REFORMATION
“Reformation is a free act or a repeated series of actions which are intended by the reformer to recover, reestablish, augment, and perfect certain essential values which at one time existed in human society but which subsequently were lost or impaired by willful neglect or due to a general decline” (Ladner, 1959).
“Luther, the magisterial reformer, caught the paradox implied in the religious idea of reformation. He emphasized strongly that God “works within us” but not “without us.” Reformation is God's work, but at the same time it is man's work.”
Martin Luther did not start out to cause a reformation, but the simple questions he first asked grew into bigger and bigger questions and answers that inevitably, radical change had to happen. “On October 31, 1517, according to traditional accounts, Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the castle's Church of All Saints (the University's customary notice board) as an open invitation to debate them. The Theses condemned the Church's greed and worldliness (especially the selling of indulgences, which are called "pardons" in the English 95 Theses on Wikipedia) as an abuse and asked for a theological disputation. Luther did not challenge the right of the pope to grant indulgences, just the sale that he preceived as an abuse (Thesis 71” Of course as we say, the rest is history. From some non fundermental questions about indulgences being sold locally in his parish, the answers provided more questions which provided more answers so that Luther arrived at a place radically different from when he first wrote his theses. At first he was committed to the Pope as his head and the Catholic church and all it stood for. The Catholic church (and Luther) were happy to work through the issues raised in the theses. But by then Luther had arrived at such challanging questions such as the position of the pope, Faith not works and the Bible as our supreme guide for instance (and more challanging answers) that threatened Catholisism so much that something had to give. In reality Luther time and time again was given the chance to modify his position somewhat by the Pope so that there would be harmony. Luther was incrediably torn and tempted to disavow some of his writing (note not all) and remain part of the Catholic Church. Imagine if he had agreed and reached a ‘Christian’compromise to keep peace and unity, what would Church History look like today? Without doubt Luther instead of having a Chapter in a Church History book would be a brief sentence. Reformation and change does not happen peacefully. Seismic changes do not happen without shaking.
Luther shook Catholisism and pointed to a glimmer of a different order. Out of those seismic changes significant change happaned, but it was not nice because in the end two different world views (paradigms) could not live comforterbly together, they clashed and seperated. I will talk next more in detail about why this generally happens.
The clash of ideas and paradigms and the culture and systems that develop them is what revolution and reformation is about.
