History of Christian Thought: 1650-1993
Rowan Greer
1/14/93
Historical Background of the Reformation
In
the 1050’s, the papacy was reformed.
Gregory VII was the pope then, no longer elected by the people of the
Church. Aristocratic (wealthy) families
had controlled the papacy. This reform
gave the papacy more independence.
Gregory VII insisted that European bishops be loyal to the pope. So, by the 1100’s, European bishops were
loyal to the pope. Innocent III marked
the high water mark of papal control. In
playing power politics, he desacralized the papacy. Also in the 1100’s, the papacy gained power
in money in jurisdictional matters, which provoked resentment. By 1300, the kings of France and England France
Besides the failure of reform from within,
the rise of nationalism was a major reason for the Reformation. Europe in
the 1300’s was feudalistic, thus a hierarchical society. From 1353-1453, the Hundred Year War waged
between France and England . In the 1400’s in Europe ,
nations emerged. In 1485, the War of the
Roses within England ended,
and a united England
emerged. In 1477, France was
consolidated.
At the social level, irreligious behavior by
priests (ignorance and corruption) led to anti-clericalism. A movement arose of modern devotion (devotio
moderna) to imitate the impoverished Christ. It supplied an alternative piety to the piety
of the Church. People could go to
religious circles away from the established church. In addition, humanism was on the rise. Sir Thomas Moore, for instance. Attention shifted from abstract spiritual
truth to human life, with its classical learning and the importance of the
individual. In the late 1400’s, the
printing press was invented.
In 1483, Luther was born. His parents were peasants. He earned a BA and a MA. At age 22 (1505), he had a religious
experience and became an Augustinian friar and priest. Then he went to a university and taught moral
theology. In 1511, he was established as
an academic at Vinaburg. He wrote the 95
Theses on Halloween of 1515. It was
against the sale of indulgences. The
pope had the right to dispense merit. By
paying a price, sins would be forgiven.
Souls could be bought out of purgatory.
Luther objected to this system in his thesis. Justification by faith was not in them.
Citing Romans 1:17, Luther claimed that the
righteousness of God is by faith—that God gives by faith and has demands. Justification by faith as a gift of God,
is Luther’s major idea. We are helpless
but God is our helper. God forgives, and
this is undeserved. We can accept this
by faith, which comes from God. So there
is no merit on our part. We can’t do
anything but be grateful. This idea goes
against the practice of indulgences.
In November of 1518, Luther appealed to a
general council. In 1520, Luther wrote To
the Christian Nobility and The Babalonian Captivity of the Church. In these works, Luther wrote against the
practice of indulgences, and against the idea that the Mass gives one
forgiveness. He appealed to scripture
alone as the sole authority, and to the idea of justification by faith. Leo X issued a Bull, threatening to
excommunicate Luther. In 1521, the Diet
of Worms . An imperial parliament. Luther was interrogated for his recognition
of solo scriptura. He then hid in
the castle of Frederick Germany . Some of the organizers were iconoclastic
(against icons). In 1522, Luther
returned to Saxony . In 1525, he married. Between 1521 and 1529, Lutheranism was
organized. In 1529, the Diet of Speyer . Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, defeated
France and the pope, and decreed against Protestantism. A letter to this effect was written at Speyer .
There was a Swiss reform too. Zwingli was such a reformer. He was born in 1484, and became a pastor in
1516. In 1518, he was a preacher at the
cathedral in Zurich . He was a humanist Catholic, like Thomas
Moore. In 1522 on Ash Wednesday, he
contradicted the Catholic Church by eating meat. He claimed that fasting was a human
rule. He was more pragmatically oriented
than was Luther, who was more theologically inclined. Switzerland
was a theocracy, whereas the states in Germany had divine princes. Zwingli renounced his priesthood as did
Luther. In 1523, Zwingli wrote a
disputation (theses) in which he declared that Christ, rather than the Church,
could establish rules for our world.
Whereas Catholocism taught that salvation is via the church, the
protestants claimed it is by God’s grace (via justification by faith). In the logic of Protestantism, there is no
place for the church in salvation. For
instance, in the 1600’s, English independents such as the Congregationalists
claimed that they became Christian in private, gathering afterward. Greer: if
so, then there is no real community.
Zwingli claimed not only that Christ can
establish rules for us on earth, but that Jesus has saved us and is the only
way to salvation.
Philip of Hessa wanted a summit to unite
Luther and Zwingli against the Holy Roman emperor. In 1529, Luther and Zwingli were at the
Marburg Colloguy. They debated on the
Lord’s Supper. 14 articles of agreement
(faith, the trinity, and the person of Jesus).
But they did not agree on Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist.
In 1215, transubstantiation became Catholic
doctrine, and a proclamation was made that is necessary to get the Eucharist
once a year. There had not been much
taking of communion, as people went to Mass to see the sacrifice
(consecration). Aristotle had been
rediscovered via Spain
(via the Arabs). To Aristotle, a
‘substance’ is what a thing really is (invisible). Its ‘accidents’ are its
outward characteristics. In
transubstantiation, the substance is altered while the accidents remain. In the West, the assumption was that the
symbolic is not the real. Before the
middle ages, this separation was not made.
Luther argued on behave of consubstantiation, wherein the substance and
accidents of bread and wine remain, and the substance (but not accidents) of
Christ is added. Zwingli argued in
contrast that the Eucharist is a memorial to Christ (symbolic, thus not a real
presence). In the Anglican view in the
1500’s, the bread and wine are moral instruments to gain heart; whether Jesus
is present is a secondary question. Some
differences on this question within the Anglican Church. One position was against the real
presence. Hooker claimed that the
important point is to have Jesus in your heart; he was agnostic on the question
of the real presence. In 1552, the Black
Rubric denied the real presence (‘remembrance of’ being cited). In 1559, Queen Elizabeth opposed the Rubric,
thus opening the door allowing ‘real presence’.
But in 1562, the Corporal Rubric denied real presence.
So the Marburg
summit failed to unite Luther and Zwingli.
There were protestant-catholic wars in Switzerland . Zwingli was killed in battle in 1531. Bullen took over the Swiss reformation.
The Anabaptists rejected infant baptism. In Germany , 1524-5, a series of
incidents of local unrest, in the Peasants War.
Peasant leaders wrote that the Bible is the only law. In 1525,Conrad Grebel, a friend of Zwingli,
baptized an adult in Zurich ,
insisting that he opposed infant baptism.
The Zurich
city council opposed his action. Hutter
was baptized by Grebel, and went on to establish a church in Monrovia .
In 1527, there was a meeting of Anabaptists, with seven articles
resulting. Baptism would only be given
to adults, and only after three admonitions would excommunication be
allowed. The church as a club of saints.
Also, the Eucharist is memorial only.
And separation of church and state was favored. Pastors must be recognized as good
virtue. No Christian could use civil
courts, be a magistrate, or hold public office.
Pacificism, even against self defence.
And oaths were forbidden.
Menno Simons, from whom the Mennonites arose,
rescued survivors of sacked Anabaptist cities.
In the early 1600’s, Holland was freed
from Spain (and thus from Rome ) and accepted
Anabaptists. In 1544, Simons went to Basel to protest against
Calvin’s having burned someone. The social
organization of towns inhibited the unity of Protestants, but there were also
differences.
Charles V was the grandson of Ferdinand and
Isabella. In 1517, he became king of Spain . In 1530,
he became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire . In the early 1500’s, there was warfare
between the Hopsburgs (of Germany
and Austria )
and France. In 1530, Charles V made
peace between France and the pope, and held a Diet in Augsburg .
The Augsburg
confessions of faith was a plea from Protestants. The principle was gujusregio ejus religio,
everyone in an area would have the religion of its mayor. The Lutherans were asking for the right to
exist. Charles V, being Catholic,
opposed this, so the diet was inconclusive and war followed. In 1531, a league of Protestant towns in Germany and Austria formed against the
emperor. Vienna was attacked by Turks. In France , the war with Charles
restarted. So Charles was too busy to
crush the Protestants. In 1555, Charles
V abdicated, stabilizing the reformation in Germany . The Religious Peace of Augsburg held from
then until 1618. There was no provision
for the Swiss (Calvin) or Anabaptist movements, although Lutheran
principalities were allowed. This was
not really much toleration.
1/19/93
1517: Luther’s Theses; 1521: Diet of Worms.
Zwingli’s reform began in 1522.
1529: Marburg
1555: Augsburg —‘Whose
region, whose religion’. Minorities
within a region were not tolerated, yet they could move into regions where they
are in the majority. Zwingli and the
Anabaptists were not accounted for. So
by 1618, this solution fell apart, leading to the Thirty Year War.
Martin Bucer (1491-1551)
He lived in Strausburg, which did not belong
to a prince so it was an independent city within the Holy
Roman Empire so it had become a city of refuge for reformers. In 1523, Gazell, a reformed preacher, was
joined by Copelston (3 Ph.D’s) and by Bucer to do religious education in
Strausbourg. Bucer was a poor Dominican
Friar. He had read Erasmus, a humanist
who did not break with the Church. In
1518, Bucer had heard Luther speak.
These two influenced Bucer. In
1525, parishes around the city were reorganized, with new evangelical preachers
and educated learning for them and the laity. Bucer introduced German
Mass. In 1529, he abolished the Mass,
stressing instead the importance of hymns.
In 1534, the city drew up 16 points, the most important being the
primacy of the Word (Bible). In 1546,
Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire ,
expelled the protestants from Strausbourg due to a war. Bucer went to England . After Henry V died in 1547, his son allowed
Protestants back in Strausbourg. Bucer
returned. Bucer wrote a critique of the
English Book of Prayer, after which it was revised. So Bucer was an influence on the Book of
Common Prayer. Bucer probably also
influenced Calvin.
Calvin
He was born in 1509, the son of a lay
employee of a church. In 1521 to 1527,
he had a church office. In Paris , he studied liberal
arts. In 1533, he obtained a JD in Orleans and preached a reform sermon and left France . In 1535, he was in Basel .
He was associated with the Swiss reformers. In the following year, he wrote The
Institutes of the Christian Religion as an apology to his oppressed fellow
reformers in France . He argued that he was different from the
Anabaptists. He argued that the
development of the Church was behind the corruption. He wanted to get back to true
Christianity. Greer: but where do you
draw the line? The life of Jesus, Paul, the New Testament, Church
traditions? Calvin’s text is organized
like the catecism (laws, creed, sacraments).
He wanted to emphasize the influence of Luther on him. The second edition of the text was out in
1539. It had become a book on
theology. The influence of Bucer, rather
than Luther, can be seen. There were to
be two more editions of the text. The
book gives a systematic account of Christianity.
Calvin predominated in France and Switzerland . Luther predominated within the Holy Roman
Empire, yet there were pockets of Calvinism in Germany . The Anabaptists were in Holland .
The Anabaptists included the Baptists, Congregationalists, Meninites,
Quakers and Amish. The Quakers came out
of the English independent movement.
In 1531, Geneva became independent politically, and
protestant too. Calvin, traveling
through, was persuaded to stay and teach.
He got the police to enforce the doctine (reformed v. catholic) to dig
out evil. For instance, an oath was
required by citizens so it could be seen who was Reformed vs. Catholic. In 1538, in an election, the preachers for
this oath were defeated. Calvin went to
Strausbourg where he was exposed to Bacer and wrote his Treatise on the
Lord’s Supper (1541). In 1551,
Calvin returned to Geneva. In 1555,
opposition to Calvin was quashed.
Discipline was important to Calvin.
Regulating people’s moral lives was important to him. In Geneva, Calvin
set up four clerical offices: pastor, elder, teacher, and deacon. The elders were behind discipline and the
Consistory (the church government). In
conflicts between the city council and the consistory, the consistory won (but
Chadwick argues otherwise). Only the Anabaptists were separatists in the sense
of the separation of church and state.
Between 1545 and 1555, there was a power
struggle between Calvin and his opponents.
Servetus claimed that the trinity rested on a false interpretation of
scripture. He was considered a heretic
to both Rome and Calvin as well as Luther.
In 1546, Calvin dumped him.
Servetus went to Geneva, and Calvin arrested his secretary. The trial was a power struggle between the
city council and Calvin. Calvin
won. In 1555, the city council
acknowledged the right of the consistory to excommunicate, meaning a theocracy
had been established.
In 1556, Calvin wrote a Swiss Confession of
Faith. Not only the Swiss, but the
Hugonots in France and the Presybaterians in England and Scotland were
influenced by Calvin. Calvin, like
Luther, was Augustian, emphasizing human incapacity and the sovereignty of
God. In stressing the sovereignty of
God, Calvin stressed predestination. Since we are nothing, God is
everything. Due to the Fall, we have
total depravity, yet God has predestined to rescue an elect who thank him by
doing good works. Since we don’t know
God’s decrees, we use reason to try to see if we are chosen. Luther emphasized the role of faith as by
grace, given human incapacity and the consequent need for God’s grace. Whereas Calvin established a Christian
Commonwealth wherein the Church was important, Luther emphasized a Christian
Commonwealth with a godly prince.
1/21/93
In Scandinavia and England, there was a
top-down approach to reform; the state initiated reform, so it was a
conservative reform. In contrast,
Germany, Switzerland and France had a bottom-up reform. In Scandinavia, the king of Denmark,
Christian II, made himself the hereditary king in 1520. He died in 1523, and was followed by
Frederick I, who tolerated Lutherans. In
1534, Christian III, king of Denmark and Norway, Lutheranized those two
countries, dismissing Catholic bishops and taking over Catholic Church
properties. Sweden was separate. Gustavus Vasa (1523-60), the first Swedish
king, introduced the Swedish Mass and hymnal in the period of 1547 to
1562. The Bible was central, and
Lutheran writings were rejected. The
vestments and liturgy did not change, however, so it was a high church.
