A Survey of Christianity in Europe : A Survey of Christianity in Europe Richard Yang April 2007
Introduction : Introduction Among all the religious by which people seek to worship, Christianity is by far the most influential in the West. Every phase of man’s life is touched by this religion, so much so that it has become part and parcel of western culture. Judeo-Christian tradition constitutes one of the two major components of European culture: Judaism and Christianity. They are closely related. In fact, it was the Jewish tradition which gave birth to Christianity. Both originated in Palestine—the hub of migration and trade routes, which was known as Canaan.
Introduction : Introduction Some 3800 years ago the ancestors of the Jew—the Hebrews—wandered through the deserts of the Middle East. They were traveling merchants, moving from one trading post to the next. And that was how they were called “Hebrews”, which means “wanderers”.
Bible : Bible About 1300 B.C., the Hebrews came to settle in Palestine. Their history was handed down orally from one generation to another in the form of folktales and stories. The Hebrews history was recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Hebrews made one of the greatest contributions to the world civilization.
The Bible is a collection of religious writings comprising two sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The word “Testament” means “agreement”, the agreement between God and Man.
The Old Testament : The Old Testament The Old Testament is about God and the Laws of God. It consists of 39 books, the oldest and most important of which are the first five books, called Pentateuch, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Genesis : Genesis Genesis, one of the five books in Pentateuch is about a religious account of the origin of the Hebrews people, including the origin of the world and of man, the career of Issac and the life of Jacob and his son Joseph.
One can divide the Book of Genesis into two sections: Primitive and Patriarchal History. Primitive history records (1) Creation; (2) the Fall of man; (3) the Flood; and (4) the dispersion. Patriarchal history records the lives of four great men: (1) Abraham (Genesis 12-25:8); (2) Isaac (Genesis 21:1-35-29); (3) Jacob (Genesis 25:21-50:14); and (4) Joseph (Genesis 30:22-50:26).
Genesis : Genesis God created a universe that was good and free from sin. God created humanity to have a personal relationship with. Adam and Eve sinned and thereby brought evil and death into the world. Evil increased steadily in the world until there was only one family in which God found anything good. God sent the Flood to wipe out evil, but delivered Noah and his family along with the animals in the Ark. After the Flood, humanity began again to multiply and spread throughout the world.
Genesis : Genesis God chose Abraham through whom He would create a chosen people and eventually the promised Messiah. The chosen line was passed on to Abraham's son Isaac, and then Isaac's son Jacob. God changed Jacob's name to Israel, and his twelve sons became the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. In His sovereignty, God had Jacob's son Joseph sent to Egypt by the despicable actions of Joseph's brothers. This intended evil act eventually resulted in Jacob and his family being saved from a devastating famine by Joseph, who had risen to great power in Egypt.
Purpose of Writing : Purpose of Writing The Book of Genesis has sometimes been called the "seed-plot" of the entire Bible. Most of the major doctrines in the Bible are introduced in "seed" form in the Book of Genesis. Along with the fall of man, God's promise of salvation or redemption is recorded (Genesis 3:15). The doctrines of creation, imputation of sin, justification, atonement, depravity, wrath, grace, sovereignty, responsibility, and many more are all addressed in this "seed" Book called Genesis
Exodus : Exodus Exodus, one of the five books in Pentateuch, is about a religious history of the Hebrews during their flight from Egypt, the period when they began to receive God’s Law.
Exodus continues what began in Genesis as God deals with His chosen people, the Jews. It traces the events from the time Israel entered Egypt as guests, until they were eventually delivered from the cruel bondage of slavery into which they had been brought by "...a new king...which knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8).
Exodus : Exodus The theme of redemption, or salvation, is expressed in both the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea. Other major themes are the making of a covenant between God and Israel, the accompanying laws which are part of the covenant, and the worship of God as expressed through the construction and use of the sacred tent of meeting with its furniture, sacrifices, and ceremonies.
By God's self-revelation, the Israelites were instructed in the sovereignty and majesty, the goodness and holiness, and the grace and mercy of their Lord, the One and only God of heaven and earth. The account of the Exodus and the events that followed are also the subject of other major biblical revelation (compare Psalms 105:25-45; 106: 6-27; Acts 7:17-44; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Hebrews 9:1-6; 11:23-29).
