REFORMATION THEOLOGICAL ISSUES

Characteristics of Medieval Religion (Catholicism):

hierarchical: Church as papal monarchy
                   Bishops Cardinals as princes of Church
                   clergy as superior to laity

sacerdotal: = priestly: access to grace and religion is
                     through priests, who perform religious services,
                     Mass, sacraments, blessings etc.

sacramental: seven sacraments as basic channels of grace
                    Baptism, Penance, Communion (Eucharist)
                    Confirmation, Matrimony, Holy Orders,
                     Extreme Unction (or Last Rites)
           Christian receives grace from sacraments, must then
           cooperate with that grace through good works.

mediated: access to the supernatural is through church, clergy,
                 saints, Virgin Mary especially, not direct access to God

Luther's Theological Revolution:
rejection of Catholicism as based on "works righteousness,"
effort to gain salvation by works doomed by man's sinfulness.

MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546)                        

Biography:
1505      January  receives Master of Arts from University of Erfurt
              July  thunderstorm & vow, "St. Anne help me; I will become a monk."
               enters Augustinian monastery
1507      ordained priest
1512      Doctorate in Theology, wins chair of Biblical Theology at Univ.
                of Wittenberg, lectures on Psalms & Paul's Epistle to Romans

1517  Sale of indulgences authorized by Archbishop of Brandenburg,
       Dominican John Tetzel sells indulgences in Saxony
      95 Theses: against the theory & practice of indulgences

1518  Papal order to arrest Luther, who appeals to
Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony for protection

Central Lutheran principles:

Salvation (or justification) through faith alone, not by works
           sola fide: salvation by faith
           sola gratia: gift of faith comes only by grace, not by merit
           sola Scriptura: Scripture is the only authority in religious matters
                                  rejection of Catholic tradition & papal authority
Priesthood of all believers: rejection of the clergy as separate groups
           rejection of priestly celibacy; married ministry instead
Predestination:
           gift of faith or grace is given directly by God, no merit involved
           Luther: single predestination: God chooses the elect
                       everyone deserves damnation because of sin, so it's not unjust,
                       plus man cannot understand the inscrutable decisions of God
           Calvin: double predestination: God chooses the elect & damns others

1520  Three treatises:  fundamental Lutheran position established
Address to the Christian Princes of the German Nation
   on church-state relations: princes to reform religion
Babylonian Captivity of the Church--agst Catholic theory of
      sacraments as automatic channels of grace; keeps Bapt, Euch
Freedom of the Christian--theology of justification by faith

1520  Leo X's papal bull Exsurge Domine: excommunication of Luther

1521  Diet of Worms: excommunication upheld by Emp Charles V:

"Unless I am convinced by the testimony of Scriptures or by clear reason
(for I do not trust in Pope or Councils alone, since they have often erred and
contradicted themselves)...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." (placed under "ban of Empire")

1521-22     seclusion in Wartburg castle under protection of Frederick

1522      German New Testament:  Luther's translation published

1529     German catechism for lay instruction = first catechism)

Controversies:

l) with Humanists and Erasmus:
L. sees emphasis on moral effort in salvation as semi-Pelagian
1524 Erasmus' Freedom of the Will - humanist break with Luther
Luther's The Enslaved Will - predestinarian doctrine of grace

2) 1525  Peasant's revolt in Germany: difference from earlier revolts
      Twelve Articles of Swabian Peasants= appeal to "freedom of a Christian"
          against serfdom, taxation
     Luther's Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants
      rejects peasants' use of "Christian freedom" to justify revolt
      doctrine of the "two kingdoms" (Augustinian influence)

3) Zwingli (reformer of Zurich) breaks with Luther  over Eucharist
   = Sacramentarian Controvery; positions include:
   Catholics: transubstantiation=bread & wine becomes body & blood
   Lutherans: consubstantiantion= both bread & wine & body & blood
   Zwingli (and all other Reformation theologians, incl. Calvin):
      symbolic Eucharist; bread & wine = symbol of body and blood

4) Anabaptists: "re-baptizers," first rebaptism Zurich in l525
    reject infant baptism as non-scriptural; doctrine of free will
    sectarian group, reject territorial church organization

       political authority does not apply to the elect (i.e. them)
         reject military service, oaths, "commitments made in unbelief"

       persecutions of Anabaptists as heretics and subversives:
         punishiment of drowning ("third Baptism")