Question: What attitude or attitudes did the Reformations take towards popular religious forms? And how did the Reformations themselves come to embody ritual elements? The Reformation was a period of much social unrest. Whilst there existed a physical struggle evident upon the surface, underneath lie an intense philosophical and religious debate that served to test and question the values of Catholicism and the reasons for the need for change argued by the Protestant. The Reformation movement challenged the Catholic belief system. It argued against the praising and worshipping of icons and other such relics and argued that all praise and worship should be reserved for the Word of God and God alone. However, there is evidence to suggest that early Protestants felt a need for the reassurance offered by such icons and further, it has been argued, that the Protestant Reformers, in attempting to destroy ritual, actually served to strengthen Catholic belief in same. The irony is, in that attempting to destroy such rituals, the movement actually served to embody ritual elements. The methods by which it attempted to destroy ritual, can actually be interpreted as being ritualistic in and of themselves.
The Christian Sacraments were and are an important part of Catholic life. In understanding the significance of such sacraments to the Catholic and the theoretical arguments against same put forward by the Protestant Reformer, the need for the Reformer to extinguish such importance, becomes evident. For both the Catholic and the Orthodox the Eucharist represented and represents the body of Christ. It is believed that initially, the Eucharist is simply unleavened bread, however upon being blessed such bread actually turns into the body of Christ, a metaphysical transformation occurs that remains unexplained except by reference to a miracle and a blessing. Conversely the wine is believed to become the blood of Christ. It is believed that both serve to work towards granting the believer remission from sin and everlasting life1. The host and the sharing of same was not only believed to relieve the sinner of the burden of his sins but further had a social function. The sharing of the Eucharist worked to achieve a sense of social cohesion, a sense of unity and togetherness within a society where conflict and turmoil was a part of daily life2. However, Antoine Marcourt, a French Protestant Reformer, like many reformers of her period, argued that the Eucharistic rite was merely a materialistic ceremony and served to distract followers from the true faith.
The Essay on Catholics And Protestants
To all who care - I have noticed that over the years of my studies, I have seen Catholics and Protestans argue countless hours of non-stop debates over petty little things about the Catholic church. For example: "Do not worship Mary..." "Saints are not real..." "The pope is usless..." ETC. Now, I do not want to make anyone feel small here, because we are ALL mighty warriors for Christ when we ...
It was argued that the rite was merely an empty performance with little true significance. In Marcourt’s own words “It is an over dulling and darkening of the spirit and understanding of the people to cause them to . . . stare at a little bread, at a visible and corruptible thing”3. For the reformers the host was a physical object, nothing more, that served to detract from the importance of the fundamental Word of God. For the Reformist, the physical act of eating and drinking was less significant than the actual words used during the Eucharistic ceremony. Whilst physical preparation for the rite, such as fasting, were useful in achieving a certain level of focus necessary to receive Communion, these acts alone were not fundamental to the Sacrament. What was fundamental was an unwavering belief in the promise by God to ‘forgive sins’ upon receiving the sacrament. As Martin Luther writes in his ‘The Small Catechism of Martin Luther’, “Of course, eating and drinking do not do these things. These words, written here, do them: “given for you” and “shed for you to forgive sins””4. During this period it was not considered necessary for the masses to understand the processes of transubstantiation that turned the unleavened bread into the body of Christ.
The Essay on Word Clone Cloning Society Children
Are Humans Really As Unique As We Think We Are? Have you noticed lately that most of the young people wear Nike shoes and sagging Tommy Hilfiger clothes and like to dress and look like their peers, to fit in with the "in" crowd? Isn't is amazing that all parents try and send their children to the finest schools and make sure they receive the best education possible? Is cloning really any different ...
