1. Christian History, Ritual and Biblical Interpretation

2.  The Church pervaded all aspects of life (Church building was city square).  Society was changing – tradespeople, early industrialization, education was expanding.  The invention of the printing press (1440) made books more accessible and information and ideas spread much more quickly than in previous times.  The Catholic Church held an amazing amount of power – politically, economically, socially.

3.  Catholic parish priests were selling indulgences for large sums of money.  Indulgence – the forgiveness of punishment from sins after being absolved (usually through prayer, alms, pilgrimage).  The money from such sales was used to build/renovate/decorate churches.  Bible interpretation was only undertaken by priests and monks – believers could not from read the Bible on their own-because it was typically written in Latin-not a language that was accessible for most people.

4.  Martin Luther (a German Catholic Priest) heard first hand the corruption that was happening in the local Catholic Churches of Germany.  He posted his 95 Theses at his local church-The Wittenburg All Saints Church-On Oct 31 st 1517.  Conflict resulted with the Pope, who commanded that Luther recant.  When Luther refused, he was excommunicated  Luther began a German translation of the Bible  Saw religious freedom as essential  The term “Protestant” refers to Christians who “protest” some element of the Catholic Church- in this case the selling of indulgences.

5.  Luther taught that people are saved by faith and the grace of God alone (sola fide, sola gratia), not by actions.  He taught that only the Bible has authority (sola scriptura) on religious questions.  He taught that all Christians have a responsibility to preach and spread the Gospel (priesthood of all believers).  Much later, the Catholic Church accepted a version of this teaching as well.

6.  An example of a Protestant reform of Christianity is the focus away from ritual  The 7 sacraments are maintained by Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism as “visible signs of God’s grace”  Fewer sacraments are recognized by Protestant denominations (varies by movement)  Early Protestant leaders saw the 7 sacraments as only loosely based on scripture  e.g. eucharist (frequency, form, who can receive), matrimony, baptism (infant/adult, full immersion/sprinkling)

7.  Anglicanism –  England broke away from Rome because King Henry VIII wanted a divorce that the Pope would not grant-in defense of Jesus’ Teaching that divorce is not allowed.  Henry declared himself head of the Church of England, although he changed the teachings very little  Hundreds of years of conflict resulted – the state religion was determined by the monarch  There was many martyrs from these conflicts

8.  Calvinism (reform traditions)  Calvin’s teachings went even further from Roman Catholicism  Teachings:  total depravity of humans (people depend entirely on God’s goodness)  Predestination (God has chosen who his mercy is given to)  Jesus’ sacrifice only saves those God has chosen  Modern reform traditions include the Baptists, Presbyterians, United Church of Canada

9.  Anabaptists –  did not agree with Luther or Calvin  Baptized only adults, teach pacifism (complete peace, opposition to war) – includes Mennonites  Evangelicals –  More modern movement, focused on being “born again”  Teaches that the Bible is without error  Pentecostals –  Often grouped with evangelical (same view of the Bible)  Focus on experiencing the Holy Spirit and the 2 nd coming of Christ  Believe in signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence (speaking in tongues, slaying in the spirit)

10.  Fundamentalists –  Absolute authority of the Bible  Reject Darwin’s theory of evolution in favour of the Genesis account of creation  NOTE: Protestantism is difficult to define in modern times because there are so many denominations – many terms overlap  Today thousands of denominations exist, partly because of the original teachings of Luther.