"Passing on the Flame of the Reformation" credit: slideplayer.com
By the 1500s, the Catholic church was long overdue for a reform. Many had already sought for change with little success. A few had even given their lives. The two most notable of these early reformers were John Wycliffe and Jan Hus (also known as John Huss).
First, John Wycliffe made several discoveries while he was studying the Bible. He actively opposed the Catholic church on many different doctrines, including the doctrine of transubstantiation (the bread and wine turning into the literal body and blood of Christ), the doctrine of indulgences (paying money to have your sins forgiven), and also the doctrine of confessionals (the practice of going and confessing your sins to priests in order to be forgiven). Unfortunately, at the time, Wycliffe's protests largely fell upon deaf ears.
Our next great reformer was Jan Hus, and he was greatly influenced by the writings of John Wycliffe. He didn't agree with Wycliffe on everything, but he did agree that the Catholic church needed to be reformed. He found 45 things that he believed were wrong with Catholicism at the time, and he began to spread his ideas. Unfortunately, the Catholic church didn't really appreciate this, and so Jan Hus was burned at the stake.
Enter to the scene Martin Luther, who according to tradition, posted his 95 theses against Catholic church on the door of the Wittenburg Castle church. And of course, the Catholic church absolutely loved his theses, and accepted them immediately. Just kidding. Martin Luther quickly became the newest in a long line of reformers to be running for his life.
His story might have ended similarly to Jan Hus or John Wycliffe if not for the advent of the printing press. Luther and his followers made great use of the printing press and began widely distributing his 95 theses and also a new translation of the Bible. These things truly fanned the flame of reformation into a bonfire, and enabled Luther to succeed where his predecessors had failed.
Resources:
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/moversandshakers/john-wycliffe.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jan-Hus
If you're looking for a fun and interesting video on the reformation, check this one out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02YJo4n-vY4
As John Donne said: "No man is an island." Although Wycliffe and Hus appeared to have failed in the fight against the Catholic church, don't they deserve some credit for paving the way for Luther? Nothing great happens over night, and when we look back on the path of change, it is always longer than we thought it was.
ReplyDeleteMy dad HATES social media for the reason that Martin Luther and his followers loved the printing press. Every time we get better at shipping around information, it brings our society closer. Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. I struggle to agree that social media is a bad thing, but the trick about both printing press and social media is they end up being some unbiased tools.
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