"This is My Work and My Glory"

“For behold, this is my work and my glory – to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  This scripture is found in the book of Moses where God reveals his grand purpose for His children.  While studying the Renaissance and Reformation, I have noticed in particular how God’s hand played a role in the very details of events transpiring in this time span. Throughout the 14^th – 17^th century and then later in the 19^th century when the gospel of Jesus Christ was brought back to the earth in what we know as the restoration.  

The restoration of the gospel was happening long before the spring of 1820.  Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, “Beginning in the 14th century, the Lord began to prepare those social, educational, religious, economic, and governmental conditions under which he could more easily restore the gospel for the last time among men.” 

Paving the way to the Reformation

The Renaissance was a period in which mankind made massive advances in developing society. These advancements ranged from language and social etiquettes to new technologies and ways of life. This period opened the minds of the people, allowing them to become educated and learn about the world for themselves. People were becoming more free to live their life in a way that they wanted to. The Renaissance and this new way of life paved the way for the Reformation. Without the inventions and ideas of the Renaissance, the Reformation wouldn't have been able to happened. Two of the main reasons for the Reformation starting were first, the hunger for knowledge that mankind began to acquire. The second reason was the invention and proliferation of the printing press.

The people of the Renaissance began to become a curious people. They loved learning and looked to the greeks as their example. The people of this time period sought learning and made it their goal to broaden their minds to become more well versed in many aspects of life. This constant search for knowledge opened the minds of the people and got them thinking about important things in new ways. The printing press allowed this search for knowledge to explode and accelerate. Print became easily accessible and now anyone could become learned. A huge factor in bringing about the reformation was that one book which was formerly reserved for the rich and powerful was made available to everyone. This book was the Bible.

Access to the Bible gave the people a power they had never had before. They had accessibility to the word of God. They no longer needed a priest or scholar to bridge the gap between them and the word of God. They could begin their own personal spiritual journey. People were able to go back to the sources and find out things for themselves. Because of the open mindedness of the Renaissance and search for knowledge, people dove into the Bible. Many began to see contradictions with what they had been taught from the Churches. One man who saw such contradictions was Martin Luther. In 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses pointing to the flaws in the church. This was a huge moment in the reformation. In Jonas Bush's blog post: 'The Printing Press: Downfall of the Catholic Church" https://rhetciv.blogspot.com/2018/09/the-printing-press-downfall-of-catholic.html#more, Jonas talks about the power which the printing press brought to the reformation movement. Jonas expresses that Martin Luther succeeds where others before him failed because of the ability to print and disseminate knowledge to the people. Martin and his followers were able to distribute the 95 Theses as well as other bits of propaganda to show the people of the injustices committed against them.

The Reformation brought people back together
after the individualistic Renaissance Period

In these ways, expanding individual knowledge and printing of books, specifically bibles, the Renaissance prepared the way for the Reformation. But these periods differed in some ways. In the Renaissance, individualism reigned and people sought to increase their own knowledge and become their own person. In the reformation, people began to come back together and collaborate in their existences. Carson Telford outlines this point in his blog post: "We're all in this Together" https://rhetciv.blogspot.com/search?q=we%27re+all+in+this+together. He references John Donne speaking of his relationship with people in the church and how whatever they do, he is connected to that. Carson talks about this period bringing people together, while still holding onto the personal endeavors of the Renaissance.

The Renaissance paved the way for the Reformation and the Reformation built upon the ideas of the Renaissance. The Reformation strayed from the Renaissance in bringing the minds of people together.

Printed Satire vs. Twitter Rages

President Donald J. Trump's Tweet

You've probably seen President Trump's tweets, but have you heard of Martin Luther's 95 Theses? They are a list of Luther's critiques of Catholic doctrine and practices that, when printed and published, caused problems for the Catholic Church and triggered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation to which many of today's Christian sects owe their beginnings to. After the list was published, Luther printed additional documents, explanations of the theses.

One of these explanations is of Luther's distaste for the practice of indulgences, or the idea that one can buy salvation, guarenteeing an eternal life outside of purgatory. In this explanation, Luther takes the stance that this "heretical, wicked, and blasphemous" idea is not the fault of the preachers and clergymen, but the fault of the congregations "for having wax in their ears that they hear only pernicious things when these preachers tell them salutary things".

As I was first reading this through, I thought how admirable Luther was. How gracious he is in giving the benefit of the doubt to the preachers. I began to wonder why the Catholic Church was so upset with him for presenting his ideas to the public. It seemed to me that he was striving to purify the saints rather than call the Church to repentance.

Continuing on, however, his words against the people seemed too extravagant, the blame on them too outrageous, the claims that they were wickedly misunderstanding the preachers too unbelievable. Luther was roasting the Clergy. He had even had me going along with it for a minute.

This shows an intriguing side to the development of the printing press. Satire surely wasn't a new idea, but this was different. The speed of the spread made this so much more enraging to the Catholic leadership. The ease of attainment made it more of a threat.

I think this issue is as true today as it was then. Hearing the President of the United States say something bitter about a rival over the radio many years ago is entirely different than reading Trump's virtually constant Twitter rages. The world continues to struggle with this concept. Increased availability increases the threat level. The ease of spread makes this form of banter faster, and therefore more productive (or destructive).

I'm not sure what conclusion to draw about the groups taking the heat from these media gurus, but I know that the terrain will continue to get rougher as new forms of communication continue to develop.


Image Credit: Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Public Domain

Fluidity Within Christianity

Martin Luther and the 95 Theses

When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, he probably had no idea about the influence that this would have on Christianity.

Luther became disgruntled with the Catholic Church and many of their teachings, particularly those saying that to be able to be saved one needed to purchase indulgences for themselves and their loved ones and that both faith and works were needed to enter the kingdom of God (Luther believed only faith was needed). Theories promote the idea that Luther posted his 95 Theses not in an act of total defiance, but rather to set up debates and discussions he was planning to have later on. Nonetheless, the ideas he presented caught fire and spread throughout the world. Luther's ideas paved the way for Protestantism, and many Christian denominations began to sprout from the broken roots of the Catholic Church. 

                                 

Religion Today

I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in North Carolina, which is one of the states in an area known as the "Bible Belt." When my plane touched down in Charlotte, I was immediately surprised at the number of churches standing throughout the city. It seemed to me that there were more churches than there were office buildings and homes combined! What especially struck me was peoples' viewpoints on religion. I met several people who had moved in from another city and were in search of a new church. Although the individual may have been a Presbyterian in their old city, they were completely willing to switch to another denomination, such as: Baptist, Methodist, Latter-day Saint, Episcopalian, Moravian, etc. They would go from church to church until they found a pastor they liked. The pastor (not the religion) mattered because different teachings were presented even within those churches claiming to be from the same denomination. The fluidity of Christian denominations today stands in stark contrast to religion before Luther's time.

Image Credit: www.history.com