In England, Henry VII conquered Richard III
in 1485, uniting Lancaster and Rose in the War of the Roses. Henry VIII wanted to stabilize the monarchy,
so having a son was important. He wanted
to marry Catherine, who had been married to his older brother. The Pope allowed a dispensation, and they
were married in 1509 and had Mary (later Queen Mary, 1553-58) and other
daughters. It was normal for the rich to
get annulments. In 1529, the reformation parliament. Thomas Cran was made the first
arch-bishop. He believed in the godly
prince. The parliament broke with the
papacy so Richard VIII could get a divorce.
In 1534, The Supreme Head Act: the King of England was in charge of the
Church of England. Other countries had
broken off ties with the pope, but the Head Act was unique in replacing the
pope with the king. Thomas Moore was
killed for not recognizing the act. As a
result of the act, monasteries were dissolved.
Henry VIII issued royal injunctions, including that the English
translation of the bible be used. Such
injunctions were typically on the service.
In 1539, an act of six articles, affirming transubstantiation and the
celibacy of the priests. So it was still
a very conservative reform; basically, just a break with the papacy. Following Henry VIII, Edward VI (1547-1553)
emphasized Protestantism. He became king when he was nine, so regents acted for
him. The regents were protestant, and wanted basic reform of the liturgy. In 1549, the first English prayer book was
established, and celibacy for the priests was abolished. The second prayer book
(1552) emphasized Protestantism. The
Black Rubric was added to it, which denies the real presence of Christ in the
Eucharist and insists that one must kneel at communion. Then the 42 articles of religion were
written, with a protestant orientation.
The regents were corrupt. Then Queen Mary (1553-58) restored Catholocism
and the papacy. There were revolts
against this. Mary burned protestants,
creating martyrs. Catholocism became
associated with persecution and foreigners (Mary married a Spainard). Elizabeth, queen from 1558-1603, was very
political. Her aim was to establish
religious peace, and thus political stability, in England. Elizabeth wanted a Christian Commonwealth
(excluding the Anabaptists). She wanted
everyone to belong to the national church.
In 1559, two acts. First,
Supremacy: the Queen over the church.
Second, establishment of the 1552 (protestant) prayer book, adding words
about communion from the 1549 book. So
ordinary people could decide for themselves what communion means. Also, the black rubric was dropped, so there
was no longer any mention of how the presence was in the Eucharist. This represented a combination of flexibility
with belief and uniformity with respect to public worship. Two sorts of people resented this: Catholics
and zealous protestant reformers (puritans).
Elizabeth emphasized the moderate position, so the extremists were not
happy. With regard to the Catholics,
they were upset because Elizabeth refused to attend Trent. It was rumored that the church of England was
unstable. John Jewel said that it was not unstable. In 1561, there was a catholic rebellion in the
north. Queen Mary of Scotland, who was
Catholic, was the closest heir as a cousin to Elizabeth’s throne. Scotland was Calvinist while Mary, Queen of
Scotland, was away. When she returned in
1567, she was forced to abdicate and a protestant nobility ruled. Mary fled to England, still Catholic so she
was put in prison. Catholics were behind
her, however. In 1570, the pope
excommunicated Elizabeth. In 1577, Mary
was executed.
It is difficult to define ‘puritan’, as they
were not organized. In 1563, there was
the Vestarian Controversy. In a
convocation (meeting of clergy), six articles of liturgy were introduced and
defeated by one vote. The articles
included one to allow clergy to wear a different gown (issue: Rome & the
papacy), one to prohibit kneeling at Communion, one to remove the organ, one to
omit the sign of the cross at baptism, and one to remove saint days.
Presbyterians in Scotland did not celebrate Christmas.
The Admonition Controversy: against the
prayer book and bishops. Thomas Cartwright
was active in this movement. High
Calvinists; later, Presbyterians.
Classis Movement: to establish local groups
to rule their churches.
Elizabeth wanted to educate the clergy.
1/26/01
The Catholic reaction was known as the
Counter Reformation. It was not just a
reaction, as there had been reformation ideas in the Roman Catholic Church
before that time. For instance, Cardinal
Ximenes (1436-1517) in Spain led a humanist pattern of reform, including
providing education for priests, and attending to moral changes. But, he was involved in the Spanish
Inquisition. Thomas Moore too was
interested in reform. But there was not
much reform until the Council of Trent.
Pope Paul III called it, as he had been elected by Cardinals so he would
call a council. In 1536, Paul III began
a committee which gave a report critical of Rome in 1547. It was printed for the people in spite of the
objection of the Church. The report
suggested that popes shouldn’t be above canon law or use their political
power. And it suggested that education
was necessary for the priests. It was
opposed to nonresident benefices. It was
critical of religious orders but advocated continuing them. Finally, it was critical of the free
speculation done by lay teachers (humanists).
Caradinal Contanrini believed that Luther had some good ideas, rooted in
Augustine. He wanted a summit of
protestants and catholics. In 1541, the
Colloquy of Reginsburg. Bucer, Calvin,
and Roman Catholic representatives were there.
Agreement on free-will, original sin, and faith as a gift from God which
must produce good works. But there were
problems on the Eucharist and the Papacy, so the colloquy collapsed. The counter reformation in the Roman Catholic
Church resulted.
The first session of Trent lasted from 1545
to 1547. Only 31 bishops were there, due
to a war between France and Germany. The
session resulted in a narrowing of ranks, and a militant attitude toward
Protestantism. Charles V wanted
disciplinary reform, and Paul III wanted doctrinal reform. The council of Trent affirmed that the
sacraments give grace. Grace is not so
that one is justified solely on God and belief in Christ. Christ is the redeemer rather than a
law-giver. Grace is given by Christ, and is not justified solely by human
work. So faith is necessary. But free-will still has a role (so not
predestination). A semi-palagian
doctrine. Justification by faith alone
(Luther) is rejected. The protestant
view is that humans are helpless so we must rely on justification by faith
alone which comes as a gift from God, yet protestants also believe that by our
own efforts we can gain faith. Scripture
and tradition are both important. So
unwritten traditions have authority.
Only the Church interprets Scripture, and it does so infallibly. This would result later in papal
infallibility. Whereas the protestants
place prime authority in scripture, the
catholics place it in the Church.
Greer: the Gospels include earlier traditions, so you can’t separate the
two into an either/or. The Council reaffirmed transubstantiation. In sum, the first session of Trent rejected
the protestant views. Charles V wanted
reconciliation whereas the pope, Paul III, didn’t. Pope Julius III presided over the second
session (1551-1553). Transubstantiation
was reaffirmed. Pope Paul IV (1555-59)
was interested in using reform to confront heretics. The people didn’t like that pope, as he had a
totalitarian approach to morality. In
1559, Pope Pious IV was against the repressive regime. Also in that year, France and the German
states achieved peace. The third session
of Trent was from 1562-3. Pope Pius IV
invited Queen Elizabeth, but she refused to attend. There was factionalism within the Catholic
Church during that session. Debates on
central (papacy) vs. decentralized authority, and on the sacrificial character
of the Mass. The Dominicans were against
the sacrificial aspect. But there were
no consessions, so the sacrificial aspect was reaffirmed. The Pope insisted on having authority over
the other bishops as ‘first among equals’.
This was the basis of the Ultramuntane view of the Papacy which emerged
later. The liturgical rites were
standardized in the third session, and Thomism was affirmed.
The Council of Trent was one council even
though it was in three sessions lasting from 1545 to 1552. The Council was largely Italian-dominated
with a large influence by the Pope. But
it was not totally totalitarian in nature.
However, the counter-reformation was a victory for papal authority, and
for Thomism over Humanism. It was also a
victory for clericalism. There was a
trend toward a monolithic quality rather than pluralism. So the Catholic Church emerged more
unified. It was assumed by both
Catholics and Protestants that it was necessary to draw clear lines; this was
not so with the ancient church.
As part of the counter reformation, there was
the re-establishment of Catholocism in some countries. Bovaria, for instance. Albert V attacked Lutheran nobility, purging
them. He engaged in censorship in 1569,
and excluded protestants from the parliament.
In Cologne, the archbishop retired in 1577. In 1582, his successor converted to
Protestantism. He stayed
protestant. The Pope was angered and
applied another archbishop which eventually gained control. Similar stories in
other bishoprics (in independent cities) within the Holy Roman Empire. In Austria, Rudolf II was anti-protestant
and wanted Vienna catholocized. In
Prague, the Hussites were recognized, but it was otherwise catholocized. Germany was protestant whereas Austria was
catholic. This set the stage for the 30
year war in 1618. By 1609, both sides
were organized. France and Spain were
catholic, while Scandinavia and England were protestant.
With regard to religious orders in the
Counter Reformation, The Capuchins were reformed Franciscians. They wanted to restore the
Franciscian rule. In 1520, they were in
Italy. In 1541, they organized the
order. By 1619, it had separated from
the Franciscians. In 1535, the Ursalines
was founded by Angela Marichi. There
were also the Theatines and the Oratorians (which was formed by Phillip Deri,
for pilgrims in Rome). The Jesuits were
founded by Ignatus Loyola(1491-1556).
He served Ferdinan, and was wounded in battle. In 1521, Christianity became important to
him. The following year, he developed
meditations—spiritual exercises. Four
stages in these exercises: passive state, contrast God and Satan, meditate on
the story of Jesus Christ and sin(imagine a setting based on scripture, placing
oneself within it), then on the glories of the Kingdom of God (which requires
giving up individual thinking—so rules and obedience are important). Being of the same mind is valued. Memory leads to understanding/intellect
(meaning is important), leading to action (love). Action over contemplation. In the early 1520’s, Loyola wandered around. In 1534, he began to organize a
following. In 1537, they were in Venice,
and the following year in Rome, where Pope Paul III gave his support. He approved it in 1540 in a Bull. The Jesuits have been important in education
and missionary work. Peterr Canisius
(1521-1597) brought the order to a university in Englestadt, helped by Catholic
rulers. In 1552, he did so in Vienna as
well. Francis Xavier (1506-52) was a
Jesuit missionary who went to Gao (India) and Japan. William Allen (1532-94) founded a seminary at
Donia in the Spanish Netherlands. By
1552, fifteen missions had been established in Spanish America. By 1608, Paraquoy was a Jesuit state. The Jesuits had an authoritarian approach to
education, being suspicious of pagan literature (e.g. the humanism of the
Rennascence). Matteo Ricci was a
missionary to India and China. He
settled in China in 1583. He tried to
convert the upper class, but was not very successful.
Teresa of Avila wrote The Way of
Perfection in 1575. She had mystical
experiences. St. John of the Cross
(1542-91) was a disciple of St. Teresa.
He wrote The Dark Night of the Soul.
Francis de Soles (1567-1622) was
characteristic of counter-reform piety.
In 1602, he was bishop of Geneva, living in France. He wrote The Devout Life. Five parts: embracing such a life, prayer,
virtues, overcoming temptations, and renewal of devotion. The key being devotion—a spiritual alertness
enabling us to cooperate with charity, going beyond obedience. The key is commitment. It involves love and charity. So one can live in the world and be
Christian.
So there was a positive renewal within the
Counter Reformation. An active life,
Christianity in the world, education, and an emphasis on morality. These features were in the Protestant
movement too.
2/2/93
Two forces opposed to each other, leading to
war. The 1500’s were the age of Spain. Charles V and Phillip II. Wars during this time may have been to check
Spanish hegemony, but there were also religious factors. Calvin sent missionaries into France (from
Zurich). Also, there were Catholic
Humanists in France. They were suppressed
because they were tied to external (Lutheran) reform. In October, 1534, Protestantism began in
France. Notices were put on walls
against the Papacy and Mass. There were
arrests and burnings. In 1541, the
French translated Calvin’s Institutes. Francis I, the king of France, did not
repress the translation. The French
Calvinists were called Huguenots. The
next French king, Henry II, married Catherine Demenoci from Italy. He persecuted the Huguenots. He died in 1559, replaced by Francis II, who
married Mary, Queen of the Scots. He
died in 1560, and was followed by Charles IX, who was very young and so was
dominated by Catherine de Medici, who tried to hold the center. Henry III was the next king. The House of Guisz was militantly Catholic,
whereas the House of Nevar was Protestant.
Henry IV, a Protestant, was in line to be king. Catherine de Nedici allowed Protestant
leaders in the government. By 1559, the
Protestants were strong enough for a general assembly in Paris. There were over two thousand Protestant
churches in France at that time. From
1562-1593, a war.. In 1572, the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. During a wedding, a plot to kill Coliegy, a
Protestant leader in the government. The plot was foiled. Meanwhile, a massacre of 15,000 Huguenots. By 1589, Henry III had been killed. From that time to the end of the war, Henry
IV was in the war to become king. Many
Catholics joined him even though he was a Protestant, fearing Spain such that
national interests overcame religious interests. In 1593, Henry IV became
Catholic so he could be king. In 1610,
he was killed. He had reunited
France. Before him, child kings with Catherine
trying, but failing, to hold the middle.
In 1598, the Edict of Nantes. A
settlement giving Protestants some rights on condition that they renounce
allegiances to other countries. Even so,
Catholocism was still France’s official religion. The Huguenots could live anywhere in France,
but could have churches only in designated cities, most of which were in south
France. Civil rights were allowed
too. A significant step toward
toleration. But, from 1610 on, the king
took those rights away gradually. In
1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes.
Many Huguenots left France for England, Holland, the Palitine, or the
British colonies. Due to these wars in
France, France was not able to get involved in Holland.
