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Name: Martin O Regan Student No.

108595062 Tutor: Geraldine Kidd

To what extent was the reformation successful?

The success of the reformation depends on how you define it. The reformers
themselves believed that they were failing. So the reformation as the reformers
conceived it was not success. The reformation was further undermined by the
impractical educational methods. The reformers high-minded educational
philosophy didn’t help the matters. Catholics were more successful because they
didn’t expect people to assimilate a completely new theology. Repeated changes
of religion worked against both sides and undermined the reformation aim of
restoring the Christian culture. The protestant side had success in that they
completely changed Christianity but not in the manner they intended. Both
Catholics and Protestants became interested in purging out the accretions.

The reformers themselves believed that the reformation had failed. Johann
Aurifaber an associate of Luther believed that reformation was losing
momentum. “God’s word has seldom tarred in one place longer than forty years”
he claimed, “for [Luther’s] teachings are now every-where despised and so many
men so many men have lost interest in them that his very name is held in
contempt”i. The reformers were confirmed in their pessimism when they read
the reports of the visitations in ordinary parishes. English dioceses reported that
few children could answer catechism questions. English parishioners were
regularly excluded from communion because they didn’t know the catechism ii.
English reformers believed that the world abounded with “atheists, epicures,
libertines, worldings, neuters that are of no religion” iii. The reformers themselves
believed the reformation was a failing. The reformation in action was not living
up the ideals that the reformers were aiming for. But we must take into account
the mind set of the reformers. They believed that the end of the world was
approaching. Their theology predisposed them to be pessimistic. Any sign of
moral decay confirmed their theology. At first they were too optimistic. They
proclaimed that “error was in retreat, the gospel was triumphing: It is now time
[…] the night is past” iv. Taking into account the bi-polar nature of the reformers
language it is still apparent that the reformation in action was not living up to
reformation ideals. They had been too optimistic.

At the beginning of the reformation the reformers were confident that they could
spread a form of Christianity purified of the perceived accretions of Catholicism.
They wanted to spread the Protestant gospel by education. At first they believed
that they had achieved this goal. “[N]owadays” Luther boasted “ a girl or boy of
fifteen knows more about Christian doctrine than did all the theologians of the
great Universities in the old days”v. They were trying to create a Christianity in
which the knowledge of God’s word was not out sourced to a learned elite. The
educational philosophy of the time held that the every person could learn the
basics of reading and writing. Believing this they translated the bible and a
reformed liturgy into the vernacular. Education at the time was more learning by
rote less training to think. The catechisms of the time reflect this. They were
written in a question and answer format. These were then to be learnt off by
heart. The vernacular bible and the catechism were methods of spreading the
‘pure’ Christian doctrine. But they proved to be too idealistic. Visitations were
made on parishes in order in test in religious knowledge. The results were
disappointing. The visitation reports paint a picture of a general irreligion.
People didn’t appear to be able to absorb the instruction being given to them. As
well as this they preferred to go fishing rather than go to service vi. The reformers
over estimated the ability of the lay people to assimilate the their new theology.

The Protestant had an overly optimistic view of the people’s ability to assimilate
new theology. The Catholic Church on the other hand had relative success
compared to the Protestants. In the German speaking areas Protestants were
exasperated that in the average rural parish most people were not interested in
religion. But they were interested in magic and charms. In Catholic areas there
appears to have been a better reception of the counter-reformation. In Toledo
the inquisition found that the percentage of people of reciting the catechism in
satisfactory manner rose from 40% in 1555 to 80% in 1575vii. This success for
the Catholic side can be attributed to a natural conservatism of people regarding
religion. The Catholic counter-reformation preserved the traditional practices.
Popular aspects of religion success such as saint’s day’s confraternities,
pilgrimages were refocused on their Christian meaning. In response to
protestant criticisms Catholic clerics tried to teach people the Christian meaning
of a ritual and discouraged the superstitious understanding of the practice. For
example the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius Loyola contained late medieval
piety but they focused on heartfelt devotion rather than cursory practice.
Protestants were disadvantaged because they were introducing an entirely new
religious practice. Hence lay people were confused and exasperated by a
changing religion.