More truthfully, it was considered beyond the possible comprehension of the masses. As such, the Reformist argument is that the congregation became a part of an empty ritual. Taught when to kneel and when to stand and what to say without actually understanding same. The laity were advised that understanding was not important, that actions were paramount5. For the Reformist, such ceremony become fraud and was deemed illusory6. Various Reformists throughout time have argued that the Last Supper has been misinterpreted. Andreas Karlstadt has argued that when Jesus said “this is my body” he was not referring to the piece of bread in his hands but rather was pointing to his actual body. Ulrich Zwingli argued that when Jesus said “this is my body” the use of ‘is’ was actually equivalent to the term ‘signifies’ and thus meant that the bread served to signify his body7. Interpreting the Last Supper as above mentioned served to rid the event and strip the event of much of its spiritual and miraculous character, thus rationalising the Last Supper and shifting its significance from being a miracle, to being simply symbolic. The Reformists attempted to shift the focus of the Eucharistic Rite from being a physical rite to a wholly spiritual and intellectual experience.
It was not in the taking and digesting of the bread that was the primary focus and offered God’s blessing, but rather the full understanding and comprehension of the Word’s used that were central and fundamental to the sacrament. Baptism is the first Christian Sacrament. It is believed that the sacrament of baptism serves to incorporate the newly born child into the community and church and further to redeem the child from original sin, that is, his/her conception8. Radical Reformists such as Andreas Karlstadt argued that reserving the rite of baptism for newly born children was a contradiction. Karlstadt questioned: how is it that a child has the need to be baptized when the same child has no ability to comprehend sin nor is that child able to formulate the mal-intent necessary to perform a sinful act? Further the radical Reformists again relied upon the words of the Bible and argued that nowhere in the Bible was it specified that children should be baptized. Furthermore, Jesus himself was a mature adult when baptized9. For the Reformist Baptism had little to do with blessed water and much more to do with God’s Word. It was not in the actions of dipping the individual in Holy Water that served to grant the forgiveness of sins, redemption from death and eternal salvation, but rather the power of the words of God combined with such water.
The Essay on Main differences and similarities between God and human according to Hebrew Scriptures
The first man was perfect, Made in the image of God and likeness (Genesis 1:26). Image in this case can not refer to the body; God is a spirit while man is earthly. Image here would mean the divine attributes that God endued man with, separating mankind from other animals. Short gives six God like qualities that man posses. These are language, creativity intellectual ability, dominion over the ...
As Martin Luther articulates it; “Water doesn’t make these things happen, of course. It is God’s Word . . . Because, without God’s Word, the water is plain water and not baptism”10. Thus, for the Reformer, whilst water was a significant aspect of the sacrament of Baptism, the sacrament as a rite of passage could not be performed without an understanding, an appreciation of and a belief in the promises made by Jesus in the Bible. By attempting to understand the Reformists attitudes toward the sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism it becomes apparent that the Reformation was an attempt to move away from the physical and move towards a more intellectual and rational foundation for spirituality. Mental devotion was deemed to be of greater importance and able to achieve a greater level of faith than physical devotion11. The Catholic and Orthodox faiths relied much upon the sense of sight in understanding the scriptures. Paintings, sculptures, stained glass windows, and other small icons served to illustrate the teachings of the Bible in a society where illiteracy was the norm. For the Reformer however, such visual stimuli served to distract the individual from the truth of God’s message12.
The Reformists pointed to the hypocrisy that lie behind the visual experience, the money and materials used in creating these icons could be better spent on aiding the needy of society, and this was deemed to be representative of the true “image” of God13. Piety and pious behaviour was thus promoted as not being the worship of images and icons but rather the practice of charity14. For the Reformer, faith was about loving and fearing God alone; “To love or trust other beings or things was idolatry, to fear them led to superstition”15. Both Catholic and Protestant faith centered around the individual working to imitate Jesus Christ. For the Catholic much of this was a purely physical experience and involved such activities as fasting. Pain became the individual Catholic’s means of offering a sacrifice to God. For the Reformer, the physical sacrifice was deemed mostly irrelevant. The Reformer believed that an imitation of Christ was best performed intellectually rather than physically16. The rationality behind this is attributable to the Reformations promotion of the believed hypocrisy of the Catholic Church. For the Protestant Reformer, the Pope and his Church were political, hypocritical and even evil.
