This month,
Christians will be commemorating an important anniversary. It is one
that has a controversial legacy, and shook the very foundations of
church and society. Five hundred years ago, John Tetzle came into a
German town selling indulgences. People could pay to secure
forgiveness for certain sins. The indulgences were needed to pay
back a loan to a bank in Austria for a high church official, ironically, to purchase an important seat as archbishop. The indulgences sales were then split between Rome and the outstanding loan. Martin
Luther, a monk and priest, was troubled that these indulgences were
being sold to the people that could least afford it. It also went
against his belief that any Christian who truly repented could
receive forgiveness. The church door was often used as a public
notice board, and so on Oct 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted
ninety-five points of debate on the door of the Castle Church in
Wittenberg and mailed his objections to the archbishop who then sent them on to Rome.
This probably went unnoticed at the time and would likely have stayed that way, if it had not been for the invention of the printing press. The press was used to reproduce Luther's ninety-five theses and helped to start a pamphlet war between Luther and Tetzel. By the time that Luther was called before an imperial diet or court, to defend his writing, scores of Luther's works had gained him a popular following. The court demanded that he recant everything that he had written. Luther, anguish over the situation he faced, responded with his famous speech, “unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason...I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise; here I stand, may God help me.” Probably without realizing it, Luther had just set western civilization on a new course.
That course would not run smooth. The enthusiasm of Luther's followers began to take a life of its own. Other much more radical reformers began to challenge both church and civil authorities. One of them, Thomas Münster, encouraged a social revolt of the peasant class. In 1525, peasants revolted and were crushed in a bloodbath, their leaders executed and thousands perished. Disagreement in politics and religion caused serious divisions that led to religious persecution, social unrest, and religious wars. One hundred years later, a group of religious dissenters would leave for the new world seeking religious freedom on the now famous Mayflower.
While the legacy of the reformation resulted in people doing many un-christian things to each other, and introduced a whole new series of problems that the church is still grappling with, it also gave us a new respect for individual conscience, the power of a free press, and limits to the power of the church over civil society. In the church, it resulted in a new wave of theological ideas, the Bible in the language of the people, a renewal in hymns and worship, and just within the last hundred years, a seeking of forgiveness and reconciliation between Roman Catholics, and Protestants, and different Christian denominations.
First Presbyterian Church of Umatilla will feature a special emphasis this month reflecting on the legacy of the reformation at our regular Sunday morning worship service at 11:00am. This sermon series will focus on the "Five Sola's"; Sola Scripture, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria." Often these summations of the Reformed faith have been misunderstood and misinterpreted. The church today still faces the task of reforming itself in the light of God's word, perhaps the greatest reformation tradition.
Omar Gonzalez
This probably went unnoticed at the time and would likely have stayed that way, if it had not been for the invention of the printing press. The press was used to reproduce Luther's ninety-five theses and helped to start a pamphlet war between Luther and Tetzel. By the time that Luther was called before an imperial diet or court, to defend his writing, scores of Luther's works had gained him a popular following. The court demanded that he recant everything that he had written. Luther, anguish over the situation he faced, responded with his famous speech, “unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason...I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise; here I stand, may God help me.” Probably without realizing it, Luther had just set western civilization on a new course.
That course would not run smooth. The enthusiasm of Luther's followers began to take a life of its own. Other much more radical reformers began to challenge both church and civil authorities. One of them, Thomas Münster, encouraged a social revolt of the peasant class. In 1525, peasants revolted and were crushed in a bloodbath, their leaders executed and thousands perished. Disagreement in politics and religion caused serious divisions that led to religious persecution, social unrest, and religious wars. One hundred years later, a group of religious dissenters would leave for the new world seeking religious freedom on the now famous Mayflower.
While the legacy of the reformation resulted in people doing many un-christian things to each other, and introduced a whole new series of problems that the church is still grappling with, it also gave us a new respect for individual conscience, the power of a free press, and limits to the power of the church over civil society. In the church, it resulted in a new wave of theological ideas, the Bible in the language of the people, a renewal in hymns and worship, and just within the last hundred years, a seeking of forgiveness and reconciliation between Roman Catholics, and Protestants, and different Christian denominations.
First Presbyterian Church of Umatilla will feature a special emphasis this month reflecting on the legacy of the reformation at our regular Sunday morning worship service at 11:00am. This sermon series will focus on the "Five Sola's"; Sola Scripture, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Solus Christus, and Soli Deo Gloria." Often these summations of the Reformed faith have been misunderstood and misinterpreted. The church today still faces the task of reforming itself in the light of God's word, perhaps the greatest reformation tradition.
Omar Gonzalez
(Article submitted for press Oct 2017)
Religion and Ethics Weekly The Protestant Reformation
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