History of the Church II: Week Five

The Counter-Reformation  Ignatius Loyola was a young Spanish nobleman in 1521 when during a battle with the French a cannonball shattered one of his legs  During his rehab, he started to read about the saints of the church and the life of Christ – when he recovered, he exchanged his sword for the priesthood  Loyola wrote a treatise for spiritual discipline which became the storm- trooper manual for the Pope’s war against Protestants.  The result was the Society of Jesus or Jesuits.

The Counter-Reformation  At first, the Catholic church did very little to counter-act Protestantism.  This is where the Jesuits can in. They became the Crusaders of the 15 th - 17 th centuries.  When Pope Clement VII was captured by Spanish troops in 1533, the church finally started to see it needed internal reform.  Pope Paul III appointed nine new members to the College of Cardinals and called for a commission to look into how to reform the church  The commission’s report called for less secular attention and more attention to spiritual matters by the Pope.

The Counter-Reformation  The First Council of Trent became the most important council for the Catholic Church in 500 years.  Out of this council, the Church started the Inquisition, the Index of prohibited books and approved the warriors of the faith – the Jesuits.  The Jesuits promised to go anywhere the Pope sent them from the Turks, the Protestants, the Americas and even eventually Asia.  Their tactics were simple: convert to Catholicism or suffer the consequences. The Church had declared war against anyone who did not accept its’ tenants. What followed were the religious wars in Europe.

The Inquisition  The inquisitions permanently divided the Church and its repercussions are felt even today.  The Spanish Inquisition was started before the Jesuits were formed but it continued all the way up to the 18 th century.  There is a controversy about the Inquisition from both Protestants and Catholics.  Thousands were tortured and killed.  Most of the colonists had a built-in prejudice against Catholics likely from some of the experiences of the Inquisition.

A divided church  The Reformation, Inquisition, Council of Trent and the wars that followed split the unity of the true body of Christ.  The religious wars of this time period made it easier to accept the secularization of Europe.  This secularization came in part because the church had no moral ground to stand on.

Spreading the Gospel  When Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, the church went with him.  What followed over the next three centuries completely changed the world.  The Jesuits were the first to expand beyond Europe into all areas of the world including Latin and South America, India, China and Japan.  The Protestants tended to be less evangelical until the 19 th century although there were some exceptions.  Read p. 280 to understand Columbus’ plight in regards to natives.

Spain vs. Portugal  The New World developed the way it did because of the two main kingdoms that helped to shape it: Spain and Portugal.  Portuguese expansion overseas revolved around two points: Eastern trade routes and the Treaty of Tordesillas.  Spanish colonization revolved around these main points:  The rise of Islam in the 7 th century  Occupation of Spain  Evangelism and conquest became one and the same  Racism towards Native peoples  The discovery of gold  The encomienda system