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UPDATE: New Submissions for Chapter 17: A House Divided (1517 – 1660) – Part I: Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli
The Marburg Colloquy is the name given to the meeting between Ulrich Zwingli and Martin Luther in 1529.
So here are the new updates from last night’s meeting. I also added Chris’ submission for last chapter that deals with anti-semitism here below Michael’s entry.
Another interesting discussion once again last night. We covered a lot of material and spent a lot of time on Protestant theology.
Chapter 17: A House Divided (1517 – 1660) – Part I – Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli
For next week we will cover the first two sections of Chapter 17: A Door in Wittenberg and The Farmers’ War and Zwingli.
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546), by Lucas Cranach, 1529
We will be going into the heart of the Protestant Reformation by focusing on Martin Luther in Germany (or the Holy Roman Empire I should say specifically because the state of Germany didn’t exist during this time) and Huldrych Zwingli of the Swiss Confederacy.
“The Story of the Jews” – Episode 2 – Among Believers
Last week, as our group was discussing the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, we also talked about the roots of antisemitism in church history. Our understanding was a bit foggy at best.
However, after watching the second episode of the PBS series “The Story of the Jews”, narrated by Simon Schama, I gained a better understanding of the long, and very shameful history, of Christians murdering and persecuting Jews throughout the centuries. And of course, Muslims have had a long history of persecuting Jews as well.
Schama places the Christian roots of antisemitism with the writings of St. Paul, and then hatred toward Jews reached its heights with the fiery preachings of John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, during the 4th century AD who associated Jews with demons and the Devil, and as “Christ-killers”.
When you think about it, as Mr. Schama discusses in this episode, having strictly monotheistic Jews accept the Trinity or the deity of Christ would not only be unacceptable to them, but downright weird. Even claims that Jesus was the Messiah as prophesied in the Old Testament by the prophets seems unconscionable to Jews who believe that with the coming of the Messiah, he would usher in an age of peace throughout the world – but as you know from history, the world has hardly been a place of universal peace after Jesus.
Watch the episode here.
Update: Chapter 16 – Perspectives of the True Church: Part II (1492 – 1517) – The Expulsion of the Jews in Spain, the Spanish Inquisition, and Erasmus
Here are our responses from last night as we finished up Chapter 16.
We focused on the Spanish Inquisition and the legacy that Erasmus left in influencing the Protestant Reformation.
We had a lively discussion last night, mainly spurned on by Erasmus’ preference of Origen’s theology over and against Augustine. We discussed the nature of original sin, and I was surprised to find out that basically half the group still held on to (or were at least somewhat reluctant about abandoning) the doctrine of original sin. Though we all agreed with the basic understanding of human evolution, most of the group still believed that God somehow interfered in the process and specially endowed human beings with the capacity to know and understand God. (I personally am in the very small minority of believers who believe that was not the case – in terms of divine interference in human evolution – but I’ll leave that for a future post perhaps.)
Chapter 16: Perspectives of the True Church (1300 – 1517) – Part II
King Fernando (1452 – 1516) and Queen Isabel (1451 – 1504) of Spain
For next Thursday, April 10 we will cover the last three sections of Chapter 16: Old Worlds Bring New: Humanism (1300 – 1500), Reforming the Church in the Last Days (1500), Erasmus: New Beginnings?
New Updates: Chapter 16: Perspectives of the True Church (1300 – 1517) – Part I: The Black Death, Purgatory, Indulgences, Jan Hus and the Hussites
New updates can be found here. Lots of new material to go over.
Also, we reached over 1,000 views/hits to this site! Amazing! I’m amazed that people from Russia, England, Norway, and even Saudi Arabia have been checking out this site. I really do hope that Project Augustine and this site will continue to expand and reach more people the world over.
Tonight we had another interesting discussion on various topics. We discussed whether God still sends plagues down to mankind today. For instance, just as people in medieval Europe thought the Black Death was a punishment from God for their sins, in today’s world, can we say the same thing about AIDS being God’s punishment for homosexuality? Many believers still hold onto this belief, even in today’s scientific world. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that this was the case – that God had sent the AIDS epidemic as punishment; how would that effect your understanding of God’s character?