The Historical Books : The Historical Books The Historical Books include: Book of Joshua, Book of Judges, Books of Samuel, Books of Kings, Books of the Chronicles, Book of Ezra, and Book of Nehemiah.
These works were written sometime between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C., dealing with history of the Hebrew people from their entry into Palestine around 1200 B.C.， till the fall of Palestine into hands of Assyrians and Chaldeans in 586 B.C. this period of Hebrew history covers the settlement in the Highlands by the Hebrews, the development of system of landed nobles, development of monarchy, age of great prosperity under Saul, David and Solomon, and establishment of the two Kingdoms.
Job : Job Why do the righteous suffer? This is the question raised after Job loses his family, his wealth, and his health. Job's 3 friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, come to comfort him and to discuss his crushing series of tragedies. They insist his suffering is punishment for sin in his life. Job, though, remains devoted to God through all of this and contends that his life has not been one of sin. A fourth man, Elihu, tells Job he needs to humble himself and submit to God's use of trials to purify his life. Finally, Job questions God Himself and learns valuable lessons about the sovereignty of God and his need to totally trust in the Lord. Job is then restored to health, happiness and prosperity beyond his earlier state.
Purpose of Writing : Purpose of Writing The Book of Job helps us to understand the following: Satan cannot bring financial and physical destruction upon us unless it is by God's permission. God has power over what Satan can and cannot do. It is beyond our human ability to understand the “why’s” behind all the suffering in the world. The wicked will receive their just dues. We cannot always blame our suffering and sin on our lifestyles. Suffering may sometimes be allowed in our lives to purify, test, teach or strengthen the soul. God remains enough, deserves and requests our love and praise in all circumstances of life.
Key Verses : Key Verses Job 1:1, "In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil."
Job 1:21, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised."
Job 38:1-2, "Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said, 'Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?'"
Job 42:5-6, "My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."
Psalms : Psalms The Book of Psalms is a collection of prayers, poems, and hymns that focus the worshiper's thoughts on God in praise and adoration. Parts of this Book were used as a hymnal in the worship services of ancient Israel. The musical heritage of the psalms is demonstrated by its title. It comes from a Greek word which means "a song sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument."
In the original Hebrew manuscripts, this long collection of 150 psalms was divided into five sections: Book 1 (1-41), Book 2 (42-72), Book 3 (73-89), Book 4 (90-106), and Book 5 (107-150). Each of these major sections closes with a brief prayer of praise.
Purpose of Writing : Purpose of Writing With 150 individual psalms, the Book of Psalms is clearly the longest in the Bible. It is also one of the most diverse, since the psalms deal with such subjects as God and His creation, war, worship, wisdom, sin and evil, judgment, justice, and the coming of the Messiah.
These individual psalms were clearly inspired by God's Spirit. Through these hymns of praise, we come face to face with our Maker and Redeemer. In the glory of His presence, we are compelled to exclaim along with the psalmist, "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:9).
Key Verses : Key Verses Psalms 23:1, "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want."
Psalms 29:1-2, "Ascribe to the LORD, O mighty ones, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness."
Psalms 51:10, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
Psalms 119:1-2, "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
The New Testament : The New Testament The New Testament is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. It is, in essence, the four accounts, written by the four disciples.
The New Testament was not written all at once. The books that compose it appeared one after another in the space of fifty years, i.e. in the second half of the first century. Written in different and distant countries and addressed to particular Churches, they took some time to spread throughout the whole of Christendom, and a much longer time to become accepted.
The New Testament : The New Testament The New Testament, as usually received in the Christian Churches, is made up of twenty-seven different books attributed to eight different authors, six of whom are numbered among the Apostles (Matthew, John, Paul, James, Peter, Jude) and two among their immediate disciples (Mark, Luke). If we consider only the contents and the literary form of these writings they may be divided into historical books (Gospels and Acts), didactic books (Epistles), a prophetical book (Apocalypse). Before the name of the New Testament had come into use the writers of the latter half of the second century used to say "Gospel and Apostolic writings" or simply "the Gospel and the Apostle", meaning the Apostle St. Paul.
