Session 3 – 23 September 2016

Reformation Backgrounds 3
Haigazian University
REL 02929C Special Topics: History and Theology of Protestantism
Fall Semester 2016-2017
Rev. Wilbert van Saane
 Recap of material in sessions 1 and 2
Reformation Backgrounds 1
Second half fifteenth century: Economy recovers,
merchants in cities become more powerful.
Fourteenth-fifteenth centuries: A return to the
Greco-Roman cultures in the arts (Renaissance)
and a return to the original, authentic texts of
antiquity (Humanism).
Late fifteenth-early sixteenth centuries: Christian
humanists go back to the original, authentic text of
the Bible. In 1516 Erasmus publishes his critical
edition of the Greek NT.
Reformation Backgrounds 2
Gutenberg invents the movable type and printing press (around
1448). The first book published with the new technique is the
Gutenberg Bible (published 1455).
As the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch demonstrate, common
people in the late Middle Ages lives with many insecurities and
fears. Many, including Luther, wondered how they could be saved
from God’s wrath.
Belief in Purgatory was widespread. Purgatory is a temporary
dwelling where the souls of the faithful do penance for their sins
and are purged.
The sales of indulgences played on the fears of people and offered
them a tangible relief from guilt. The church used the revenues
for construction works in Rome and for charity.
 Precursors of Protestantism
• The Waldensians
• The Lollards
• The Hussites
• The Sisters and Brothers of the
Common Life
 Background Info: Two Popes
Between 1378 and 1414 there were two
popes, one in Rome and one in the
French city of Avignon. The Catholic
Church was divided. This was related
to the rising power of France.
The Council of Constance (1414)
solved the problem and the Church had
one pope again, with his seat in Rome.
Papal Palace in Avignon
 Group Work
Procedure Time Table
1. Divide the roles: Who will lead the discussion, 2.15-2.20
who will write on the poster, and who will
present the poster?
2. Collect information on your subject in the printed 2.20-2.30
material and online. Make notes, underline, etc.
3. Discuss which key words you will write on your
poster. 2.30-2.35
4. Make the poster.
2.35-2.40
5. Present it to the class.
2.40-3.00
 The Waldensians
Followers of Peter Waldo (ca. 1140-1205), a
French merchant who decided to live in poverty.
Waldo criticized the lavish lifestyle of the pope
The logo of the
and rejected Catholic teachings such as Purgatory. Waldensian
Waldo also advocated the translation of the New Church. The
words mean: the
Testament in local languages. Waldo’s teachings light shines in
were declared heretical in 1215, and his followers the darkness.
were persecuted in the centuries that followed.
They retreated to remote, mountainous regions of
France and Italy. In the sixteenth century they
joined the Reformation.
The Lollards
Followers of the Oxford philosopher John Wyclif
(1320-1384), who stressed the idea of the invisible, Page from
a Wyclif
pure church (as opposed to the visible, Bible from
contaminated church), the authority of worldly the 15th
rulers (contesting the power of the church), and the century

reading of the Bible in the vernacular. He

instigated the translation of the Latin Bible into
English. Wyclif also dismissed the doctrine of the
transubstantiation. His followers were viewed as
heretics and persecuted, so they went underground.
The English Bible was prohibited from the early
15th century until the time of Henry VIII.
 The Hussites
Followers of John Hus (1372-1415), rector of the
Charles University of Prague, who was inspired by
Wyclif. Hus advocated reform of the corrupt
church and contested the power of the church over
worldly affairs. He was promised a safe passage to
the Council of Constance, but was betrayed and
burnt at the stake in 1415. This unchained a
revolution against the German-speaking rulers of
The Hussite battle flag:
Bohemia, led by Jan Zizka. Bohemia was almost the chalice is there
entirely Hussite for two centuries, until the Battle because the Hussites
offered the Eucharist in
of White Mountain in 1620 and the consequent two kinds, both bread
forced mass reconversion to Roman Catholicism. and wine.
The Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life

Geert Groote (1384) was the founder of

Title Page
these informal communities for lay people of the
found in the Netherlands and Germany. They Imitation of
Christ by
focused on personal religious experience, Thomas a
Kempis.
weaving, copying manuscripts and starting This was
schools. Most humanists were trained in the most
important
schools run by the Brothers of the Common book of the
Modern
Life, for instance Erasmus and Pope Adrian Devotion.
VI. The style of piety the Brothers and
Sisters spread was called Devotio Moderna.