Lesson 33: Forerunners of the Reformation

Apostolic Church Apostolic Fathers Church Councils Church History Ca. 30AD590 AD1517 AD Golden Age of Church Fathers Ancient Church HistoryMedieval Church HistoryModern Church History The Pre-Reformers The First Medieval Pope The Rise of the Holy Roman Empire The Crusades The Papacy in Decline

Christian Church in Decline Internal Reform External Opposition  Waldensians....  Mystics  Reforming Councils  Forerunners of the Reformation  Renaissance...  Nation State  Greek Orthodox Church  Failure of the Clergy  Papal Taxation  Rise of the Nation State  Babylonian Captivity  Great Schism  Growing Middle Class

RENAISSANCE “re-birth” Flourishing of artistic and scientific activities rediscovery revitalization PHYSICAL SUFFERING

POLITICAL UPHEAVAL THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR House of Valois Plantagenet's of England/ House of Anjou Joan of Arc

1325? 1384 John Wycliffe English Reformer and rightly called “the morning star” of the Protestant Reformation

1325? 1384 John Wycliffe Education & Academia 36 years Preacher, Lecturer, & Writer 14 years Theological Advisor to the Crown 4 years Preacher, Writer 6 years Thomas Bradwardine Dr. Produndus On the Cause of God Against the Palagians Recovery of Augustinian Doctrine “At the end of the day, think about how you have offended God, and think how graciously God has saved you, not for your own desert, but for his own mercy and goodness.”

Developed teaching that would justify state’s seizure of church property Scripture is the highest authority for every Christian Defined the true church as the totality of the predestined Wrote that the papacy is of human origin founded by Constantine, not Christ Rejected the dogma of transubstantiation as illogical, unscriptural, and unfaithful to teaching of the ancient church 1325? 1384 John Wycliffe Theological Advisor to the Crown 4 years

1325? 1384 John Wycliffe Preacher, Writer 6 years Organize a large body of sermons for use by the “poor priests” Lollards Provided impetus for the translation of the Latin Vulgate into English Greatest influence would be felt in Bohemia, not England The Council of Constance will condemn Wycliffe an heretic and order is body to be exhumed, burned, and thrown into the River Swift. lolia tares

Jan Hus John Huss

JAN HUS Earlier Czech reformers King Charles IV ( ) Jan Milic ( ) “ New Jerusalem home” Bethlehem Chapel Jan Husb. 1372Hussinec; southern Bohemia Entered University Prague1390 or 91 Masters 1396

JAN HUS Earlier Czech reformers King Charles IV ( ) Jan Milic ( ) “ New Jerusalem home” Bethlehem Chapel Jan Husb. 1372Hussinec; southern Bohemia Entered University Prague1390 or 91 Masters 1396 Professor Faulfash Priests & Nuns to lead pure lives Sins confessed to God alone 1402 Appointed preacher of Bethlehem Chapel

"Everyone who passes by, pause and consider if there has been any sorrow like mine. Clothed in these rags I weep while my priests go about in scarlet. I suffer great agony in a sweat of blood while they take delight in luxurious bathing. All through the night I am mocked and spat upon while they enjoy feasting and drunkenness. I groan upon the cross as they repose upon the softest beds."

"I call it a poor business. Such bonfires never yet removed a single sin from the hearts of men. Fire does not consume truth. It is always the mark of a little mind that it vents its anger on inanimate objects. The books which have been burned are a loss to the whole people." "In a word, the papal institution is full of poison, antichrist himself, the man of sin, the leader of the army of the Devil, a limb of Lucifer, the head vicar of the fiend, a simple idiot who might be a damned devil in hell, and more horrible idol than a painted log." John Wycliffe "God is my witness that … the principal intention of my preaching and of all my other acts or writings was solely that I might turn men from sin. And in that truth of the Gospel that I wrote, taught, and preached in accordance with the sayings and expositions of the holy doctors, I am willing gladly to die today." “I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me” “Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me”