The New Testament : The New Testament The Gospels are subdivided into two groups, those which are commonly called synoptic (Matthew, Mark, Luke), because their narratives are parallel, and the fourth Gospel (that of St. John), which to a certain extent completes the first three. They relate to the life and personal teaching of Jesus Christ. The Acts of the Apostles, as is sufficiently indicated by the title, relates the preaching and the labours of the Apostles. It narrates the foundation of the Churches of Palestine and Syria only; in it mention is made of Peter, John, James, Paul, and Barnabas; afterwards, the author devotes sixteen chapters out of the twenty-eight to the missions of St. Paul to the Greco-Romans. There are thirteen Epistles of St. Paul, and perhaps fourteen, if, with the Council of Trent, we consider him the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The Rise of Christianity : The Rise of Christianity Jesus of Nazareth lived in Palestine during the reign of the first Roman Emperor Augustus. As a Jew, he received a Jewish education. At the age of 30, he received the baptism. Then after the short stay in the desert, he began to travel throughout Palestine, preaching on his own. He taught that God created all humans and loved them the way a father loved his children. Therefore men should believe in God and love him and behave like God’s children and love one another. Three years of preaching like this made Jesus a thorn in the flesh of the clique in power. At the end of three years, he went with his disciples to Jerusalem for the Passover, but was betrayed by Juda. Jesus was rushed to trial and crucified as a revolutionary preacher and dangerous reformer.
The Rise of Christianity : The Rise of Christianity After Jesus died, the disciples tried to spread his gospel, first in Palestine, then, led by St. Peter and St. Paul, began to preach in the Mediterranean region. At first, Christianity was regarded as a rebellious and disintegrating movement and was subjected to frequent persecution, because their work weakened the social and political bond. What’s more, the Christians refused to honour the emperor as a god, claiming that only the true God should be worshipped. Both St. Peter and St. Paul suffered martyrdom. However Christianity continued to spread steadily. Instead of being a poor people’s religion in the earlier days, it began to draw people from all classes. The Romans admired the courage the Christian missionaries professed and the love, kindness and security that Christianity offered. Above all, a religion that promised a happier life after death attracted everybody suffering hard life.
The Rise of Christianity : The Rise of Christianity By 305 Diocletian gave up his effort to destroy the young religion. Soon a war between rivals for the throne followed and was won by Constantine. He, who believed that God had helped him in winning the battle, issued the Edict of Milan in 313. It made Christianity legal.
If Christianity was a rebellious and destructive force towards a pagan Rome in the past, under Constantine the spirit of Jesus made great contributions to the consolidation of the empire. So later seeing in it the hope of moral solidarity, Constantine renounced all those pretensions to divinity. The emperors who followed Constantine I continued pro-Christian policies. In 392 A.D. Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the empire and outlawed all other religions. Now Christianity continued to spread throughout and even beyond the limits of the empire.
Differences between Christianity and the other religions : Differences between Christianity and the other religions Christianity based itself on two forceful beliefs which separate it from all other religions.
Though it is clear that the early Christians’ notion of divine creation, their concern for God and salvation all stemmed from Hebrew roots, yet ever since its birth 2000 years ago, Christianity based itself on two forceful beliefs which separate it from all other religions. One is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that God sent him to earth to live as humans live, suffer as humans suffer, and die to redeem mankind. The other is that God gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Translations of the Bible : Translations of the Bible The Bible is the most popular book in the culture of mankind. It is the essential of western civilization, having shaped the western civilization more decisively than anything else ever written. It is much more than a religious book. Reflecting most extensively western ideas and culture, the Bible is really an encyclopaedia. It has left enormous influence on the human race.
Except a few passages in the related Aramaic dialect, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew. And the New Testament was originally written in a popular form of Greek.
Translations of the Bible : Translations of the Bible The oldest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament is known as the Septuagint. And it is still in use in the Greek Church today. But it only translated the Old Testament. What makes the Septuagint extremely invaluable is that the texts from which it is translated has been lost. And no copy of the original translation can be found.
The most ancient extant Latin version of the whole Bible is the Vulgate edition， which was done in 385-405 A.D. by St. Jerome in common people’s language. It became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. It was also the basis of the earlier translations into English and other European languages. The Latin Bible was first printed when printing was invented in the 1500s. For many centuries it remained the only available book.
English Bible : English Bible The first English version of whole Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate in 1382 and was copied out by hand by the early group of reformers led by John Wycliff.
