The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century was a varied and complex phenomenon, which included political, social and intellectual factors, however, its main element was religious, that is, the search for a new understanding of the relationship between God and human beings.
In this article, Alderi Matos provides a historical summary of the Protestant Reformation:
- In the centuries leading up to the Protestant Reformation.
- The Church lived not in a vacuum.
- But in a broader political and social context with which she had multiple interactions.
- At the end of the Middle Ages.
- So-called “national states” emerged.
- Modern European nations.
- Which posed a great threat to the claims of the papacy.
- In Germany (Holy Roman Empire).
- Rudolf von Hapsburg was elected emperor in 1273.
- In 1356.
- A document known as the Golden Bull determined that each new emperor would be elected by seven electors (four nobles and three archbishops).
- There was a political decentralization.
- That is.
- The power of the princes limited the emperor’s authority and a strong tension between the church and the state.
In France, the monarchy was strengthened with Philip IV, Belo (1285–1314). This king successfully challenged the power of the Church and the popes and prepared France to become the first modern national state. In England, parliament met for the first time, in 1295. This country had a great king in the person of Edward I (?1307), who captivated the nobles and successfully confronted the Pope on the subject of taxes.
This period began with the pontificate of Bonif-cio VIII (1294-1303), an arrogant and ambitious pope who entered into direct confrontation with King Philip IV over taxes and papal authority. Bonif-cio published three famous bubbles: Lay Clericis, in which he complained that the laity were always hostile to the clergy; Ausculte Fili (“Listen, Son”), addressed to the King of France, and Unam Sanctam (1302), called “the swan song of the medieval papacy”. Irritated by papal actions, Philip sent his troops, the pope was arrested and died a month after being released.
A period of increasing demoralization of the papacy followed: Clement V (1305–1314), a French pope, moved the Curia, that is, the administration of the Church, to Avignon, in the south of France, in what became known as the “Babylonian Captivity of the Church?”(1309-1377). Everywhere the criticism of the extravagances and luxury of the papal court grew. John XXII (1316-1334) demonstrated its effectiveness in collecting quotas and tithes to cover these expenses. Finally, there was the so-called “Great Schism”, in which there were two rival popes and later three in Rome, Avignon and Pisa (1378-1417). In the face of this embarrassing situation, a cry for “reforms in the head and in the members” has emerged throughout Europe.
During the “big schism,” each pope considered himself the only legitimate and excommunicated his rival, so we needed advice to solve the crisis. The Council of Pisa (1409) chose a new Pope, but the other two refused to be deposed, giving three popes at the same time. John XXIII, the second Pisan pope, convened the Council of Constance (1414-1417), which deposed the three popes, chose Martin V as the only pope, decreed the supremacy of the councils over the pope, and condemned the pre-reformers Joo Wycliff, Joo Hus and Jerome of Prague. The Council of Basel (1431-1449) reaffirmed the superiority of the councils. Finally, the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-1445) tried to unite with the Orthodox The Church (frustrated by the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453) and reaffirmed papal supremacy. This failed attempt to democratize the Church and govern it by council is known as conciliarism.
Another aspect of this period of effervescence is the emergence of some dissident movements in the south of France that have provoked strong opposition from the Catholic Church, one of which was that of the Cathars (in Greek?Pure?) Or the Albigeois (of the city of Albi), born in the eleventh century, characterized by Christian syncretism, gnostic and maniac, with radical dualism (spiritual x material) and extreme asceticism, were condemned by the Fourth Council of Latran in 1215 and subsequently annihilated by a crusade To combat these and other heretics, the Inquisition was formalized in 1233.
Another movement was led by Pedro Valdo or Valdés (?C. 1205), by Lio, whose supporters became known as the “Poor of Lio”. They had a communal lifestyle, taught the scriptures in the vernacular (highlighting the sermon on the mountain), encouraged preaching to lay people and women, and rejected purgatory; condemned by the Council of Verona in 1184, they were strongly persecuted, taking refuge in the remote and almost inaccessible valleys of the Italian Alps; later, they embraced the Protestant Reformation. being one of the few Protestant churches before the 16th-century Reformation.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there were sporadic protests against certain teachings and practices of the medieval Church, one of them headed by Joo Wycliff (1325?-1384), priest and professor at the University of Oxford, England, clergy irregularities, superstitions (relics, pilgrimages, veneration of saints), as well as transubstantiation, purgatory, indulgences, clerical celibacy and papal pretensions. His disciples, known as lolardos, had the Bible as a standard of faith that everyone should read and interpret. .
