Theology/Seminary Notes/Historical Christian Theology

Key Terms:

A: *The Renaissance The medieval synthisis is discarded by scholars, priests and nobels. Furthermore, a new class of persons emerge who are none of these yet achieve great power. This time is an opening of a wedge that seperates or even creates what could be considered the secular world. Before this time you were either pious or not. Religious was assumed and your religion was based on the government around you. In 1275, Aquinas' view was that we were all people of God. The essay "Dignity of Man" put forth the idea that man was a value in his own right. Statuary, writings, painting, heroic epics, philosophy and theology of the greeks supported this view. The Holy Scriptures do not deny this but the empasis makes a change. The renaissanse is a rise of both Pagan and Apostalic Antiquity. Driving the view that the Papacy and course of The Holy Roman Church since 500 +/- has lost it's way. Interesting to note that The Prophet Muhommed held this similar view in 616. Partee would say that the Modern world began with Decarte. Economic, Social, Political, Geographic and Intellectual change. Also significan change to Art, War and Literature.

B: Political Figures

*Charles V For many reasons Charles V could be viewed as the central figure of this period. Charles V essentially purchased the office of Emperor and maintained this office throughout the period studied in this course. Emperor of Rome. Called Councils. Sought to maintain The Church and synthesize The Protestants into that church. Political meneuvering. Sacked Rome. Fought the Turks. Waged war during a time of dynamic change in weapons, tactics, human resources and fortifications. Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56). Son of Philip of Burgundy and Joanna of Castile, he inherited vast possessions, which led to rivalry from Francis I of France, whose alliance with the Ottoman Empire brought Vienna under siege in 1529 and 1532. Charles was also in conflict with the Protestants in Germany until the Treaty of Passau of 1552, which allowed the Lutherans religious liberty.

*Ottoman Empire Suleiman the Magnificent

Suleiman I (Ottoman Turkish Ruler) was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. AKA: Suleiman the Magnificent. Had admiration for Alexander the Great shared Alexander's vision of building a world empire that would encompass the east and the west. His great rival was Charles V. This is interesting in that Suliman controlled the Eastern Remnants of the Roman Empire and Charles V the West. Formed alliances with Francis I of France when the two powers resisted Charles V. Suleiman's efforts against Charles V were coastal and naval in the Med and against the Kingdom of Hungary. The Serbs, Bulgarians and Byzantines all feel to Suleiman the Magnificent.

*Henry VIII --A classic romantic figure. (1491-1547) King of England from 1509, when he succeeded his father Henry VII and married Catherine of Aragón, the widow of his brother. During the period 1513-29 Henry pursued an active foreign policy, largely under the guidance of his lord chancellor, Cardinal Wolsey, who shared Henry's desire to make England stronger. Wolsey was replaced by Thomas More in 1529 after failing to persuade the pope to grant Henry a divorce. After 1532 Henry broke with papal authority, proclaimed himself head of the church in England, dissolved the monasteries, and divorced Catherine. His subsequent wives were Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.

*Edward VI --Tragic figure Edward VI (1537-1553) The boy-king was a brilliant scholar, deeply interested in theological speculation, and during his short reign the Protestant Reformation in England advanced significantly. King of England from 1547, only son of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour. The government was entrusted to his uncle, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (who fell from power in 1549), and then to the Earl of Warwick, John Dudley, later created Duke of Northumberland.

Edward became a staunch Protestant, and during his reign the Reformation progressed in England under Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. Edward died of tuberculosis, and his will, probably prepared by Northumberland, set aside that of his father so as to exclude his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, from the succession. He nominated Lady Jane Grey, a granddaughter of Henry VII, who had recently married Northumberland's son. Technically Jane reigned for nine days and she was deposed by Mary I.

Mary Tudor (aka Mary I) (1516-1558) Queen of England from 1553. She was the eldest daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragón. When Edward VI died, Mary secured the crown without difficulty in spite of the conspiracy to substitute Lady Jane Grey. In 1554 Mary married Philip II of Spain, and as a devout Roman Catholic obtained the restoration of papal supremacy and sanctioned the persecution of Protestants. She was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I. http://tudorhistory.org/mary/

*Mary Queen of Scots: Queen of Scotland (1542-67). Also known as Mary Stuart, she was the daughter of James V. Mary's connection with the English royal line from Henry VII made her a threat to Elizabeth I's hold on the English throne, especially as she represented a champion of the Catholic cause. She was married three times. After her forced abdication she was imprisoned but escaped in 1568 to England. Elizabeth I held her prisoner, while the Roman Catholics, who regarded Mary as rightful queen of England, formed many conspiracies to place her on the throne, and for complicity in one of these she was executed.

