Erasmus, In Praise of Folly

Written in 1509, before Luther’s first challenge to the church. Speaking through the voice of Folly, he castigates monks, theologians, and other Christians for failing to discern the true purpose of the Christian life: the imitation of Christ.

Indulgences

A mitigation or remission of the penance imposed by a priest in absolving a penitent who confessed a sin and indicated remorse.

Martin Luther

A pious German Augustinian monk and theologian. He had no intention of founding a new church or overthrowing the political and ecclesiastical order of late medieval Europe.  He sought a reform of morals and an end to abusive practices within the church, but a visit to the papal court in Rome in 1510 left him profoundly shocked at its worldliness and questioning the papacy’s role in the church’s governance.

Lutheran Reformation

To raise money for the rebuilding of St. Peter church, the papacy in 1515 offered indulgences to those who gave money for this pious work. Some preachers of this particular papal indulgence deceived people into believing that a “purchase” of this indulgence would win them, or even the dead, a secure place in heaven.  In 1517, Luther denounced the abuses connected with the preaching of papal indulgences. This led to more profound theological issues. Luther’s claim that salvation was attained through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and through the act of faith alone, became the rallying point of the Protestant reformers.

Luther, On the Jews and Their Lies

this was part of the diatribe that Luther launched against the Jews.  Luther first believed that Jews could be converted with patience and education in the Holy Scriptures, but after they refused to change he turned his mind to believing the medieval myths that Jews poisoned the wells of Christians, desecrated the Eucharistic host, ritualistically murdered Christian children, and engaged in sorcery and magic.  Luther advises civil and clerical authorities to treat Jews harshly in On the Jews and Their Lies. 

Predestination

The belief that each person’s salvation or damnation was already decided before birth.  This doctrine raised the question as to whether Christ offered salvation for all human beings or for only the elect – a chosen few who are predestined to be saved by God’s sovereign will.

John Calvin

A French clergyman who resigned his church offices and fled to Basel, a Swiss city that accepted Protestant reforms. T here he composed a summary of the new Protestant theology, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, which was to be revised four times before his death.  Calvin settled in Geneva.

Calvin, The Institutes

In this writing Calvin offered his definition of predestination and cited St. Paul as an Authority.  To many Christians, this doctrine diminished the justice and mercy of God, made meaningless the idea of “freedom of choice” in the process of salvation, and stripped good works of any role in gaining salvation. 

Calvinist Reformation

From Geneva, Calvin carried on an active mission, spreading his reformed faith throughout his native France and elsewhere.  Calvinism was especially influential in England and Scotland, giving rise to the Puritan movement in 17^th Century England and the Presbyterian churches in Scotland and Ireland.

Council of Trent

On doctrinal matters, the council gave an authoritative Catholic response to Protestant teachings on a host of issues.  From the decrees of the Council of Trent, the Council condemned the Capital Protestant view that faith alone was necessary for salvation and insisted on the integration of both faith and good works in the process of salvation.  This position allowed the Council to defend such traditional Catholic practices as monasticism, indulgences, masses for the dead, one-word alms giving, pilgrimages, veneration of saints, and other pious works.

Ignatius Loyola

Saint Ignatius Loyola was a Basque nobleman who founded a new religious order, The Society of Jesus, popularly called the Jesuits.  He was a priest who was a formal soldier.  He and several companions decided to found their order and receive papal recognition in 1540.

Catholic  Reformation

Criticism of Catholic beliefs and practices generated a host of theological defenses of tradition Catholicism.  However, there was a general admission that grave abuses in Catholic clerical morals and discipline had been allowed to go uncorrected.  The Council of Trent was finally convoked in 1545 at the Alpine city of Trent.  The Council fathers confessed their responsibility for the evils that had grown up in the church and committed themselves to institutional reforms that would raise the standards of morality and learning among future bishops and other clergy.

Zwingli

He was an Enthusiastic reformer who helped to overthrow the local Catholic authority, along with Grebel, but failed to agree with Luther and Grebel on several theological matters.  Insisted that no reforms in ecclesiastical practices should be undertaken without permission of the public authorities, the Zurich Anabaptists refused to comply, declaring the complete freedom of the Church from state control.  Zwingli condemned them and forced them into exile.

Anabaptists

Grebels supporters who held that admission to membership in the church must be a voluntary act by adults and condemned the practice of baptizing infants.  They spread their ideas throughout German-speaking lands after Zwingli exiled them from Zurich.  Menno Simons offered biblical justification for the Anabaptists rejection of using force or state power to impose religious beliefs or practices.

