A Brief History of Christianity: Part Three – The Reformation
HOW THINGS WORK - BOOK II SCIENCE & RELIGION – CONSIDERATION #161
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“I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or to the council, because it is clear that they have fallen into error and even into inconsistency with themselves… I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.”
– Martin Luther (In response to heresy charges by the Catholic Church)
PREFACE
Welcome Everybody!
There are few inventions that immediately and forever change our reality; the printing press is one of them. In 1436 Johann Gutenberg began designing a machine that would change everything. “The Power of the Press” was about to be unleashed in Europe; and it would wreak havoc on the traditional authority of the Church and the State.
“Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press and the first Bible were nothing short of revolutionary, both politically and religiously. For the first time, books could now be mass-produced and not kept only as the property of the state. Without this invention, the Protestant reformation may never have taken root. But with it, the Bible was put into the hands of the common people… Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press was so revolutionary that the Biography of the Millennium on the A&E channel listed him as the most important person of the millennium.”
– THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT DATES IN CHURCH HISTORY (JourneyOnline.org)
The first book printed on Guttenberg’s new device was a Catholic Bible, written in Latin. However, it wasn’t for “the people” it was for the Catholic Church. The average person could not read Latin, only Vatican scholars of the Catholic Church could read Latin, which meant only Catholics trained by the Church could read Guttenberg’s first Bible. In fact, the Catholic Church was Gutenberg’s first customer.
“He [Gutenberg] understood that the Church provided the best hope for large profit and so, once he had a workable process, he printed indulgences – formerly written by hand and sold to parishioners to shorten their stay (or that of a loved one) in purgatory – and, in 1456, after he had moved back to Mainz, a standard Bible.
The Church welcomed the printing press at first as it enabled the distribution of a standard Bible to parishes throughout Europe at low cost as well as providing mass-produced writs such as indulgences, decrees, and notices.”
– Joshua J. Mark, The Printing Press & the Protestant Reformation
The reason the Church was unconcerned with the printing press was because the Church had control over what was “read” and “heard” by the layman.
“The Church still controlled what was printed because there was no challenge to its authority and, further, because most people were still illiterate… Books or pamphlets were usually read by someone to an audience in the town square or pub…”
– Joshua J. Mark, The Printing Press & the Protestant Reformation
However, eventually the printing press became the mechanism for a revolution against the Church itself.
“‘Hearing’ could be monitored by the Church, and what one heard could be controlled until Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517 which, by 1519, had been published and widely distributed… Ironically, the 95 Theses attacked the Church's practice of selling indulgences, one of the first writs Gutenberg had printed, and it became popular reading quite quickly. With so many copies of Luther's work in circulation, the Church could no longer control what was being ‘heard’, and Luther's challenge to ecclesiastical authority was embraced and spread faster and further than could ever have been imagined…”
– Joshua J. Mark, The Printing Press & the Protestant Reformation
Gutenberg’s new machine would become an essential factor in many revolutions; however, the first revolution was the Protestant Reformation. Soon, both sides of this schism would utilize this new mass communication device to make their arguments to the public.
“The printing press became an important weapon in the Reformation. Both the Protestant and Catholic propagandists made use of the printing press as a means of influencing the public. Protestants used the printing press to proliferate revolutionary theological material at a popular level, while the Catholic Church produced large quantities of anti-Reformation texts.”
– Religion in Print (Treasures of the McDonald Collection)
Ultimately, the Catholic Church’s continuous attempt at censorship backfired and led to greater support for the reformers.
“The more effort the Church put into suppressing Protestant works, the more popular they became, and finally, the Protestant vision was established primarily due to its writers' powerful use of the written word… and book by book, the 'new teachings' of the Protestant Reformation asserted themselves as a legitimate belief system on par with the old faith that had once so easily silenced them.”
– Joshua J. Mark, The Printing Press & the Protestant Reformation
Gutenberg’s printing press represents a turning point for both religion and politics, which were both very interconnected at the time. It was the literal beginning of a concept that would later come to be known as “free speech.” The first revolution influenced by this new technology was the Protestant Reformation. However, despite the new technology utilized, the true cost of that revolution would be measured in terms of the violence and loss of life required to empirically manifest it.