Mary's mother was the French Mary of Guise. Born in Linlithgow (now in Lothian region, Scotland), Mary was sent to France, where she married the dauphin, later Francis II. After his death she returned to Scotland in 1561, which, during her absence, had become Protestant. She married her cousin, the Earl of Darnley in 1565, but they soon quarrelled, and Darnley took part in the murder of Mary's secretary, Rizzio. In 1567 Darnley, staying alone in Kirk o'Field House in Edinburgh, was killed in an explosion, the result of a conspiracy formed by the Earl of Bothwell, possibly with Mary's connivance. Shortly after this Bothwell married Mary and the Scots rebelled. Defeated at Carberry Hill, Mary abdicated and was imprisoned. She escaped in 1568, raised an army, and was defeated at Langside. She then fled to England and was imprisoned again. The discovery by Francis Walsingham of a plot against Elizabeth I, devised by Anthony Babington, led to her trial and execution at Fotheringay Castle in 1587.

Mary of Guise 1515-1560 French-born second wife of James V of Scotland from 1538, and 1554-59 regent of Scotland for her daughter Mary Queen of Scots. A Catholic, she moved from reconciliation with Scottish Protestants to repression, and died during a Protestant rebellion in Edinburgh.

Daughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, she was first married in 1534 to the Duke of Lorraine, who died in 1537. After James V died in 1542 she played a leading role in Scottish politics, seeking a close union with France, but she was unpopular, and was deposed as regent in 1559.

*Fredrick the Wise

*Catherine de Medici(1519-1589) French queen consort of Henry II, whom she married in 1533; daughter of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino; and mother of Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III. At first outshone by Henry's mistress Diane de Poitiers (1490-1566), she became regent for Charles IX (1560-63) and remained in power until his death in 1574.

During the religious wars of 1562-69, she first supported the Protestant Huguenots against the Roman Catholic Guises to ensure her own position as ruler; she later opposed them, and has been traditionally implicated in the Massacre of St Bartholomew of 1572.

*Philip II

Philip II (May 21, 1527- Sept 13, 1598) was King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, King of Naples from 1554 until 1598, King consort of England, as husband of Mary I, from 1554 to 1558, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581; and King of Portugal and the Algarves as Philip I from 1580. He also ruled a vast empire in the Americas, including New Spain and Peru.

Philip was the eldest son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. A ficticious quote summarizes Phillip II "If you people would just die or be Catholic then I could rule the world and everything would be great. Why don't you people get it?"

A Man of Anarcy and lavish bigotry who was consistant in these traits through Domestic policy, Economy, Foreign policy, Ottoman-Habsburg Conflict, Revolt in the Netherlands, King of Portugal, War with England, War with France, The Inquisition and Morisco Revolt. If it was the Golden age of Spain then it was gold bought with blood, ignorance, intolerance, cruelty, war and every word that even hints at being negative. Phillip II was given the keys to total global domination but did not like "those people".

*Elizabeth I Queen of England from 1558; the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Through her Religious Settlement of 1559 she enforced the Protestant religion by law. She had Mary Queen of Scots executed in 1587. Her conflict with Roman Catholic Spain led to the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. The Elizabethan age was expansionist in commerce and geographical exploration, and arts and literature flourished. The rulers of many European states made unsuccessful bids to marry Elizabeth, and she manipulated her suitors to strengthen England's position in Europe. She was succeeded by James I.

C: Theological Figures

* Erasmus, Desiderius (c. 1469-1536) Dutch scholar and leading humanist of the Renaissance era, who taught and studied all over Europe and was a prolific writer. His pioneer translation of the Greek New Testament (with parallel Latin text, 1516) exposed the Vulgate as a second-hand document. Although opposed to dogmatism and abuse of church power, he remained impartial during Martin Luther's conflict with the pope.

