In the fourth and final part of his series Associate Pastor Bruce Atkinson
gives a broad overview of what we mean when we use the term Reformation.
A
lister McGrath in his excellent book Reformation
Thought: an Introduction explains that when
we talk about the Reformation we are usually
thinking of four components:
1 Lutheranism
2 The Reformed Church (Calvinism)
3 The Radical Reformation (Anabaptism)
4 The Counter-Reformation (Catholic Reformation)
Lutheranism
In our last three Revival Times articles we have
chiefly been focusing on Luther. The direct impact of
his reforming programme chiefly affected churches in
the regions of Germany and Scandinavia. The Lutheran
Reformation was rooted in Luther’s theology, notably the
doctrine of justification by faith alone. Luther wrote his
ideas in the language of the common German people
and even translated the New Testament into the
German language for the first time.
Luther attacked the false Catholic notion of a special
priestly class, teaching instead that all Christians were
equally able to access God through Christ by simple faith.
This was known as the doctrine of the priesthood of all
believers. Luther had never intended to break away from
the Catholic Church but to reform it from within. When
this was not possible, the Lutheran churches in Germany
produced a statement of faith called the Augsburg
Confession in 1530, stating that “the faith as confessed
by Luther and his followers is nothing new, but the true
catholic faith, and that their churches represent the true
catholic or universal church”. The Lutherans retained some
of the liturgical practices of the Catholic Church with
a special focus on the Lord’s Supper.
The Reformed Church
Unlike the Lutheran Reformation, the Reformed Church
began in the Swiss Confederation and initially focused
more on reforming the morals and worship life of the
church rather than theological issues. They wanted church
services and people’s daily lives to be patterned more
on Bible than on Catholic traditions. This movement first
centred on the Swiss cities of Zurich, Berne and Basle.
Ulrich Zwingli was a major figure in the early years;
he was a very zealous figure in reforming church practice
especially in Zurich. He failed to agree with Luther over the
importance of Holy Communion and was seen as far too
radical by the Lutherans.
The Reformed Church really found its feet as a coherent
movement through the great John Calvin and his work
in Geneva. His famous textbook The Institutes of The
Christian Religion gathered many of the reforming truths
recovered in Scripture and presented them in a simple
way for people to study and teach. Pastors from all around
Europe (many in forced exile) were trained at Geneva in
theology and ministry, returning later to their own countries
to spread the Reformed truths and practices. Out of this
English Puritanism would arise that would also have a
powerful influence on America. Also the Church of England
was heavily influenced by Calvin’s theology, although not
so much by his ecclesiology (doctrine of the church).
The Radical Reformation (Anabaptists)
Anabaptists (re-baptisers) were zealous reformers
who were far too radical for Zwingli, Luther or Calvin
who all opposed them. They disagreed with infant
baptism teaching that only believers should be baptised
on confession of their faith in Christ. The Anabaptists had
an absolute commitment to sola scriptura (scripture alone)
as the basis for all belief