CONSIDERATION #161 – The Reformation
After the Crusades the Roman Catholic Church found itself in a civil war. The Protestant Reformation refers to a time of widespread religious, political, social, and cultural upheaval related to power, corruption, and control lasting from approximately 1517-1648. The man most associated with this religious revolution is Martin Luther.
“On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his ‘95 Theses’ on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg. At issue for Luther was the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church. The ramifications of this event were huge both politically and religiously as Luther’s posting began the Protestant Reformation. When asked why he did it, Luther said he was bound by Scripture and reason. Luther was condemned as a heretic and sentenced to die. He escaped and the Protestant Reformation spread.”
– THE 10 MOST IMPORTANT DATES IN CHURCH HISTORY (JourneyOnline.org)
The essence of Martin Luther’s “95 Thesis” was related to both spiritual and empirical authority. Basically, Martin Luther believed that the Church and the Pope had attempted to supersede the authority of the Bible, Jesus, and God.
“The reformers rejected the authority of the pope as well as many of the principles and practices of Catholicism of that time. The essential tenets of the Reformation are that the Bible is the sole authority for all matters of faith and conduct and that salvation is by God’s grace and by faith in Jesus Christ.”
– Robb S. Harvey, Protestant Reformation
For Martin Luther, a prime example of this misguided authority was the selling of indulgences. Indulgences were originally given based on good works, supporting the Catholic principle that good works are a part of salvation. However, the Church essentially began “selling” indulgences for profit.
“The problem was money. Instead of people earning indulgences through Christian devotion, it became clear that they could be exchanged for a payment. This might be a donation to a charitable cause or, for the wealthy, to have church buildings erected. The bottom line: if you gave the church money, you would be awarded salvation. Such a purchase even came with a receipt, or letter of indulgence. Eventually, it became possible to secure indulgences for someone already dead.”
– Jonny Wilkes, What are indulgences, how were they abused in medieval times, and what do they have to do with the Reformation?
Martin Luther saw indulgences as both morally corrupt and theologically mistaken, sins cannot be forgiven by the Church; that exceeds its authority. According to Martin Luther, spiritual knowledge comes from the Bible, and spiritual redemption comes from the grace of God; they cannot be bestowed by, or purchased from, the Church.
“But in 1517 Luther penned a document attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling ‘indulgences’ to absolve sin. His ‘95 Theses,’ which propounded two central beliefs—that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds—was to spark the Protestant Reformation… The Catholic Church was ever after divided, and the Protestantism that soon emerged was shaped by Luther’s ideas. His writings changed the course of religious and cultural history in the West.”
– Martin Luther and the 95 Theses (History.com)
The reaction to Martin Luther’s reformation movement was the Catholic Church’s counter-reformation movement. One of the results of the counter-reformation was what has come to known as “The Inquisition.”
“The Roman Inquisition, an agency established in 1542, was designed chiefly to combat Protestantism, which was conceived and defined as heresy in Catholic territories.”
– Roman Inquisition – Britannica.com
The Roman Inquisition reflects the degree to which an institution with power is willing to go in order to maintain control. This fear of losing control led to great persecution for those determined to be “heretics” by the Church. It seems inconceivable how the teachings of Jesus could be used to support such a debasement of human beings; most of them Christians.
“It was only in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that the term [inquisition] underwent a change in meaning. From now on, it designated both an extraordinary authority appointed by the Catholic Church and the procedure used by this authority to track down and prosecute religiously dissenting people, or so-called heretics. So there is an institutional aspect and a legal procedural aspect to the Inquisition. The Inquisition was theologically anchored in the principle that there could be no salvation outside the Church…
In the trial itself, among the core elements were anonymity of the informers, confidentiality of the written testimony, targeted interrogation forms, detention and torture. The punishments could range from penances, having to wear a distinguishing mark on their clothing, confiscation of goods, prison terms and excommunication. All punishments were considered a means to generate fear and terror in order to bring the convicted back into the official Church. There were only two categories of heretics that would receive the death penalty: stubborn heretics who refused to turn back, and so-called relapsi, those that first recanted their heresy, but who later reoffended. They were transferred to the secular authorities, who were then obligated to impose the death penalty, that is, to organize burning at the stake.”
