The Reformation E-Book

Stephen J. Nichols

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2007

Beschreibung

Mention history and some might struggle to stifle a yawn. But when presented as a narrative it can often be compelling reading. Stephen J. Nichols takes a key period in time, the Reformation, and presents its major players in a fresh way. From Martin Luther, a simple monk who wielded the mallet, to kings and queens, this book goes behind the scenes to uncover the human side of these larger-than-life Reformers. Along the way readers meet Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Anne Bradstreet, and many others. For those wanting to see history in its context, Nichols also provides a sampling of primary source materials. It is an engaging read that will remind readers of the foundational truths that can never be taken for granted by the church in any age. Includes numerous illustrations.

Leseprobe

The Reformation

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Nichols

Published by Crossway Booksa publishing ministry of Good News Publishers1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Jon McGrath

Cover photo: Art Resource Inc.

First printing, 2007

Printed in the United States of America

Illustrations on pages 19, 27,33, 36, 40, 42, 43, 70, 75, 81, 83, 96, 117, 132, 133, 140, 142, and 144 are used by courtesy of Montgomery Library, Westminster Theological Seminary.

Illustrations on pages 49, 61,62,65,66, and 137 are used by courtesy of Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society.

Illustration on page 74 is used by courtesy of the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version®. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataNichols, Stephen J., 1970– The Reformation : how a monk and a mallet changed the world /Stephen J. Nichols.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-829-3 (tpb)ISBN 10: 1-58134-829-01. Reformation. 2. Church history—16th century. I. Title.BR305.3.N53     2007270.6—dc22

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For

LESTER HICKS

SEAN LUCAS

DALE MORT

in appreciation of your friendship

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

Introduction

1 Five Hundred Years Old and Still Going Strong

Why the Reformation Matters Today

2 A Monk and A Mallet

Martin Luther and the German Reformation

3 Some Middle-Aged Men and a Sausage Supper

Ulrich Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation

4 The Not-So-Radical Radical Reformers

The Anabaptists and the Reformation

5 An Overnight Stay in Geneva

John Calvin and the Swiss Reformation

6 A King and a Divorce

The Anglicans and the British Reformation

7 Men in Black

The Puritans and the British Reformation

8 Women in Black Too

The Untold Story of Women and the Reformation

Appendix

In Their Own Words: Selections from Documents of the Reformation

Notes

Almighty God, who through the preaching of thy servants, the blessed reformers, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine forth: Grant, we beseech thee, that knowing its saving power, we may faithfully guard and defend it against all enemies, and joyfully proclaim it, to the salvation of souls and the glory of thy Holy Name; through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

Prayer for Reformation Day, Lutheran Service Book & Hymnal

Almighty God and Father, grant unto us, because we have to go through much strife on this earth, the strength of thy Holy Spirit, in order that we may courageously go through the fire, and through the water, and that we may put ourselves so under thy rule that we may go to meet death in full confidence of thy assistance and without fear.

A prayer of John Calvin

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful to many who have contributed to this book. First, a grateful thanks to Steve Brown, Mike Horton, and Sinclair Ferguson for not only reading the manuscript but also finding something nice to say about it. A trio of friends also deserves mention. Sean Lucas deserves a deep word of thanks for continually honing my historical sensibilities. Dale Mort graciously read every word and was even more gracious in his suggestions for changes. Lester Hicks demonstrates again and again the value of friendship and collegiality. It is to these three friends that I dedicate this book. We’re not quite a band of reformers, but we are trying.

I am deeply appreciative of those who assisted with illustrations, including Carolyn Wenger, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, and Melvin Hartwick, Montgomery Library, Westminister Theological Seminary. Diane Fisher, whose friendship and skills as a reference librarian are deeply appreciated, graciously volunteered her efforts for illustrations. Eric Brandt, upon whose talents I am relying more and more, helped in a number of ways, including setting up the book’s web site.

