JEFFERSON CITY – During the 16th-century, various religious and social upheavals exploded across Europe, colliding to become what historians today call the “Reformation.” Here is a breakdown of the various movements that merged to make up this “Reformation”:
Forerunners of the Reformation
Various attempts at church reform occurred prior to Martin Luther’s stand for biblical supremacy and justification by faith alone. The Reformation was also preceded and informed by various intellectual movements and technological advances of the late Middle Ages. These forerunners of the Reformation include:
• Catholic reform efforts: During the centuries preceding the Reformation, various popes, councils, monks and mystics tried to purify the Christian religion and clean up the abuses that they saw in the churches of their day.
• The Premature Reformation: During the 14th and 15th centuries, John Wyclif in England and later John Hus in Bohemia called for a more extreme reformation in ways that foreshadowed the work of Martin Luther and other 16th-century Reformers. Yet these movements had only limited success.
• Renaissance humanism: Although not in itself a “reform” movement, Renaissance humanism encouraged people to look back to the sources of Christianity, including Scripture and the early church fathers.
•The printing press: Created by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th-century, the printing press would later allow Reformers to distribute their message broadly throughout Europe.
16th-century ‘reformations’
Far from being one monumental “Reformation,” what happened during the 16th century is better described as a kaleidoscope of various “reformations” that interacted with one another:
• Luther and the Lutheran tradition: While Martin Luther influenced various “reformations” across Europe, he is particularly seen as the fountainhead of the Lutheran tradition. After his death, however, Luther’s impact on confessional Lutheranism was shaped as the Reformer’s followers debated various interpretations and applications of his teaching.
• The Reformed tradition: Being birthed in Switzerland and in cities along the Rhine river, the Reformed tradition developed slowly, becoming crystallized in debates of the 17th century. In the early years, churches within this tradition were led by a variety of men, such as Huldrych Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Johannes Oecolampadius and most famously John Calvin. This tradition stood apart from the Lutheran tradition especially because of two doctrinal questions: First, was Christ’s body really present in the bread and wine taken at the Lord’s Supper? Second, what was the relationship between God’s law and the gospel?
• The Radical Reformation: This reformation tradition embraces a wide and diverse spectrum of people and teachings. It embraces Anabaptists, like Balthasar Hubmaier and Menno Simons (the namesake of today’s Mennonites), who taught that churches are subject to the authority of Christ alone and that only adult disciples of Christ should be baptized. It includes revolutionaries like Thomas Muntzer, who tried to purge the church with violence. It also includes rationalists like Michael Servetus, who denied basic tenets of Christianity, such as the Trinity, as well as spiritualists like Sebastian Frank, who denied the existence of a true church on earth.
• The English Reformation: Informed by various other Reformation traditions, the English Reformation had a unique political catalyst. In particular, in the 1530s, King Henry VIII broke away from the Roman church in order to get a new wife – a wife, he hoped, who would give him a male heir to the throne. During the 16th-century, the fluctuations of the English Reformation would be defined by Henry VIII and his children: Edward VI, who died as a boy; Mary I, often called “Bloody Mary” for her persecution of Protestants; and Queen Elizabeth I. The later English Reformation produced Puritans, the Pilgrims, English Baptists and the King James Bible.
• Catholic/counter-Reformation: Both before and after Martin Luther’s break from the Roman church, various Roman Catholic leaders and groups tried to reform church doctrine and practice. Some of these Catholic Reformers even endorsed views of justification similar to Luther’s. But the Catholic/counter-Reformation became crystalized in the mid-16th century at the Council of Trent, which rejected the teachings of Luther and other Protestant Reformers.
When did the ‘Reformation’ occur?
While modern Protestants celebrate the beginning of the Reformation on Oct. 31 each year, this date is merely a formal anniversary of the Reformation rather than the actual date of its beginning. Historians haven’t agreed on any precise date for the beginning of the Reformation, partially because—as noted above—the “Reformation” was actually the collision of several “reformations.”
Nor is the end of the Reformation easy to determine precisely. Many historians today see the Reformation as a long process rather than a single event. As such, one history of Reformation England begins in 1480 and ends in 1642.
Thus, while Oct. 31st marks a key moment in the early Reformation period, one should regard the “Reformation” as the collision of various “reform” movements that emerged and developed over a long period of time, especially during the 16th- and early 17th-centuries.