What does the term 'Reformation' mean?

The Reformation is a loose term used to describe the predominantly western European movement originating, although with earlier medieval analogues in both protest action and ideology, with Martin Luther and the other magisterial reformers who desired a return to more biblical foundations or imitation in church practice, structures and theology. Because of the relationship of church to the wider society, it eventually also influenced non-ecclesiastical structures in education, civil law and politics. Thus, the wider term 'Reformation' is usually associated with the 'magisterial Reformation' which, in turn, found expression in one of three centers: the Lutheranisn of northern Germany (Martin Luther and the University of Wittenberg); Switzerland's Zwinglism (Huldrych Zwingli and Zurich); and later the then independent city-state of Geneva's Calvinism or Reformed theology (John Calvin and later thinkers such as Beza). The emphasis on 'magisterial' reflects the political or civil interrelation of theologian and secular state, with the latter protecting and enabling the theological ideas of the movement to root and develop.

It is imprecise to include the Anabaptist or 'radical reformation' within the greater notion of the Reformation as this movement had sufficient distinctives despite many of its leaders (e.g., Karlstadt and Grebel) having close connections to Luther and Zwingli. These distinctives, being 'neither Catholic nor Protestant,' are now generally treated as a separate historical phenomenon to that of its magisterial counterpart. Among them include differing concepts on the role of civil authority, the nature of the sacraments (especially baptism), pacifism, communal life, and the radicalizing of the individual in the interpretation of the bible (Sola Scriptura). In a like manner, the Roman Catholic 'Counter-Reformation' is also generally treated as a separate historical category despite being clearly given impetus by the magisterial reformation. However, as in the case of the Anabaptists, there is clear evidence of precursors independent of the magisterial movement which eventually blossomed fully during the Trent councils. Therefore both movements are now treated as separate movements, not merely as responses to the wider magisterial reformation.

Finally, the term 'Protestant' is used to describe the political protest of 1529 in Speyer to an earlier Diet (meeting) of Speyer in 1526. The increased political instability of the magisterial reformation due to internal dissension, the sheer magnitude of the reforms in civil and church structures, the Islamic incursion into Europe, civil unrest such as the Peasant's War of 1525 and the rise of an apparently cohesive Roman Catholic military power meant that the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was willing to enforce his earlier ban of 1521 (Edict of Worms) on 'reform and heresy'. Following the pronounced failure of evangelical princes and alliances to find common ground with the Catholic empire for toleration of Lutheranism and the wider magisterial reformation, a legal 'protest' defending the right of conscience in religious matters was lodged by various German princes and fourteen city-states. Strictly speaking the term 'Protestant' is restricted to those members and to the period following the official protest to the resurrection of the dormant Edict of Worms. The resultant effect of the second Speyer meeting was the earnest attempt of self-definition by the magisterial reformers, most notably the Augsburg Confession of 1530.

Which reformer is especially associated with the doctrine of justification by faith alone?

Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor of biblical studies, dominates the early years of the magisterial reformation and its lynchpin doctrine of justification by faith. In an earlier chapter, however, the precursors of Luther's 'breakthrough' are discussed (also see question 4 of chapter 14), placing him (and as a result the 'Reformation') into a deeper theological tradition, namely the 'modern Augustinian school' of Gregory of Rimini (see pp 38 and 51). Luther's personal actions, and in particular his indignation in regard to the misconceptions surrounding and practice of indulgences, brought him into the public eye as a flashpoint for reform, resulting in his excommunication from the Catholic church in 1521. The following year saw the transition of Luther's 'academic' interest in doctrines and 'priest's squabbles' such as justification by faith (sola fide) derived from his biblical exegesis (sola scriptura) transmute into specific reform of church praxis and order and eventually of the wider secular society.

Luther's theology of justification by faith, ably assisted and enhanced in its forensic application by his close peer Phillip Melanchthon in his Loci Communes, is discussed in a later chapter (pp 454-59).

How important was humanism to the origins and development of the Reformation?

Humanism's emphasis on a 'return to the sources' was critical in several regards, although not uniform in strength of impact in each area or on each reformational identity. First, the humanist emphasis ad fontes furnished biblical resources to reformers such as Luther in philology and exegesis allowing him to by-pass the scholastic reliance on philosophy and the mistranslation of the Vulgate Latin bible on which elaborate theological systems such as penance (see p 53) were based. Second, the humanist movement provided access to a patristic matrix of theology that would later, albeit in an often rather haphazard manner of proof-texting, prove the theological orthodoxy for many claims of the reformers. Thirdly, the humanist community provided one of the earliest sources for the dissemination of the ideas of Luther and Melanchthon (himself trained as a humanist) sharing the critique of the abuses of a bloated and often corrupt church in practices such as simony. As a corollary to this, Zwinglianism is often portrayed as being more humanist in nature than theological due to his interest in social and ethical reform over and against Luther's initial theological critiques. This appears, if true, to be corrected by the emergence of Jean Calvin's Reformed theology in areas previously committed to Zwinglism. Finally, the humanist interest in classical antiquity, and particularly Republicanism, was also critical in providing an intellectual context for many ideas and methods adopted by the reformers that seem neutral in regard to specific biblical or theological traditions. This specifically political implication has been put forth as one possible reason why humanist trained or sympathetic magisterial reformers such as Zwingli and John Calvin sought a different political theology and government from the Lutheran tradition and why Reformed theology gained a foothold in countries such as England instead of Lutheranism.