Much of this material was worked out before some rather encouraging congregations and groups. I am grateful for the occasions provided by Westminster Presbyterian Church (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), Evangelical United Methodist Church (New Holland, Pennsylvania), and Pinebrook Bible Conference in the Pocono Mountains. These kind folks helped me think through the meaning of the Reformation for today. I am also grateful for the support and encouragement from my students, colleagues, and administrators at Lancaster Bible College.

The final chapter begins by noting the laudable wives of the Reformers. My wife, I can easily say, would rival any one of them. To Heidi I am grateful for everything.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Jan Hus

Martin Luther

The Castle at Wartburg

Philip Melanchthon

English Edition of Luther’s Psalms Commentary

Ulrich Zwingli

Erasmus’s Greek New Testament, 1516

Erasmus of Rotterdam

Zurich

Menno Simons

Martyrdom of Maria von Monjou by Drowning, 1552

Thieleman J. van Braght

Secret Anabaptist Church Service, Amsterdam, 1560s

Acts of the Synod of Dort, 1620

Handwritten Manuscript of John Calvin

William Farel

Theodore Beza

Calvin’s Commentary on New Testament Epistles, 1556

England’s Kings and Queens Scorecard

Edward VI and Mary

John Knox

William Laud

Letter from Oliver Cromwell to John Cotton

London, 1647

Johannes Oecolampadius

Anne Bradstreet

Thomas Cranmer

John Calvin

Anabaptist Martyrdoms, Saltzburg, 1528

Ordinance by Parliament Calling for Westminster Assembly, 1643

Directory for Public Worship, 1644

Caspar Olevianus

Reformation Scorecard

INTRODUCTION

Historians like dates. And one of the dates that historians like best is October 31, 1517. On that day one monk with mallet in hand nailed a document to the church door in Wittenberg. It contained a list of Ninety-Five Theses for a debate. The immediate concern was an indulgence sale to finance St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and the Sistine Chapel—Michelangelo didn’t come cheap. Martin Luther, the mallet-wielding monk, could keep silent no longer. He got much more than a debate, however. He and his list of Ninety-Five Theses triggered a Reformation that would sweep across his native German lands, across Europe, and eventually across the entire world. The world would never be the same. Luther’s act gave birth to the Protestant church, now nearly 600 million members strong. Luther’s act also brought the world out of medieval times and into the modern age. Little wonder historians like the date of October 31, 1517.

While we like that date, and Luther for that matter, the Reformation is a much broader event than that singular day. To be sure, the Reformation began on that day. The Reformation, however, spanned two centuries and encompassed a cast of characters from a variety of nations. Luther may very well be at the center of the Reformation, but he does not stand alone.

This book offers a look at this cast of characters and what they accomplished for the life of the church. It tells the various stories that make up the one, grand narrative of the Reformation. We move from Germany down to Switzerland, then over to France and back again. We cross the English Channel to see the Reformation in Britain, and we cross the ocean to see the Reformation’s impact on the New World. Along the way we meet up with Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Conrad Grebel, Menno Simons, and John Calvin. We also meet Thomas Cranmer, Kings Henry VIII and Edward VI, John Knox, John Bunyan, Lady Jane Grey, Anne Bradstreet, and many others. While some of these are rather familiar to us, perhaps we are meeting some of them for the first time.

Before we begin our tour, however, it may be helpful to explore why we should even be talking about these Reformers in the first place. So Chapter One begins with a question of fundamental importance: Why does the Reformation matter to us today?

chapter one

FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLDAND STILL GOING STRONG

Why the Reformation Matters Today

This book is built upon two ideas. First, the Reformation matters. Second, history can be fun. Since you are reading this book, I’m prone to think that you already believe these two points. It might be worthwhile, however, to spend some time on them before we go any further.

“History is bunk,” as Henry Ford so famously put it. Newer is better, it has often been said. If conventional and even presidential wisdom is our guide, then the study of history offers little for life in the twenty-first century. On top of that, it’s boring—just one relentless repetition of dates after another. But these estimations of history couldn’t be further from the truth.