The Essay on Elizabeth I Catholics And Protestant 2
^aEURoe An analysis of the religious issues in England 1560-1600 reveals Elizabeth I acting with consummate political skill. ^aEUR Discuss Probably Elizabeth, s most striking examples of moderation can be seen with her religious policy. The Settlement of Religion 1559 had her facing one of the hardest questions she had to answer during her reign. Was England to be a Catholic or Protestant country? ...
A poem written in the fourteenth century by Raimon de Cornet, criticizing the Avignon Papacy is much indicative of this attitude. De Cornet begins: “I see the pope his sacred trust betray, For while the rich his grace can gain alway, His favors from the poor are aye withholden. He strives to gather wealth as best he may, Forcing Christ’s people blindly to obey, So that he may repose in garments golden” “While round the church still growing evils fester”17. Essentially, the poem highlights the fight of the Protestant Reformer. Whilst Catholicism focused upon unbelief, the Reformation movement was an attempt to attack misbelief. Whilst the Catholics were preoccupied with eliminating devil worship, heresy and witchery, the Reformer focused upon eliminating idolatry and the alleged hypocrisy within the Church18. Aside from this, the Reformation and its followers, possessed a far more aesthetic and philosophical theory for deeming the physical sacrifice to be of little worth and rather maintaining that the ultimate sacrifice was mental. For the Protestant Reformer, the one man is actually divided into two parts, the flesh and the soul, that is, the outward and inward man respectively.
It is believed that whilst it is inevitable that the outward man perishes, inward man is constantly growing and flourishing and is thus being renewed. As a result of the inevitability of physical mortality, physical devotion serves to accomplish little, it cannot serve to purify the soul. For the Protestant Reformer, only the Word of God and a true belief in same, could serve to purify the soul19. Thus, the Reformation Movement attempted to promote the need for an understanding of the mass and not simply a blind devotion to God whereby such devotion could be demonstrated physically. For the Reformer, physical devotion could be practiced by anybody, even those who were not true believers. It was maintained that the purest form of devotion was mental. As such, most ceremony and ritual were condemned for there superficiality. Any sense of the magical or belief in miracles performed other than by God, were attacked. Within the Catholic faith there was much reliance placed upon the ‘magic’ contained in sacraments and sacramentals and the miracles performed by Saints. Whilst the receiving of sacraments involved the performance of physical action, this action was said to lead to a much higher and transcendental, or magical, experience20. Via sacramentals and the worship of same, the individual Catholic could himself attempt to invoke a sense of something miraculous or magical21. However, For the Catholic there existed both positive and negative magic. The positive magic was that which benefited the world or that nonetheless came from God or Saints. However, negative magic was that practised by the devil and resulted in much devastation22.
The Essay on The Protestant Ethic Catholic Group
Who would probably get the six hours of leisure, a Protestant or a Catholic? The Protestant group is mostly made up of the Northern European descent. The Catholic group comes mostly from the Southern European descent. Supposedly The Northern group was a little more advanced than the Southern group. The Catholics created less industrialized products, while the Protestants created highly advanced ...
The Reformation attempted to rationalize the Christian Faith and its secular world. It attempted to separate the magical from the spiritual. It attempted to separate religion from superstition via a method of internal rationalization23. For the Reformist it was not possible to gain an understanding of God’s teachings via man-created means. As such, for the Reformer, the performance of ritual and the worship of small icons became theoretically useless24. However, the Reformation Movement failed in its attempts to be rid of the magical, superstitious, ritual and ceremonial traditions of Christianity25. In actual fact, the Reformation served to heighten the perceived need of the masses for practitioners of magic26. Furthermore, although the initial movement was essentially anti-ritual it seems that the average Protestant believer felt the need for ritual. Protestantism failed to give its followers any foundations for understanding anything regarding the supernatural. This ambiguity and uncertainty regarding the supernatural has been deemed to be a result of the denial of sacraments and sacramentals27. However, this denial was not necessarily general. Since Protestantism held the Word of God to be superior to all else, prayer books, hymnals and catechisms became the Protestant form of sacramental28.