Why did the reformers come to place such emphasis upon revising existing doctrines of the church?

In short, it quickly became apparent that the struggle of the Reformation was, as seen also in the Catholic and Anabaptist reformations, a struggle to define 'orthodoxy'. The simplest way of defining orthodoxy was the simple appeal to Scripture as the source, norm and explication of Christian belief (see pp 186-88). Following this tradition and doctrine, the patristic fathers and the two ecumenical creeds, were cited as proofs for continuity on all parts for said orthodoxy. Of course, medieval or scholastic corruptions of either Scriptural proof (adiaphora such as the immaculate conception of Mary (p 69)) or mis-stressed doctrines such as salvation by works over by grace (p 70) meant that the reformers also had to reconstruct doctrines in order to prove their orthodoxy or continuity with the bible, early church and creeds.

The manner of this articulation of 'orthodoxy' was initially via catechism, helping ordinary Christians (and clergy) live and understand the implications of the theological disputes in a question and answer dialogue form. Under pressure to prove orthodoxy, confessional works such as the Augsburg Confession began to be written with a semi-apologetic intent. Finally, and running in concord to catechism and confessional works, thinkers such as Melanchthon (1521 to 1559) and Calvin (1536 to 1559) wrote large and ever expanding systematic presentations of theology to meet the specific academic needs of the new 'orthodoxies'. Of course, both Catholic and Anabaptist groups followed this general pattern as well beginning with local or occasional catechismal style forms through to full blown systematic theologies in second and third generation leaders.

Finally, it is interesting to note that the earliest systematic treatment by Melanchthon is based on his exegesis of St Paul's Epistle to The Romans and that subsequent forms of Protestant systematic theology, possibly including Calvin's final form of his Institutes (although other sources such as Lombard's Sentences are candidates), follow the basic form of Romans: Knowledge of God as Creator; Knowledge of God as Redeemer; Manner of Participation in the Grace of Jesus Christ; and finally means, aids and implications of the above information in the church (p 143).

What factors led to the development of (a) confessionalism and (b) pietism?

The period of the 'Confessions of Faith', termed confessionalism and not to be confused with a later 19th century revival of confessional theology in places such as Erlanger in Germany, arose from two factors. The first is self-distinction in regard to the radical or Anabaptist movements, especially after the disastrous Peasant's War of 1525 and the general consensus that a common foe for both magisterial reformers and Catholics was the threat both ideological (breaking the notion of a divine pactum - a civil order based on a hierarchical understanding of God and feudal society) and subsequently political of the radical movement. During the years 1525 to 1530 a concentrated effort by the German and Swiss movements to prove their orthodoxy by persecution of the Anabaptists can be seen in dialogues with Catholic counterparts. Of course, differences, particularly in regard to the nature of the Eucharist, remained insurmountable despite intra-magisterial attempts for concord between Lutherans and the Swiss Zwinglians. Nonetheless, confessionalism is, in part, due to the agitating influence of the radical wing of the Reformation. The second reason, and far more broad, is simply 'to proof' orthodoxy or consensus with the both Scripture and the early church, particularly the Nicene, Apostles' and to a lesser extent the Chalcedonian Creeds.

Pietism is generally seen as a reaction to the increasing ultra-orthodoxy of the post-reformation period characterized by the monumental writings of second-generational reformers such as John Gerhard and Theodore Beza. The period following the reformation is often derisively called 'Protestant Scholasticism', echoing the sterility of method and breadth of seeming inconsequential meaning or dispute (and even the explicit re-introduction of philosophy) of the Catholic scholastic rationalization of faith into Protestant thought. Key doctrines include predestination, which proved to be central in the formation of Puritan identity both negatively and positively (p 81). Pietism, originally coining itself as a derisive term, is the response to this dry intellectual form of church life in favour of a more immediate experience of God and salvation and a subsequent reformation of the self. Others have argued that pietism (Hans Iwand) is the natural egress of the Lutheran preoccupation with personal justification before God by faith, a move to stress the individual's experience over more collegial forms of church expression.

Why did post-Tridentine Roman Catholic writers (i.e. writers dating from after the Council of Trent) place such an emphasis on continuity with the early church?

'Semper eadem (always the same)' may be considered to be the essence of the Catholic response to the magisterial reformers' own Latin slogans of sola fide et sola scriptura. Following Trent, Catholic scholars, motivated by the apparent effective use by the reformers of the Patristic heritage, threw themselves into fresh study of those self same works. By arguing that the larger 'bibliotheca Patrum' (Marguerin de la Bigne) stood in continuity with the Catholic understanding of church life, praxis and doctrines, they could effectively present the magisterial reformation as heterodox. 'Always the same' became more than just continuity of confession, which the reformers also argued, but also became an explanation in the work of Boussuet and Bellarmine for an apology of institution as well. This 'closed door' policy to other Christian denominations, dramatically reinforced in Vatican I, would eventually be opened with Vatican II allowing present day ecumenical dialogues to be fruitful glimpses of Christian unity.