REMEMBER THE EXODUS

History has always been crucial to the people of God. Again and again the Old Testament authors sound the mantra, “Remember.” For them, the rallying cry wasn’t “Remember the Alamo.” It was “Remember the Exodus.” Israel was to remember the Exodus, to remember all that God had done for his people in delivering them from bondage in Egypt and in bringing them into the Promised Land. They were to remember the covenant that governed their relationship with each other and with God (see, for example, Exod. 20:2). When something significant occurred in the life of Israel, they erected a monument so they and future genera tions would remember what great things God had done for them (see, for example, Josh. 4:1-7). The Israelites did best when they remembered. They flailed and faltered when they forgot. Those who don’t know history, as another saying goes, are doomed to repeat it.

History matters no less in the pages of the New Testament. When Christ huddled his disciples one last time before his arrest and crucifixion, he assured them of one precious promise—that the Holy Spirit would come and would help them to remember. He would guide them in remembering and in recording those memories so they would give a true and accurate account of all that Christ did in his life and in his work of redemption on the cross. The Holy Spirit would help them remember and write down for the whole world who Christ was as the God-man and what he did as the Redeemer of his people (John 14, 16).

We see this in the example of Luke and his Gospel. When Luke begins his narrative account of the story, he turns from his profession as a physician to that of historian. He writes to Theophilus:

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1-4).

For Luke, history mattered. The church depended on it. History mattered to Paul too. He tells us that all of his preaching, indeed Christianity itself, hangs on one combined historical event: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:12-18). For the Old Testament it was “Remember the Exodus,” an event of redemption that prefigured the work of Christ. For the New Testament, it is “Remember Christ and his cross.”

What we learn from all of this is that Christianity isn’t a religion of abstraction or of speculative philosophies. God revealed himself in a physical place and in real time. There’s no virtual revelation. And the apex of his revelation to his creatures is the incarnate one, the God-man, Jesus Christ, who was born in history, lived in a real place in flesh and blood, and died in plain view. He rose again not in some abstract way but in reality. He appeared to the disciples and to the crowds (Luke 24), and he ate fish on the shores of the Sea of Tiberias (John 21).

Luke doesn’t stop his narrative with the resurrection of Christ. His sequel, the book of Acts, picks up the story with the tragedies and triumphs of the early church. It was of utmost importance to Luke that the church remember how God worked and how Christianity began with a tiny band of desperate disciples. To say that history matters to Christianity is a classic understatement.

THE CLASSROOM OF CHURCH HISTORY

But that’s biblical history. Of course it matters. What about church history? Why should it matter? Or to put it directly, we have biblical history, but we don’t need church history. Or to put it even more directly, we have the Bible—we don’t need tradition too.

While it is true that we must be careful never to confuse biblical history and church history, it is not true that we don’t need church history. Further, while it is true that we must always preserve the sole authority of Scripture—which, incidentally, is a Reformation principle—it is not true that tradition serves no purpose. We are not the first Christians trying to make sense of the Bible and trying to proclaim it faithfully and winsomely in the world in which we live. We have guides from the past.

Church history provides us with plenty of examples—good, bad, and even ugly—of Christians from all walks of life and from a variety of contexts who labored to bring their faith to bear upon the world in which they lived. Church history is like one grand classroom focused on living out Christ’s final command to his church—to be disciples in the world (John 17:9-21). When we remember the lessons, we tend to do well. When we forget or ignore them, we tend to stumble.

“HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER”

This line, from the second stanza of Robert Robinson’s hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” comes from 1 Samuel 7:10-12. Ebenezer means “stone of help.” God “helped” Israel by confounding the Philistine army and defeating them. So Israel would always remember what God did for them, Samuel erected a monument, naming it Ebenezer. The hymn uses this text to stress the importance of remembering, of looking over the scenes of our life and seeing God’s hand at work. As the full line declares, “Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come.”