Let me focus on three reasons. In the minds of many medieval Christians, Scripture and church tradition were treated as more or less equal authorities. In fact, when it came to certain medieval doctrines and practices, tradition was often functionally more authoritative than Scripture. But there was widespread agreement that the Bible alone is our ultimate authority in the Christian life, standing in judgment over all traditions, practices, priorities, and opinions.
The relationship between Scripture and tradition remains a thorny issue today. Some Christian groups, most notably Roman Catholics, still argue that tradition is equally authoritative with Scripture, rejecting the Reformation principle. While few evangelical churches would affirm papal authority or look to a formal magisterium for guidance, many have their own extra-biblical traditions that are treated as untouchable, perhaps even sacred. During the medieval era, the Catholic Church came to embrace the idea that justification is a gradual process that is tied to ongoing faithful participation in a variety of sacraments.
Log in or subscribe to join the conversation. Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a donation. Close Login. Web Exclusives First Thoughts. Intellectual Retreats Erasmus Lectures. Video Podcasts. Was The Reformation Necessary? Reno Prev Article. Next Article. One unforeseen consequence of these debates is that personal faith in Christ soon became equated with intellectual assent to a particular forensic theory of salvation. Another consequence is that it erects walls between Protestantism and other traditions like Orthodoxy.
For Calvin the reform of the church entailed the reforming of the sacraments, removing man-made additions and returning to the simplicity of biblical worship. This is his justification for reducing the number of sacraments from seven to two. Calvin is reacting to several developments: 1 liturgical additions not found in the Bible, 2 the adoration of the Host, 3 withholding the communion chalice from the laity, and 4 the use of non-vernacular in worship.
For Calvin the pastor medieval Catholic worship resulted in the laity being reduced to passive bystanders looking on with dumb incomprehension. Calvin seeks to replace this magical understanding of the sacraments with one based on an intelligent understanding of Scripture in combination with a lively faith in Christ.
Like Calvin modern day Evangelicals hold to two sacraments but many will be surprised by how Calvin understood the sacraments. Calvin did not do away with infant baptism, nor did he insist on total immersion.
Accordingly, in the first place he gives the command, by which he bids us take, eat and drink; and then in the next place he adds and annexes the promise, in which he testifies that what we eat is his body , and what we drink is his blood.
For this promise of Christ, by which he offers his own body and blood under the symbols of bread and wine, belongs to those who receive them at his hand, to celebrate the mystery in the manner which he enjoins p. It is at odds with the understanding of the early church fathers. There is a funny story about a Protestant who wanted to convert to Orthodoxy. It also reflects the fact that Western Christianity has broken from its patristic roots in the early Church.
Therefore let there be an examination of our whole doctrine, of our form of administering the sacraments, and our method of governing the Church; and in none of these three things will it be found that we have made any change in the old form , without attempting to restore it to the exact standard of the Word of God. Calvin and the other Reformers had no intention of dividing the Church or of creating a new religion. They desired to bring back the old forms using the Bible as their standard and guide.
The results have been quite different from what the Reformers had expected. The next five centuries would see within Protestantism one church split over another, new doctrines, new forms of worship, and even new morality. In light of the fact modern day Protestant worship ranges from so-called traditional organ and hymnal worship that date to the s, to exuberant Pentecostal worship, to seeker friendly services with rock-n-roll style praise bands, to the more liturgical ancient-future worship one has to wonder if the Protestant cure is worse than the disease the Reformers sought to cure!
It is encouraging to see a growing interest among Reformed Christians in the ancient liturgies and the early church fathers. This points to a convergence between two quite different traditions. However, they remain far apart on icons, praying to the saints, and the real presence in the Eucharist. These are not minor points. Its numerous church splits put it at odds with the catholicity and unity of the early Church. Orthodoxy being rooted in the early Church, the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and in Apostolic Tradition has avoided many of the problems that have long plagued Western Christianity.
Orthodoxy has never had a Reformation. It has had no need for the Reformation because it has remained rooted in the patristic consensus and because it has resisted the innovations of post-Schism medieval Roman Catholicism. The fact that Orthodoxy has never had a Reformation is something that a Protestant should give thought to. Already a conversation about the necessity of the Reformation is underway.
Theodore Beza. James Jackson. The Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. Reid, ed. Calvin: Theological Treatises. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. Internet Monk Chaplain Mike. The Gospel Coalition. Ligonier Ministries Robert Rothwell. Christus Victor. October 31, at pm. Thanks Robert…good to have your back. While there is little doubt the Roman Catholic Church needed reforming at the time, the new and wholesale innovations in both Doctrine and Practice by the Protestant Reformers have no historic precedence in the history of Apostolic Church.
It can certainly be debated whether this Protestant cure has proven actually worse than the Medieval Catholicism it confronted. Yet there is there is no doubt it has proven far more unstable divisive, and fragmenting than has the stability of Orthodoxy and its fidelity to the Holy Tradition of the Apostles. Hi Robert, congratulations on the move!
On the topic of the Reformation, there were certainly problems with Roman Catholicism at the time theologically speaking. Morally, the sources are very divergent. Needless to say, the reformers tend to stress exaggerate? I have always thought that nationalism is a neglected element in the Reformation, especially for Lutherans.
It does not explain the start but it certainly accounts for the popularity. The writings of the Reformation are distorting mirrors. In many cases people just wanted to have a vernacular liturgy or the clergy to legitimise their marriages rather than support the abstract notions like sola fides.
What it unleashed caused more problems than it solved. Why look to heretics for doctrine. November 1, at pm. I am excited I came across this blog! Thank you graciously for the information provided here and for the bridge of communication made available to us who are curious and very much befuddled to what Christianity has evolved too in the west via Rome. I never even knew what Orthodoxy was until a few years ago.
I honestly never gave it a second look as I figured it was a just another Roman Catholic branch. The recent information I have encountered about Orthodoxy has been unbelievably surprising and truly a blessing for me and my wife who always deep down knew there was and always will be a unified Church protected by the promise of Jesus Christ.
It just became a matter of searching and testing. The Old testament is loaded with scriptural discernment. Your browser does not support JavaScript. Please note, our website requires JavaScript to be supported. Please contact us or click here to learn more about how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Follow us:. John Huss was the spark.
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