Dr. Pothana's Teaching

1. History of Christianity-II
COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies
Hyderabad

2. CONTACT @ +91-8309511427
coachinterculturalstudies@gmail.com

3. 3
The Protestant Reformation
1300 – 1570 CE

4. In this lecture:
 What Was the Reformation?
 Defining the Religious Revolution of the Sixteenth Century
 Causes of the Reformation
 Martin Luther
the Accidental Revolutionary

5. What Was the Reformation? Defining the Religious Revolution of the Sixteenth Century
[T]he Reformation represented a
religious upheaval and, therefore, a
revolution in worldview. If one turns
to contemporary historiography
regarding this signally important
period, it would be easily to lose sight
of this fact, since the period is more
commonly referred to as Early
Modern Europe. Without denying the
value of contemporary scholarship
and the obvious fact that the
Reformation brought social,
economic, and political developments
of the first magnitude, what struck
many at the time was its character as
a religious revolution.
Scott Amos, “The Reformation as a
Revolution in Worldview” in Hoffecker,
Revolutions in Worldview, 206-207,

6. “a religious revolution
whose leading figures
expressed an intensely
theocentric perspective in
their writings. The
Reformers juxtaposed the
power, majesty, and
holiness of God with
human weakness and
sinfulness.”

7. This God-centered, God-exalting
approach to theology had at least
the following consequences:
Opposition of some elements of Renaissance Humanism,
and highly optimistic view of man’s capability
and powers of achievement.
most notably humanism’s man-centered

8. man- centered view of the universe
A strong and decisive movement toward the
Bible as the authoritative source of revelation
from the God on whom the whole universe
centers.

9. Causes of the Reformation
Church crises of the 14th and 15th century
The “Babylonian Captivity”
The Great Schism
The death of the conciliar movement
Conciliarism was a reform movement in the
14th-, 15th- and 16th-century Catholic Church
which held that supreme authority in the
Church resided with an Ecumenical council,
apart from, or even against, the pope. The
movement emerged in response to the Western
Schism between rival popes in Rome and
Avignon.

10. Church corruption
Simony (the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, for example pardons or benefices.)

11. Pluralism:
An officer
holding more
than one office
at a time.

12. Absenteeism: A church official not participating in the life of his congregation
but receiving an income nevertheless.

13. Nepotism

14. The sale of indulgences
In the teaching of the Catholic Church, an is
"a way to reduce the amount of punishment
one has to undergo for sins"

15. Moral decline of the papacy
1) Pope Alexander VI had
numerous affairs and several
childrenout of wedlock
2) 1/5 of all priests in the diocese of
Trent kept concubines in the 16th
century.
3) Some traded sexual favors
for the forgiveness of sins
during confession (the way
Confession is given and
received today is a direct
result of Counter
Reformation attempts to
clean up the church’s
mess).

16. Clerical ignorance: Many local parish priests were illiterate.
Pre-reformation reformers and reform
movements
a. John Wycliffe
b. John Hus
c. Cathars
d. Petrobrusians
e.Waldensians