gdr2f@boole2.acc.Virginia.EDU (George D. Randels) (05/29/90)
[Jedidiah Jon Palosaari commented on a posting by Brian Finnerty, that had criticized Protestants (and "sola scriptura") because it led to many different believes on important issues. Jedidiah responded that the Catholic church had allowed many varying beliefs up to the Reformation, and seemed to restrict things more primarily in response to Luther. He suggested that Luther advocated things that had been considered orthodox previously. >Even afterward/during Martin Luther, you had such differing beliefs as >the Fransiscans, Loyola,and the belief in Illuminism. --clh] As for the differing protestant interpretations of the Bible, Luther was unprepared for that. He thought that once you got rid of some the Catholic tradition, that everyone would interpret the Bible the same way as he did. He was caught off-guard by Thomas Muntzer and the rest of the radical reformation. As for the Catholic church allowing a limited plurality of beliefs, that is true to some extent. But, of course, it was quite limited. Ever hear of the Inquisition? (I'm sure you have.) But if a "different" movement appeared "threatening" to the orthodoxy the movement was in for some sanctions. After all, the Franciscans had trouble with the papacy in the middle ages. And even Thomas Aquinas' teaching were under threat of condemnation for his use of Aristotle. (This is quite oversimplified of course, but I don't have any of my church history books here at work. Maybe there are some of the rest of you who have such knowledge at your fingertips.) Finally, you comment about a lack of unity in "both sects" -- but actually, you're not really talking about sects. The Mennonites might be a sect, but not Catholics or protestants in general. Also, there is at least one large denomenation beyond these two -- the Eastern Orthodox. And they are divided into such groups as Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Ukranian Orthodox, etc. I hope that this is helpful. George Randels University of Virginia gdr2f@virginia.edu [Luther's original attack on indulgences was barely acceptable, although it was clearly at the very borders of acceptability. However he very quickly came to deny Catholic doctrine in a variety of areas that would have been hard to ignore. These include: - denial of the authority of the pope and the hierarchy, both in the area of establishing doctrine and declaring and remitting punishment in purgatory - denial that penance is a sacrament - denial of the merits of the saints - denial of the primacy of Rome Many people have the feeling that if the Pope had known what was going to happen, he might have been able to keep the breach from occuring. I'm not so sure. There was a consistent history of groups that put Scripture over the authority of the hierarchy, and the Church had not been willing to tolerate any of them. The most recent had been Wycliffe. Previously were the Waldensians. There is no question in my mind that the range of views within the Roman church was narrowed after the Reformation. But I do not see any way it could have accepted Luther's views without undergoing a major change of heart. --clh]