Belgium and Holland had been ruled by Philip
II of Spain. In 1559, Philip II left the
Netherlands. Margaret, a royal relative,
was left in charge of the council. Two
important noblemen were left out: Egmont and Hoore. In 1561, Cardinal Granwrille re-organized the
Catholic areas of Holland, and instituted the inquisition. In the late 1560’s, there were crop failures
and famine. In 1566, riots began, perhaps
with religious and economic pressures.
On August 15th, there was an anti-Catholic procession. Philip II sent the Duke of Alva to squash the
revolt. It was a mistake leading to
years of repression until 1573, during which time Egmont and Hoone were
killed. By 1572, North Holland had
Protestant areas (providences). Holland
was at that time a bunch of provinces.
In 1609, it separated from Spain and became a nation, having an
ideology. Belgium stayed Catholic. In 1573, the Duke of Alva was recalled. In 1575, Spain was bankrupt. In 1579, the Union of Utrecht united the
seven northern providences. In 1598,
Philip II died. Spanish influence was
weakening. In 1609, a truce, ratified in
1648, ending the 30 year war.
Is the birth of nationalism a more
significant factor than religious differences in these wars? Was early Holland unified first by
religion? Specifically, was
Protestantism the basis for nationalism in Holland? Calvinism was popular, but it was not the
state religion. And at the beginning of
the war, less than 10% of the population was Calvinist. But, in 1566 the militantism of the
Calvinists was a force in triggering the war.
Due to the Calvinist belief in the elect, the Calvinists believed that
it was God’s will that they win. Holland
was a federal system, tolerating all denominations except Catholocism. So Anabaptists were safe there. So the emergence of a Dutch identity was
secular, rather than being tied to Calvinism.
According to Greer, these wars marked the end of the Age of Religion and
the beginning of the Age of Reason wherein religion was less central to the
organization of society.
The 30 Year War: 1618-1629
1618: Defenestration of Prague. The event that set off the war. Catholocism
had been expanding in the Holy Roman Empire.
Prague was not keen on Catholics.
There was a Protestant coup there in 1618, at which time ambassadors
from Vienna were killed, thrown out of windows (‘defenistration’). In 1619, Frederick, Elector of Palatine, was
made king of Bohemia but only until
Ferdinand II was made king of Bohemia and Hungary, and Holy Roman
Emperor in 1620. In 1620, Catholic
troops invaded Prague under Count Tily.
Bohemia was purged and Catholocized.
In 1622, Paletine (a German state) was taken by Tily. And with the rapid spread of Catholocism to
the North, in Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia as well as Palitine, the
Protestants were on the defensive. But
the Catholic push did not go all the way to the Baltics. In 1629, the Edict of Restitution. All Church goods taken after 1555 had to be
returned to the Catholic Church. The
peace of Arsburg: Protestant bishops could not replace Catholic bishops. Some
providences returned to Catholocism.
This was the high water mark for Catholocism.
The next phase of the war lasted from
1630-35. In 1630, Gustavas Adolphus, a
Protestant (Lutheran) general of Sweden and France, wanted territory south of
the Baltic. So he warred against Poland
and took lands in Germany and signed an alliance with France. The war was then to prevent Haugsburg’s
hegemony; it was no longer Catholic vs. Protestant. In 1631, Adolphus sacked Magdeborg. He pushed further south until he died in
battle in 1632—the Protestant high-water mark.
The peace of Prague in 1635 redrew the boundaries. But until 1648, there was chaos. In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia. It was like the Peace of Ausburg in 1555, but
this time the Calvinists were included.
Within a principality, minorities were to be allowed. Hopsburg heretical lands were accepted
(Austria, Boliva, Mondovia, and Hungary) wherein no minorities would be
allowed. Switzerland and Holland were
recognized as being independent. So
there was more, but not full, toleration.
This war determined that the Church could no longer set the
borders. The German states were split;
Northern areas being Protestant and Austria being Catholic. Germany itself would be unified in 1870. The war was an attempt to check the hegemony
of one power. The balance of power idea
was beginning to emerge—to replace religious concerns. For instance, France was
allied with Protestants. So religion was
no longer the paramount motive for war.
The emergence of modern atheism was beginning. The war killed over half of the population of
Europe.
The English Revolution
Charles I (1625-40) insisted on the divine
right of kings. He had courts not part
of parliament or in the common law.
Also, he had taxation rights. The
1600’s would see the gradual emergence of constitutional monarchy in England,
including a parliament and common law.
Before these institutions, the king had prerogative rights. There was increasing inflation and poverty at
the beginning of Charles I’s reign. But
there was an emerging middle class, the origins of bourgeois Capitalism. During
the reigns of James I and Charles I, there were two radical parties within the
Church of England. They were not
separatist parties; rather, one was for Calvinism (the High Calvinists) and the
other opposed to Calvinism (the Arminians).
The Arminians denied double-predestination. In 1624, a book by Richard Monteque, an
Armenian, was censored by Parliament. He
appealed to the king, who appointed him in 1628. So Charles I allied himself
with the Armenians. Under John Pins,
Parliament investigated Armenianism. He
said that election, predestination, two forms of sacraments, and the failure to
obey Parliament made the Armenians like the Catholics. John Cousine, an Armenian, set the table up
to against the east wall as an altar—like the Catholics. In 1629, Charles I dismissed Parliament until
1640. From 1640-1660, the Long
Parliament was summoned. This was the
beginning of the English Revolution.
Long was an academic and a bishop. In 1627, he was part of the king’s
cabinet. The following year, he was
bishop of London. In 1633, he was made
archbishop of Canterbury. He tried to
Anglo-Catholocize the Church of England and to appoint bishops in Calvinist
Scotland. He introduced a Scottish
prayer book which drew on ancient liturgy and was more ‘high church’ than was
the Anglo-catholic church. There was a
Scottish revolt against this, which led to (civil) war between Scotland and
England. Charles I was king of both. The
Scots won. The English paid money to the
Scots until there was a treaty. So
Charles I needed money.
In 1640, there was a petition from Londoners
to abolish the current government.
Bishops were in the House of Lords (bishops were thought of as political
leaders). In 1641, chancellor Stratford
was executed. Then, legislative acts were passed to abolish the king’s
prerogatory rights. Also, there was a
revolt by Irish Catholics. In 1642, the
king entered the House of Commons to arrest Long and Pins, but they escaped. Parliament reformed the church. There was civil war from 1642-1646. Charles I vs. House of Commons(many of whom
were Presbyterians). The House summoned
the Westminister Assembly in 1643, from which came the Westminister Confession
of faith. Parliament reformed the church
from the episcopacy to the presby. The
army gained power and became independent under Oliver Cromwell. Ancestors of the Quakers and
Congregationalists—further left than the Presbyterians. In 1646, Charles I was defeated and the
episcopacy was abolished. Tolerance was
established for all but Anglicans and Catholics. In 1648, Charles I purged the House of
Commons of its conservatives. Pride’s
Purge. In January of 1649, the House of
Commons established a high court to try the king. The court ordered the execution of Charles
I—who became a martyr. Walie, Gaugh and
Wintsburg fled to New Haven when Charles II was restored. The revolutionary
leaders had a falling out with each other; the revolution was fizzling
out. In 1658, Cromwell died. His son succeeded him, but there were the
same economic, political and religious problems as before. In 1660, the Prysbyterians invited Charles II
back to England to become king. In 1662,
the Anglican establishment was re-established.
In 1685, Charles II died and James II, a Catholic, became king. In 1688, James II left and William and Mary
came in the Glorious Revolution. A bill
or rights and an Act of Toleration were passed.
Toleration to all but Catholics.
So, civil offices available to non-Anglican protestants, but only
Anglicans could be in Parliament or go to universities.
France:
Louis XIV: 1643-1715. National interests
became prominent. In 1661, Louis became
king in fact as well as in name. He used
autocratic command: ‘I am the state’. He
wanted to expand France’s borders. In
the war of devolution (1667-8), Louis claimed Spanish Netherlands. There was a triple alliance against him,
consisting of England, Holland and Sweden.
Louis lost, the key being the alliance among powers. Louis and Charles II (of England) agreed to a
treaty. 1672-78: France and Holland were
at war. William of Orange, king of
Holland, was allied with Prussia. France
lost. 1701-1713: War of Spanish
Secession. Louis was a claimant to the
Spanish throne, but so too were others.
1713: the Peace of Utrecht: the ‘Balance of Europe’—the first treaty
seeking a balance of power. Britain
gained in North America, and some bases in Europe. Austria gained in Hungary, Belgium and
Bolivia. Switzerland and Holland were
recognized. Prussia gained new
land. France gained territory, but Louis
did not get the Spanish throne. Britain,
Austria, France and Prussia were the four European powers in 1713. Nationalism was behind Louis’ wars and his
religious policy.
In 1685, the Edict of Nantes was
revoked. The Hugonots went to Palitine,
Holland, England and then to the English colonies in America. France lost much of its middle class. Gallicanism was the national catholic church
in France not controlled by the papacy but did not break with the papacy. In 1516, the king of France and the pope
signed a treaty allowing the king to appoint bishops within France. The issue was the rights of the French
church. In 1682, Bossuet, who had
written on divine kingship, wrote the Gallican Articles. According to these articles, the king of
France could not be deposed by the Church; no spiritual power is above the
king’s temporal power. Secondly, the
pope has only spiritual power as established by the councils. So the pope’s use of power was to be
regulated by the Church. The pope’s
decisions were not to be irreversible unless validated by church councils. In 1693, Louis withdrew these articles.
Jansenism
C. Jensen, who died in 1638, wrote Augustinus. He was an Augustinian Catholic, so a
‘cripto-Calvinist’. Pascal was
involved. The doctrines included: a
small body of the elect (Christ’s arms raised on the cross), irreversibility of
grace, and the necessity of God for one to have faith. The Jansenists were persecuted. In 1713, there was a papal bull against them.
Pietism
Moniolas, a Spaniard who died in 1697, wrote that the spiritual life meant perpetual
union with God. No external observances
were needed, and the human will was not regarded as important. Madame Guyon (1648-1717), married to Jacque
Guyon, was by 1676 a wealthy widow who was in a convent for awhile. She was intelligent and eccentric. She tried to rid herself of self. She engaged in missionary work.
Louis wanted the pope to quelsh Jansenism and
Quietism. Nationalism dominated his
religious agenda.
In short, the absolutist modern state was
emerging. The idea of a Christian
commonwealth was still there—the church was not separate from the state. But secularism was rising. An eclipse of the papacy and the universal
church. Catholocism was being divided up
into national enclaves.
Misc: The divine right of king: the king rules by God’s right,
the king having been anointed by God (the power of the king delegated by
God). In England, this was known as
‘prerogative’. The Quakers were from the
Millienists and were not originally pacifist.
Quietists were separate from Quakers.
Prussia: Frederick William the Elector ruled
from 1620 to 1688. He was a
Calvinist. He built Prussia via military
means. He was thought to be good for
Protestantism, but his vision was quite secular—a new order. He was motivated principally by national
interests. He wanted to bring the
Protestant demoninations together (Lutherianism and Calvinism). He wanted Protestant unity. He was not a radical Calvinist. So he preached a middle way; moderation. In 1662, his policy was applied to ministers. He enabled French Hugonots, and Unitarians,
to enter Prussia. From 1701 to 1870,
Prussia was a kingdom. Then Germany was
established, with Prussia dominating.
Frederick the Great (1740-86) was not religious, but he was king over a
church-state commonwealth. He liked
Voltare and Locke, rejecting all metaphysics.
He believed that reason would raise humanity to full humanity. He wrote on Philosophy, Politics and History
and he composed music. He was against
Christian metaphysics. The state,
according to him, doesn’t have to care about the metaphysical beliefs of the
masses. So there was some toleration.
But, the state maintained the Christian commonwealth—though on a
practical basis rather than on theology.
The church was viewed as existing to inculcate moral values in the
people. So the state used the church for
secular purposes. The king retained the
Episcopal authority of the churches. So
the climate was right for secularization.
Austria: Maria Theresa, who warred against
Frederick the Great, set the foundation of the religious policy of
Austria. Maria was a Roman
Catholic. She allowed Protestants to go
to Transylvania. She assumed that there
can’t be a unified state without a unified religion. 1763: Febronianism (like Gallicanism, yet in
Austria). It resulted in the removal of
papal control over education (against the Jesuits). She suppressed the Jesuits in 1773. The Austrian tradition was state control of
the church. Maria’s son, Joseph II
(1765-90) set an absolutist form of the State.
He was a rationalist and a Catholic.
He was the only head of the church; he prohibited all ties to Rome. He wanted a new type of priest, one who
preached moral conduct. He wanted state
control of the education of the priests.
In 1781, he published an Edict of Toleration. The right of private protestant worship and
the right of protestants to be citizens.
From 1773 to 1814, the Jesuits were suppressed in Austria, yet were
protected by Frederick the Great in Prussia.
2/17/93: Discussion
Consider the relative impact of religion and
politics in the Reformation in the various countries. How did these two factors relate as the movement
went on? How did they affect each
other? Was the Reformation a unified
movement? If so, at what level of
abstraction? What were the significant
religious and political settlements? Why
were they successful or not in establishing peace and tolerance?
Why was the Reformation unlike other
movements? It caused a permanent split
in Christianity. Why did it occur? Chadwick rejects the thesis that it was due
to the bad condition within the Catholic Church. Two alternative factors.
First, the increased power of kings. Chadwick claims that efficient government
demanded restraint on the pope and ecclesiastical privilege. But this was so in the 1500’s. In some places, religious factors led the
way, while in others political causes were relatively salient.
Second, improved education and the printing press. The bible became generally available. There was a broadening of what was
studied. Erasmus was able to capture the
disgust of the theologicans.
In Germany, religious factors led political change. Was Luther’s claim of justification by faith
before or after his case against indulgences?
