3.4 Religion, spirituality and reforms
The Reformation
The Reformation in Europe was reaction to the Catholic Church of the time and resulted in the founding of many religious denominations. The three most important branches were Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism.
The reformers in the sixteenth century believed that the Church had developed away from its origins. They were particularly opposed to the following “abuses in the Church”
Simony which was the selling of church positions
Nepotism which was the appointment of relatives and friends to church positions
Clerical elitism which prevented the Bible being translated into the vernacular
Absenteeism from priestly duties
The poor training given to parish priests.
The early reformers were seeking an internal reform in the church.
One of these reformers was Martin Luther a monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg. In 1517 he proposed a public debate on the sale on indulgences. He did this by nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. This was the e traditional way to start a debate and had been done by others before him. The Dominican order which was responsible e for selling the indulgences reacted strongly to this call for a debate and Luther was ordered to Rome but his ideas were condemned before he even left Wittenberg.
In 1542 Luther was excommunicated and by this time he was no longer attacking only the abuses within the Church but was questioning the authority of the Church. For the rest of his life Luther and a group of similar men condemned the office of the Pope as not being part of the original Christian message. He also attacked many of the teachings of the Church. Two of the most important doctrines that he formulated were “Justification by faith Alone” and the Priesthood of all believers”. This had the effect of making the clergy less important in the lives of the ordinary people.
Jean Calvin who was born in France but spent most of his life in Geneva was the next generation of reformers. Calvinism is the origin of the Presbyterian Church. IT was brought to Scotland first by John Knox a young Scottish theologian who studied in Geneva and Came under the influence of Calvin. On the Continent the Reformers ideas were readily accepted by the various local Princes for two main reasons. Firstly central government was weak in Germany and Switzerland and secondly the Princes objected to money being sent to Rome to build St Peter’s Basilica.
In England the reformation began with the decision of HenryVIII to seek a divorce from Katherine of Aragon. He took matters into this own hands by declaring himself the Head of the Church in England saying that the Papacy had no Biblical authority. It was only later that Henry became involved in the Reformist ideas from abroad. The main result of this contact with other reformers was that the Bible in English was used in all churches.
It is important to remember one of the features of the Reformation was that in sixteenth century Germany it was assumed that the people of a state should all follow the same religions as their Prince. In England Henry VIII held the same idea. Thus because the Reformation Parliament (1529 – 1536) had declared Henry Head of the Church in England and had also passed the Act of Uniformity each change that took place in doctrine of the Church of England then became part of the civil law. Not only were Catholics persecuted but also members of other denominations as they did not “conform” to Henry’s beliefs. England held that Ireland should also conform to the country’s new beliefs.
In Ireland at the time there was much to reform in the church. There was division between English and Irish bishops; the monastic orders were ineffectual; there was a high degree of absenteeism. Henry thought that there was the possibility to use the Church as a way of extending his power in Ireland. This gave the reformation in Ireland a somewhat political flavour.
A reformation parliament met in Dublin between 1536 and 1537 and accepted the Act of Supremacy,; it also declared that Henry was now the King of Ireland. Up until now the English monarch had been known as “Lord of Ireland” as the king held the lands from a papal grant which had allowed the Norman conquest of Ireland in 1172.
In the beginning there was little opposition to the new religion . In the Pale there no serious objection to the dissolution of the monasteries within the Pale. The reason was that there was little difference in religious practice so most people did not understand the allegiance to Henry rather than Rome.
What did finally provoke a reaction from the Irish was the association of the banning of old religious practices with the ever increasing English domination. In 1537 an act of the Irish parliament decreed that all person who were to be in charge of a parish had to swear to preach in and teach in the English language. This anti Irish element of the reformation was increased when in 1549 an act of uniformity declared that all the people under the rule of the king must use the Book of Common Prayer. In Ireland this meant that the language of church services would now be in English since there was not translation of the Book of Common Prayer in Irish.
By the time that Elizabeth I came to the throne there was a move back towards Catholicism in Ireland. This was in part due to the missionary orders of the Catholic Counter Reformation. There was increasing persecution of the Catholics especially after the excommunication of Elizabeth by the pope. This act of the pope made it very clear that one could not be loyal to both the English monarch and the pope. The English Government began to regard every catholic as a traitor or potential traitor. The Irish began to use Catholicism as a rallying call against the English administration. By the end of the reign of Elizabeth (1603) it was becoming clear that Ireland was going to remain loyal to Catholicism.
Student Work
What were the main differences between the European reformation and the English reformation?
In what way was this an external reform of the church?
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