But though it was a very important achievement that provided a great light to the English nation of that day, the Wycliffe Bible was merely preliminary to that which would come a little more than a century later. The Wycliffe Bible was translated from Latin rather than from Hebrew and Greek. And it was published solely in handwritten manuscripts. After John Wycliff’s version, appeared William Tyndale’s version. In the early 1500s, William Tyndale translated the first English Bible that was taken directly from Hebrew and Greek and that was published via the printing press.
English Bible : English Bible Tyndale’s New Testament was the first to be printed in English. This is one of only two complete copies surviving from the 3,000 or more printed in 1526 by Peter Schoeffer in the German city of Worms. Tyndale’s translation was pronounced heretical in England, so his Bibles were smuggled into the country in bales of cloth. Those discovered owning them were punished. At first only the books were destroyed, but soon heretics would be burned too - including Tyndale himself in 1536. Tyndale on the Stake
William Tyndale : William Tyndale Tyndale was a theologian and scholar who translated the Bible into an early form of Modern English. Besides translating the Bible, Tyndale also held and published views which were considered heretical, first by the Catholic Church, and later by the Church of England. His Bible translation also included notes and commentary promoting these views. But it was banned by the authorities, and he himself was burned at the stake in 1536, at the instigation of agents of Henry VIII and the Anglican Church. William Tyndale
King James Bible : King James Bible In 1611, the Authorized Version appeared. It was made under the auspices of James I and so was sometimes called the King James Bible. It was the work of many learned scholars headed by Bishop Lancelot Andrewes. He was an eloquent orator with an exquisite ear for the cadences of language. All earlier English versions were submitted to these new translators who studied them and corrected them, and suffered only the best rendering to survive. But the basis for this version was the Tyndale text, with some admixture from Wycliffe. The result is a monument of English language and English literature. Produced at James I’s command, this version of the Bible was appointed to be read in the churches and was also adopted by the Puritans in preference to the other versions then current.
Significance of the Authorized Version : Significance of the Authorized Version Apart from its religious influence, the Authorized Version has had a great influence on English language and literature. The translators of the Authorized Version held fast to pure, old English speech. About 93 percent of the 6,000 words used in it are the main words of native English. So, with the widespread influence of the English Bible, the standard modern English has been fixed and confirmed.
Significance of the Authorized Version : Significance of the Authorized Version A great number of Bible coinages and phrases have passed into daily English speech as household words, and are often used with no knowledge of their origin. For instance, “clear as crystal”, “arose as one man”, “a thorn in the flesh”, “a labour of love”, “root of all evil”, “to cast pearls before swine”, “the shadow of death”, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth”, and many more. Thus the simple and dignified language of the Authorized Version has coloured the style of the English prose for the last 300 years and more, and the English Bible has woven its phrases and expressions into the texture of the English language, English literature and English life. Here we must mention the English Bible, because it influenced the English language.
The Church : The Church Christianity had spread throughout the Roman world and the Church had set up its own government by the time the Western Roman Empire fell. As time went by differences in practices as well as in beliefs arose between the Church in the western Mediterranean areas and the church in the eastern Mediterranean area. After 1054, the Church was divided into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. In order to develop a civilization based on Christianity, the Catholic Church made Latin the official language and helped to preserve and pass on the heritage of the Roman Empire.
Reformation : Reformation The Reformation was a 16th century religious movement as well as a socio-political movement. It began as Martin Luther posted on the door of the castle church at the University of Wittenberg his 95 theses. That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials. This movement which swept over the whole of Europe was aimed at opposing the absolute authority of the Roman Catholic Church and replacing it with the absolute authority of the Bible.
Reformation : Reformation The reformers, priests, humanists and others denied that the church authorities and priests were the only authority in the interpretation of the Bible and believed in direct communication between the individual and God. To enable this direct communication, the reformists engaged themselves in translating the Bible into their mother tongues. The demands of the reformists also included that of simplifying rituals, abolishing heavy taxes levied on their countrymen and abolishing the indulgences, the centuries-old practice of paying money to replace the performance of the deed of penance.
