Martin Luther's Most Noble Words

Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am convicted by scripture and plain reason--I do not accept the authority of popes and councils for they have contradicted each other--my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, God help me. Amen."

Perhaps the most notable words spoken in the Reformation, this according to early printed reports, was Luther's reply at Worms when urged to recant. He uttered the memorable lines in German on this day, April 18, 1521, and then, upon request, repeated their gist in Latin for those who did not understand his native tongue. He was sweating, said witnesses. With a victory gesture he slipped out of the room.

Frederick the Wise, Luther's supporter was uneasy. Did the scriptures condemn Luther or not? "He is too daring for me," the elector admitted. Nonetheless, on the next day, when asked to stand against Luther with the emperor, he did not sign the condemnation although the other four electors did so.
As for the Emperor, he reasoned that a single friar who went contrary to the whole church could not possibly be right. Descended from a long line of Christian emperors, he felt that to accept Luther's view was to betray the faith of his fathers. He would take prompt action against Luther, he vowed. But since Luther had been given safe conduct to Worms, he allowed him to depart in safety.
Luther did not leave Worms at once. For several days a committee reasoned with him, begging him not to rend the church in two. They pointed out that war would surely come to Germany. Melanchthon, his beloved associate, might be killed. Luther could not help but be moved, but his determination held. God's word must be followed whatever the cost. To this confrontation his stand against indulgences had finally brought him.

There are grounds to doubt that Luther said "Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise." Although the earliest printed versions contain these lines, the official transcripts do not. Whether spoken or not, the words convey the brave monk's attitude. When Luther left Worms, the Reformation was irrevocable.
Martin Luther was at his noblest at Worms. His bold words have stirred men's imagination through subsequent centuries, for they have the same ring to them as Peter's famous defiance of the Sanhedrin. "Judge for yourselves whether we ought to obey God or men."

Bibliography:

1. Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand; A life of Martin Luther. New York: mentor, 1950.
2. Durant, Will. The Reformation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
3. Ganns, H. G. "Luther, Martin." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
4. George, Timothy. "Luther, Martin." Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Timothy Larsen, editor. Downers-Grove, Illinois: Intevarsity Press, 2003.
5. "Luther, Martin." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997. 

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Michael Agricola, Father of Finnish Literature

Not many bishops are the center of national holidays. But the bishop who brought the Reformation to Finland does have a holiday. Finns honor Michael Agricola on this day, the anniversary of his death, April 9, 1557. They remember him as the father of Finnish written language.

Born in Finland, he encountered Reformation ideas while studying at Turku, Finland. The bishop there was a humanist (one who studies the contributions of mankind) and sympathetic to reformation ideas. He sent Michael to Wittenberg, the center of the Reformation, to study. There Michael met both Martin Luther and his close ally, Phillip Melanchthon. His studies complete, these two Reformers gave him a letter of recommendation that enabled him to get a job teaching at the important school at Turku, where he trained clergymen in the Bible and taught Reformation theology. Michael wasn't as concerned with throwing out Catholicism as he was in encouraging his students to discover a new inner Christian life.

He saw how important it was for Finns to learn to read and to know something about their own history and culture. One of the first things he did was to create a spelling book in Finnish. At that time, Sweden controlled Finland. Swedish was the official language. Michael had to print all his books in Stockholm. He printed his ABC book around 1543.

The next year, he printed a prayer book. In addition to prayers by Luther and Erasmus, he included Bible prayers and prayers by saints of the Middle Ages. He wasn't the kind of reformer who says the past has nothing worthwhile to offer us. But the prayer book included more than prayers: it included a calendar, short outlines of astronomy, meteorology and theology. It is amusing to note that it included instructions for proper hygiene! Had his classrooms gotten smelly?

