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Church History Part #2: the Great Schism to the Protestant Reformation

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Church History Part #2: the Great Schism to the Protestant Reformation Church History Part #2: The Great Schism to the Protestant Reformation I. The Beginning Seeds of the Protestant Reformation A. The Popes Became Political Pawns within the Power Struggles of Europe The Death of Charlemagne in 814 AD brought a change in the relationship between Church and state. Charlemagne had meddled excessively in Church activities for a political figure but he had also respected the Church and was a religious man…After him, this relationship between Church and state declined and popes began to be seen as pawns by 3 key groups: 1) The upper society of Rome, 2) the emperors and 3) the college of cardinals. Each group vied to get their own candidates into positions of power whether they were called to ministry or not. Clerical positions began to be seen less as vocations and more as positions of political influence. B. A String of Papal Scandals Occurred and Brought Shame on the Office For the next two centuries after Charlemagne, especially, a number of popes were elected who became more widely known for their worldly excesses than for their holiness. (Among the worst were…eg. Pope Stephen VI in the late 800s who places his predecessor’s corps on trial (Pope Formosus, found it guilty and threw it in the Tiber River and Pope John XII who was made pope at the age of 18. His parties were so lavish that he drained the entire Church treasury and turned to simony and extortion to pay for his lifestyle, etc.). Although they were too busy partying and chasing worldly pursuits to commit heresy, their lack of holiness began to destroy the credibility of future popes to speak on moral matters in an authoritative way. C. The Empire of the West gives way to a more Feudal System of Government with Nationalistic Divisions This political in-fighting enhances even further the problem of nepotism and secular interference in selecting clergy and lobbying for their placement in positions of power. We begin to see abbots and bishops on the payroll of various wealthy political figures. Often the first son would inherit the wealth of the family and the second son would pursue the clerical life as a secular career to amass wealth. Many of these ill-suited clergy married in violation of Church law and/or fathered children and even, on occasion, tried to will Church property or their positions to their children. D. “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” 1. It is worth noting that as scandals increased, so did the list of some of the Church’s greatest saints. New religious orders were often founded in these times (e.g. the Mendicant Movement; Dominicans, Franciscans, Servites, Carmelites, etc.) and existing religious orders often underwent internal reform (eg. Cluniac Reform of the Benedictines, Cistercians, Carthusians, etc.) 2. Lay Investitures were banned by the 1000s. In other words, the popes forbid lay people to any longer have a say in clerical assignments or in who was ordained. 3. Even in the face of clerical scandal, lay and mendicant-driven pious public devotions took off (e.g. the Rosary, the scapular devotions, Stations of the Cross, etc.) *** NOTE: Despite all of this, magisterial and clerical credibility were at an all-time low. This contributed to the taking off of the Protestant Reformation because leaders like Martin Luther refused to recognize papal authority when it came to him being asked to revise or abandon his theological positions. The immoral conduct of many of the worldly clergy with the problems of simony (selling the sacraments), failure to live celibacy, and general impiety also served to further set the reformers against the Church. II. The Crusades A Muslim Expansion By 1071 AD, 2/3 of the Christian world had been conquered by the Muslims. Christian Europe faced a growing threat to their very existence from two fronts: North Africa and the Middle East. Islam moved back and forth between eras of tolerance and Jihad. By the 11th century, Jihad was in the air again under the Seljik Turks. Christian pilgrims were being murdered or enslaved or held for ransom, historically significant Christian churches were being burned down and replaced by mosques and Christians in the Holy Land were being put to the sword. Major Christian cities were falling to the Muslims. B. Feudal Europe says “Enough is Enough” The Crusades began as a grassroots movement and were not seen as an offensive campaign but as self-defense in favor of religious freedom and a way of life. The 1st Crusade (1095 - 1099 AD) began by popular demand. The pope saw it as an opportunity to heal the Great Schism by coming to the aid of the Orthodox Christians in their time of need. Warrior