The Essay on Protestant Reformation 2
The Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church was a major 16th-century religious revolution. A revolution, which ended the ecclesiastical supremacy of the pope in Western Christendom and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant, churches. With the Renaissance that preceded and the French Revolution that followed, the Reformation completely altered the medieval way of life in Western Europe ...
Finally, throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the need of the masses for sacramentals became evident and the consecration of objects such as; church foundation stones, fonts and bells took place. Whilst it was insisted that such sacramentals did not impart any sacred power or magic, Protestants failed to take notice and valued these sacramentals as much as did their Catholic counterparts29. The difference between Catholic and Protestant ritual is one of degree and not kind. The beliefs are very much the same. The differences lie in the fact that Protestantism has attempted to capture and contain the ‘spiritual’. Catholicism allows for a variety of spiritual presence’s, Protestantism does not30. Clearly, Protestantism did not abandon the fundamental sacraments and basic forms of ritual. However, even within the Reformation’s attempted de-sacrilization of Christianity and ritual, even within this process, evidence of ritual can be found. The Reformers developed their own form of ritual within their acts of desecration. The Reformation can itself be described as a ritual process31. The desecration of ritualistic and ceremonial objects can be argued as having possessed the same characteristics as a right of passage.
First, the object is removed from it’s environment. Second, it is tested. Finally, it is returned to its initial environment, de-sacrilized. This seems to be representative of some sort of ritual process of humiliation. The irony is that in order to attempt to destroy the ritual of sacrifice, the desecrated images were themselves sacrificed by the Reformers32. The Protestant believed that in destroying such objects a rite of purification took place whereby the Christian was given the opportunity to forget any perceived need for images and rather, remember and focus upon God’s Word alone33. The Reformation movement employed the use of the ritual of carnival to convey its message. The carnivals of the period served to, in the light of fun and good humour, invert the status quo. As such, the carnivalesque atmosphere was the perfect opportunity for the Reformer to denounce Catholic teaching, de-sacrilize holy objects, and question the Catholic hierarchy34. Initially, the Reformers were extremely skeptical of ritual. For the Reformer ritual only served to detract from the all important Word of God. Theoretically the argument may have been sound. However, whilst the Reformation was somewhat successful amongst the literate elite, the masses relied upon ritual in order to gain an understanding of their faith. Hence, the primarily stringent Protestant stance upon ritual later became flexible to somewhat accommodate the masses. Further to this however, is the irony that within the de-sacrilization of Catholic ritual and relics by Protestant Reformers, there existed characteristics attributable to, and fundamental to, the practice of ritual.
Bibliography:
Bibliography Clark.S., Thinking With Demons, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997, pp 489-508. Cressy.D., Birth, Marriage & Death: Ritual, Religion and the Life-Cycle in Tudor & Stuart England, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1997, pp 97-123. Muir.E., ‘The Reformation as a Revolution in Ritual Theory’, Ritual in Early Modern Europe, Cambridge, 1997, pp 155-184. Scribner.R., ‘Reformation, Carnival and the World Turned Upside Down’, Social History, Vol 3, No 3, 1978, pp 303-329. Scribner.R., ‘The Reformation, Popular Magic, and the “Disenchantment of the World”‘, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXIII:3, Winter 1993, pp 475-494 Internet Sites Martin Luther: The Freedom of a Christian http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/REFORM/FREEDOM Medieval Sourcebook: Raimon de Cornet – Poes Criticizing the Avignon Papacy http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/14Ccornet.html The Small Catechism of Martin Luther, Part Four: Holy Baptism, Translated by Robert E Smith on 10 June 1994 http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resource . . . erg/luther/little.book/book-4.txt The Small Catechism of Martin Luther, Part Six: The Sacrament of the Altar, Translated by Robert E Smith on 10 June 1994 http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resource . . . erg/luther/little.book/book-6.txt