Most important of all, Michael translated the New Testament from Greek. It took him twenty years to complete, but he considered the labor worthwhile. Like other reformers, he believed that everyone should be able to read the Word of God in his or her own language. He taught that every sinner has a way open to salvation through Jesus: that Jesus did for sinners what masses, pilgrimages, holy places, prayers to Mary, relics and good works never can do.

Only 500 copies of Michael's New Testament were printed, but more than a hundred still survive. Printed in the old German typeface, they were filled with pictures printed from woodcuts. At the front of his New Testament, Michael compiled a history of Christianity in Finland and gave details about Sweden's occupation of his country. So his Bible has value for historians, too.

He also translated the Psalms and key passages of the Old Testament. In the preface to the Psalms he listed the old gods of Finland. This is interesting information that would otherwise have been lost. All in all, Michael Agricola helped make the Finns the independent people that they are today. He brought about a quiet reformation in his homeland by changing only what really needed to be changed.

Bibliography:

1. "Agricola, Michael." Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
2. Grell, Ole Peter, editor. The Scandinavian Reformation. Cambridge University Press, 1995.
3. "Literature of the early Reformation period: Michael Agricola (ca 1510-1557)." http://virtual.finland.fi/finfo/english/ kirjaeng.html#agri
4. Ottoson, Knud. A Short History of the Churches of Scandinavia. Archus, 1986.
5. Various internet articles.

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Adolf Clarenbach Arrested

When Luther sparked church reformation in Germany, there was bound to be a backlash. In those intolerant days, when church and state acted together, there was no choice in matters of faith. Someone had to be the first to die for the new ideas. One of the first two martyrs was Adolf Clarenbach.

Around 1520, Adolf Clarenbach became a teacher in a cathedral Latin school. Evidently he was a better than ordinary teacher, for in 1523 he was made principle of the city school in Wesel. But storm clouds loomed. Through reading Erasmus and Martin Luther and studying the Bible, he became a follower of the Reformation.

When his views became known, he was forced to leave Wesel. Adolf then preached in Cologne and the Rhine country, forming communities of evangelical believers.

Returning home in 1528, Adolf returned to his death. At the urging of Catholic leaders, he was arrested at Cologne on this day, April 3, 1528. He was charged with teaching Protestant ideas. Also arrested was Adolf's friend John Klopreis. About that same time authorities arrested yet another Reformation preacher, Peter Fliesteden. Klopreis managed to escape, but Adolf and Peter remained in custody.

The two were held in prison for several months and tortured. When questioned, Adolf insisted that "there is no satisfaction for sin except the death of Christ alone." However, good works witness that we have the faith we claim.

On September 28, 1529, Adolf and Peter were handed over to secular authorities at the gates of Cologne to be burned to death. The long delay between Clarenbach's arrest and death is owing to the fact that three jurisdictions had a stake in his trial. Furthermore, the local citizens were upset with the sentence and had to be pacified. When plague visited the city, the superstitious people took it as a sign that they were being too kind to the heretics and public opinion swung against the prisoners.
Adolf and Peter have been called the first martyrs of the Reformation. However, it is not clear if they were Lutherans or not. But three hundred years after their deaths, Lutheran Germans of the lower Rhine honored them with a special celebration and erected a monument in their honor.

Bibliography:

1. Clarenbach, Adolf. Kirchenlexikon. http://www.kirchen-lexikon.de
2. Schaff, Phillip. New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1951.
3. Various other internet articles. 

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Sigismund I, Polish King Tolerated Reformation

Poland is known today as one of the most Catholic of European countries. The native land of Pope John Paul II, the faith of its people helped bring down the Soviet empire. There was a time, however, when it appeared that Poland might become Protestant.

Thirty-nine year old King Sigismund I took the throne in 1506. He was a humanist--that is, one who appreciated the arts and literature. As such, he corresponded with Erasmus (everyone of importance corresponded with Erasmus!) the humanist whose writings had precipitated the Protestant Reformation. The permissive Sigismund allowed a variety in faith. On the one hand, Nicolas Copernicus flourished as a Catholic canon during his reign, writing his theory that the sun is the center of the universe, while on the other John Laski preached reformation.

