largely paralleled Luther’s. In 1541 John Calvin, a French Protestant who had spent the previous decade in exile writing his “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” was invited to settle in Geneva and put his Reformed doctrine—which stressed God’s power and humanity’s predestined fate—into practice. The result was a theocratic regime of enforced, austere morality. Calvin’s Geneva became a hotbed for Protestant exiles, and his doctrines quickly spread to Scotland, France, Transylvania and the Low Countries, where Dutch Calvinism became a religious and economic force for the next 400 years.
- 6. Britain and the ‘Middle way’ In England, the Reformation began with Henry VIII’s quest for a male heir. When Pope Clement VII refused to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could remarry, the English king declared in 1534 that he alone should be the final authority in matters relating to the English church. Henry dissolved England’s monasteries to confiscate their wealth and worked to place the Bible in the hands of the people. Beginning in 1536, every parish was required to have a copy. After Henry’s death, England tilted toward Calvinist-infused Protestantism during Edward VI’s six-year reign and then endured five years of reactionary Catholicism under Mary I. In 1559 Elizabeth took the throne and, during her 44-year reign, cast the Church of England as a “middle way” between Calvinism and Catholicism, with vernacular worship and a revised Book of Common Prayer.
- 7. The counter-reformation The Catholic Church was slow to respond systematically to the theological and publicity innovations of Luther and the other reformers. The Council of Trent, which met off and on from 1545 through 1563, articulated the Church’s answer to the problems that triggered the Reformation and to the reformers themselves. The Catholic Church of the Counter-Reformation era grew more spiritual, more literate and more educated. New religious orders, notably the Jesuits, combined rigorous spirituality with a globally minded intellectualism, while mystics such as Teresa of Avila injected new passion into the older orders. Inquisitions, both in Spain and in Rome, were reorganized to fight the threat of Protestant heresy.
- 8. 4 Men Who Reformed The Church
- 9. John Wycliffe 1320 – 31 December 1384) was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, Biblical translator, reformer, and seminary professor at Oxford. He was an influential dissident within the Roman Catholic priesthood during the 14th century. Wycliffe attacked the privileged status of the clergy, which was central to their powerful role in England. He then attacked the luxury and pomp of local parishes and their ceremonies. Wycliffe was also an advocate for translation of the Bible into the vernacular. He completed a translation directly from the Vulgate into Middle English in the year 1382, now known as Wycliffe's Bible. It is probable that he personally translated the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; and it is possible he translated the entire New Testament, while his associates translated the Old Testament. Wycliffe's Bible appears to have been completed by 1384, with additional updated versions being done by Wycliffe's assistant John Purvey and others in 1388 and 1395.
- 10. Jan Hus often referred to in English as John Hus or John Huss, was a Czech priest, philosopher, early Christian reformer and Master at Charles University in Prague. After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is considered the first Church reformer, as he lived before Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. Hus was a key predecessor to Protestantism, and his teachings had a strong influence on the states of Western Europe, most immediately in the approval of a reformist Bohemian religious denomination, and, more than a century later, on Martin Luther himself. He was burned at the stake for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, the Eucharist, and other theological topics. After Hus was executed in 1415, the followers of his religious teachings (known as Hussite's) rebelled against their Roman Catholic rulers and defeated five consecutive papal crusades between 1420 and 1431, in what became known as the Hussite Wars.] A century later, as many as 90% of inhabitants of the Czech lands were Hussites. Although the Czech Republic was the site of one of the most significant pre-reformation movements, there are only few Protestant adherents; mainly due to historical reasons like persecution of Protestants by the Catholic Habsburg, restrictions during the Communist rule, and also the ongoing secularization.
- 11. Peter Waldo Peter Waldo, Valdo, Valdes, or Waldes (c. 1140 – c. 1205), also Pierre Vaudès or de Vaux, is credited as the founder of the Waldensians, a Christian spiritual movement of the Middle Ages, descendants of which still exist in various regions of southern Europe. Citation evidence by Eberhard de Béthune stated the name Waldenses more than 10 years before Peter Waldo, (1170) and the monk Bernard de Foncald wrote about the heretics who were known as "Valdensis" who were condemned during the pontificate of Pope Lucius II in 1144, decades before Peter Waldo. These extant citation sources clearly prove the existence of the actual name Valdenses existed prior to Peter.
- 12. Martin Luther 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money, proposing an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor. Luther taught that salvation and, subsequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin.
- 13. 7 Causes of The Reformation The presence of a printing press in a city by 1500 made Protestant adoption by 1600 far more likely. Protestant literature was produced at greater levels in cities where media markets were more competitive, making these cities more likely to adopt Protestantism. Ottoman incursions decreased conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, helping the Protestant Reformation take root. Greater political autonomy increased the likelihood that Protestantism would be adopted. Where Protestant reformers enjoyed princely patronage, they were much more likely to succeed. Proximity to neighbors who adopted Protestantism increased the likelihood of adopting Protestantism. Cities that had higher numbers of students enrolled in heterodox universities and lower numbers enrolled in orthodox universities were more likely to adopt Protestantism.
- 14. How Does the Reformation affect us today The Reformation in Europe during the 16th century was one of the most important epochs in the history of the world. The Reformation gave us the Bible – now freely available in our own languages. The now almost universally acknowledged principles of religious freedom, liberty of conscience, the rule of law, separation of powers and constitutionally limited Republics were unthinkable before the Reformation. The Reformers fought for the principles that Scripture alone is our final authority, Christ alone is the head of the Church and justification is by God’s grace alone, on the basis of the finished work of Christ, received by faith alone. Few people today realize that the first Bibles printed into English had to be smuggled into England, and that the Bible translator, William Tyndale, was burnt at the stake for the crime of translating the Bible into English. Seven fathers and mothers were burned alive at Coventry for teaching the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed to their children – in English. The sacrifices made by the Reformers, and the far-reaching impact of their courageous application of the Word of God to every area of life, needs to be rediscovered.