Joo Hus (circa 1372-1415), a priest and professor at the University of Prague in Bohemia, was influenced by Wycliff’s writings, defined the Church for a Christian life, not by the sacraments, said that all elected officials are members of the church and that his head is Christ, not the Pope. He insisted on the supreme authority of Scripture. His followers were known as the Bohemian Brothers (1457) and were strongly persecuted. They were the forerunners of the Moravos Brothers, whom we will see later, another Protestant group whose roots date back to the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Another individual included among the pre-reformers is Jerome Savonarola (1452–1498), a Dominican brother. Florence, Italy, which preached against immorality in society and in the Church, even in the papacy. He ruled the city for a time, but was eventually excommunicated and hanged as a heretic.
In addition to the movements that broke with the Church, there were others that remained the same because they focused on the life of devotion, without criticizing Catholic dogmas, one of them was mysticism, quite strong in England, Holland and especially in Germany (Rhine The main mystics of this period were Meister Eckhart (?1327); Tauler (?1361) and Friends of God, Henrique Suso (?1366) and later the famous theologian and ecclesiastical leader Nicolau de Cusa (1401-1464). Mysticism emphasized union with God, love, humility, and charity and produced beautiful devotional literature.
Another important movement was modern devotion, which remained strong throughout the 15th century, with an emphasis on spirituality, Bible reading, meditation, and prayer; he also valued education, creating large schools; it was a secular movement, for both sexes, and also had a great influence on Protestant reformers. Participants were known as Brothers of Common Life. The most important and popular work produced by this movement is the magnificent devotional libretto The Imitation of Christ (1418), written by Thomas Kempis.
Interest in the works of antiquity led to the study of the Bible in the original languages by so-called biblical humanists. The directors were the Italian Lorenzo Valla (?1457), a scholar of the New Testament; Englishman John Colet (?1519), scholar of the Pauline epistles; German Johannes Reuchlin (?1522), a remarkable Hebrew; French Lefévre D’Etaples (?1536), translator of the New Testament; and the Dutch Erasmo of Rotterdam (1466?-1536), “the prince of humanists”, who published a critical edition of the Greek New Testament with a Latin translation, perhaps the most important work published in the sixteenth century, which served as the basis for the translations of Luther, Tyndale and Lefévre and greatly influenced Protestant reformers. This return to the scriptures contributed greatly to the 16th-century Reformation.
The end of the Middle Ages was marked by numerous political, social and religious uprisings, including the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), between England and France, in which the heroine Joan D’Arc became famous. There were also numerous peasant revolts, the decline of feudalism, the expansion of cities and the rise of capitalism; on the social front, there were periodic famines and the terrible scourge of bubonic plague or black plague (1348). have produced death, devastation and disorder, that is, the breakdown of social and personal life. The dominant feeling was insecurity, anxiety, melancholy and pessimism. This was illustrated by the “dance of death”, images that were seen everywhere with a dancing skeleton.
In the religious sphere, there has been an erosion of the ideal of Christianity or “corpus christianum”, the society cohesive under the leadership of the Church and the popes. Religion was meritorial, with masses for the dead, the belief in purgatory and invocation of the saints and Mary. At the same time, there was a great resentment against the church because of the abuse and deviation of its purposes. This is illustrated by the situation of the papacy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries: the so-called Renaissance popes were more statesmen and patrons of the arts and culture than shepherds of their flock. The papal institution continued to decay, with many political struggles, simony, nepotism, lack of spiritual leadership, increased spending and new ecclesiastical taxes. As Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), Spaniard Rodrigo Borja was a generous promoter of the arts and careers of his sons César and Lucrécia; Julius II (1503–1513) was a warrior pope, personally in command of his army; It is said that Leo X (1513-1521), Luther’s contemporary pope, said during his election: “Now that God has given us the papacy, let us take advantage of it. “
At the end of the previous paragraph, we saw some of the elements that characterized European society on the eve of the Reformation: there was a lot of violence, low life expectancy, deep socio-economic contrasts and a growing nationalist sentiment. great discontent, both of the leaders and the people, with regard to the Church, especially the high clergy and Rome; in the spiritual sphere, there was insecurity and anxiety about salvation by a religiosity based on works, also called accounting religiosity or “Mathematics of Salvation” (debts, sins; credits – good deeds).