If Sigismund did not persecute, it was partly owing to the power of his nobles, many of whom had embraced the Reformation. The nobles of Poland gained significant rights during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Sometimes their power paralyzed the nation, because the king had to win regional approval for taxes and wars. They pushed for limitations on the established church. However, there was no unity among the nobles in what should replace the Catholic church. Lutherans, Anabaptists, Calvinists, United Brethren and other sects flourished alongside traditional Catholicism.

Protestants went too far in some cases. At Danzig they threw the town council out with threat of arms and appointed their own representatives. They seized Catholic churches and other church properties, some of which they converted to use as hospitals. Sigismund eventually beheaded a number of Protestant leaders in that city.

The most significant accomplishment of Sigismund's reign was the defeat of the Teutonic Knights who had long troubled eastern Europe. When their grandmaster, Albert of Brandenburg, became a Lutheran, Sigismund made him Duke of Prussia.

Sigismund died on this day, April 1, 1548. His son Sigismund II ruled in his stead, but died suddenly and the throne passed to a nephew. Jesuits, working to restore Catholicism to Poland during the counter-Reformation, were successful because Poland's Protestants were badly divided. And they were helped by the fact that Sigismund had married his nephew into the royal family of the Catholic Hapsburgs, which brought Poland more firmly into the Catholic sphere.

Bibliography:

1. Wylie, James A. History of Protestantism. http://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/ Voice/History.Protestant.v3.b19.html #CHAPTER2
2. Various internet and encyclopedia articles.

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Infamous Indulgence Led to Reformation

Indulgences are among the greatest embarrassments in the history of the Roman Church.  A shameful money grab directed at relatives who were fearful of the destination of the spirits of their loved ones, it so angered Martin Luther that we ended up with the Reformation.  Of course, once a church has been corrupted from within, it can never be "reformed". 


Warlike Pope Julius II died in 1513, and his successor, Giovanni de' Medici, took the name Pope Leo X. If Julius loved to fight, Leo preferred amusement. His self-indulgence destroyed the unity of the western church when he bartered sin for money in the most infamous indulgence of church history.
From birth Leo had been earmarked for the church. At the age of seven he was made a monk. By thirteen he was a cardinal. In between, the boy had been abbot. He became pope before turning forty.
His tastes were costly. He was only too happy to spend lavishly on himself and voluptuous entertainment. Humanists with few morals swarmed at a papal court where wit mattered more than witness. Plays and shows, ballets and games abounded. No chance for a hunt was turned down. The papal treasury funded preeminent artists such as Raphael. Julius left a full treasury. Leo drained it in eight short years.

St. Peter's basilica was being rebuilt, but there was no money. Leo decided to solve the problem in time-honored fashion. On this day March 15, 1517 he declared that anyone who contributed to the cathedral would be granted an indulgence. Although in theory an indulgence was only a remission of penalties meted out in this world by the church, in practice it was hawked as if it covered the actual guilt of sins and could release souls from Purgatory. The gist of the indulgence was as follows:

"...[I] absolve you ...from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they be...and remit to you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on their account and I restore you...to the innocence and purity which you possessed at baptism; so that when you die the gates of punishment shall be shut... and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the point of death."

Sent to preach the indulgence in Germany was a Dominican named Tetzel. Tetzel got above himself in his promises, implying that the indulgence even covered the future sins which the buyer was now harboring in his heart. Frederick the Wise refused to allow the indulgence to be preached in his territory of Saxony, mostly because he was reluctant to allow Saxon coin to leave his financially-depleted realm. Tetzel came as near the border of Saxony as he could. Folk from Wittenberg crossed over and bought the prized papers.

