Reli 495 Lecture Notes on Topic 2.1.4

The Renaissance and Reformation

--Lecture Notes for Topic 2.1.4-

Religion 492

Last revised: 3/4/04
Explanation:
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**Go directly to topic:**
2.1.4 Introduction	2.1.4.1 The Humanists	2.1.4.2 The Lutheran Reformers	2.1.4.3 The Swiss Reformers
2.1.4.4 The Catholics	2.1.4.5 The Defenders of Protestant Orthodoxy	2.1.4.6 Case Study: Romans	Bibliography

2.1.4 Introduction
Assigned Readings for This Topic:
Gerald Bray, "The Renaissance and Reformation," Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, pp. 165-220

        Prof. Bray follows the standard organizational structure in this chapter by beginning with the historical background, then dealing with individuals who made significant contributions to interpretive method, then summarizing trends and developments during this period, and concluding with a Case Study using Paul's Letter to the Romans.
        The historical background that set the tone for the emergence of Christian Protestantism was the Renaissance, sometimes called The Enlightment from the German die Aufklarung. The middle of the 1400s is typically taken as the starting point but one cannot point to a single defining moment as the beginning. More than anything the Renaissance was the converging of a number of trends with roots reaching back to earlier periods of European history. They began coming together in the middle 1400s and quickly created a brand new atmosphere all over Europe.
        Some of the factors that played a role included the massive spread of Islam as it took over complete control of the Middle East and began to penetrate eastern Europe on a westward march. The Ottaman Empire of the Turkish people was a key agent of this spread. As it began to threaten central Europe, Christian leaders both in the church and government reacted with great alarm and a willingness to engage the Turks in military battle. Eventually Europeans would repel the Turkish advance and then at the end of World War I in 1918 crush the Ottaman forever with the establishment of the modern countries of the Middle East that exist today.
        Another factor was the significant decay, both morally and spiritually, of the papacy in Rome. This is a low point in the history of Roman Catholicism with most of the popes living very immoral personal lives while leading the largest group of Christianity in the world at that time. More interest was in gaining political power over the governmental rulers of Europe and in living very extravagant lives, than in the spiritual health of the church. As a consequence, the masses of the people began turning against the papacy and the Church, and political rulers were able increasingly to capitalize on this discontentment with their efforts to resist the pressures coming from Rome.
        Closely connected to these developments was the breakup of the old feudal system in which less than five percent of the population -- aristocracy and church leaders -- controlled the remaining ninety-five per cent who were virtually all peasants and slaves. The emergence of a new middle class largely merchant group as a by product of the Renaissance would play a very influencial role in redefing European society.
        Most importantly, however, was the emergence of a spirit of adventure and questioning of the status quo. This was the period of Columbus' discovery of the new world, for one thing. The invention of the printing press in the late 1400s opened up unheardof possibilities for spreading one's ideas to massive numbers of people at relatively inexpensive cost. The Roman Catholic Church began loosing it grip on the thinking of ever larger numbers of people, and thus ceased to be the defining center of understanding throughout Europe.
        By the middle 1500s with the Protestant Reformation in full swing, Europe began to fragment itself into smaller national political entities. The old Holy Roman Empire was dead, in spite of efforts to revive it. A spirit of nationalistic pride swept over Europeans and Christianity began developing exploding numbers of alternative church groups to the Roman Catholic Church.
        In this new spirit of inquiry and exploration of new things, some major advances in biblical interpretation would take shape. These would forever impact how the Christian Bible is understood.

2.1.4.1 The Humanists
Assigned Readings for This Topic:
Gerald Bray, Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present, relevant pages in this chapter