Chapter 16: Perspectives of the True Church (1300 – 1517) – Part I: The Black Death, Purgatory, Nominalists, Lollards, and Hussites
“The Triumph of Death”, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, 1562
For next Wednesday, March 26, please read the first three sections of Chapter 16: The Church, Death and Purgatory (1300 – 1500); Papal Monarchy Challenged (1300 – 1500); Nominalists, Lollards and Hussites (1300 – 1500).
Please write a summary on one of the following topics:
- Discuss the impact the Black Death had upon the Catholic Church and people’s faith; also discuss the flagellant movement and anti-Semitism that was prevalent during this time.
- Discuss how the industry of Indulgences gained popularity during the time of the Black Death
- Discuss why Purgatory became so prevalent during after the 12th century.
- What was the significance of Council of Konstanz in 1417 with Pope Martin V and the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund? What was the impact of the Conciliarists?
- Discuss the philosophy of William of Ockham and the Nominalists and why they were a threat to papal authority. Also how did printed texts and the printed Bible change the spiritual landscape of Europe during this time?
- Discuss the impact of John Wyclif in the 1370s and his followers the Lollards. What was the impact of the English translation of the Vulgate, and then subsequent translations of the Bible in the other European countries’ native language?
- Discuss the impact of Jan Hus and his Hussites during the 1400s in Prague. What impact did his execution have on the Czech Church and relations with the Catholic Church?
As you can tell, we are on the cusp of the Reformation revolution that is to come full force.
Essays will be posted next week.
Gravity waves, the multiverse, and God
As you may be well aware by now of the monumental discovery announced yesterday with the evidence of gravity waves as predicted by Einstein practically a century ago, it will be interesting how this finding will affect theology, our understanding of God, and creation down the road.
One of the implications of this recent finding, other than validating the occurrence of the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago and the rapid expansion of space (faster than the speed of light) within a fraction of a second after the Bang, is that this will most likely further the case for the multiverse theory – that our universe is just one in a whole sea of an infinite number of universes – as predicted by quantum theory. Universes might pop in and out of existence all the time. In fact, we might even be living inside a much, much larger universe that cannot be detected by our current technology, something like the omniverse.
Such a thought is absolutely mind-boggling and unfathomable to say the least.
New Update: Chapter 15: Russia the Third Rome – Part II: The Rise of Moscow and Ivan the Terrible
Fourteen Orthodox Church patriarchs and archbishops gather in Church of St. George upon the invitation of Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 6, 2014. (Photo by Erhan Elaldi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) | Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Sorry for the delay, but here are the new entries.
This concludes our studies into the Orthodox Church for now, but through this I think we all gained tremendous insight into the history of the Orthodox faith as a whole.
In relation to the history of the Orthodox faith, we are living in interesting times right now as “the Twelve heads of autonomous Orthodox churches, the second-largest family of Christian churches, agreed to hold a summit of bishops, or ecumenical council, in 2016, which will be the first in over 1,200 years” recently.
It will be interesting how the Orthodox Church will respond to what is happening in Russia and the Ukraine right now as well.
In regards to reading MacCulloch, what I personally want to investigate is to see “God’s hand” in the major events of history. Of course, this isn’t MacCulloch’s main concern in this book, however, it’s just a personal spiritual question I have as I study Church history. So far, I’m a bit conflicted as to it being so clear that God is in a sense “micro-managing” everything that happens in history. We can so easily say “The Lord is the Lord of history!” in sermons and books, but I believe that it’s such a naive statement. History is rich and complex, with so many variables and moving parts, that it’s kind of hard to pinpoint and say, “Aha! You see, God was working here” etc.
“The 160-Year Christian History Behind What’s Happening in Ukraine” – Christianity Today
Here is a great article in christianitytoday.com about the history of Crimea and the Crimean War (1853 – 56) – great background to what is happening in that region and the Ukraine today.
After reading about the history of the Orthodox faith in Russia for the past couple of months, when you read this article, things will seem more familiar even though we haven’t delved into this later part of Russian Orthodox Church history yet.
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