Afterwards a few doubted the efficacy of the writs. They solicited the opinion to a middle aged monk named Martin Luther. Luther refused to confirm their value. Instead, in an accepted tradition, he posted theses for debate on the door of Wittenberg castle church where a large crowd was expected. The sequel is well known. From those ninety-five theses the Reformation was born when Leo refused to see a problem with the disgraceful sales.

Bibliography:

1. Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand. New York: Mentor, 1950.
2. Begni, Ernesto. Vatican; Its history--its treasures. New York: Letters and Arts, 1914.
3. Brusher, J. Popes Through the Ages. Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand, 1964.
4. Durant, Will. The Reformation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
5. Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Editor Tim Dowley. Berkhamsted, Herts, England: Lion Publishing, 1977.
6. "Indulgences" and "Leo X." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
7. "Indulgences" and "Leo X." The Oxford encyclopedia of the Reformation. Editor in chief Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
8. Kent, W. H. "Indugences." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
9. "Leo X." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
10. Loffler, Klemens. "Leo X." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
11. Mee, Charles L., jr. White Robe, Black Robe. New York, Putnam, 1972.
12. Montor, Artaud de. The Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: The Catholic publication society of America, 1910 - 11.
13. Various encyclopedia articles.

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The Reforming Raven, Anthony Corvinus

Anthony Rabe was just seventeen when Luther posted his 95 theses. The boy was born at Warburg castle on this day, February 27, 1501. Like many humanist scholars, he adopted a Latin form in place of his birth name, which meant Raven. And so we know him as Anthony Corvinus.

Anthony became a monk. At first, he wanted nothing to do with Luther's new ideas. But reading the great Reformer's works and observing his bold stand at the Diet of Worms, changed his mind. He even sent Luther a drink of beer for his refreshment! Anthony was ousted from his monastery because of his Lutheran leanings. He became an enthusiastic supporter of the Reformation, preaching and organizing in Goettingen, Nordheim, Hildesheim, and Calenberg.

The task he had set himself was a dangerous one. Reformation preachers were often hunted men. Threats of heavy penalties hung over their heads.

He won the confidence of Landgrave Philip of Hesse. (A landgrave is a high level count.) During most of the 1530s, Anthony was at the landgrave's side. Philip consulted him on many occasions, so that Anthony attended almost all of the important conferences of the early Reformation.

Philip granted Anthony permission to preach in Goettingen and Hanover. Efforts to bring the Gospel there had resulted in the preachers being hunted. Anthony enjoyed considerable success.

The Duchess Elizabeth, governing for her under-age son, Erich, supported the Reformation. She wrote Luther for assistance. He sent Anthony. This cleared the way for the Gospel in the southern Lower Saxony. Anthony brought the Reformation to Northeim, which had seemed a stronghold of Catholicism.

However, the Duke of Goettingen-Kalenberg sided with Rome. Anthony opposed the Augsburg Interim, a temporary doctrinal formula arranged by Emperor Charles. The Interim made a few concessions to the Lutheran position, such as allowing the clergy to marry and permitting the cup as well as the bread in communion. But for the most part, Lutherans did not feel it went far enough. As far as they were concerned, the real issues were penance, confession and the doctrine of justification. Angered by Anthony's resistance, the Duke threw him into prison. For almost three years, he suffered there.

His health broke. He died in April 1553, "a true and faithful Lutheran Christian" just a few months after his release. His motto in his last years was, "My hope is Christ."

Bibliography:

1. "Antonius Corvinus, the Reformer of Northeim." http://corvinusgemeinde.northeim.bei.t- online.de/geschi/geschich.htm
2. "Corvinus, Antonius." Kirchenlexikon.
3. "Corvinus." Schaff-Herzog Dictionary of Christian Knowledge. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1954.
4. Various internet articles.

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Reformer Philip Melanchthon

This is a red letter day in the history of the Reformation. On this day, February 16, 1497 was born a man of peace into an age of conflict, a reasoner into a world of passion. His birth name was Philip Schwarzerd, "Black earth," which in Latin is "Melanchthon."