If so, religious concerns were prior to economic concerns. Chadwick looked at Luther’s exigesis on the
Psalms (justification by faith) to argue that Luther’s claim of justification
by faith was prior to his complaint against the sale of indulgences. Greer disagrees. Politically, Luther believed in the divine
right of the princes to rule, so he opposed the peasant revolt. God gives secular power to the princes,
though they don’t have divine qualities. Yet he told the princes that it was
their responsibility to reform the church.
Divine right was from Medieval kingship. Bossulet has a theory of divine right of
kingship. It is not absolutism; rather,
the king has special powers by divine right.
The king above the law due to them.[1]
In Geneva, religious consistories ran the
city. A theocracy. According to Calvin, God gives secular power
to the religious authorities, though they did not have divine qualities.
The Catholic view: Louis XIV was seen as
divine.
The Peace of Ausburg (1555) was between the
Protestant League and the Catholic Church (Charles V). Lutheranism was recognized as a
religion. A given prince could select
the religion for his area. Sixty years
later, the 30 years war. The Calvinists
had been left out at Ausburg. Neither
the Lutherans or Catholics wanted them to be included.
The Ecclesiastic Reservation: if a prince
converts to Protestantism, his principality remains Catholic.
The war in 1618: In 1639, the Swedish king
came to the help of Lutherans in North Germany.
Sweden had a treaty with France, so France helped those Lutherans
too. All of them were against Charles V
(who represented Hapsburg/South Germany, Spain and Italy). So this political divide was not the same as
the religious divine. Political factors
came to have more salience than religious factors. The rise of balance of powers in international
relations, and of the nation state. The
Peace of Westfalia (1648) ended the 30 year war. The Calvinists were recognized, and religious
minorities were tolerated within a principality (but they were limited to
private worship). Toleration was increasing
because it was the only order. It was
also the age of skepticism—that one side would have the truth was increasingly
seen as a delusion. Also, the
fragmentation of power led to compromise and toleration. Otherwise, there would have been chaos.
2/23/93
In the late 1600’s and 1700’s, nationalism
and modern secularism were salient. As
reactions, pietism in Germany and an evangelical revival in England.
German Pietism
Philipp Jacob Spencer (1635-1705) was a
preacher who wrote Pia Desideria in 1675. His book was based on a book by a
mystic. It contains an appeal for reform
in the Lutheran church. The three
estates are criticized. The nobility were said to be living in sin yet
controlling the church, viewing religion as a tradition of form. The clergy performed duties of externals
only. And the common man had too much
sin, with economic and social dimensions (the beginning of the social
gospel). The basic problem was that people
confuse traditional Christianity with true Christianity. His appeal was for people to be more than
nominal Christians—to touch the heart.
He made six proposals for reform:
- More use of
the word of God. Private Reading of
the Bible, and Bible study groups.
- Priesthood of
all believers (reflects Luther’s view).
The laity as the true representative of the church.
- Knowledge of
Christianity is insufficient. There
is a need to practice piety in the ordinary activities of one’s
life(reflects Luther’s view).
- On those who
believe differently: pray for them, don’t point out their error. Love
them. Assp: we are right. So relativism and tolerance are not in
this proposal.
- Morality is
necessary in education.
- Sermons
should not be to show off a preacher’s knowledge.
In 1691, Spencer was in Berlin (in Prussia)
with August Hermann Francke (1663-1727).
Francke was a university teacher.
In 1687, he had a conversion experience; he found his faith. Jn20:31 Faith is needed to preach. In Holland, he practiced the social gospel:
the practice of piety.
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (1700-1760). Spencer was his baptism sponsor. Zinzendorf was of a high rank in Saxony. In 1722, he gave refuge for the Moravian
Brethren, who were persecuted in Moravia.
During 1741-43, he was in America; he founded Bethleham, PA. He deemphasized sectarianism
(denominations). He emphasized accepting
Christ, rather than doctrine.
Spencer, Francke, and Zinzendorf impacted the
German Enlightenment. So Pietism
impacted it. The German Enlightenment
was a romanticism detached from Christianity.
Schlermacher, for instance, emphasized religious experience. Similarly, pietism is sentimental, quietistic
enjoyment of the divine, including self-observation and analysis rather than
focusing on heroic individuals. The
drawback is a refusal to take responsibility for the tragedies in society
because the focus is on the individual’s morality and religious experience
(enjoyment of the divine and the social gospel—to do good as an authentic
Christian).
The Evangelical Revival in England
It was mainly clerical, and was not well
organized. It began early in the
1700’s. It was not a reaction to the age
of reason. Two principal figures were
William Romaine (1714-95), a preacher, and John Newton (1725-1807), a preacher
who emphasized corporate prayer meetings and bible study and wrote ‘Amazing
Grace’. John Wesley (1703-1791). He was a priest in the Church of
England. He studied at Oxford, where he
noted the poor condition of education and morality at English universities at
the time. He got together a group to
read the Bible and devotional works. By
1745, the group had fourteen members.
They took care of prisoners in prison.
In 1736, John and his brother Charles went to Savanna, Georgia. John met Morovians on the boat over and was
impressed. He wanted to mission to the
Indians. He was a priest there, and
returned to England. On May 24, 1738, he
attended a morovian meeting. With a
‘heart strongly warmed’, John testified at the meeting. It is not clear if this was a decisive
conversion experience. He concluded that
conversion is a gradual process. From
1738 on, he organized bible study group societies in parishes of the Church of
England. He traveled around England,
Scotland and Wales. His model: the plain
gospel for plain people. He organized a
church within the church; he had no intent to separate with the church of
England. The break with that church was
gradual. He set up bishops for the
American freed colonies. He consecrated
those bishops as a priest. George
Whitefield (and Selina, Countess of Huntingdon) was a Calvinist
doctrinally. Westley was an Armenian
(anti-calvinist), stressing free will over predestination. So the evangelicals disputed with Calvinism. The Clapham Sect was a group which emphasized
the social gospel. It included William
Wilberforce who advocated the practice of Christianity and abolished slavery in
the British Empire. It also included
Hana More, who was active in education and established Sunday School. Charles Simeon (1759-1836) was a priest of
the Church of England. He was a
Calvinist and an Evangelical. He taught
at Cambridge seminary. After he died,
funds were raised so evangelical people could afford the right of appointment
of clergy. The Church of England
resisted the evangelical movement.
According to Greer, both the pietists and
evangelicals indicate the growing pains of Christianity in the modern
world. The logic of this development was
the separation of church from state. The
church could then develop. Yet, this
logic was not drawn by everyone. Some
assumed that the church and state must be together (in a Christian
commonwealth). The American and French
revolutions were the first places where there existed a formal separation of
church and state.
2/25/93
The French Revolution
The revolution was an attempt
to construct a modern nation-state on a secular basis; it failed. Causes of the revolution:
- Ineffective
character of the government.
Absolutism was not effective or efficient.
- The taxation
system: tax collecting farmers has an incentive to maximize collections
because only a fixed amount was forwarded to the government by them from
their collections. There were also
many bankruptcies.
- The French
government had spent a lot of money (1.3 billion pounds) on the American
Revolution.
- Ideas. Voltare wanted to revise the political
system.
Louis XV summoned the Estates General at
Versi in May, 1789. 300 nobles, 300
clergy, and 600 common people. They
debated on how to operate, triggering a form of a national assembly. A legislative body. Louis XVI cooperated, as
did much of the noblility. June 20th,
the king suspended the assembly for three days.
The ‘Tennis Court Oath’: the assembly refused to take it. An impass.
Mirabeau was a leader in the assembly, who knew how to appeal to a
mob. On July 14, 1789, the Bastille was
stormed. It was mostly a symbolic
act. LaFaette was the commander of the
regiments. In August, representatives of
the nobility voluntarily surrendered their feudal rights. In October, there were bread riots in
Paris. The king abducted. A permanent constitutional settlement was
necessary.
Burke’s book in 1790: Liberty is power. New liberty is dangerous; need to see what it
will produce. Religion is the basis of
social society. Man is a religious
animal. New liberty shouldn’t throw out
Christianity. Greer: this is
prophetic—foresees the terror to come.
Burke claimed that social change shouldn’t be by destroying an existing
system and replacing it with a rational system; rather, it should be
organic—from the existing system.
In 1791, there was a new constitution and
thus a new system of government. A legislative assembly, consisting of one
chamber holding the legislative power—the sole right to initiate
legislation. The king could veto, but
the veto could be over-ridden. Old
providences were ignored. New
departments and divisions rationalized without attention to ethnic
groupings. Electors elected by the people
elected the representatives to the assembly.
The clergy were organized under the secular state. About half of the clergy agreed to this. The pope didn’t like it. There were political parties in the
assembly. Maximilian Roxamer, Danton,
Jean Paul Morach, and Lafeatte(who led the Monarchist party). In 1790, trees were planted at town halls,
symbolic of liberty. Civil ceremony,
without Christian symbols. In June,
1791, the king tried to leave France but was arrested. At the beginning of 1792, a coalition of
Austria and Prussia were against France to assist the French king from 1792 to
1797. In September, 1792, there was a
national convention. The monarchy was
abolished, the calandar was rationalized, ranks were abolished, nobles were
banished, and the military was expanded.
There was a trial of Louis XVI.
January 21, 1793, he was executed.
In Vendee, there was a counter-revolution, against the rational
structure established by the French Revolution.
The terror began. On April 6,
1793, military powers were vested by the national convention in a committee
which decided the executions. In
October, 1793, Marie Antonette was executed.
There were still bread riots.
Armies of the revolutionary government were successful. In 1793-4, the revolution reached its
high-water mark. In 1795, the directory
was established by the national assembly.
There was a slow reversion to the status quo, and social and economic
problems were not addressed.
On July 14, 1790, one year after the Bastille
break-in, Telirend, a Catholic bishop, led a celebration, consisting of a
parade and a Mass. There were religious
symbols such as an altar used for civil purposes. The appropriation of religious symbols to
invent civil symbols. The king was
symbolized as a servant of the nation and the law. It was a large scale celebration. Voltare’s funeral: he was buried at a secular
place where he could be visited. Roman,
rather than Christian, virtues were emphasized.
A chariot was used to carry his remains.
He was buried with Descartes. No
Christian symbols.
In November, 1793, public worship of God was
abolished to de-Christianize France.
Atheism. The moral order of the
revolution was emphasized and Christian symbols were destroyed. Notre Dame was called the temple of
reason. There was a festival there in
which new ceremonies substituted for Christian Mass. Greer: the cult of reason replaced
Christianity. On June 8, 1794, the
revolutionary leaders shifted from Atheism/Reason to the cult of the Supreme
Being. Nature was emphasized (Deism).
Examples of figures advocating this were Robspear and Davide. Davide burned an Atheist statue. Religious morality was associated with the
republican form; liberty as a tree with Hercules on the summit. It was not a Christian supreme being. Experiments with civil religion, trying to
sever its symbolism from religious symbols, was going on in the US at the time
too.
In the late 1600’s, the modern world emerged,
including deism, the enlightenment and modern atheism. Why did modern secularism begin? Religion was seen as bringing about war, so
people turned against religion. Second,
the emergence of the nation-state. But,
Frederick the Great shows that the idea of a Christian commonwealth was not
given up. Third, the scientific
revolution. And fourth, the industrial
revolution. The beginning of a
mercantile class. Importantly, there was
a shift in mood—a change from asking ‘why’ to asking ‘what’ and ‘how’. Don’t worry about God; rather, worry about
mankind. Voltare argued this. Greer: this is a nieve optimism. The new view was that humans could control
their environment, the assumption being that perfection is attainable via human
invention. An optimistic mood at the
beginning of the 1700’s, but some concern.
Greer: the tragic is handled much as religion is handled: be cheerful
and don’t dig too deep; you might not like what you find. A change from theology to morality. Morality is in nature.
The Scientific Revolution
Observation and experiment were
salient. Copernicus (d. 1543) was Polish
and ended up in Bolonia. He studied and
taught in Italy, so he was influenced by the Rennaisence. By observation, he learned that the earth is
not at the center. Axioms: no one
center. The universe is bigger than had
been thought. The sun, rather than the
earth, is in the center of the solar system.
Kepler (d. 1630) completed Copernicus’ work. He was the court astronomer in Prague. He
worked out the motions of the planets.
Religion was his driving force, and he used the scientific method. So, science and religion need not be mutually
exclusive. Galileo (d. 1642) studied
gravity. Descartes (1595-1650) wrote his
Discourse on Method in 1637. It was autobiographical. He was in the 30 year war
in Germany, and went into seclusion to seek simplification afterward. He had four propositions:
- Don’t accept
anything not known without doubt.
So doubt everything.
- Divide
problems into parts.
- Start with
what is simple, then move on to the more difficult.
- Make sure
nothing is left out.
Senses sometimes deceive us, so one can only
say: I think, therefore I am. By doubt,
he calls into question everything except that he is thinking. This implies that matter is an extension of
mind (British empiricism: existence depends upon being perceived). It also implies a subject-object
dualism. Descartes was very
mathematical: certainty of self leads to certainty of God and then of
math.
Newton (d. 1727) developed mathematical
principles of natural philosophy. Quite
mechanical. He appealed to natural law
(Stoicism used metaphor). Newton used
mathmatics. The order of nature is like
a watch (mechanical). Other philosophers
of the time included Hobbs (d. 1679), Spinoza (d. 1677), Locke (d. 1704) and
Kant (d. 1804). Kant lived in
Prussia. He represented the German
Enlightenment. He summarized
philosophical development from Descartes.