Pre-Luther Religious Reformers : Pre-Luther Religious Reformers John Wycliffe (about 1330-1384)
John Wycliffe was the chief forerunner of Reformation. Teaching theology and philosophy at Oxford, he made many vigorous attacks on orthodox church doctrines. For that and for his anti-clerical associations and activities, he was condemned as a heretic. He believed that Christ is man’s only overload and that salvation depends upon predestination and grace rather than on membership of a visible church. He spread the doctrine that the Bible is the supreme authority and insisted that all men have access to the Scriptures in the vernacular. To practice what he preached, he took up the translation of the Bible into English for the first time.
Pre-Luther Religious Reformers : Pre-Luther Religious Reformers Jan Hus (1372-1415)
A Bohemian Czech religious leader, Jan Hus was a theologian and preacher dedicated to preaching in Czech language. In his sermons he attacked the abuses of the Church. He was imprisoned and exiled for his reformist ideas and patriotic activities. His writings were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church who sentenced his to be burnt at stake, which triggered off the Hus War of the Czech people for national liberation.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) : Martin Luther (1483-1546) Martin Luther, German theologian and religious reformer, initiated the Protestant Reformation, and his vast influence, extending beyond religion to politics, economics, education, and language, has made him one of the crucial figures in modern European history.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) : Martin Luther (1483-1546) Luther was born in Eisleben in 1483. His father was a copper miner. Luther received a sound primary and secondary education. In 1502 he received a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in 1505 at the University of Erfurt. He then intended to study law, as his father wished. In July of that year, however, he narrowly escaped death in a thunderstorm and vowed to become a monk. The decision surprised his friends and appalled his father. He entered the monastery, and observed the rules imposed on a novice but did not find the peace in God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luther made his profession as a monk in the fall of 1506, and his superiors selected him for the priesthood, where he was ordained in 1507. After his ordination, Luther was asked to study theology. He received his bachelor's degree in theology in 1509 and returned to Erfurt, teaching and studying there.
Martin Luther (1483-1546) : Martin Luther (1483-1546) In November 1510, he made a visit to Rome, where he was shocked by the worldliness of the Roman clergy. Soon after resuming his duties in Erfurt, he was reassigned to Wittenberg and asked to study for the degree of doctor of theology. In 1512 he received his doctorate and took over the chair of biblical theology, which he held until his death. By 1537, Luther's health had begun to deteriorate, and he felt burdened by the resurgence of the papacy and conflict with a radical wing of the reformers, the Anabaptists. In the winter of 1546, Luther was asked to settle a controversy. Old and sick, he went to resolve the conflict, and died in Eisleben.
John Calvin (1509-1564) and Calvinism : John Calvin (1509-1564) and Calvinism John Calvin was undoubtedly the greatest of Protestant divines, and perhaps, after St. Augustine, the most perseveringly followed by his disciples of any Western writer on theology.
Calvin and Martin Luther : Calvin and Martin Luther A generation divided him from Luther, whom he never met. By birth, education, and temper these two protagonists of the reforming movement were strongly contrasted. Luther was a Saxon peasant, his father a miner; Calvin sprang from the French middle-class, and his father was an attorney. Luther entered the Order of Augustinian Hermits, took a monk's vows, was made a priest and incurred much odium by marrying a nun. Calvin never was ordained in the Catholic Church; his training was chiefly in law and the humanities; he took no vows. Luther's eloquence made him popular by its force, humour, rudeness, and vulgar style. Calvin spoke to the learned at all times, even when preaching before multitudes. His manner is classical; he reasons on system; he has little humour; he uses the weapons of a deadly logic and persuades by a teacher's authority, not by a demagogue's calling of names.
John Calvin (1509-1564) : John Calvin (1509-1564) John Calvin, the son of a lawyer, was born in Picardy and was therefore a Frenchman. Calvin developed a love for scholarship and literature. In 1523 he went to the University of Paris where he studied theology. In 1528 he went to Orleans to study Law. In July 1536, Calvin went to Geneva which became the centre of his work. From 1538 to 1541 Calvin stayed in Strasbourg. In Sep. 1541 Calvin returned to Geneva. It took Calvin 14 years before he could fully impose his version of liturgy, doctrine, organization of the church and moral behaviour.
Calvin’s Beliefs : Calvin’s Beliefs Calvinism was based around the absolute power and supremacy of God. He rejected the papal authorities and devoted himself to the work of reformation in Geneva, where he set himself the task of constructing a government based on the subordination of the state to the church(Presbyterian government). Calvinism stressed the absolute authority of the God’s will, holding that only those specially elected be God are saved. Its belief was that any form of sinfulness was a likely sign of damnation whereas ceaseless work could be a sign of salvation. This belief serves so well to help the rising bourgeoisie on its path that many historians have suggested that Calvinism was one of the main courses of the capitalist spirit. By the end of the 16th century, Calvinism had spread to England. As a result, the Puritan Movement was started in England.