Erasmus was born in Rotterdam, and as a youth he was a monk in an Augustinian monastery near Gouda. After becoming a priest, he went to study in Paris in 1495. He paid the first of a number of visits to England in 1499, where he met the physician Thomas Linacre, the politician Thomas More, and the Bible interpreter John Colet, and for a time was professor of divinity and Greek at Cambridge University. He also edited the writings of St Jerome and the early Christian authorities, and published Encomium Moriae/The Praise of Folly (1511, a satire on church and society that quickly became an international best-seller) and Colloquia (1519, dialogues on contemporary subjects). In 1521 he went to Basel, Switzerland, where he edited the writings of the early Christian leaders.

*Luther, Martin (1483-1546) German Christian church reformer, a founder of Protestantism. While he was a priest at the University of Wittenberg, he wrote an attack on the sale of indulgences (remissions of punishment for sin). The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V summoned him to the Diet (meeting of dignitaries of the Holy Roman Empire) of Worms in Germany, in 1521, where he refused to retract his objections. Originally intending reform, his protest led to schism, with the emergence, following the Confession of Augsburg in 1530 (a statement of the Protestant faith), of a new Protestant Church. Luther is regarded as the instigator of the Protestant revolution, and Lutheranism is now the predominant religion of many northern European countries, including Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. See also the Reformation: Lutheranism.

Luther was born in Eisleben, the son of a miner; he studied at the University of Erfurt, spent three years as a monk in the Augustinian convent there, and in 1507 was ordained priest. Shortly afterwards he attracted attention as a teacher and preacher at the University of Wittenberg.

On a trip to Rome in 1511, Luther had been horrified by the wealth and luxury of the Roman Catholic Church, compared to the poverty of the people in Germany. Further, his study of the Bible, particularly the books of the Psalms, Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews, convinced him that good works and confession could not earn salvation, but that justification was by faith alone and was the gift of God. He came to believe that the church's teaching - that pilgrimages, relics, and penances could earn salvation - was wrong. When, 1516-17, the Dominican friar Johann Tetzel (c. 1465-1519) was sent round Germany selling indulgences (payments to secure remissions of punishment for sin) to raise funds for the rebuilding of St Peter's Basilica in Rome, Luther was horrified that the church seemed to be trying to sell salvation to raise money for itself. On 31 October 1517 Luther nailed on the church door in Wittenberg a statement of ‘Ninety-five Theses’ attacking these practices and suggesting that religion was an inward relationship with God, and the following year he was summoned to Rome to defend his action. His reply was to attack the papal system even more strongly, and in 1520 he published his three greatest works. In the first, Address to the German Nobility, he attacked the authority of the pope and called on Germans to unite against papal exploitation and to reform the church. In the second, On Christian Liberty, he expounded the nature of Christian faith and argued that ‘the soul...is justified by faith alone, and not by any works’ - the doctrine that became the founding principle of Reformation theology. In the third, On the Babylonish Captivity of the Church, he rejected five of the seven contemporary sacraments and the doctrine of transubstantiation (the transformation of bread and water into the body and blood of Jesus during the Eucharist). When a papal bull (edict) was published against him, he publicly burned it.

At the Diet of Worms in 1521 the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V demanded that he retract his objections - Luther's reply: ‘Here I stand’, marked the start of the Reformation. On his way home from Worms he was taken into ‘protective custody’ by the elector of Saxony in the castle of Wartburg. Originally intending reform, his protest led to a split in the church, the Augsburg Confession (1530) leading to the foundation of a new Protestant Church. Later Luther became estranged from the Dutch theologian Erasmus, who had formerly supported him in his attacks on papal authority, and engaged in violent controversies with political and religious opponents. After the Augsburg Confession, Luther gradually retired from the Protestant leadership. His translation of the scriptures is generally regarded as the beginning of modern German literature.

*Zwingli, Ulrich (1484-1531) Swiss Protestant reformer. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1506, but by 1519 was a Reformer and led the Reformation in Switzerland with his insistence on the sole authority of the Scriptures. As a chaplin, he was killed in a skirmish at Kappel during a war against the cantons that had not accepted the Reformation.