The most immediate episode that sparked Luther’s protest was quite unusual. Since the mid-14th century, each new leader of the Holy Roman Empire has been elected by an electoral college composed of four princes and three archbishops. In 1517, when a new emperor was elected, one of the three electoral archbishops (mainz or Mainz) became vacant. One of the noble families who participated in this process, the Hohenzollerns, decided to take this position and thus have one more voice in the electoral college. A young man in the family, Alberto, was elected to be the new archbishop, but there were two problems: he was lay and did not have the minimum age required by canon law to perform this function; the first problem was solved by his rapid ordination to the priesthood.
Regarding the prevention of aging, a special authorization from the Pope was required, which led to a very advantageous agreement for both parties. The noble family bought the permission of Pope Leo X on a loan to the Augsburg Fugger bankers. The pope authorized the new Archbishop Albert of Brandenburg to carry out a special sale of indulgences, dividing the proceeds as follows: one part would be used to pay off the loan made by the family and the other part would go to the works of the Holy Cathedral . to Rome. Et so this was done. As soon as he was installed in his post, Alberto instructed the Dominican Joo Tetzel to sell indulgences (the forgiveness of temporary penalties for sin). When Tetzel approached Wittenberg, Luther decided to speak on the subject.
Martin Luther was born in 1483 in the small village of Eisleben, Thuringia, in a very religious house. His father worked in the mines and the family had a comfortable life. Initially, the young man intended to pursue a legal career, but in 1505 he faced death in a storm and decided to embrace religious life. He entered the Augustinus Monastery of Erfurt, where he devoted himself to an intense search for salvation. In 1512 he became a professor at the University of Wittenberg, where he began to teach courses on various biblical subjects. books, such as Galatians and Romans. This gave him a new understanding of the “justice of God”: it was not simply an expression of God’s severity, but of his love that justifies the sinner by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. : 17).
On October 31, 1517, at john Tetzel’s sale of indulgences, Luther exhibited his ninety-five theses at the door of Wittenberg Church, a common way to invite a university community to discuss a topic. In the hands of the archbishop, who sent them to Roma. Al following year, Luther was summoned to Rome to respond to the position of heresy. Refusing to go, he was questioned by Cardinal Cayetano and held his posts. In 1519, Luther participated in a debate in Leipzig with the Dominican Joo Eck, in which he defended the pre-reformer Joo Hus and claimed that councils and popes could make mistakes.
In 1520, the papal bubble Exsurge Domine Rise, Lord?) It gave him sixty days to retract or be excommunicated. College students and professors burned the bull and a copy of canon law in a public square. That same year, Luther wrote several important works, in particular three: The Christian nobility of the German nation, the Babylonian captivity of the Church and the freedom of the Christian, which gave him immediate notoriety throughout Europe and increased his popularity in Germany. In early 1521, the bubble of excommunication, Decet Pontificem Romanum, was published that year Luther attended a parliamentary meeting , the Worms Diet, where he reaffirmed his ideas and enacted Worms’ edict against him, which led him to take refuge in Wartburg Castle, under the protection of the voter. -Elector of Saxony, Frederick the Wise. There, Luther began to produce a masterpiece of German literature, his translation of the scriptures.
Since then, Lutheran reform has spread rapidly throughout the Holy Empire, being welcomed by several German principalities, which caused increasing difficulties with catholic principalities, with the new Emperor Charles V (1519-1556) and with parliament (Diet). In the diet of 1526 there was an attitude of tolerance towards Lutherans, but in 1529 the Spira diet reversed this policy of conciliation. In response, Lutheran leaders conducted an official protest that gave rise to the historical name “protesters. “Last year, Luther’s assistant and eventual successor, Philip Melanchton (1497–1560), presented Emperor Charles V with the Augsburg Confession, an important document defining Lutheran doctrine in 21 articles and indicating seven errors Luther saw in the Catholic Church.