At ten Philip was orphaned. His grandmother took him in. Melanchthon proved an apt scholar, entering the University of Heidelberg at twelve. In two years he graduated with his bachelors degree. He proceeded to tutor while adding to his store of Greek. Soon afterward he entered Tübingen where he received his masters degree. When he graduated, the twenty-one-year old was awarded a position as Professor of Greek at Wittenberg through the influence of his grand uncle, the famed humanist, Reuchlin. After a cool reception, he impressed Luther and the schoolmen with his inaugural speech in which he called for thorough-going reform of the curriculum. Martin Luther had already posted his 95 theses and was stirring the Christian world.

Melanchthon himself was ripe for reform. Having read Erasmus' Greek Testament, he, like Luther, was convinced salvation must be by faith rather than by works. He united his talent with Luther's and, in public dispute, bested Luther's chief opponent, Johann von Eck. Not content to argue orally, Melanchthon defended his position in writing. With careful reasoning he clarified what the Reformation was all about. Others characterized him as the brains behind it.

Because he was a peaceable man, Melanchthon was the natural person for Luther to ask to prepare a statement to deliver to Emperor Charles V who had summoned the German Diet to settle the nation's religious differences. Melanchthon's statement was conciliatory. The first twenty-one points emphasized doctrines on which both sides were largely agreed. In the last seven points he addressed those issues on which he felt Catholics had varied from scriptural authority. The key point of the document was that justification of the soul is by faith alone. It became known as the Augsburg Confession and remains the basic statement of Lutheran doctrine. Rome rejected it.

Melanchthon continued to strive for a formulation which would be acceptable to all sides. He did not want the church divided. But his voice of reason was lost in the roar of the day. Because he would not accept Luther's vehement position on the Sacrament, the great reformer turned on his quiet friend and blasted him mercilessly. On his death bed Luther felt remorse for this. "Dear Philip, I confess to have gone too far in the affair of the Sacrament."

Melanchthon lived several years after Luther died, steadily teaching at Wittenberg, but ignored by the radicals who too often headed the Protestant movement. In the end his quiet soul longed for death as a way to escape the "frenzy of theologians." Nonetheless his Augsburg Confession remained one of the few grounds mutually respected by the quarreling reformers. However, he himself was vilified as a compromiser and neglected for 200 years after his death.

Bibliography:

1. Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story.
2. Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand. New York: Mentor, 1950.
3. Durant, Will and Ariel. The Reformation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
4. Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Editor Tim Dowley. Berkhamsted, Herts, England: Lion Publishing, 1977.
5. Loffler, Klemens. "Philipp Melanchthon." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
6. Manschreck, Clyde Leonard. Melanchthon, the Quiet Reformer. New York, Abingdon Press, 1958.
7. "Melanchthon, Philipp." Lutheran Cyclopedia. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1975.
8. "Melanchthon, Philipp." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
9. "Melanchthon, Philipp." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
10. "Melanchthon, Philipp." The Oxford encyclopedia of the Reformation. Editor in chief Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
11. "Philipp Melanchthon 500th Anniversary Exhibit." (chi.lcms.org/melanchthon/)

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Erasmus Loaded the Reformation Cannon

Erasmus loaded the cannon that Luther fired. The greatest scholar of his day, Erasmus rammed two shots into the barrel of the Reformation.

The first shot was a satire titled, The Praise of Folly, which poked fun at the errors of Christian Europe. For example, Erasmus reminded his readers that Peter said to the Lord, "We have left everything for you." But Folly boasts that, thanks to her influence, "there is scarcely any kind of people who live more at their ease" than the successors of the apostles.