*Melanchthon Philipp Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerd) (February 16, 1497 – April 19, 1560) was a German professor and theologian, a significant character in the Protestant Reformation, a key leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a friend and associate of Martin Luther.

When, having completed his philosophical course, he had taken the degree of master in 1516, he began to study theology. Under the influence of men like Reuchlin and Erasmus he became convinced that true Christianity was something quite different from scholastic theology as it was taught at the university. But at that time he had not yet formed fixed opinions on theology, since later he often called Luther his spiritual father. He became conventor (repetent) in the contubernium and had to instruct younger scholars. He also lectured on oratory, on Virgil and Livy.

*The Radicals http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189038/

http://vlib.iue.it/carrie/texts/carrie_books/gilbert/15.html

These terms refer to those individuals and groups who rejected both the Roman Catholic tradition and the Protestant alternatives to it, in the name of what they considered true or apostolic Christianity. As a result, they were persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike and their ideas and lives were bitterly attacked, often without a genuine knowledge of what they stood for. The attacks of their opponents were given wide currency, while their own statements about themselves were ignored or suppressed, so that for centuries little accurate knowledge was available. Only in recent decades has the balance been rectified by the work of scholars who have uncovered the basic documents and subjected these documents to objective scrutiny. It is now clear that the importance of the radicals was great and that the Reformation cannot be understood without them.One characteristic of this group was their belief in complete independence from the state.Common classification of this left wing reformation is divided into three main groups:the Anabaptists,the Spiritualists,and the Evangelical Rationalists. Conrad Grebel, called "the first Anabaptist."

Thomas Müntzer

Has been much studied in recent years by western scholars and Communists alike. Müntzer's career reached its climax and ended in the Peasants' Revolt. He built up a following among the Thuringian peasants, whom he urged to hasten the triumph of the saints through renewed violence. In April 1525 he took part in a raid that destroyed convents and monasteries. In the same month he wrote a bloodthirsty letter to his followers in Allstedt: "At them, at them, while the fire is hot! Don't let your sword get cold!" At Frankenhausen there was an army of eight thousand peasants who asked Müntzer to lead them. He did so, confident that the wrath of the Almighty would destroy the enemy. The peasants lacked training, proper equipment, and skilled military leadership. They faced an army of the princes, led by Philip of Hesse, which was well trained, well equipped, and skillfully led. The peasants were offered the chance to depart unharmed if they would turn Müntzer over, but Müntzer promised them that God would give them protection and victory. The princes, receiving no answer to the offer, attacked. The peasants were dispersed and cut down. This was the battle of Frankenhausen (May 15, 1525). Müntzer did not long survive it; he was found hiding in a cellar, and after being tortured was beheaded on May 27. Before his death he recanted and took communion according to the Catholic rite.

*St Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) Spanish noble who founded the Jesuit order in 1534, also called the Society of Jesus.

His deep interest in the religious life began in 1521, when reading the life of Jesus while recuperating from a war wound.

He visited the Holy Land in 1523, studied in Spain and Paris, where he took vows with St Francis Xavier, and was ordained in 1537. He then moved to Rome and with the approval of Pope Paul III began the Society of Jesus, sending missionaries to Brazil, India, and Japan, and founding Jesuit schools. Canonized in 1622. Feast day is 31 July.

*Calvin Calvin (or Cauvin or Chauvin), John (1509-1564)

The Protestant theologian and reformer John Calvin. Calvin was born in France, and trained in theology and law before becoming a preacher in Paris. He then went to Geneva, Switzerland, where he became a prominent figure in the Reformation. French-born Swiss Protestant church reformer and theologian. He was a leader of the Reformation in Geneva and set up a strict religious community there. His theological system is known as Calvinism, and his church government as Presbyterianism. Calvin wrote (in Latin) Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536) and commentaries on the New Testament and much of the Old Testament.

Calvin, born in Noyon, Picardie, studied theology and then law, and in 1533 became prominent in Paris as an evangelical preacher. In 1534 he was obliged to leave Paris and retired to Basel, where he studied Hebrew. In 1536 he accepted an invitation to go to Geneva, Switzerland, and assist in the Reformation, but was expelled in 1538 because of public resentment against the numerous and too drastic changes he introduced. He returned to Geneva in 1541 and, in the face of strong opposition, established a rigorous theocracy (government by priests). In 1553 he had the Spanish theologian Servetus burned for heresy. He supported the Huguenots in their struggle in France and the English Protestants persecuted by Queen Mary I.