Political-religious problems led to a period of wars between Catholics and Protestants (1546-1555), which ended with a treaty, the peace of Augsburg, which ensured the legality of Lutheranism by the principle “Cujus regio, eius religio”, that a prince’s religion would automatically be the official religion of his territory. Lutheranism has also spread to other parts of Europe, mainly in the Nordic countries, with national Lutheran churches appearing in Sweden (1527), Denmark (1537), Norway (1539) and Iceland (1554). Luther and the other reformers defended some basic principles that would eventually characterize Protestant beliefs and practices: only Scriptura, only Christo, single gratia, sola fides, soli Deo gloria. Another principle accepted by all is the universal priesthood of the faithful.
Ulrico Zuonglio received a careful education, with a strong humanist influence. He was initially a priest in Glaris (1506) and Einsiedeln (1516). Influenced by the New Testament published by Erasmo of Rotterdam, he became a scripture scholar and a biblical preacher, so he was called to work at Zurich Cathedral in 1518, four years later, the first differences with Catholic doctrine appeared. Zuonglio defended the consumption of meat during Lent and the marriage of priests, claiming that these things are not forbidden in the scriptures, and proposed the principle that everything should be judged by the Bible.
In 1523, there was the first public debate in Zurich and the city began to become Protestant. Did the reformer write the sixty-seven articles? Zurich’s reform letter?In those who defended salvation only by grace, the authority of the scriptures and the priesthood of the faithful, as well as attacking the primacy of the Pope and Mass. This Swiss movement, known as the ‘second reform’, gave rise to the ‘reformed’ churches, which first extended to German-speaking Switzerland and southern Germany. In 1525, the Zurich City Council adopted worship instead of Mass and generally promoted more radical changes than those introduced by Luther.
As in Germany, there were also wars between Catholics and Protestants in Switzerland. In 1529, the first battle of Kappel took place. That same year, the Spira regime showed the Protestants the need for an alliance against their opponents. To do this, they had to resolve certain doctrinal differences. This led to the Marburg Symposium, convened by Prince Philip of Hesse. Lutherans and retirees agreed on most doctrinal issues, but they seriously disagreed on the meaning of Holy Communion. at the second battle of Kappel.
The third movement of the Protestant Reformation appears in the city of Zurich itself, in 1522 men such as Conrado Grebel and Felix Mantz began to meet with friends to study the Bible, initially supporting Zingling’s work, but from 1524 they began condemning Zingling and the city officials. , claiming that his renovation work did not go far enough. Because of their insistence on adult baptism, they were nicknamed “anabaptists,” that is, rebates, and were also called radicals, fanatics, enthusiasts, and other denominations. Of their protest activities, during which they even interrupted dinners and celebrations, Anabaptist leaders were subjected to increasingly harsh punishments. In 1526 Grebel died in an epidemic, but his father was beheaded, Mantz drowned and another leader, Jorge Blaurock, was expelled from the city.
The movement quickly spread to neighbouring Germany and Austria and other parts of Europe. An important leader in Strasbourg was Miguel Sattler (around 1490–1527), who presided over the Schleitheim Conference (1527), in which the Anabaptists approved Schleitheim’s confession of faith. . This denomination defined the basic Anabaptist principles: ideal restoration of the early church; Churches considered as voluntary congregations separated from the state; baptism of adults by immersion; withdrawal from the world; fraternity and equality; pacifism; Prohibition of carrying weapons, public office and oaths. The Anabaptists were the only Protestants of the sixteenth century who advocated the complete separation of the church and the state.
The Anabaptists gained a negative reputation as a result of events in the city of Munster (1532-1535). Influenced by Melchior Hoffman, who announced the end of the world and the destruction of the wicked, some anabaptists have implanted an intolerant theocracy in this German City. Eventually, they were all killed by a Catholic army. In holland, the movement had a balanced and capable leader in the person of Menno Simons (1496–1561), from whom the Mennonites were born. Another expression leader was Jacob Hutter (?1536), in Moravia. Mennonites and Hutterites lived in colonies, having everything in common (see Acts 2:44; 4:32). Cruelly persecuted throughout Europe, many of them eventually emigrated to North America.