Protestant England : Protestant England England was far distant and isolated from the rest of Europe. While Protestantism tore apart European society, it took a far different form in England, retaining much of the doctrine and the practices of Catholicism. England also experienced the greatest wavering between the two religions as the monarchs of England passed from one religion to the next.
England had, for several centuries, an uncomfortable relationship with Rome. Some of the most strident and successful reformers in the Middle Ages were English; the first translation of the Bible from Latin into a vernacular language was made in England. The adoption of Protestantism, however, was a political rather than a religious move.
Henry VIII : Henry VIII
Henry VIII : Henry VIII King Henry VIII had originally married Catherine of Aragon. The marriage, however, produced no male children to occupy the throne at Henry's death. Henry began to doubt both of the marriage and the spiritual validity of the marriage. Then he met and fell in love with Ann Boleyn, a lady in waiting to Catherine. In order to marry Ann, the marriage with Catherine had to be annulled by the pope. Circumstances, however, were working against him. First, in order to marry Catherine, he needed special papal dispensation. Annulling the marriage would imply that the first papal dispensation was in error, something the pope was not willing to admit. Second, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, had recently invaded Rome and captured the pope. The answer to Henry's request, then, was no and no again.
Henry VIII : Henry VIII When he met with failure, Henry dismissed Cardinal Wolsey and replaced him with Thomas Cranmer and Thomas Cromwell. Both these men were sympathetic to the ideas of Martin Luther. They gave the king some radical advice: if the pope does not grant the annulment, then split the English church off from the Roman church. The king would be the spiritual head of the English church. In 1531, the clergy of England recognized Henry as the head of the church, and in 1533, Parliament passed the "Submission of the Clergy," which placed the clergy completely under Henry's control. In the same year Henry married Ann Boleyn, who was already pregnant with Elizabeth. In 1534 Parliament stopped all contributions to the Roman church by English clergy. Finally, the Act of Succession declared the children of Ann Boleyn to be the heirs to the throne and officially declared the king the supreme head of the church.
Henry VIII : Henry VIII Despite all this storm of activity, the English church didn't really change. The only real difference that anybody would notice was the use of English Bibles in the church. In 1539, Henry reaffirmed his commitment to Catholic practice by passing into law the Six Articles. These articles affirmed the transubstantiation of the Eucharist, confession, private masses, celibate vows, and the sanctity of the Eucharistic cup. The only substantive change Henry made merely involved the head of the church. The English church, however, would radically change under Henry's successor, Edward VI.
Edward VI : Edward VI Edward VI (ruled 1547-1553) was Henry's third child, born by his third wife, Jane Seymour. Edward was only a teenager when he became king, but he thoroughly sympathized with the Protestant cause. Edward and Thomas Cranmer set about turning the church of England into a thoroughly Protestant church. He repealed the Six Articles, allowed clergy to marry, and imposed Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer on all church services. He also ordered any and all images and altars to be removed from churches. Had Edward lived, England would have become a more or less Calvinist country.
Bloody Mary : Bloody Mary Edward, however, died only six years into his reign. He was succeeded by Mary (1553-1558), who was Henry's first child by Catherine of Aragon. Mary had been raised in France and was devoutly Catholic. When she assumed the throne of England, she declared England to be a Catholic country and assertively went about converting churches back to Catholic practices. Images and altars were returned, the Book of Common Prayer was removed, clerical celibacy was reimposed, and Eucharistic practices reaffirmed. She met opposition with steely-eyed defiance; because of the sheer number of executions of Protestant leaders, the English would eventually call her "Bloody Mary." Had she lived longer, England would probably have reverted to Catholicism for another century or so.
Elizabeth I : Elizabeth I Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death in 1603. She was often referred to as the Virgin Queen since she never married or have any children. Elizabeth I was the final monarch of the Tudor Dynasty having succeeded her half-sister Mary I. She reigned during a period of religious turmoil in English history. Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I : Elizabeth I Mary was succeeded by Elizabeth, the daughter of Ann Boleyn. Henry had executed Ann as an adulterer and Elizabeth was declared a bastard child. Nevertheless, she assumed the throne in 1558. Elizabeth was perhaps the greatest monarch in the history of England, and possibly the greatest and most brilliant monarch in European history.
