Time To Reform Our View Of The Reformation?

Five hundred years ago a cataclysmic change was begun in the Western church when a renegade monk nailed 95 theses to a church door in Wittenberg.

- David Little

This sparked off a series of events, both theological and secular, whose beneficial effects have filtered down into society to this very day.

Unfortunately recently, perhaps because of moves towards ecumenical unity, there has been a tendency for protestants to be somewhat apologetic about the reformation. The recent joint statement by the archbishops of canterbury and york, saying that: “the reformation was a process of both renewal and division among Christians in Europe,” and that, “many Christians will want to give thanks for the great blessings they have received to which the reformation directly contributed,” is surely understating what was a glorious shake-up of a worldly and corrupt church which changed the whole outlook of the Western world.

Looking at pre-reformation Europe, we see a society that was completely dominated by religious dogma, much of which was nowhere to be found in the new testament. What’s more, this dogma was imposed by an oppressive religious theocracy which, with certain noble exceptions, had lost all touch with the teaching of Christ. Ceremony and superstition had replaced the radical message of Jesus. Freedom of thought was frowned upon, and even teaching your children to pray in English could be a capital offence.

So what benefits did the Reformation bring, both to the church and to society?

The first and most important was the rediscovery of the great doctrine of justification by faith which had been buried beneath the welter of archaic church law, tradition and indulgences. Luther was not the first person to see it was clearly in the bible, but he was the conduit through which the message was published throughout the length and breadth of Western christendom.