Calvin was born in Noyon, northeastern Francia. Su father, Gérard Cauvin, was secretary to the bishop and lawyer of the church there; his mother Jeanne Lefranc, died when he was still a child. After his first studies in his city, Calvin went to Paris, where he studied theology and humanities (1523–1528). Then, at his father’s will, he studied law in the cities of Orleans and Bourges (1528–1531). After his father’s death, he returned to Paris and continued his humanist studies, publishing his first book, a commentary on the Treaty of Clemency of Seneca.
Calvin probably became in 1533. On November 1 of that year, his friend Nicholas Cop gave an inaugural address at the University of Paris full of Protestant ideas, Calvin was considered the co-author of the speech and the two friends had to flee by Calvin moved to the city of Angouleme, where he began writing his most important work , institution of Christian religion or institutes, published in Basel in 1536 (the last edition was not published until 1559). Calvin decided to settle in the Protestant city of Strasbourg, where reformer Martin Butzer (1491–1551) worked. Along the way, there was a remarkable episode: the impossibility of going directly to Strasbourg due to the war between France and Germany. The future reformer made a long rodeo, passing through Geneva, in French-speaking Switzerland, a city that had embraced Protestantism reformed just two months ago (May 1536), under the direction of Guilherme Farel (1489–1565). The author of the Institutes passed through the city, “convinced” to stay there and help you.
Soon Calvin and Farel confronted the Genevan magistrates and two years later were deported. Calvin then went to Strasbourg, where he spent the three happiest and most productive years of his career (1538–1541). In this city, he was pastor of a French Refugee Church, married the widow Idelette de Bure (?1549), taught at Joo Sturm’s academy, participated in religious conferences with Martin Butzer, and published important works, including the second edition of the Institutes and the commentary of the Romans, the first in a series he wrote.
Finally, the geneva magistrates insisted on his return. Calvin agreed on the condition that he could draft the constitution of the Reformed Church in Geneva. This important work, the Ecclesiastical Ordinances, included four categories of officers: pastors, responsible for preaching and the sacraments; physicians for the study and teaching of the Bible; Elderly, with disciplinary functions; and the deaco, who are in charge of charity. Pastors and doctors formed companhia dos Pastores; Pastors and elders were part of the Consistory, a kind of ecclesiastical court. Calvin maintained a tense relationship with the city authorities until 1555. At the end of this period, in 1553, the Spanish physician Miguel Serveto was convicted and executed for heresy. In this episode he had a role, lamented by his heirs, who does not deny his great work as a reformer, writer, theologian and ecclesiastical leader. In 1559, a particularly significant year, the reformer became a Genevan citizen, founded his Academy, an embryo of the University of Geneva, and published the last edition of the Institutes.
The French reformer’s vision was to make Geneva a model Christian city through the reorganization of the Church, a well-prepared ministry, laws expressing biblical ethics, and a comprehensive and free educational system. The result was that Geneva became an important center of Protestantism, preparing retired leaders for all of Europe and hosting hundreds of refugees. Calvinism became the most complete Protestant theological system, with the basic principle of God’s sovereignty and its implications, soteriological and otherwise. This was the origin of the reformed (European continent) or Presbyterian (British islands) churches. The main countries where the reform movement has spread are Switzerland and France, southern Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and Scotland.
Calvin also made a name for he was a Bible scholar. He wrote comments on almost the entire New Testament and the main books of the Old Testament. His sermons and lectures also widely set out the scriptures. He also wrote numerous pamphlets, treatises, and letters. But the greatest of his works are the Institutes, in which he has exhibited all aspects of Christian doctrine, appealing to the scriptures and the testimony of the former fathers of the Church. In many of his works there is a hand that holds a heart, and around it the words Cor meum tibi offero Domine, prompt and sincere (?My heart offers you, Lord, promptly and sincerely?).
