Christian Economic Ethics: History and Implications

10 The Protestant Reformation

10 The Protestant Reformation One of the most important events in the history of Christianity was the Protestant Reformation, literally a protest by Christians in the sixteenth century against the rites, customs, and prevailing theology of the Roman Catholic Church. Historians have typically dated the start of the Reformation from the posting of ninety-five theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany, by a young Augustinian monk named Martin Luther on October 31, 1517. As dramatic as the events of the sixteenth century were, they were not the first efforts at reform within the Christian church in the West. Historians recount a long series of efforts to reform Christian faith and practice over several hundred years prior to Luther’s birth, beginning perhaps with the decision of the Lateran Council of 1215 to make auricular confession universal, encouraging all Christians to confess their sins personally in an effort to move toward more responsible Christian daily life. The call of Francis of Assisi to his followers to choose lives of simplicity and poverty was another part of this process. Charles Taylor sees this “individuating” of Christianity as a critical step, on the one hand, in reform movements—of which the Reformation is the most dramatic—and, on the other, in the later rise of secularism and atheism as cultural rivals to Christian faith.1 Still, many of the popes and leading bishops of the church in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries looked and acted more like the princes of Europe than servants of God’s people. Thus it is understandable that at some point the accumulation of protests would result in more fundamental changes in European church and society. There are many important figures in the Protestant Reformation, but the constraints of space require us in this chapter to focus on only two, Martin Luther and John Calvin. In these two great reformers we can see the mainstream Protestant view of economic life. 159 Martin Luther Christians today sometimes picture Luther striding boldly to the front door of a cathedral with hammer and nail in hand, defiantly posting his theses for the world to see. In fact, things were not so dramatic, since he actually posted them on a side door and they were almost certainly just one of many things posted there. This door acted as a bulletin board for all sorts of announcements about discussions and debates in academic life that were happening in Wittenberg at the time.2 Although the posting of the theses was much less dramatic than it may sound to us today, the impact of Luther’s life was immense. The success of the Lutheran Reformation stands out as far more dramatic than any that had come before, dividing Europe into Catholic and Protestant, and eventually—contrary to Luther’s intention—dividing the Protestant world into a number of different denominational visions of what Christian faith ought to mean. Martin Luther Martin Luther Martin Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. His father wanted him to have a career in the law, and Martin took a standard course of study at the University of Erfurt, followed by entrance into the school of law there. However, he quickly decided that the law was not for him and pressed toward philosophy and theology, joining an Augustinian monastery at age twenty-two. He was ordained a priest and then studied and taught theology at the University of Wittenberg. Although he fasted and prayed as required by the Rule of St. Augustine, seen in Chapter 7, Luther found no consolation but largely religious despair in monastic life. When a Dominican priest, Johann Tetzel, was sent to Germany to raise money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, offering indulgences in return, Luther began an escalating series of complaints to church authorities about the evils of selling indulgences, since the practice contradicted basic Christian belief that salvation was a gift of God. At age thirty-three, he posted his famous theses, leading eventually to his excommunication by the pope and his being outlawed by the Emperor. Receiving considerable support from many in Germany, Luther gave structure to a renewed Christianity where faith in God was central, and the Bible—translated into German by Luther himself to make it directly accessible to the faithful—was the living word of God. He died at age sixtytwo . 160 | Christian Economic Ethics [18.224.149.242] Project MUSE (2024-04-23...