The second shot was a Greek New Testament. For centuries, Jerome's Latin translation, the Vulgate, was the Bible of the Church. However, Jerome's translation had deficiencies. Erasmus reconstructed the original New Testament as best he could from Greek texts and printed it. In a parallel column he provided a new Latin translation. What is more--and this could have cost him his life--he added over a thousand notes that pointed out common errors in interpreting the Bible. He attacked Rome's refusal to let priests marry although some lived openly with mistresses; and he denied that the popes have all the rights that they claim. The scholar also challenged practices not taught in scripture: prayers to the saints, indulgences, and relic-worship.

After years of work, Erasmus was ready to release his book. He wondered how he could avoid trouble. One way was to link the New Testament with some great man's name. And so, on this day, February 1, 1516, Erasmus dedicated his New Testament to Pope Leo X. He had gotten the Pope's permission the year before. In a soothing letter written to Leo a few months later, he assured him that he meant no harm. "We do not intend to tear up the old and commonly accepted edition [the Vulgate], but amend it where it is corrupt, and make it clear where it is obscure."

Just in case the authorities should be angry, Erasmus pointed out that the ideas were not new with him. He quoted the greatest church fathers in support of his corrections. It would be a lot harder for intolerant factions to argue with dead heroes than with him!

Like Jerome's translation, Erasmus' New Testament was not completely accurate either. He did not have access to the best manuscripts. Nonetheless, it was enough of an improvement over the old that Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and other translators based their vernacular versions on it. Furthermore, they picked up Erasmus's calls for reform.

The result was that the Reformers broke away from the Roman Catholic church. For a time Erasmus and Luther remained friends. But Luther's words were so violent that Erasmus could not accept them. When Erasmus did not agree with Luther, the Reformer called him all sorts of names, such as "secret atheist."

Erasmus, who thought that the Christian life meant living in the peace of Christ, was hurt. He was in grave danger from both camps. Protestants said he held onto too much that was Catholic; the Catholics threatened him because they claimed he was wrecking the church. Erasmus had to flee from Catholic Louvain to escape being burned to death at the stake.

Erasmus had such a reputation for wit that people were willing to wait quietly for him to answer a question. Frederick the Wise once asked the scholar his opinion of Luther. Erasmus thought while the king waited silently. Finally he answered, "Two 'crimes' Luther has committed: he has attacked the tiara of the pope and the bellies of the monks." Frederick laughed.

We do not often hear of Erasmus. Yet Anabaptists, Zwinglians, and Lutherans claimed to be his true children. His Bible and his wit helped bring about the Reformation.

Bibliography:

1. Allen, John. One Hundred Great Lives. New York: Journal of Living, 1944.
2. Bainton, Roland. Erasmus of Christendom. New York: Scribner, 1969.
3. Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand. New York : New American Library, c1950.
4. "Erasmus." Encyclopedia Americana. Chicago: Encyclopedia Americana corp., 1956.
5. Faulkner, John Alfred. Erasmus the Scholar. Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham, 1907.
6. Runes, Dagobert D. A Treasury of Philosophy. New York: Philosophical Library, 1945; p.381.
7. Russell, Bertrand. Wisdom of the West. New York: Fawcett, 1964; pp. 230 - 231.
8. Zweig, Stephan. Erasmus. New York, The Viking Press, 1934.

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Poland Didn't Listen Long to John Laski

If you were asked to name the countries of the world that are most strongly identified with the Roman Church, Poland would surely be one that came to mind. Pope John Paul II is a notable representative of Polish faith. Yet there was a time when it seemed Poland would follow other northern European nations into Protestant reformation. Why didn't it?

Reform ideas first came to Poland in the fifteenth century through Bohemian followers of John Hus. Then, after the Lutheran reformation began in the sixteenth century, exiles from European countries took refuge in Poland and made converts. Lutheranism itself never became popular, however. Calvinism appealed more to the Polish nobles and commoners because it was more democratic in form. Several nobles and even King Sigismund II favored Calvinism.