– Dr. Daniela Muller, The Inquisition: An Overview
Although the Peace of Augsburg began the process of negotiation between Catholics and Protestants in Germany in 1555, it is generally agreed that the end of the Thirty Year’s War in 1648 marks the end of the Reformation in Europe. There was no clear winner in the Thirty Year’s War, and the ideas of Lutheranism had already established themselves in Europe.
When the Crusades began the Muslims were already divided into two competing sects of Sunni and Shia. Islam faced one universal Roman Catholic Church. However, by the end of the Reformation Christianity was divided into three competing sects: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestantism.
“…is estimated that between 3-11.5 million people were killed in the Thirty Year’s War…”
It is difficult to accurately arrive at the total number of people killed during the Protestant Reformation and the Roman Inquisition. However, somewhere between 15-20 million would not be unreasonable. Some have computed that from the years 1518-1548 up to 15 million protestants were killed and it is estimated that between 3-11.5 million people were killed in the “Thirty Year’s War” fought from 1618-1648. Add those lost in the Crusades and the cost of religious savagery is astounding. This cost did not go unnoticed.
“…the Age of Reason focused on self-evident truths such as freedom of religion…”
Gutenberg’s printing press, the Protestant Reformation, and the Roman Inquisition become the foundation for a reconsideration of the past traditions that had led to such a cost. Enlightenment philosophy during the Age of Reason focused on self-evident truths such as “freedom of religion,” “free speech,” “individual rights,” “individual liberty,” “freedom of the press” and a separation between “religious belief” and “political power,” all of which end up in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
POSTSCRIPT
Ironically, Islam, generally considered more elite and scholarly than European Christians at the time, banned Gutenberg’s “new technology” as a threat to religious authority. Gutenberg’s printing press became a turning point for both Christianity and Islam.
“Muslims’ rejection of the Gutenberg Printing Press was a significant mistake. This rejection stands as one of the primary factors that contributed to the ascent of European Colonial powers and the decline of the last Islamic Caliphate.”
The invention of the printing press could be compared to our current development of Artificial Intelligence in terms of being a paradigm shift in reality. In fact, it was recently brought up at a conference regarding AI.
“Although Johannes Gutenberg invented the press around 1450 and the Ottomans knew about it as early as the 1480s, the Ottomans suppressed the press for some 250 years. It’s a story that was referenced at an international conference on Tuesday by the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence…”
– James Pethokoukis, What the printing press and stagnation in the Islamic world teach about AI
The point of this reference pertained to the lost opportunity costs suffered by Islam for refusing to accept a critical new technology in the past, and the consequences of that decision. According to the article their refusal to accept the printing press allowed the West to overtake them and become the dominant power in the world.
“As Jared Rubin writes in Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not, ‘The Ottomans’ failure to adopt the printing press is one of the great missed opportunities of economic and technological history. In Western Europe, the press provided a host of new economic and educational opportunities that were simply unthinkable prior to the press…’
Now as Rubin explains it, the Ottoman Empire's religious elite — fearing the printing press would weaken their control over knowledge dissemination and thus their societal influence — persuaded the sultan to ban it, thus maintaining the legitimacy of religious authorities.”
James Pethokoukis, What the printing press and stagnation in the Islamic world teach about AI
However, if we compare the efficiency of Gutenberg’s press to the efficiency of Artificial Intelligence the progress is staggering. This is one of the reasons why control over Artificial Intelligence is the dominant factor in who controls the future, and how it will be controlled. Although Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing press radically increased the ability to mass produce printed material, it still took three years to complete a single copy of the Bible. Imagine what AI could “do” in three years.
Next week we conclude our consideration of Book II with a consideration of religion in the founding of the United States…
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