The reformers did not seek to innovate, but to restore ancient biblical truths that had been forgotten or obscured by human time and traditions. His greatest contribution has been to draw people’s attention to the importance of the scriptures and their great teachings, especially with regard to salvation and Christian life. In order for today’s evangelical Churches to be faithful to their vocation, they must judge everything by Scripture, accepting the right and rejecting evil. Reformers have shown us that the criterion of truth is not human. teaching, nor subjective spiritual experience, but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Word and the Word.
Several factors contributed to the introduction of the Protestant Reformation in England: the anti-clericalism of much of the people and rulers, the ideas of the pre-reformer Joo Wycliff, the penetration of the Lutheran teachings of 1520, the New Testament translated by William Tyndale (1525) and the work of the refugees returned from Geneva, yet it was King Henry VIII who took the decisive step for England to become Protestant.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) began to reign in 1509. Very Catholic, he wrote in 1521 a pamphlet against Luther that earned him the title of “defender of the faith. ” He was married to the Spanish princess Catarina de Aragão, his brother’s widow, who could not give him a son, but only a daughter, María. Henry asked Pope Clement VII to cancel his marriage to Catherine so that he could marry Anne Boleyn (Anne Boleyn), but the Pope cannot serve him in this wish. One of the main reasons was the fact that Catherine was the aunt of Emperor Charles V. In 1533, Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556) was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and a few months later declared the king’s marriage null and void. In 1534, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, by which the English Catholic Church was separated from Rome and the king was declared “protector and sole supreme head of the Church of England. ” Bishop John Fisher and former Chancellor Thomas More opposed these measures and were executed (1535); the numerous monasteries of the country were extinguished and their properties confiscated (1536-1539). In the following years, Henrique would have four more wives: Jane Seymour, Ana de Cleves, Catarina Howard and Catarina Parr.
Henry died in the Catholic faith and was succeeded on the throne by Edward VI (1547–1553), the son he had with Jane Seymour. The guardians of the young king implemented the Reformation in England and ended the persecution of the Protestants. Two important documents written by Archbishop Cranmer were approved, the Book of Common Prayer (1549; revised in 1552) and the forty-two articles (1553), synthesis of Lutheran and Calvinist theologies. Edward was ill and died very young, succeeding his sister Maria Tudor (1553). -1558), known as the “bloodthirsty”, daughter of Catarina de Aragono. Maria persecuted the Protestant leaders and many were taken to the stake. The most famous martyrs were Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and Thomas Cranmer. called “Exiled Husband,” he went to Geneva, Strasbourg and other Protestant cities.
With Mary’s death, her half-sister Elizabete I (1558–1603), daughter of Anne Boleyn, ascended to the throne, under which England definitively became Protestant. In 1563 the Uniformity Act was enacted, which passed the thirty-nine articles. The result was the Anglican Agreement, which brought together elements of the main evangelical theologies, as well as Catholic traits, especially in the field of the liturgy. In addition to the Anglicans, there were other Protestant groups in England, such as Puritans, Presbyterians, and Puritans were born during Elizabeth’s reign and were named after them because they intended a pure Church in their doctrine, worship, and form of government. Repressed in England, many Puritans went to North America, settling in Plymouth (1620) and Boston (1630). ), New England Another English Protestant group was the Baptists, which began in 1607 under the direction of John Smyth and Thomas Helwys, who founded the first general Baptist church in 1612.
In the 17th century, in the context of the civil war between King Charles I and a Puritan parliament, the Assembly of Westminster (1643-1649), a celebrated congregation that produced a series of Calvinist documents for the Church of England, including The Confession, was convened. of the Faith and major and brief catechisms, which became the main denominational symbols of the Reformed or Presbyterian Churches.
Protestantism began to spread in Scotland by men like Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart, both martyred; however, Presbyterianism was introduced thanks to the efforts of reformer John Knox (?1572), a disciple of Calvin who, after spending a few years in Geneva, returned to his country in 1559; the following year, the Scottish Parliament established the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). Knox tenaciously opposed the Catholic queen Mary Stuart (1542–1587), Elizabeth’s cousin, who lived in France (1548). -1561) and returned to Scotland to take the throne; Protestantism was accepted in the context of the struggle for independence from French rule; a few years later Mary Stuart had to flee and take refuge in England, where Elizabeth’s Order was executed in 1587.