Kant’s philosophy was congruent with the Newtonian world-view. Philosophy removes dogmatics from
science. Thinking (of the perceptual
world only), willing, and feeling are functions of the human mind.[2] The moral law is a priori imperative, so it
does not depend solely on the subject.[3] Kant separates morality (religion within it)
from the sensible world. He rejected
theological ethics. His was a rational system of morality.
Joseph Addison claimed that the task of
humans is to conform to the duties of nature.
Locke(1632-1704) wrote Concerning Human Understanding in
1690. Locke was the first to argue for
the principle of religious freedom as a religious right, in his letters on
toleration. Locke had his own
interpretation of the Bible. Faith in
Jesus Christ justifies—rational assent to the proposition that Christ is the
messiah. From this faith, we have moral
duties. So Locke recognized that there
is more than reason.
Theism(accepts revelation) vs. Deism (natural
law rather than revelation). Revealed
religion is in the Bible, whereas natural religion is in nature. Deism: all that is needed is God’s book of
nature; no revelation. Moderate deism
sees the Bible as a book of nature.
Voltare (d. 1778) and Rousseau were deists. In England in 1726-8, Voltare interviewed
Quakers, seeing deism there. Voltare was
against Christianity.
Greer: There is no sharp division between
religion and modernity at the beginning.
But, by the end of the 1700’s, religion was separated from
modernity. Trends included the rise of
the nation-state and anti-Christian secularism.
By the late 1700’s, the nation-state and anti-Christian secularism had
not yet come together.
2/28/93
Napoleon
The end of his
era was in 1814, after which there was peace in Europe until 1914. Recall that there were bread riots in 1795,
The Directory in 1795-99, the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antranette in
1793, and a new constitution in 1795. In
that constitution, executive power was vested in a directory of five people,
and a legislature of two chambers (of Ancients and Common). On October 5, 1795, Napoleon sent troops to
the convention so the constitution would be accepted. In 1796, the Directory gained control over
France. There were three armies of the French government. One at the Rhine river, one at Bavaria
(Moro), and Italy (Napoleon). In May of
that year, Napoleon invaded Malan, setting up a Lambard (puppet) regime. The Pope ceded much of his northern papal
states to Napoleon. By October, 1797,
Napoleon had conquered most of Northern Italy.
In the following year, he went to Rome and captured the Pope. Also in 1798, France invaded
Switzerland. On into 1799, Napoleon was
invading Egypt. In doing so, he was
operating independently of the Directory.
He captured Multa, Alexandria and Egypt which had been occupied by the
Ottoman empire. Napoleon’s fleet was
destroyed, so he went to Syria, across the Gaza Strip. Napoleon deserted, going back to France. So the Egyption campaign was not a lasting
effort except in scholarship and findings.
To Napoleon, religion is used for political purposes. He respected the religion of Egypt and didn’t
interfere with it in trying to convert them to Christianity. On November 9, 1799, Napoleon orchestrated a
coup, becoming dictator of France. He
constructed a new constitution of the year 8 (1792: year 1). There was a senate (80 appointed),
legislative chamber (300 members), and a council (Napoleon himself). This
governing structure helped to stabilize the situation and provide order. The Napoleonic Code was a kind of basic law
code. In 1800, France invaded Austria,
setting up a puppet government in 1801.
Spain ceded Louisiana to France, then France sold it the US. In 1802, France agreed to a treaty with
Britain and Prussia, and to a concordant (agreement) with the Pope. So there was peace. Napoleon reestablished religious
worship. Papal Catholocism was
reestablished in 1802 (not everyone on the French government went along). To Napoleon, there was no separation between
church and state. As Napoleon had
conquered the Pope, he could use him. He
claimed that most people in France did not want to break with Rome.
In 1804, there
was a conspiracy in France, which led to the first empire (1804-14). Napoleon declared himself emperor and set up
puppet states. In the following year,
the third coalition formed. An alliance between Britain, Austria, Russia and
Sweden against Napoleon. By 1806, Napoleon
overtook most of Germany, uniting it. He
abolished the Holy Roman Empire (800-1806) which was the Austrian-Hungarian
Empire. Also in that year, the 3rd coalition established a naval
blockade against Napoleon. In 1806-7,
Napoleon invaded Prussia and took some land.
He had a truce with Russia. In
the following year, he invaded Spain and took it. The Penninsula War (1808-1814): The Duke of
Wellington and Nelson in Britain made inroads against Napoleon. There were various wars in Europe. Napoleon failed to capture Russia; Russia
turned against him. Six hundred thousand
French troops were sent to Russia.
Napoleon invaded Moscow but the city burned. The army went back to France. Five of every six troops died.
In
1813, The Wars of Liberation began. The
Russians were in Strausburg. Prussia
came in too. By November 8, 1813, the
allies offered Napoleon peace. He
refused it. The allies invaded France;
Napoleon was exiled on April 11, 1814, to Albania. In March of 1815, Napoleon went to Cannes in South
France. On March 18th, he
captured paris. But on March 20th, he lost at Waterloo. He went to St. Helenas, where he died.
1814: The
Congress of Vienna: the treaty of the allies.
A constitutional monarchy was established in France. Civil Liberties. Louis XV.
The boundaries of France of 1792 were re-established. The allies did not claim reparations. France promised to abolish the slave trade
(Britain had already done so). The
Congress of Vienna established a balance of power in Europe. Austria and Prussia were restored as
monarchies. The Netherlands was a
kingdom, and the Germanic kingdom was established. Sweden, Norway, and
Switzerland were restored, as were the papal states. The major powers in Europe included Britain,
France, Prussia, Austria and Russia.
Greer: Napoleon
reflects the difficulty in relating religion to the modern nation-state. It
took from 1700 to around 1914 for a secular state to exist without
religion. The cult of reason and of the
supreme being did not work in giving people meaning. So papal Catholocism returned to France. The state had not been able to substitute
secular symbols for Christianity.
3/4/93
19th Century
Political Developments
Germany and
Italy emerged as nations. From 1814 to
1914, there was a balance of power in Europe which was stable so no one power
emerged. But there were revolutions. In 1830, Charles X of France was deposed,
with Louis Dupois as the new king. In
1848, revolutionary movements in England, Italy and France. In France, the monarchy was abolished. The
‘second empire’. The English revolution was unsuccessful. At the Congress of Vienna, the Holy Roman
Empire was not revived (Austrian-Hungarian Empire). Also, a (shortlived) German confederation of
independent states was established. From
1819 to 1844, a customs union kept (Catholic) Austria our of (Protestant)
Germany. In 1848, there was a revolution
in Germany; the Frankfurt Assembly. In
the following year, a constitution was proposed by the Assembly that would have
unified the German states, but the king of Prussia (northern Germany) was
against it. Otto Bismarck (b. 1815) was
born of Prussian aristocracy. He was
influenced by the rationalistic Deism of his mother and the romantic
individualism of his teachers. He was
skeptical. He found piety in his wife’s
piety, yet he cared little of doctrines or collective worship.
Church-state
relations hurt individuals’ faiths.
Church and politics were separate, yet the church shouldn’t be an
independent political force.
Christianity was seen as a private set of beliefs, separate from
politics.
Bismarck was
sent abroad as a diplomat before being in German politics from 1862 to
1890. In 1863, Bismarck went to war
against Denmark on territory. The threat
of danger from external pressures would unify the German state. Bismarck stirred this war up.
In 1867, the
North German Confederation was established. A real confederation under the king
of Prussia (Bismarck) militarily.
Austria was excluded. In 1870-1,
the Franco-Prussian war. Prussia won,
having invaded France. In 1871, the 2nd
Reich. Prussia occupied France until
1873, so it was not an expansionist empire.
Germany rapidly became industrialized.
By 1900, this was a problem.
Bismarck was the chancellor of Germany until 1890.
At the Congress
of Vienna in 1814, Italy contained nine countries. In 1831, Mazzini founded ‘Young Italy’;
‘freedom fighters’ tried to unite Italy, but it didn’t work. In 1848-9, there was a failed attempt to
unify Italy by war (force). In 1861, the
Kingdom of Italy was established.
Garibaldi and Victor Emmanuel were involved in the union between Piedmont
and Naples. In 1866, Venetia was
ceded. In 1870, Rome was annexed.
Church and State Relations
According
to Greer, with the emergence of the modern nation-state and secularism, one
would expect the separation of Church and State, but this took awhile in
Europe. For instance, in 1870 Italy, the
Pope couldn’t be arrested, yet he had no temporal power. Note that 1870 was also the year of the dogma
of papal infallibility.
In France,
consider the Dreyfus Affair. He was
pardoned. In 1901, a law was passed
giving the State power over the church.
In 1903, the state control of the church was abolished, with formal
separation occurring in 1905. So, there
was a separation of church and state in Italy and France.
In 1870,
Austria suspended its concordant with the Pope.
In Germany, the church was controlled by the state. German universities began in 1734, ending the
supervision of them by theologians. So,
secular universities. In 1803, Schelling
wrote that science was the search for truth.
In 1810, the University of Berlin opened, founded on secular principles
such as the development of the intellect and the division of the
curriculum. This influenced universities
in the US. Religion was being driven out
of higher education. Scheliermacher
opposed this trend in 1800. He was a
preacher and a professor. In 1799, his speeches defending religion
against secularity in education were published.
He claimed that philosophy and religion are linked. For instance, he
dissolved old Greek metaphysics into Christianity. He warned that we should not study dogmatics,
as we can’t know about God. Instead,
study religious experiences in history.
So he was anti-dogmatic/doctrinal.
Religion, in individual consciousness, expands into a social
consciousness in all aspects of life. He
claimed that it was necessary that a free church be separated from the
state. Greer claims that the secularity
of education existed before Schliermacher, so he was reacting to this
shift. The Prussian state then tried to
control the church. Frederick William
III, king of Prussia, was interested in church matters. He wanted to merge Lutherans and
Calvinists. In 1817, there was a
movement toward unification. The king was also interested in liturgy. In 1830, he selected an official creed but it
was not clear how it would be applied, so it didn’t work. The state controlled the Protestant churches
in Prussia and later in the German Empire.
In the Kulturpaunf,
Bismark declared war on the pope. Pious
IX made a list of modern errors which included democracy. In 1870, the dogma of papal infallibility was
declared. Bismark was suspicious that
the papacy might be used as an authority over a political party in
Germany. In 1871, he abolished Rome’s
control of Catholic churches in Germany.
The German government would control the churches. The May Laws made it illegal for priests and
ministers in Germany to go to Catholic seminaries, and it abolished papal
jurisdiction. By 1876, there was
persecution of Catholic bishops and priests in Germany. The pope was upset. By 1887, there was a new pope and the
legislation was withdrawn. Unlike
France and England, the German state dominated the church within its
borders. According to Greer, the state
in Germany (Bismark and Hitler) has tried to control the church, fearing an
independent church and thus against the separation of church and state.
England is
midway between the pole of church and state and of separation of church and
state. Through the 1800s, there was a
gradual disentanglement of the church from the state. In 1829, Catholics could vote, yet they
couldn’t advise the king on ecclesiastical appointments. But Catholics could be
in Parliament. By 1900, Jews could be in
Parliament as well. An Anglican body had
become secular. In the 1830’s, there
were proposals to reform the Church of England.
Ideas included making it the national church, including all Protestant
dissenters (all non-Catholic Trinitarians).
Gladstone, in The Church in Relation to State, suggested a church
established on the basis of catholic (traditional) character. Not everyone would belong. In 1870, Gladstone worked it out that the
Church of England would not get funds from the state, and that the Church of
Ireland would be disestablished from the Church of England. The Church of England would have limited
state control. Major issues would be
subject to state control. So England was
in an intermediate position between total separation and total state
control.
In the 1800’s,
the papacy was going through a crisis.
It had been captured by Napoleon, and its temporal powers taken
away. 1870 marked the emergence of the
modern papacy, a spiritual rather than temporal leader.
3/24/93
Missionary Movements:
1800-2000
Catholicism
had been in Central and South America from the sixteenth century. Protestantism had been in North America since
that time. Missionary movements in the
1800’s. William Carey, a Baptist,
arrived in India in 1796. In 1799, he
joined with Danish Lutherans in Calcutta.
Five points were established: preach, distribute translated bibles,
establish a church, learn the native religion, and train indigenous
pastors. Henry Martin was a Chaplain in
India in 1806. Thomas Middleton was the
first Episcopalian bishop in India, arriving in 1814. There were private missionary associations
within as well as across the denominations in India. The East India Bay Company was not in favor
of missionaries in India. But, in 1833,
its charter was redrawn to show support for them. There were 339 missionaries in India by 1851,
and 91,000 Christians there. Brahman
Dundoff used Vedanta philosophy to support Christianity. An issue became where to draw the line in
enculturating the gospel.
In
1800, China and Japan were closed. By
1842, however, China was open to trade.
In 1858, there was a treaty between China and the European powers
permitting Christian missionaries to enter China, most of whom were Catholic.
Economic pressure was used to get missionaries in. In 1911, there was a revolution in
China. Chang Hi Sen was the leader. He was a Christian.
In
Japan, Admiral Carry arrived in 1853.
Japan was officially opened in 1858.
Freedom of religion was established in 1889. In Korea, study of Chinese (Catholic)
Christianity began in 1777. In the South Pacific, Captain Cook took his first
trip in 1768-71. Traders often got in
the way of the missionaries. Africa
opened up relatively late, at around 1876.
From the early nineteenth century, however, there were missionaries in
areas along the coast such as Ghana, Nigeria, and Capetown. David Livingston (1813-73) opened up the
interior from the 1840’s. He was against
the slave trade. In 1807, Britain
outlawed the slave trade. From East
Africa, Arab states traded for slaves.
From West Africa, the Americas got slaves. Livingston spent seven years traveling in the
interior. He was present when and where
the Arabs massacred a city there. His
account of it influenced the British reaction against the slave trade. A journalist by the name of Stanley was sent
to find Livingston. Thus came the
phrase, ‘Dr. Livingston, I presume’.
