37. Chapter 33: The Church in the Post-Reformation Era

CHAPTER 33 The Church in the Post-Reformation Era

1. Western Europe Is Still Disquieted The Reformation was a tre­mendous upheaval. It was the big­gest thing since the overturning of the Roman Empire by the new Ger­man tribes (ch. 8). It was an up­heaval not only in the Church but also in the State, in economics, in education, and culture (ch. 25, sec. 1).

Long after a storm has blown itself out, the waves continue to run high. Long after the storm of the Reformation had blown itself out, the countries of western Eu­rope continued to feel the effects of the struggle. The age of the Ref­ormation was the sixteenth century. But all through the seven­teenth century, as we shall see in chapter 34, the life of the Church of England continued to ferment; and the feeling of bitter hostility between Catholics and Protestants continued to have its effect on in­ternational affairs.

2. The Word Always Has Been and Remains Basic At the beginning of our book, in chapter 1, section 3, we learned that the two fundamental things in the history of the Church have been the Word and the Spirit of God. The Christian Church had its origin in the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, through the outpouring of the Spirit and the preaching of the Word by the apostle Peter (ch. 1, sec. 2). The Word and the Spirit have ever been basic, throughout the entire history of the Church from the very beginning down to the present day. They will ever be so to the very end of time. The outstanding preacher of the ancient Church was Chrysostom (ch. 7, sec. 6). Another great preacher of the ancient Church was Ambrose (ch. 6, sec. 5). In the medieval Church Bernard of Clairvaux (ch. 20, sec. 6) was highly gifted in this work. The Do­minicans were a monastic order of preachers (ch. 20, sec. 7). Luther and Calvin at times preached daily.

Throughout the centuries there has been a veritable host of preachers of widely varying talents. Preaching has always been of prime importance in maintain­ing and building the Church. The one great means of extending the Church among the heathen is the preaching of the missionaries. But it was not only through preaching to congregations in churches that the Word of God did its work. The Word was the main factor in the proceedings of church councils and in the forma­tion of creeds. Again, the Word was made effective through pro­fessors lecturing in theological schools, through theological books, and books written to give spiritual help for daily life. Since the middle of the past century, teachings from the Word have been spread more and more through the medium of religious papers and magazines, and in recent times through radio.

3. Differences in Explaining the Word Give Rise to Reform and Separation We come now to a point of the utmost importance, to which we shall want to pay very close at­tention. The Word of God, as we have seen, is of fundamental significance in the history of the Church. But what is the Word of God? It is the Bible. All Christians believe the Bible. However, when a man tells you that he believes the Bible he really has not yet told you exactly what he believes. All Christians claim that they derive their teach­ings from the Bible, and yet there are many great differences in the teachings of Christians.

How can we account for that? These differences are due to differ­ences in understanding and ex­plaining the Bible. The final ques­tion is therefore: What does one think is the meaning of the Bible? The false teachings and practices in the Roman Church in ancient and medieval times were due in part to the influence of the sur­rounding heathenism. But many of the developments in the Roman Church were due to faulty explana­tions of the meaning of the Bible that came to be accepted by that Church. On the other hand, the Reformation was also due in part to the influence of the times, but in still larger part to explanations of the meaning of the Bible different from those taught in the Roman Church.

4. The Church Develops along Four Distinct Lines In the history of the Church we have now come to the time since the Reformation. It is the period in which we ourselves are living today, a period filled with new de­velopments and also deteriorations. As we study this period we shall discover that there have been four distinct lines along which the his­tory of the Church since the Ref­ormation has moved. That is, vari­ous branches of the Church have moved along one or the other of these four lines:

1. Holding to the explanation of the meaning of the Bible taught by the Roman Church in its confession and catechism as formulated by the Council of Trent (ch. 31, sec. 6).

2. Holding to the explanation of the meaning of the Bible taught by the great Reformers, and formulated in the confessions of the great historic Protestant churches (ch. 25-30).

3. Departing more or less from these explanations (ch. 36-40).

4. Giving up of the Bible as the infallible Word of God (ch. 41).

5. A Preview of Post-Reformation Developments In the coming chapters we shall learn first of all about further changes and developments in the Church of England, and the con­tinued struggle between Protes­tants and Catholics.

Next, following the third and fourth lines of development, we shall watch the rise of the Congre­gationalists, the Baptists, the So­cinians, the Arminians, the Quak­ers, the Pietists, the Moravians, the Methodists, and the Modernists.

Then, following the first and second lines of development, we shall briefly trace the history of the Roman, the Lutheran, and the Reformed churches, and of the Church in England, from the Ref­ormation down to our own times.

Finally, we shall stand amazed as we see the Church once more, and now for the third and last time, grow again; and this time on a scale more tremendous than ever before in the history of the Church. This growth includes the history of the Church in our own country, the United States of America.