monks such as the Knights Templar rose up as well and the 1st Crusade ended in victory. (eg. Nicaea retaken in 1097, Antioch retaken in 1098 and Jerusalem retaken in 1099 and held for over 200 years) C. It is an Error to Generalize about the Crusades or Lump Them Together There were at least 8 major wars and many minor ones that took place over a 5 century span (e.g. 1st (1095-1099), 2nd (1147-1148), 3rd (1189-1192), 4th (1200-1204), Children’s Crusade (1212), 5th (1219-1221), 6th (1229), 7th (1248), 8th (1270) etc…. However, each successive Crusade met with diminished popularity and success (after the 1st Crusade, all others ended in a draw or a loss for Europe) and each was more motivated by more secular ambitions of expanding feudal control of land rather than for theological reasons. *** NOTE: The Crusades ultimately failed in their attempt to defend Christian turf or followers in the Holy Land. It also failed to heal the rift with the Orthodox since, during the 4th Crusade, some hired mercenaries from the West decided to sack Constantinople and loot it for pay rather than go all the way to the Middle East. This just further divided the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. However the Crusades did succeed in pushing back the Islamic invasion attempts on Europe and it also brought about a kind of renaissance when the soldiers returned home. There was a growing interest in science and math, foreign literature, banking, language studies, travel and exploration. III. The Inquisition A. Prior to Protestant Reformation, virtually all European royalty were also Catholic. They saw part of their role, as ruler, as being responsible for protecting and preserving the official state religion from outside threat or heresy. At that time, the idea of living in a polytheistic state was almost unheard of as a state religion made unity and stability more possible in their eyes. B. Albigensian Heresy - Albigensians were dualists. They were gnostics and believed that the material world was evil and that the spiritual world was good. Many even believed in two gods: a god of the cosmos and a god of the spirit world. As such, they rejected the sacraments, the teaching on the Incarnation, etc. and engaged in over-the-top asceticism in an attempt to overcome the evil material influences of the human body. People were attracted to them, not because of their theology but because they lived simply lives of poverty and engaged in frequent penances. Externally, they seemed holier than the materialistic clergy who engaged in physical excesses of a comfortable, wealthy life. For 20 years, kings in the 1200s began to apply civil justice to expel or imprison Albigensians within their borders. In 1231, Pope Gregory IX, fearing a loss of Church influence on the matter and seeing that the Inquisition’s civil trials were putting their theology to test decided to take over the Inquistion using respected Mendicant friars who also were known for their penance and simplicity of life but who were orthodox in their theology. Most often, penances were assigned to the guilty as punishment and the idea was that merciful correction was being applied for the sake of salvation of souls. C. This is not to be confused with the better known Spanish Inquisition (1480-1834) which was directed at Jews and Muslims living in Spain. The kings of Spain were attempting to expel all non-Christians from their midst. Later, they also directed their efforts toward expelling Protestants. This Inquisition also did not initially have the support to the Church but the king of Spain refused to desist and even threatened to stop assisting the Church with his vast treasury. Sadly, the pope caved in for material reasons IV. The Scholastic Age A. In the 12th and 13th centuries universities began to replace monastery and cathedral schools and were modeled after feudal guild trade schools B. Due to the Crusades, the works of Aristotle and other great thinkers were rediscovered. Their works in English had not survived the Dark Ages but they were discovered in Arabic libraries. These philosophies became “baptized” by Thomas Aquinas and others and a Golden Age in Catholic thought was underway. The Scholastic Method placed theology at the top of the academic pyramid when it came to seeking truth. It recognized God as the author of all truth and the sciences as that level of truth that could be arrived at through intellectual labor alone and theology as that level of truth that could only be reached through Divine Revelation. C. This era was also marked by the Rennaisance and the developments of Arts and Archetecture but it eventually gave way to the enlightenment that would come later and which tended to view religion as backward superstition. V. Instability of 1300-1400s A. (1347-1352) The Black Plague - 1/3 of Europe dies B.
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