Richard
Burton opened up Uganda to missionaries as well as Arab slave traders. Missionaries such as Alexander McKye
prospered, gathering a faithful group of converts. There was a Catholic mission there too. Mutisa, the king of Uganda, was
confused. There was the indigenous
religion, the Islam of the Arab traders, the Catholocism of the ‘White
Fathers’, and the Protestantism of the English.
In 1884, he died. His son became king and arrested McKye, four of whose
converts were killed. The martyrs of
1885-6. Also, an Anglican bishop by the
name of Hannington was murdered en route to Uganda.
Although
there were the negative aspects of colonialism, there was a desire to end the
slave trade and to give the indigenous people a more peaceful way of life. According to Greer, the implication is that Christianity
was beginning to appear as a world-wide phenomenon not tied to the nation-state. Christianity was beginning to get out from
under the dominion of the state.
Ecumenicalism
The
Edinburgh Missionary Conference surpassed previous conferences, with twelve
hundred representatives. But there were
no Roman Catholic or Orthodox representatives.
John Mott was a leader in the Protestant missionary movement. His slogan
was ‘the evangelicalization of the world in this generation’. By the early twentieth century, missionary
activity in non-Christian areas was reduced, while indigenous Christians were
emphasized. In the 1920’s, there were many ecumenical movements. By 1938, there was a structure for the World
Council of Churches, though the organization was not established until 1948 due
to WWII. It was a Christian organization
at the global level. Also, there were
international organizations of particular Christian sects. For instance, the idea of an Anglican
Communion was raised and discussed at the Landa Conference in 1867, as a means
by which to have a family of independent churches. In 1875, the World Alliance of Reformed
Churches was formed. In 1881, the World
Alliance of Lutheran Churches began.
There were also ecumenical movements within denominations. The Presbyterians in Scotland, for
instance. Also, the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, as a reunion of some Lutheran sub-sects in the US. These were bottom-up efforts. The emphasis was on grass-roots. According to Greer, the 1800’s saw the rise
of global Christianity, disentangled from their states. An independent global Christianity. The risk was a sectarian direction
unconnected to the specific cultures.
The ‘social gospel’ was an effort to move the churches closer to the
cultures. So a global independence trend
and the social gospel operated to check and balance each other.
The Social Gospel
F.T.
Morris was a British Christian Socialist who was interested in the social
gospel. William Temple, an archbishop of
Canterbury, wrote on the social aspects of the gospel. Also, Pope Leo XIII wrote in 1891 on work
conditions and just wages. The World
Council of Churches has also been involved in it and got in trouble for being
too liberal.
. The political correlate of the Social Gospel was socialism. F.D. Morris, for instance. Washington Gladden (1836-1918) worried about
the alienation of the working person from the Christian Church.[4] His teacher, Baskom, had been against the
competitive principle, but as a Calvinist he felt that the poor deserved to be
poor (as it shows that they are not of the elect) so he was concerned about the
working man. Gladden was a
Congregationalist minister who liked Bushnell.
He had a liberal theology and a liberal politics of social concern. Unlike his teacher, Gladden had sympathy for
the unemployed. Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was a Baptist
minister in New York who ran for mayor.
He emphasized the role of the church in social service. To him, religion is ethics. His book, Christianity and the Social
Crisis, was of optimistic evolutionary thinking on millennialism in US
history. This optimism fueled ‘faltering
crusades’ such as the New Deal and Great Society.
Liberation
Theology also stressed the social gospel.
Gutierrez, a Peruvian, wrote on it too. In 1919, many states in Latin
America restricted Catholocism.
Gutierrez wrote that the Church must not repudiate the priority of the
gospel. He started from Christian praxis
(action), dealing with a faith connected to concrete reality. Christian faith via charity. Theology follows praxis, in this view. Both must be faithful to scripture. He followed a Marxist view of society. The risk is that the theology might come to
be dominated by the ideology. According
to Greer, this is a danger, but Gutierrez does not seem to have succumbed to
it. A theology of liberation involves a
liberation from oppression (economic and political structures), inner
liberation, and liberation from sin. It
is not just a political and economic ideology; rather, the social, economic and
political aspects are incorporated into the theology. A vision of all people together in
Christ.
Greer
worries that the theology could be used in a revolution even if the church does
not want to get involved in political ideology.
There is also the risk of secularizing salvation, leaving out the
resurrection of the dead. But Gutierrez has an eschatology. The problem is that the relation between
individual and social (e.g. strong society) freedom involves conflict. Also, there is a Plegian danger. Even so, the social gospel can be seen as
providing a counter-weight to the risk of secularization.
The
1800’s saw the emergence of modern secularism, as in the separation of church
and state, though this aspect differed by nation. Missionary and ecumenical movements
facilitated the emergence of world-wide churches gaining independence from
nation-states. However, the social
gospel and liberation theology were heading in direct opposition, leading
Christianity to focus on particular political, economic and social
structures. These countervailing trends
can be integrated in the idea of the alien citizen. Christians are aliens in this world as the
Kingdom of God is not of this world.
Independence from the state, and missionary movements, tended to
emphasis to aspect of the equation. But
Christians are citizens not only somewhere else but in this world as well. The social gospel, liberation theology, and
ecumenicalism emphasized this point.
3/23/93
Hitler’s Germany: 1933-1945
The
Congress of Vienna had held for one hundred years until the outbreak of World
War I through a balance of power system.
Austria declared war on Serbia, which had killed an Austrian Duke,
beginning WWI. After WWI, Germany was abandoned and penalized. In 1919, Germany was unstable, struggling
with inflation. Hitler rose to power in
the period of 1928-33. In the 1932
election, Hindenburg defeated Hitler. In
1933, the Nazi party held the balance of power in the legislature. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed
Chancellor. On February 27th,
the legislature was burned by the Nazis, after which Hitler was declared
dictator. Germany became a national
rather than a federal state. On April 7,
1933, no Jews could hold civil service positions. A People’s Court was established to try cases
of treason. Political parties other than
the National Socialists were forbidden.
The Nazis eliminated unemployment, thus ending the depression. This was done in part through worker camps
and in part through re-militarization. Germany
had become a totalitarian state. In
1936, it occupied the Rhineland. In
1938, it occupied Austria and the German part of Czech. In 1939, Germany attacked Poland, and Britain
and France declared war against Germany.
With
regard to religion, Hitler began quite favorably toward Christianity in
1933. ‘Positive Christianity’. On July 20, 1933, Hitler made an agreement
with the pope that Catholic churches in Germany would be self-governing. But five days later, the German government
broke this agreement with its sterilization policy. In 1937, the pope charged the German
government with having broken the agreement.
With
regard to Protestantism, most of Germany was Protestant whereas Austria was
mostly Catholic. Martin Neibutter, a
Protestant pastor, supported Hitler in 1933.
Ludwig Mueller, a German Christian who supported Hitler, wanted a
unified Protestant Church in Germany under the Nazi government. Three thousand out of seventeen thousand
Protestant pastors wanted a Christian Naziism.
This ‘Confession Church’, in opposition, was led by Neibutter. The Barmen Declaration of the Confessional
Church declared itself to be the true German Protestant Church, claiming that
Jesus Christ is the only power recognized, so no other powers or ideologies should
be recognized. This implied the
rejection of any ideological orientation.
The majority of Protestants were in the middle.
In 1936, there
was a new Nazi Church which unified the Protestant churches in Germany. Mueller tried to Nazify Protestant churches. The Confessional Church was persecuted,
Neibutter thrown into a camp. But the
majority of Protestant pastors in Germany took the Nazi oath. Hitler wanted a new sort of church. He had a 30 point program. He wanted the exclusive right to control all
churches within Germany. He opposed
Roman Catholocism. He wanted the printing of the bible stopped, with his own
book being emphasized instead. He didn’t
want pastors or priests; rather, he wanted national orators. He wanted crosses and the bible removed from
all churches in Germany. So Hitler first
tried to use Christianity. When he found
he could not do so, he invented a civil religion, much as one had been invented
in the French Revolution. In both of
these cases, the civil religion was not able to get off the ground.
3/31/93
American Religion: The
Colonies
In
the founding of the new world, there were ideas relating it with Eden.[5] Columbus made three voyages between 1492 and
1500. The Vikings had reached North
America centuries before but had not stayed.
By 1521, Cortez had conquered the Aztecs. The Incas were conquered in 1555, long before
the Puritans arrived in North America.
In 1565, the Spanish settled St. Augustine in Florida. In 1590, Santa Fe was founded. The Spanish emphasized exploiting the
resources rather than making settlements.
The Portugese were in South America, and the French reached Quebec City
in the 1600’s. Champlain founded Quebec in 1608. In 1625, the Jesuits arrived there as
missionaries. There was a church-state
battle for control of ‘New France’. La
Salle traveled west in the mid 1600’s, going down the Mississippi to New
Orleans. By 1699, there were French
settlements along the Mississippi, including Detroit. By the mid 1700’s, English colonies were to the
east of this French territory.
From
1649 to 1660, England left its colonies alone.
This was the ‘Commonwealth Period’. In 1649 when Charles I was executed,
there were eight thousand people in Virginia and one thousand in Maryland. In 1607, Jamestown had been established. The Virginia Company, a private venture,
founded Virginia, as the British government was not behind the first push to
North America from Britain. So settlements
in Virginia were a byproduct of the company’s activities. In 1624, the Virginia Company’s charter was
cancelled. Virginia became a royal
colony, having declared itself for the king (Royalist). It had a royal governor who made
ecclesiastical appointments. Churches
were under lay control (vestry), as they did not want bishops in Virginia.
After the American Revolution, Anglicanism was more constitutional and less
hierarchical than in Britain. In 1643,
it was necessary that one be an Anglican to reside in Virginia. In 1616, Captain John Smith wrote a book on
North America in which he stressed the strength of individualism in making the
settlements. By 1649, Virginia was
pretty well settled. Jamestown and
Williamsburg, for instance.
In 1632, the
Maryland charter was granted. Its
original charter granted freedom for Catholics, while Anglicans and Puritans
were pushed out. But it changed to
become more Anglican.
Until 1664, New
York was New Amsterdam (Dutch). A French
Jesuit was captured by Indians in Canada in 1643, and was rescued by the
Dutch.
In 1681,
William Penn established a Quaker charter for PA.
New
England was surrounded, with Dutch to the South and French and Indians to the
West and North. The pilgrims reached
Plymouth in 1620, when the Mayflower Compact was signed. A ‘holy commonwealth’ was desired—no separation
between church and state. Anglicans were
excluded. In 1629, the Mass Bay colony
was founded, including Boston. Harvard
was founded in 1639. In 1638, the New
Haven colony was founded by John Davenport and another. In 1652, New Haven was annexed to CT
colony. In 1637, the Pequot War unified
New England into a confederation, which included CT, New Haven, and Mass
Bay.
In 1642, Thomas
Mayhew established a mission. In 1646,
John Elliot translated the Bible into the Indians’ language. John Cotton ran the church in Boston,
beginning in 1635. He enforced
conformity and the idea that the membership must have a regeneration of faith
(i.e. a covenant). The English Independents
(Congregationalism) believed that they were Christian due to a conversion
experience prior to joining a church.
The Cambridge Platform, in 1648, was on church discipline for all
churches in New England (i.e. Congregationalists). At that time, it included Presbyterian groups
and other independents.
Congregationalists were committed to the Westminister Assembly, and thus
were Calvinist. So the ‘Holy
Commonwealth’ in New England consisted of Calvinist ‘visible saints’. But, Ann Hutchenson was kicked out of Boston
in 1637. Separatist puritans founded
Rhode Island, Providence and New Port in 1638. In 1663, Rhode Island and
Providence merged. Thomas Hooker founded
Hartford in 1634.
After 1660, the
British government tried to enhance its control over New England with the
establishment of royal charters. The
Plymouth Co. charter was replaced by a royal charter in 1684, with which came
an Anglican priest. Even so, Anglicanism
did not become the established church in New England.
To Puritans,
conversion rather than baptism was necessary for one to become Christian. So, if no conversion experience, one should
not be baptized. So there are two tiers:
true Christians who have had a conversion experience and thus can obtain the
Eucharist. And halfway Christians who
have been baptized but have not had a conversion experience; they can not take
the Eucharist. The Halfway Convenant
(1662) was the first step in the demise of visible saints and the Holy
Commonwealth. It held that baptism is
permissible for children of church members, so there would be two tiers of
Christians in the church. There were conservative reactions in Boston and
Connecticut. In Connecticut, Yale was
established in 1701 as an attempt to restore the faith of the fathers. The 1708 Saybrook Platform was for a colony
in Westminister (Calvinist).
In summary, the
1600’s saw Anglicans in Virginia and Maryland, and Congregationalists plus a
few Quakers in New England.
4/1/93
The
Hugonots were Calvinist. They went to Germany and Holland from France. In 1665, the Edict of Nantes was revoked in
France, spurring many Hugonots to settle in America where they tended to drift
toward Anglicanism rather than to Puritanism.
Many Germans went to Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia went from a population of 2500 in 1685 to 23,750 in 1760
(the largest city in America). There were
Amish, Moravians, Dutch, Reform(Phillip Oughterbein), and Lutherans(Henry
Butenburg) there. Scotch-Irish were
Prebyterian (e.g. Jonathan Dickens), strong in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. They founded Princeton. In general, Congregationalists were in New
England, Presbyterians were in the Middle Atlantic States, and Anglicans in the
Southern States.
The Great Awakening
This awakening,
taking place from 1737, was a foreshadowing of American Evangelical
Protestantism. A more activist and
interdenominational movement (a warm feeling and a mission). By the mid 1700’s, denominations were
deemphasized in the English colonies.