Elizabeth understood that her country was being torn apart by the warring doctrines. While she repealed Mary's Catholic legislation, she did not return to Edward's more austere Protestantism. Rather, she worked out a compromise church that retained as much as possible from the Catholic church while putting into place most of the foundational ideas of Protestantism.
Elizabeth I : Elizabeth I The pope excommunicated her and this created intense internal difficulties in England. For it was incumbent on any Catholic to attempt to assassinate or overthrow her if possible, and a large part of the English nobility was Catholic. Despite this, she managed to avoid assassination because of her brilliant political skills and her pervasive network of spies. The Catholic plots on her life finally met their end when she executed Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587.
Mary was a cousin of Elizabeth's and the next in line for the English throne. Catholic extremists in England understood that Elizabeth could spell the end of any hopes of a Catholic revival in England, so they began to plot Elizabeth's assassination. Mary, for her part, feeling justified by the Pope's excommunication of Elizabeth, foolishly took part in several of these plots. Elizabeth eventually brought her to trial and condemned her to death.
Elizabeth I : Elizabeth I Elizabeth's greatest legacy was the spirit of compromise that infused her version of the Church of England. She managed to please Catholics by retaining several important aspects of Catholicism and also managed to please moderate Calvinists who wanted all traces of the Roman church to be expunged. She effected this by allowing English Calvinists (called "Puritans" because the wanted to purify the church from all Roman influences) to participate in Parliament and to set up semiautonomous congregations that practiced Calvinist doctrine but still recognized the Queen as the head of the church.
The Counter-Reformation : The Counter-Reformation By late 1520 the Roman Catholic Church had lost its control over the church in Germany because the local church officials sided with the rebel princes in Germany. Meanwhile the movement against the Roman Catholic Church had swept over the whole of Europe, shaking the very foundation of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church did not stay idle. They mustered their forces, the dedicated Catholic groups, to examine the Church institutions and introduce reforms and improvements, to bring back its vitality. This recovery of power is often called by historians the Counter-Reformation.
The Counter-Reformation : The Counter-Reformation Many aspects of this movement were genuine reforms. Groups such as the Modern Devotion and the Oratory of Divine Love were organizations that included both clergy and lay people and encouraged a return to simple ethical living and piety. Other aspects were conservative reactions to the criticisms levelled against the church by Protestants and Reformers. The most important of the reactionary movements was the Society of Jesus or the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola in the 1530's and recognized officially by the Catholic church a decade later. Ignatius was a brilliant and visionary man; he was also an uncompromising and severe fanatic.
The Counter-Reformation : The Counter-Reformation The basis of the Society of Jesus was a return to the strictest and most uncompromising obedience to the authority of the church and its ecclesiastical hierarchy. The entire spirit of the Society can be summed up: "I will believe that the white that I see is black if the hierarchical Church so defines it." Ignatius was a brilliant and intelligent man. In 1521 he was wounded in a battle with the French. While recovering, he read the classics of Christianity and was deeply impressed by the lives of the martyrs and the saints. This instilled in him a deep sense of the value of absolute sacrifice; he underwent a conversion and dedicated his life to the same level of self-sacrifice that he saw in the lives of the saints.
The Counter-Reformation : The Counter-Reformation The Protestant gains in Europe and the chaotic evolution of the Counter-Reformation finally forced Pope Paul III in 1545 to convene a council in Trent in order to define church doctrine once and for all. This council, called the Council of Trent, worked on this problem in three separate sessions from 1545 to 1563. This council eventually advised some far-reaching reforms in the abuses practiced by the church, such as the selling of indulgences. The Council forced bishops to reside in the region they presided over and also forbad the selling of church offices.
The Counter-Reformation : The Counter-Reformation On the reactionary side, the Council advised that a seminary be built in every diocese so that church doctrine could be fully and accurately represented. The reforms were very bold in many respects, but they were too little and too late. The new Protestant churches were the wave of the future; and Catholicism—although it would remain a major religion—would in a few centuries cease to be the majority religion in the Western world.
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