One of the noblemen who favored Calvinism was John Laski. His uncle was a powerful archbishop. Like the uncle, the nephew trained for the church. He traveled to France to further his education, but turned in disgust from the scholasticism of Louvain and came to Zurich. Zwingli encouraged him to study the Bible direct, which Laski did. Hitting it off with Erasmus in Basle, he spent a year with the brilliant educator and made friends with a number of reformers who crossed his path.

Uncle Laski did not like this at all. He ordered John home and demanded that he recant his "heretical" beliefs. John obeyed and was made an archdeacon. His duties brought him into contact with the Roman Church and papacy and he witnessed deep corruption at first hand, becoming convinced that the church must reform. At this juncture he was offered a bishop's mitre. Not only did he refuse it, but he openly declared for the Reformation.

He had to flee from Poland, and wandered across Europe. Invited to direct the churches of Friesland, he applied Calvin's methods to the job and reformed the church. In England, he hit it off famously with Cranmer, and influenced the Book of Common Prayer. When he finally returned to Poland, he brought Calvinistic reforms and translated the Bible into his native tongue.

Many Poles turned from the Roman Church, winning a measure of religious freedom. Some church buildings were put to Protestant use. Laws forbade the execution of Roman Church decrees by the government or the collection of Peter's pence (a Vatican tax). But when John Laski died on this day, January 28, 1560, Protestantism was no nearer dominating Poland. The Protestants were too divided. Lutherans, Unitarians, Hussites, Anabaptists, and Calvinists could not agree on common policy. The Roman Church remained the single largest Christian bloc and Roman clergy retained special rights in teaching religious doctrines. In the seventeenth century, religious toleration virtually ceased when the Roman Church reasserted its supremacy.

Bibliography:

1. Dalton, H. "Lasco, Johannes A. (Jan Laski)." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
2. "John Laski." (http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/L/Laski-Jo.html).
3. Ott, Michael. "John Laski." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
4. Various encyclopedia and internet articles.

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Valdes and Spanish Reformation

The sixteenth century in Europe was a century of church reform. Using the newly-invented printing press, many called the church to clean up its act. Martin Luther set reform blazing in Germany with pamphlets and a German Bible. William Tyndale issued the Bible and many booklets in English and died for it. John Calvin published a powerful theological work that won millions of followers. The very air seemed charged with new learning. Spain, too, had its champion of reformation--a freshman at the University of Alcalá.

Juan Valdés was just eighteen years old on this day January 14, 1529 when he published his Dialogue on Christian Doctrine . The work was not quite as he had planned. One of his professors cautioned him to make some changes so that he would not rouse the wrath of the Inquisition. Valdés agreed. Even so, the book was strongly Protestant in tone.

What is more, the Dialogue was arranged on a new plan. It was the first popular Protestant catechism. Luther did not issue his long and short catechisms until later the same year.

The Dialogue caught on in Spain. The inquisitor of Navarre, Sancho Carranza de Miranda, was so impressed with the book, he bought several copies and distributed them among his friends. But in 1531, the book fell under suspicion of heresy. It was placed on the Catholic Index of Prohibited Books. Every copy was ordered confiscated and the inquisition gathered them up. Valdés ran for his life. Soon the Dialogue could not be found in Spain, or anywhere else, for that matter, except a single copy, which fortunately reached Portugal before the recall. If that had not survived, we would not know what the Dialogue said.

Valdés lamented the deep doctrinal ignorance of the priests and the Dialogue set out to remedy that. It is written as a conversation. According to its story line, a friend invites a simple, ignorant priest to visit the well-known historical archbishop, Don Fray Pedro de Alba. Fray Pedro will answer the priest's questions and explain doctrine to him, he is told. The simple priest, his friend, and Fray Pedro talk to each other. Their many questions and repetitions make the book seem rather stilted.