Huguenot French Protestant in the 16th century; the term referred mainly to Calvinists. Persecuted under Francis I and Henry II, the Huguenots survived both an attempt to exterminate them (the Massacre of St Bartholomew on 24 August 1572) and the religious wars of the next 30 years. In 1598 Henry IV (himself formerly a Huguenot) granted them toleration under the Edict of Nantes. Louis XIV revoked the edict in 1685, attempting their forcible conversion, and 400,000 emigrated.

D: Confessions

*Augsburg Industrial city in Bavaria, Germany, at the confluence of the Wertach and Lech rivers, 52 km northwest of Munich. It is named after the Roman emperor Augustus, who founded it in 15 BC.

In the Middle Ages Augsburg was a centre of commerce on the route to Italy. It was the home of two great medieval merchant families, the Fuggers and the Welsers; the birthplace of painter Hans Holbein;

*Trent December 13, 1545 --> December 4, 1563. Council fathers met first in Trent (1545-1547), then in Bologna (1547) and then again in Trent (1551-1563).

The council issued condemnations on what it defined as Protestant heresies and defined Church teachings in the areas of Scripture and Tradition, Original Sin, Justification, Sacraments, the Eucharist in Holy Mass and the veneration of saints. It issued numerous reform decrees. By specifying Catholic doctrine on salvation, the sacraments, and the Biblical canon, the Council was answering Protestant disputes.

*Formula of Concord http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgxk8AgsKc4&NR=1 Pat needs to expand on this.

*42 and 39 Articles The Church of England under Edward and then Elizabeth sought to cature the whole of christianity under one creed. Thereby, establishing the Church of England as peaceful and acceptable for all Christians. The Augsburg Confession served as a guide. In fact, because England lacked a prominent theologian the Augsburg Confession was essentially cut and pasted into these Articles.

*Dordt Responce to Armenian Remonstrance. Five points. T.U.L.I.P.

*Westminster

*Calvin's Institutes

E: Nominations for Ten Most Important Events in 16th Century

Wray__The Evangelical Catholic Reformation (Date) During this period the Roman Catholic Church moved toward change. This was not as aggressive a change to The Church as was called for and resulted from the protestant reformers. However, it was a call for change from the way things were being done in The Church at that time. It was an affront to the good-o-boys way and the view had risks. Erastimus of the Netherlands introduced this view. He never left the Roman Catholic Church but his view was referred to as "Erastmian Catholicism". This was the first impetus toward change. However slight in comparison to Luther's proposed reforms the views of Erastimus could be considered the "egg" that Luther hatched. I would rather say that Erastimus proposed changes that needed to be made, the fact that he was not crushed or excommunicated was enough to embolden others to call for more change.

Wray__Revolutionary act of Martin Luther of posting 95 thoughts http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html on the Wittenberg Church Door on October 31, 1517 was the spark of defiance that stirred change.

Wray__The Huguenot experience. Developement, identity, persecution, rise to vie for power over France, years of civil war, short lived victory when the Huguenot sovereign became King Henri IV and ultimately dispersal throughout europe, australia and the americas.

Wray__Politics of Persecution. Francis enjoyed the expanse of knowledge and learning gleaned from the protestent in France. This was also due to in large measure to his opposition of Charles V. Through most of the 1530s Francis was allied with the German Protestant princes, and he therefore could not persecute Protestants in France. Only once in this period did he turn sharply against the Protestants. On the night of Oct. 17-18, 1534, placards attacking the Mass were put up all over France, even upon the door to the King's bedchamber. This provocation led to a brief persecution of suspected Lutherans.

But when Francis changed his foreign policy and tried in 1538 to reach an accord with Charles V, persecution of Protestantism in France began in earnest. The Edict of Fontainebleau (1540) brought the full machinery of royal government into action against suspected heretics. A second reversal in his foreign policy that reopened the alliance with the German Protestant princes in the early 1540s slowed the persecutions, but they began again after the accord with the Emperor reached in the Peace of Crépy (1544).

F: Commentary on Art, Literature, Geography or other