But the reformers were successful in that their ideals changed the course of
Christianity. They wanted to restore Christianity to a purer form. They believed
that Christian culture had been corrupted. The reformers solution to the problem
was that everyone would have a heartfelt faith. Luther hoped Europeans would
be “again a group of real Christians whereas at present we (Europeans) we are
almost pagan and only Christian in name”.viii This intuition, that Christianity
could be practiced in a more sincere manner, was shared by the various
protestant groups and by counter-reformation Catholicism. The theology of the
Eucharist illustrates this. Luther, a moderate reformer, believed that Christ was
still present in the elements together with the substance of bread and wine.
Zwingli believed, a radical reformer, believed that the Eucharist was purely
symbolic. Zwingli believed that Catholic theology was idol worship. Catholic
beliefs, such as the Mass, caused people to engage in outward practice without a
heartfelt faith. Both Luther and Zwingli wanted sincere faith only differing in the
stridency of their anti-Catholicism. Similarly the Catholic Church removed what
it believed were corruptions and than re-educated people so they could have a
more sincere faith. Tabernacles were built so that the laity could adore the
presence of Christ. Confessionals were also built signifying a new focus on
orthodox morality. The reformers were successful because they identified the
problems that were answered by everyone in western Christendom albeit in
different ways.
The reformation was impeded by the very fact that it was controversial. Where
the reformation was resisted it ran into problems. But it was successful where
the state and church were united in reforming the religion. Sweden is one of the
few examples of this. By the 17th century it had a level of religious education only
found in large cities such as Amsterdam. Religious knowledge became so good
that those who couldn’t read scripture were forbidden to marry. The reformation
was a success in Sweden because the state was continuously Protestant. The
people were not exasperated by many changes of religion. The Church and state
were united in their aims. Swedes were able to focus on the devotions rather
than polemics. Most parts of Europe were focused on polemics, Episcopalians
against Presbyterians in Scotland or Arminism against Calvinism in England for
example. More polemics than devotionals were being published in most of
Europe. Cardinal Monone summed the problem, “since everyone is allowed to
believe what he wishes, not only in areas where the princes are contaminated
[where heresy] but also in those where they are Catholic, the people are so
confused that they do not know which opinion they should adhere to” ix. The
Reformation was undermined by its own novelty. Theological debates were not
helpful for engendering piety.

The reformation was not at first a success as the reformers defined it. They were
overly confident that a ‘pure’ Christianity would be popular. The literate culture
needed for a bible-based religion stripped of superstition did not exist in the first
years of the reformation. Catholics were able to compromise between popular
religion and doctrinal orthodoxy in a manner that the reformers couldn’t. The
constant debates and changes to religion during the reformation only caused
people to become disillusioned with religion in general. But the reformers did
have success in that their central idea that a more Christian culture could be
created by encouraging every person to have a more heartfelt religion. They
were attempting to refocus Christianity on it’s own sources. The reformers were
successful insofar as they defined the debate. They were not success insofar as
they achieved their ideal Christianity.
i
Gerald Stauss, “Success and failure of the German Reformation,” Past and Present 67 (1975):
31
ii
Christopher Haigh, “ Success and failure in the English Reformation,” Past and Present 173
(2001) 41-47
iii
Ibid, 29
iv
Ibid, 29
v
Ibid, 30
vi
Ibid, 49
vii
Geoffrey Parker, “Success and failure during the first century of the reformation,” Past and
Present 136 (1975): 73
viii
Scott Hendrix, “ Rerooting the Faith: The Reformation as Re-Christianization,” Church
History 69 (2000): 562
ix
Parker, Success and failure, 79

Bibliography

Christopher Haigh, “ Success and failure in the English Reformation,” Past and Present 173
(2001): 28

Scott Hendrix, “Success and failure during the first century of the Reformation,” Past and
Present 136 (1975): 558

Geoffrey Parker, “Success and failure during the first century of the reformation,” Past and
Present (1975): 558

Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity: The first three Thousand Years (London: Allen
Lane, 2009)

Gerald Strauss, “Success and failure of the German Reformation,” Past and Present 30 (1975):
30

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