It was in Scotland that the political-religious concept of “presbyterianism” emerged. English and Scottish kings have always been strong defenders of episcopalism, that is, of a Church led by bishops. The reason is that since bishops are appointed by kings, the Church would be more easily controlled by the state and serve their interests. In the light of the scriptures, the Presbyterians insisted on a Church ruled by community-elected officials, the elders, thus freeing the Church from the guardianship of the state. It was only after a long and tumultuous process that Presbyterianism was finally established in Scotland.
The French reform movement began in the 1530s; King Francis I (1515-1547), initially tolerant, was finally hostile to the reformed; Henry II (1547–1559) was even tougher than his father; in 1559, the first national synod of the Reformed Church of France met, which approved the Gallical confession. In 1561, there were two thousand congregations renovated in the country, made up of artisans, merchants and even some noble families, such as the Bourbons and Montmorency. The Huguenots concentrated mainly in the west and southwest of the country and received strong support from Geneva. To the north and east was the ultra-catlic faction led by the powerful Guisa-Lorraine family.
During the reign of Francois II (1559–1560), the Guisa controlled the government. When Charles IX (1560–1574) became king, being even smaller, his mother Catarina de Medici assumed the regency, initially being tolerant of the Huguenots. Trying to reconcile the two factions, she promotes an encounter of Catholics and Protestants, the Poissy Colloquium, in 1561. With the failure of this meeting, there was a long period of religious wars (1562-1598), including the most shocking episode was the massacre of St. Bartholomew (24/08/1572). Hundreds of Huguenots were in Paris for the marriage of Catarina’s daughter to the Protestant nobleman Henrique de Navarra. In the middle of the night, the Huguenots were killed for treason while they slept, including their main leader, Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. In the days that followed, several thousand were killed in France. Later, when the noble Huguenot became king, under the title Henry IV, he promulgated the Edict of Nantes (1598) in favor of his followers, granting them limited tolerance. This edict will be repealed by King Louis XIV in 1685, beginning a new period of difficulties for French retirees.
Holland was part of the Holy German Empire and then passed under Spain. During the reign of Emperor Charles V emerged in this region Lutherans, Anabaptists and especially Calvinists around 1540, who from the beginning were subjected to intense persecution, with increasing repression. king Philip II (1555) and Governor Duke of Alba. (1567). The revolt against Spanish tyranny was led by the German Guilherme of Orange, a great defender of full religious freedom, killed in 1584. Finally, the Netherlands is divided into three nations: Belgium and Luxembourg (Catholic) and Holland (Protestant).
The Dutch Reformed Church was organized in the 1570s. In the early 17th century, a great controversy broke out because of tiago Armio’s ideas. The Synod of Dort (1618-1619) rejected Arminio’s ideas and affirmed the so-called “five points of Calvinism”, whose initials form the word “tulip”. (tulip): total depravity, unconditional choice, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the Saints.
In analyzing the actions of the Roman Catholic Church after the rise of Protestantism, historians speak in two ways: counter-reform and Catholic reform; the first was the Roman Church’s effort to reorganize and combat Protestantism; this reaction occurred both on a dogmatic and political level. -military levels. The Catholic Reform, on the other hand, revealed a concern to correct some internal problems of Catholicism in response to criticism from Protestants and other groups.
There were several elements to this reaction. In Spain there were notable manifestations of a rich mystical spirituality, whose most prominent representatives were Teresa de Avila and Joao da Cruz. In addition to Spanish mysticism, another sign of Catholic revitalization was the emergence of several religious orders, the most important of which was the Society of Jesus, founded by the Spaniard Inácio de Loiola (1491-1556) and formalized by the Pope in 1540. With the usual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to superiors, the Jesuits made an additional vow of unconditional submission to the Pope. Its objective was to expand and strengthen the Catholic faith through missions, education and the fight against heresy. The Jesuits exerted a strong influence on the rulers and contributed decisively to the suppression of Protestantism in various parts of Europe, such as Spain and Poland.