Valdés has Fray Pedro hold faith high--like the reformers. "The faith and trust that we put in Jesus Christ throws out all trust in our own wisdom, justice, and virtue, because it shows us that if Jesus Christ would not have died for us, neither ourselves nor any other creature could give us true happiness." Fray Pedro does not care for devotions to Mary or the saints. Our prayers should be modeled on the Lord's prayer, he says. "In this prayer our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us how we ought to pray. And by its own example the prayer teaches us that it should be brief in words, but abundant in content..." Although the Roman Catholic church teaches that there are seven sacraments, Fray Pedro mentions only the same two that Protestants accept: baptism and the Lord's supper.

Little wonder that the Dialogue's printer was examined for heresy. Authorities began an action against Valdés and his brother, Alfonso, secretary to Emperor Charles V. Meanwhile, Valdés settled in Naples, Italy, where he wrote more books. Agreeing with the reformers, he said that we are obliged only to keep the commandments of God, not those of the church, such as to confess once a year or attend mass every week. He emphasized faith: "And I think that a man may know when he has inward confidence in God by what he discovers of his outward reliance upon God." But Valdés also criticized the reformers for breaking from the Catholic Church. He died in 1541, still a Catholic.
His books attracted many followers. A Spanish reformation movement appeared, but the inquisition soon stamped it out. Many other catechisms were written after the Dialogue, and a few of them imitated it.

Bibliography

1. "Juan de Valdés," in Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation. Editor in chief Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
2. Nieto, Jose C. Juan de Valdes and the Origins of the Spanish and Italian Reformation. Geneva: Librarie Droz, 1970.
3. Williams, George Huntston, editor. Spiritual and Anabaptist Writers Volume XXV. London: SCM Press, 1957.

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501-1600/valdes-and-spanish-reformation-11629945.html

Reformation Overview - Zwingli and Calvin

Huldrich Zwingli is often forgotten in the remembrance of the reformers because he died early in the movement in a battle with Roman Catholic soldiers.  His followers joined some years later with those of John Calvin.  None of the early reformers were perfect in their ideals, at least as perceived today.  All held strong stances against the Anabaptists, those radical reformers who believed in taking baptism only when you believed, that infant baptism held no effectual power.  In fact Calvin wrote to the King of England encouraging him to burn the Anabaptists at the stake, as the death of a few would save the souls of many.  However they did fight hard to deliver the Bible from it's Roman captivity, and for that we today are most grateful.

Part 2
 

Part 3
 

Keepers of the Flame: The Reformers

Remembering the Reformation as it "officially" occurred on November 1st, 1517, but not discounting those who paved the way for Luther and Zwingli.  The Waldenses, Wyckliffe, Hus, and many others suffered and often died trying to keep the flame alive and free the Bible from it's captivity in the Roman church.  Thank God we have the Bible today.  Don't take that for advantage.  We may not have them for long...

Know Your Enemy (Part 32 - The Information War II)

Continuing a look at the reformation and how Satan has always had his disciples focus on controlling "information flow".  This occurs today in the USA where 6 companies control 98% of the market.  Thankfully, the heroes of the reformation set the Bible free from the Roman Church.  This is the rest of the story.

 

Know Your Enemy (Part 31 - The Information War)

I'm re-playing this section of The Fuel Projects "Know Your Enemy" series as it covers what the reformation accomplished, most significantly freeing the Bible from the chains of the Roman Church and getting into the common folk in their own language.  People could see they didn't need a pope or priest to take communion or confess their sins.  In other words, the reformation set the gospel free.

 

The Reformation-Martin Luther

Luther was not perfect either in his ideals or in his accomplishments, but he is the most significant spiritual figure of the last thousand years.  His "reformation" paved the way for common people to have Bibles in their homes, written in their languages, that they could read and understand.    This is HUGE!  He was the beginning, the person the Lord chose to separate the Bible  from the tyranny of the Roman Church.  He set the Bible free to the common man.  And the world would never be the same.  (Praise God!)

You're A Reformer

I must admit few videos have ever touched me quite so personally as this one.  Let me hear from anyone else who feels the same way.  This is true stuff.