Edward Taylor was a Congregationalist minister who wrote poetry and
pieces on metaphysics. He and Salomon
Stoddard, another minister, were precursors to this movement.
Jonathan Edwards
In
1737, he wrote a narrative on the surprising work of God—on the impact of his
preaching on his congregation. This was
the beginning of the revival. John
Wesley read it, but opposed Edwards’ Calvinism.
Evangelicalism in England was a bottom-up revival. The same phenomenon in North Hampton under
Jonathan Edwards. George Whitefield, a
traveling evangelical and a Calvinist in the Church of England, linked the
revivals in England and North America.
In 1740, Whitefield preached in several Protestant sects in Boston. He traveled around. Gilbert Tennent also was an evangelical in
Boston in 1740. James Davenport was so
in Connecticut. Timothy Cutler was an Anglican priest who had been a president at
Yale who was against this movement. The
impact of the revival was missions. The
‘old light’ was opposed to this revival (in the Congregational and Presbyterian
churches) whereas the ‘new light’ was for it.
The awakening thus caused schisms in Congregationalism and
Presbyterianism.
The
awakening opened up the door to missions, preaching, revivals, and emotions,
transcending sectarian boundaries.
Jonathan
Edwards was born in 1703. He graduated
from Yale in 1720, where he had a conversion experience of a Calvinist
sort. He emphasized the majesty of God
in creation, and that the fall robbed us of the ability to see this in
creation. He also believed in predestination and the elect. He was in New York in a Presbyterian church
in 1722-4. He was a tutor at Yale from
1724-6, following which he was at a Congregational church in North
Hampton. In 1731, he gave a lecture in
Boston—a call to return to the religious roots of Christianity. In 1750, he was expelled from North
Hampton. In 1757, he was president of
Princeton where he died. This shows the
cooperation between the Congregationalists in New England and the Presbyterians
in New Jersey.
Edwards
wrote a book in 1764 defending predestination.
Even so, he claimed that the will is determined by the strongest motive
(our own choices). So there is some
freedom. He was beginning to undermine
Calvinism. He did not intend to leave
Calvinism, but he wanted to include affections.
He taught that there are twelve signs of piety—holy affections are
divine, arising from some light or knowledge. So emotions and the intellect go
together. The emphasis here is on the
fruits of such affections. This is
evangelicalism. So there was a
fundamental tension between Calvinism and affective Evangelicalism (some free will)
within Edwards’ theology. American Evangelicalism involves the element of
human works and conversion. This is not
Calvinist predestination. Even though
the theology of Edwards, Whitefield and Tennent is Calvinist, their activism
and affectionism are due to their evangelicalism.
Edwards
and others in the first awakening did not think of the church and state as
being together. The second great
awakening, in contrast, included the idea of a Christian state.
The American Revolution
In
1763, the French lost their possessions in Canada. So the British colonists no longer needed
British troops for protection. There
were economic and political causes of the revolution, including the Stamp Act
(1765: Taxation without representation) and the Townsend Act (1767: taxes on
imports, leading to the Boston Tea Party).
In 1775, the battles of Lexington and Corcord. The war ended in 1786. In 1789, Washington became the first American
president. Consider the impact of the
Enlightenment on the revolution. Jefferson,
for instance, was a Deist, having read Voltare and Rousseau.
There
was a religious cause of the war.
Namely, the quest for the American Episcopacy. British bishops in the
1700’s were members of the House of Lords.
In the early 1700’s, a committee had proposed that a foreign bishop be
sent to the colonies. The ‘high’
Anglicans wanted bishops. Bishops were
necessary for the confirmation rite. In
1722, the Yale Aposcapsy: several faculty members, the university chaplain, and
the president of the university (Cutler) sought ordination from a bishop,
valuing apostolic succession. They
resigned from Yale. Cutler went to
Boston. Tim Johnson founded Columbia
University. In reaction, the Puritans in
New England were opposed to bishops in the colonies. Edwards proposed a Protestant association to
unite against Anglicans who wanted a bishop in the colonies.
4/6/93
Religion in America after the
Revolution
John
Westley vested a group of US chapels as a conference in February of 1784. The
Baltimore Christmas Conference took place in December of that year, ordaining
ministers and constructing a book based on the 1662 Prayer Book. Methodism was independent in the US before it
was independent in Britain. US Methodism
was relatively independent of Westley.
Francis Ashbury was important in US Methodism. There was an Episcopal structure in Methodism
in the US. Ashbury and Coke were two bishops. The emphasis of Methodism was on personal
experience, doctrinal simplicity, and the avoidance of excessive ritual. It was transformational (conversion was
necessary) and moral behavior was stressed.
Doctrine included free grace, free-will, and the idea that the sinner
must seek perfection. There were rules
against slave-holding and liquor. With
the organizational capacity of Methodism, the sect grew. By 1840, it was the largest Christian sect in
the US.
With
regard to the Episcopal Church, many of its members in the Southern States were
Deists (e.g. George Washington), opposed to Bishops in the US. In Pennsylvania, William White led the
Episcopal Church. He recognized the
difficulty in getting a bishop into the US. So, he wanted the Church to
organize as a Presbyterian structure.
Episcopalians in Connecticut were militant; they had taken the Tory side
during the war. Samual Seabury went to
Scotland and was concecrated by an illegal Episcopal Church there in 1784. English Bishops then voted that US bishops
need not take the oath of loyalty to the king.
Two bishops went to New York and Pennsylvania. The Episcopal Church in CT was Scotish, so it
was separate from the Episcopal Church in NY and PA. But in 1789, the Episcopal Churches in the US
were unified.
The
Congregationalist Church was not much affected by the revolution. It was the established church in Connecticut
until 1818, in New Hampshire until 1819, and in Massachusetts until 1833.
The
Presbyterian Church organized rapidly after the revolution. In 1788, it had a plan of government and a
revised Westminister Confession. There
were four synods, close to the Congregationalists. In Connecticut, Congregationalist structures
had a supraorganizational authority, like those of the Presbyterian Church.
In
1634, Catholics arrived in Maryland. Lord Baltimore was Catholic. Catholocism
was outlawed there in 1655, but it was not totally removed. In the 1670’s, there was a Catholic church in
New York. Recall that it was illegal in
Britain until 1829. John Carroll
expanded Catholocism in the US. In 1790,
he was made a bishop. In 1829, there was
a Catholic council in the US. By 1850,
immigrating Irish swelled the Catholic population in the US.
Judaism
was tolerated in Rhode Island from the 1600’s.
The Second Great Awakening
The
second great awakening begain in 1801.
It was Arminian, retaining freedom and participation in salvation. Visible conversion by human effort before
invisible regeneration by grace.
Calvinism, in contrast, held that regeneration by grace precedes
conversion after which the human will is active.
It
was preceded by ‘New Divinity’—Bellamy, Hopkins, Edwards, Dwight, Stuart,
Taylor, and Beecher—all disciples of Jonathon Edwards. Hopkins wrote System of Doctrines in
1793, which eliminated the idea of original sin. Timothy Dwight, grandson of Jonathon Edwards,
was the president of Yale in 1795. He
was a hymn writer and a teacher of Christianity. He gave lectures against infidelity and
founding the ‘New Haven Theology’ which was revivalist in a moralistic and
legalistic way. Stuart, Beecher and
Taylor were in this movement. Beecher
was actively preaching in 1814. He wanted more US preachers of the gospel. He was against false (ignorant)
preachers. Lorenzo Dow was
Congregationalist who opposed Beecher.
Dow claimed that education is not necessary for a preacher.[6] In 1832, Beecher moved to Cinncinati to
become president of a seminary. Aquitted
on a herasy, he went to Oberman College.
Beecher was thus a link between the New Haven Theology and the
frontier. There was a West vs. East (New
England) dichotomy made in regard to the second awakening. The West was relatively non-theological and
non-intellectual. But the great
awakening of evengelical Protestantism was in both the West and East.
In
the West, there were camp meetings. Bartin Stone, a Presbyterian in Kentucy,
was active in such a meeting in 1801. It
was an emotional time including dancing and laughing. Charles Finney organized the camp meeting as
revival meetings. He was a lawyer, then
a minister who had refused theological training. He had a conversion experience in 1821. He was known as the ‘Father of Modern
Revivalism’ at that time. He gave lectures
in 1835 on revivalism, claiming it was not a miracle. He emphasized ‘entire
sanctification’—holiness as a human possibility. In 1835, he was president of Oberland College. He was against Calvinism, viewing it as
theological hair-splitting, bureaucratic, institutional, and intellectual. In contrast, Finney emphasized individual
experience. This represented a
democratization. Finney pointed to
Methodists as they had unlearned ministers with plain and simple
preaching.
Francis
Ashbury was a Methodist bishop who traveled 4000 miles around the West. He advocated camp meetings. As an itinerant missionary, he didn’t marry
or have a home. He preached daily,
maintaining seven hundred itinerant ministers by the time of his death.
The
second great awakening formed interdenominational institutions such as
missionary and educational societies, temperance organizations, and
humanitarian movements. The American
Missionary Society, the American Bible Society, and societies for the abolition
of slavery. The awakening had a puritan
outlook. It was experiential
(Armenian). It included the belief in
the millennialism of the US. It was more
than a lowest common denominator, but it was not instutionalized. So, it was a quasi-religious establishment in
the US which fell in the 1960’s.
4/8/93
New Denominations in the
1800’s
Many
of the new denominations of that time came out of the second great awakening in
the West. For instance, the
Disciples. Bartin Stone renounced the
Presbyterian polity and much of the Reformed theology in 1803. He claimed that the bible is the only creed
and law. He called his group
‘Christians’. In 1834, the movement
merged with that of Thomas Campbell (1763-1854). He was Scotch-Irish. He went to Western PA(Washington), where the
Presbyterian synod claimed he was too lax in allowing people communion. He formed a non-denominational group, wherein
Christian unity and the bible were important.
In 1809, his son Alexander made it into a denominational movement,
sending missionaries West into the Ohio river valley. Early Christian practices were valued, such
as baptism by immersion, communion every Sunday, and the priesthood of the
people. He liked John Locke for his rationalism and belief in Natural law. He saw baptism not as a sacrament or symbol,
but as the renunciation of sin and a commitment to follow the way of
Jesus. In 1827, Walter Scott took
Campbell’s popular theology and made it comprehensible, emphasizing individual
personal experience. He emphasized
faith, pentance, baptism, remission of sin, and gifts of the holy spirit.
Adventism
was organized by William Miller (1782-1849).
Miller was a Jeffersonian, a Deist, then a Calvinist Baptist who
believed that the chronology of the bible was important. He studied Daniel on the issue of the second
coming. He believed that 1843 would be
the end of time. Edsen, a disciple of
Miller, had a vision: cleansing of the temple in 1844 in heaven. The following year, Adventism was
organized. Later, Seventh-Day Adventists
were organized, having the Sabbath on Saturday.
There
were other denominations not of the second awakening, yet arising before the
Civil War between the States.
Unitarianism, for instance, came out of the counter-current of religious
liberalism in Christianity. The roots of
it were in the 1700’s. Deism in
Boston. King’s Chapel in in the
Massachusetts Bay company had been Anglican until 1776. The Old South Congregation used it then. Its lay leader revised the Book of Common
Prayer in 1785. In 1787, a lay leader
was ordained. It became the first
Unitarian Church. Charles Chancey
(1705-87), a Unitarian, was a pastor who opposed revivalism and piety of the
heart. He was also opposed to a specific
experience in conversion. To him, the
Christian life was rational, moral and continuous. He had been influenced by Locke and the
Arminians. William Chanding was another
Unitarian who wrote letters in 1815. To
the Unitarians, the Son and Holy Spirit sent by God were not identified with
one ‘person’ having divinity. Emerson
went to Harvard. He taught there and attended Harvard Divinity School and was
ordained. In 1833, he wrote a public
letter, and in 1838 he gave an address to the Harvard Divinity School against
the prevailing religion and miracles. He
was individualistic, denying the divinity of Jesus. He was anti-dogmatic, optimistic,
rationalistic, and romantic. J. Morse, a
minister from CT who had graduated from Yale, opposed the Unitarians. But Horace Bushnell (1802-76), at Yale
Divinity School, liked Schliermacher’s Romantic approach to religion. From 1833 to 1876, he was a pastor in
Hartford. He upheld the New Haven
Theology with Taylor, then he changed,
opposing revivalism. In 1847, he
wrote Christian Nurtured. He
denied original sin. He claimed that
nurture could evoke goodness in humans.
Conversion was a life-long growth.
His approach to romantic religion was anti-revivalist and against
conversion.
The
Congregational Church had a reaction against revivalism and Unitarianism. This was confessional conservative. Taylor at Yale University Divinity School,
for instance, was pro-revivalist, and against predestination and original sin
(against Calvinism). Sin and guilt are
from free-will. There was also a
conservative reaction within Presbyterianism.
There was the old (Princeton Seminary) vs the new (Union Seminary)
schools within that sect. The 1837
General Assembly of Presbyterians was controlled by conservatives. Lutheranism too had a conservative
reaction. In Episcopalianism, there was
a high church movement. John Hobart,
bishop in New York, was against evengelicalism, revivalism, and
millennialism. He was for the separation
of church and state. Personal duties and the sacraments were emphasized, and
there was no involvement in interdenominational societies.
4/13/93
The Civil War Between the
States
From
1820 on, slavery had been very divisive.
In 1820, the Missouri compromise had made that State a slave state, with
an area in Louisiana not having slavery.