The most effective instrument of the Counter-Reformation and the Catholic Reformation was the Council of Trent, which met in three sessions between 1545 and 1563; their decrees explicitly rejected Protestant doctrines and formalized tomism (theology of Tomus of Aquinas), the Latin Vulgate and books called apocryphal or deuterocanonical. Other instruments of the Counter-Reformation were the Index of Forbidden Books (Index Librorum Prohibitorum, 1559) and the Inquisition, especially in its Spanish and Roman versions, expression of the Catholic dynamism of this period. , the orders of the Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits carried out a great missionary work in the East and America.
On the territory of the Holy Empire, conflicts between Catholics and Protestants continued for many decades, peaking during the dark thirty-year war, which involved half of the European continent, which ended the peace of Westphalia (1648), which definitively established Europe’s political-religious borders and marked the end of the Reform period.
The history of the Reformation is not always pleasant and inspiring, due to the deep ties between religious and political elements, this period was marked by much violence in the name of faith, because religion is something very important for people, the passions it evokes. The mistakes made in this area by different groups in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries serve as a warning and encouragement for the practice of Christian charity and tolerance, following the example of Christ. We can, without giving up our convictions, respect those who think differently from us.
At the same time, we were impressed by the heroism of many of our brethren in the age of the Reformation, who by their faith faced many trials and even cruel deaths. The Gospel no longer requires this kind of sacrifice on the part of most Western Christians. , but that doesn’t mean we’re immune to big challenges. There are other ways in which our faith is tested in the present time. Living according to the principles and values of the Kingdom of God remains a difficult but necessary test for all Christians. .
As sources for future studies and research, we suggest the following works, in Portuguese:
BETTENSON, Henry, Christian Church Documents (Sao Paulo: ASTE, 1967); 3rd ed. Revised, corrected and updated (Sao Paulo: ASTE / Simpsio, 1998). A large collection of primary sources from different periods of church history.
CAIRNS, Earle E. , Christianity over the centuries: a history of the Christian Church (Sao Paulo: Vida Nova, 1988). One of the best stories of the church in a single volume available in Portuguese.
CLOUSE, Robert G. , PIERARD, Richard V. et YAMAUCHI, Edwin M. Two kingdoms: church and culture interacting over the centuries, Sao Paulo: Christian Culture, 2003 (1993). Excellent work, with almost 600 pages in the main text. Rich and complete history.
DOWLEY, Tim, ed. , Atlas Vida Nova after the Bible and the history of Christianity (Sao Paulo: Vida Nova, 1997). Beautiful color editing, with exceptional graphic quality. It is also useful for the study of biblical history (Old and New Testament).
GONZ-LEZ, Justo L. , An Illustrated History of Christianity, 10 Vol. (Sao Paulo: Vida Nova). The two volumes of the English edition have been transformed into ten small volumes in the Portuguese edition. Nice to read and, as the title suggests, abundantly illustrated.
MATOS, Alderi Souza de. , The Christian March in History: The Bible, the Church and Society yesterday and today (Icaosa, MG: Ultimato, 2005). Collection of short texts on various topics in Church history.
NEILL, Stephen, History of Missions (Sao Paulo: Vida Nova, 1989). One of the best approaches to a specific aspect of church history. The author was a missionary in India and Africa.
NICHOLS, Robert H. , History of the Christian Church, 11th Edition, Tour. (Sao Paulo: Editora Cultura Crist, 2000). Work more modest than the previous ones, but excellent for those who begin to study the history of the Church. The author is Presbyterian.
NOLL, Mark A. , Decisive Moments in the History of Christianity, trad. Alderi S. Matos (Sao Paulo: Editora Cultura Crist, 2000). By addressing twelve particularly important facts, the author ends up including most of the most important topics in Church history. It contains an appendix on Brazil, written by the translator.
WALKER, W. , History of the Christian Church, 2 Vol. (Sao Paulo: ASTE, 1967) Good work, but a little outdated. The last English edition, reviewed by three other authors (Norris, Lotz and Handy) and released in 1985, has not yet been published in Portuguese.
WALTON, Robert C. , History of the Church in Pictures (Sao Paulo: Editora Vida, 2000). Paintings and sketches are a simple and pleasant tool for studying Church history.
WILLIAMS, Terri, Chronology of ecclesiastical history in graphics and maps (Sao Paulo: Vida Nova, 1993). Beautiful graphics make it easy to see some of the most important topics in church history.