Las Casas, Tears of the Indians

Bartolome de Las Casa spent most of his long life in Spanish America was a particularly eloquent defender of the Amer-Indians.  In The Tears of the Indians, Las Casas described in graphic detail the atrocities inflicted on the Ame-Indians, which greatly exaggerated the amount of Amer-Indians killed by the Spaniards.  He recounts the brutal behavior of the Spaniards toward the native inhabitants of Hispaniola.

Spanish Inquisition

Started out as a crusade on the Muslims in 1391, and became a slaughtering of the Jews and conversion of the remaining Jews to Christianity.  A century later the Spanish Monarch was afraid that the converted Jews were being encouraged to return back to Judaism, so the unconverted Jews were expelled in 1492.  The ones that were converted were still persecuted because they were never good enough in the eyes of the original Christians, and they were accused of secretly practicing Judaism.

Atlantic Slave Trade

Began with the Portuguese finding that the local African societies engaged in extensive trade in slave laborers.  The Portuguese ships began carrying slaves from one local market to another along the African coast.  After 1500, the trade shifted largely to the Portuguese colony in Brazil and the Spanish colonies in the West Indies.  The widespread use of African slaves marked a new stage in the history of slavery.  The Dutch and English took over as the principal slave traders.  It is estimated that 9.5 and 12 million African men, women, and children slaves were transported.

Postlethwayt, Slavery Defended

An English economist defended slavery by saying that it was a boon to shipping and manufac turing and also benefitted Africans by liberating them from oppressive African rulers, who had captured and enslaved them, in placing them in the care of more humane Christian masters, who instructed them in Christian ideals.

Wesley, Thoughts Upon Slavery

Published in 1774, Wesley drew heavily on Benezet’s writings for his facts, but when warning participants in the slave trade of divine retribution he spoke in cadences of the inspired evangelical preacher.

Equiano, Memoirs of a Former Slave

A book about his kidnapping and enslavement in Africa, his subsequent sale to the English slave merchants, and his voyage to and first impressions of the West Indian port of Bridgetown, Barbados.  It was later decided by historians that this was actually an exaggerated work of his, or even a fictional story, however it still gave a very real view of the horrors of slavery during that time.

The Witchcraze

It was widely believed that certain persons called sorcerers or witches, had supernatural powers over both nature and human beings and that these powers enabled witches to harm people through magical practices.  Those suspected of sorcery were greatly feared and subject to execution.  In the late middle ages, Europeans began to view suspected witches as having entered into a pact with the devil.  The church began to treat them as devil-worshippers, heretics, rebels against the church, and threats to society.  During the 16^th and 17^th centuries, both Roman Catholics and protestants intensified the struggle to destroy alleged witches; thousands were questioned under torture and if convicted were put to death.

Sprenger and Kramer, The Hammer of Witches

Written in 1486 by Dominican Inquisitors in Germany, this book became a standard reference work for the belief and practices of witches.  This work tells us much about the mindset of modern Europeans committed to a belief in witches who served the devil.

Junius, A Confession of Witchcraft Explained

This was a letter Junius secretly sent to his daughter explaining why he confessed to being a witch.  His reason was that he was brutally tortured and forced into confession.  In his letter he explained that the executioner begged him to falsely confess so as to relieve his suffering.  He also gives the names of the six people who testified against him, saying that they were also tortured into saying false things and asked his forgiveness, before they were executed.

Malebranche, Search After Truth

This was Malebranche’s most important work, in which he treated many technical, philosophical, and theological issues.  In it he also analyzed the belief in witchcraft as the unchecked power of people’s imagination.  He attempted a rational explanation of the witchcraze, and wanted the court to dismiss charges of witchcraft.  Despite this, he stated that although true witches are very rare, they still exist.

Louis XIV

Reigned for 72 years and gave France greater unity and central authority than it had ever known.  To prevent the great nobles from challenging royal authority, Louis XIV chose many of his ministers and provincial administrators from the middle class.  He had them live at court where they competed for his favor.  He was a very suspicious king who had all of the mail of the people read in order to keep tabs on everyone.  He was also very conceited, naming himself The Sun King.  He would hold grudges and punish people for their transgressions against him, even if those transgressions were lies.

Versailles

Elizabeth Charlotte d’Orleans describes the terrible lifestyle of the frivolous and debauched lifestyle of the people of Versailles.  Married to Louis XIV’s only brother and lived there for 50 years.

James I, True Law of Free Monarchies

A widely read book, anonymously published by James I.  In it he claimed that the King alone was the true legislator.  His notations of the royal prerogative and the role of parliament are detailed within.

Absolutism

It was Hobbes’ conviction that absolutism was the most desirable and logical form of government.  Only the unlimited power of a sovereign, said Hobbes, could contain human passions that disrupt the social order and threaten civilized life; only absolute rule can provide an environment secure enough for people to pursue their individual interests.