In the following year, Texas was annexed to the US as a slave
state. After the Mexican war of 1846-8,
the US acquired new territory. From 1848
on, there were antislavery parties. The
1850 Compromise on which Calhoun and Webster debated made California a free
state and other acquired territory would be open. In 1854, the Kansas Nebraska Act repealed the
Missouri compromise. Nebraska would be a
free state and Kansas would be a slave state.
Killings there were called ‘Bleeding Kansas’. In 1857, the Dred Scott decision held that
the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional. People’s property, including slaves, could
not be taken by the Union government. In
1859 at Harper’s Ferry, John Brown raided an ammunition depot. War was just around the corner, going on from
1861 to 1865.
The
Quakers were abolitionists in the 1700’s. At around 1820, the American
Colonization Society began sending slaves back to Africa. Four Thousand by 1860. Lyman Beecher had
worked against slavery in 1827. The
American Anti-Slavery Society, founded by Garrison, was established in
1833. William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879)
had founded The Liberator, a magazine, in 1831. He was jailed, then went to Boston where he
was dragged around in the streets as punishment in 1835. In 1839, the underground railroad began. Frederick Douglas was born as a slave in
1817. He escaped in 1838, and became
involved in the abolitionist movement.
He had been educated as a boy.
The abolistionists had revival meetings, a parallel ot the camp meeting
revivals in the West. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
was published in 1852.
The
impact on the Christian sects was remarkable.
The Old (non-revivalist) school of Presbyterianism split again. The Methodists had a conference in 1846,
deciding against both slavery and abolitionism.
Abolitionist Methodists split.
The Baptists split in 1845, with a new Southern Baptist convention. Undivided sects included the Disciples,
Congregationalists, Unitarians, Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians.
Horace
Bushnell emphasized the organic whole, claiming that the war opened up the way
for atonement—the war having scoraged sin.
It was a horrible event which through suffering would lead to life. He saw a positive role of the war. Lincoln saw the war as a punishment for sins
inflicted.
In
the Reconstruction, Johnson gave amnesty to the rebels. The freed slaves had no land. Johnson did not do much for
reconstruction. In April, 1866, the
Civil Rights Law survived Johnson’s veto.
The 14th Amendment (June, 1866) did not mandate giving the
vote to blacks. Rebels were barred from
holding federal office. There was to be
no compensation to former slaveholders for the loss of their slaves. Congressional reconstruction began in 1867
when five military districts were established.
State conventions with black sufferage was a prerequisite for the
readmission of a State into the Union.
In 1868, Johnson was impeached but not removed from office (by one vote
in the Senate). In 1869, Grant began two
terms as President, during which time a counter-revolution occurred in the
South. Insurrections in the South in the
name of state rights. There was also the
claim that Congress was not behind reconstruction. Grant did not put down the
associated violence. In 1877, it was not
clear who had won the presidential election.
The House was divided. Republican
Hays was elected in exchange for the removal of Union troops in the South. In 1890, the Jim Crow laws were passed. Literary tests and poll taxes. The Supreme Court ruled against the 1866
Civil Rights Act. The success of reconstruction provoked the
counter-revolution, according to Greer.
By the end of reconstruction in 1877, there were only six hundred
bi-racial churches, with the exception of Catholic churches which had never
been segregated. Black leadership came out of the black churches.
4/20/93
American Religion after the
Civil War Between the States
After
the Civil War Between the States, American evengelical Protestantism broke up,
especially in the early 1900’s. There
was an infusion of liberal religious thought, but the seeds of disunion had
been sown long before. There had been a
gradual fragmentation. By the end of the
nineteenth century, Methodism (4.5 million members) and Baptist (4 million) were
the dominant sects in the US. American
evengelical Protestantism had an institutional structure, yet was free of it.
It was built on the Puritan legacy, and included revivalism, arminianism (free
will and human responsibility), and a goal of making America Christian. Presbyterianism had ceased to believe in
predestination.
Dwight
Moody (1837-99) built on Finney’s revival meetings. He was congregational, but then founded an
independent non-sectarian church. He was
president of Chicago’s YMCA and was a good fundraiser. He emphasized love of
the sinner and missionary work in the city.
In the 1870’s, revivals were rejuvenated, emphasizing the salvation of
the sinner and individual conversion.
Billy Sundi emphasized bible study at the YMCA in Chicago, and he went
on a circuit. As a bridge between
revivalism and liberalism, Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-99) was agnostic on
religion, attacking clergy and the bible, giving a naturalist message from
Thomas Paine.
Meanwhile,
liberalism was building on Emerson and Bushnell. It began to have a distinct point of view,
including tolerance, intellectual liberty, and an anti-creedalism with instead
an emphasis on human moral reason. Sin
was error, which one could stop by following the example of Jesus. The creative and free human spirit was
emphasized, as were ethical teachings and social activism as well as
millenialism. Ministry was
de-emphasized, and the Eucharist was minimized (memorial only). It was non-sectarian in spirit, against
sectarian fights. There was an interest in history. The Old and New Testaments were seen as a
record of Jewish history and morality.
There were divergent views on the divinity of Jesus. The divinity of Jesus could be understood as
that he spoke divine truth. Doctrine was
held to be human. The bible had
authority, in terms of history, morality and truth. Man and nature were seen as infused with
divinity, so all humans are divine.
Jesus was a good example.
Christianity was a way of life.
William James, for instance, who wrote The Varieties of Religious
Experience, focused on the religious experiences of divinity. He was akin to Schliermacher. A moral, experiential religion, not tied to
revelation or traditional Christian beliefs.
Liberalism made its way into the Protestant sects. The University of
Chicago Divinity School focused on the history of Christianity, viewing Jesus
as a moral teacher.
The
social gospel was the social activism side of liberal theology. The temperance
movement was such a crusade. There was the
Maine Law of 1846 and the Prohibition Party of 1869. In 1873, Elisa Thompson closed the saloons in
her Ohio town. The movement lost steam,
but the 18th Amendment on Prohibition held from1917 to 1933. Another social crusade was womens’ sufferage.
The 19th Amendment was ratified in 1920. World War I was a crusade for freedom and
Christianity. John Mott, who had a
college missionary movement, brought churches together in his Interchurch World
Movement of 1918. Fundraising was a
major activity in this movement. ‘Christ
needs Big Men for Big Business’. It was
a faltering crusade. According to
Ahlstrom, this shows that the urban secular values were predominate.[7] American evengelical Protestantism was in
decline, but there were still fundamentalists and liberal Christians.
4/22/93
Reactions Against Liberal
Theology
Barth,
Tillick, and Richard Neibuhr repudiated the liberal Protestant theology, urging
a return to one’s roots. Tillick was at
Union Seminary (1934-1964). He was
influenced by German idealism and existential throught as well as a modified
Marxism. He was against the middle class mentality. The Neibuhrs studied at Yale and Union. They were interested in the social
gospel. Richard wanted to remove
Hellenistic philosophy’s influence on Christianity as it had on liberal
theology. He moved from an optimism to a
more realistic view of human life. It
was a movement in his theology. In Moral
Man and Immoral Society, he wrote on the Church against the world. The Church, he wrote, should set the
agenda. The neoorthodoxy which these
theologians represented was for doctrinal diversity. It represented a critical movement against
the liberals’ optimistic doctrine of humanity, emphasizing instead the tragic
part of life. It also was interested in
humility, influenced by Keirkegaard’s
existentialism. It emphasized the Church
due to a liturgical movement against the medieval liturgy and toward the active
role of the laity.
In
Catholicism, ‘Americanism’ had been a herasy to Pius IX and Leo XIII in the
1800’s. There were ethnic rivalries
within American Catholocism in the 1900’s.
Conservatives such as Corregan opposed Americanists such as Gibbins,
Keane, and Ireland. Hecker, a priest,
founded the Paulists to convert Anglicans in America. In 1892, the pope sent an emissary, Setelli,
to oppose the Americanists. In 1895, Leo
XIII wrote an encyclical to the American Catholic Church to the effect that the
laity would not ‘call the shots’ and that Catholicism should be the established
state church in the US. The separatists
won, so there was a parochial Catholic school system. Newman stressed Catholic
education (against the separatists).
Charles
Russell (1852-1916) conducted bible studies and organized his followers as
Jehovah’s Witnesses, teaching that the second coming would occur in 1874, with
1914 to be the end of the world. Millenialism was the focus. William Miller, who organized the Adventists,
had claimed that the world would end in 1843.
Pre-millennial
dispensationalism (fundamentalist) was another reaction, stressing bible
study. John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) had
been a priest of the Irish Anglican Church until he joined the Plymoth
Bretheran in 1828 due to his perception of corruption in the Irish church. Cyrus Scofield, a lawyer in Kansas and
Missiouri, stressed conversion. He was a
pupil of James Brooks. He was in the
Congregationalist Church. He stressed
bible school, and published a bible. He
stressed seven dispensations: innocence in the garden of Eden, conscience in the
garden, Noah’s promise, the law, grace,
and the Kingdom of God at the end of the world.
He assumed a unitary view of the Bible, a book without errors. According to Greer, this is a modern
hermeneutic, not the same as literal interpretation used in history.[8]
The
holiness revival was another reaction to liberal theology. It was from Methodism. Its moderate version was represented by the
Church of the Nazerine and the Assembly of God.
The extreme was represented by the Pentecostals. In the Church of the Nazerine, several
organizations combined to give a uniformity of conviction. The Assembly of God was charismatic, with
speaking in tongues. Pentacostalism was
founded by William Seymour in 1906, who taught ‘baptism of the spirit’. Divine
healing, no medical care, theological conservativism, including scriptural
infallibility, and congregational polity.
These
movements were counter-currents to liberal theology, popular culture, and
government (politics). According to
Greer, there is a need to balance alienation and citizenship in the
culture. American evengelical
Protestantism has been fragmented either by total enculturation or by opting
out of the mainstream(separatists). Both
total enculturation and separatism has a gap.
Has secularism filled it? Will
fundamentalist groups become separatist or enculturated? Alien citizenship refers to the idea that
Christians do not belong to society in full as they have different values. The risk is enculturation or separatism.
Evangelical: “emphasizing salvation
by faith in the atoning death of Jesus Christ through personal conversion, the
authority of scripture, and the importance of preaching as contrasted with
ritual.” It is “marked by militant or crusading zeal”. It is “of, relating to, or being in, agreement
with the Christian gospel”.[9]
Hudson, W. and Corrigan, J. Religion
in America: An Historical Account of the Development of American Religious Life,
NY(1992): MacMillan Publishing Co.
The first Great Awakening
“initiated the great tide of evangelical religion that swept through the
English-speaking world”. It marked a
“surge of religious fervor”, a “new type of preaching”. “The revival became the most widely accepted
means of introducing people to the Christian life”, subordinating sectarian
differences with energy to Christianize a continent and the world. 60
The Awakening came out of the
Puritan movement of the 1600’s from England.
In Puritanism, the transforming experience of God’s grace was important,
as was being against sin via introspection and self-critical reflection. After Puritanism dominated, ‘head over heart’
religion dominated, then the Awakening occurred, tapped by a way of preaching
“that would prick the conscience, convict people of sin and lead them through
the agony of repentance into a personally apprehended experience of the new
life that was to be found in Christ”. 62
It was an outburst of emotional
religion. Benjamin Colman, affiliated
with Harvard, proposed that “reason and the emotions operated together in
fostering spiritual development”. 64
Emotion was not necessarily
limited to private religion. So a style
of worship was facilitated that aimed at arousing the emotions or
affections. Psalms-singing, public
prayer, expressive reading of Scripture, an animated style of preaching, and
public gatherings at meeting houses.
Jonathan Edwards, for instance, preached sermons on conversion and
revivals. He deemphasized religious
doctrine.
By 1740, revivals were
widespread. They were made a single movement by George Whitefield, an Anglican
who traveled 4000 miles. He was
Calvinist, from Edwards and Tennent, in that he emphasized election. James Davenport had a fanatical spirit and
emotional extravagence. He claimed he knew the identities of the elect. Charles
Chauncy opposed him, stressing rational and moral aspects of religion.
Effects of the Awakening
included the reinforced conviction that God had a special destiny in store for
America. A sense of cohesiveness among
Americans, and an increased role for laity and a decreased role for ministerial
authority even as more ministers became famous.
The self-authentic religious experience came to be emphasized.
Evangelicalism didn’t start out
as a revolt against Calvinism. Rather, it was more a mood and emphasis that a
theological system. Yet, the ‘New
England Theology’ of Edwards stressed redemption as a gift of grace. The Arminians opposed this view, denouncing
original sin and predestination. But
evangelicalism as a whole “tended to prize a warm heart and to be impatient
with the theological controversy”.
81.
“Evangelicalism was formed as a
compound of an emotional experience of ‘rebirth’ and a commitment of obedience
to God’s law” 81
It incorporated a view of
preaching as a means to promote religion, and it tended to minimize the
importance of denominational distinctions.
The Second Awakening is
characterized by revivalistic preaching.
Beecher’s revivals, with Taylor’s theology behind them. Camp meetings in the West, with a strong role
played by Methodists. There were also
urban revivals in the East (Finney) and missionary societies. Conversion was seen as a transformed life.
[1]
See: J. N. Figgis, The Theory of the Divine Right of Kings.
[2]
See: Kant, Critique of Pure Reason.
[3]
See: Kant, Critique of Practical Reason.
[4]
Gladden wrote Who Wrote the Bible, What is Left of the Doctrines,
Tools of the Man, and Social Salvation.
[5]
See: William Falkner, Away Moses…
[6]
See Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity.
[7]
Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People.
[8]
Greer adds a hermeneutical aside: historical criticism is not good, as it
fragments the text, giving the opportunity to ignore passages one doesn’t like.
[9]
Woolf, H., ed., Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield,
MA(1979): G & C. Merriam Co.
