scholarly journals MARTIN LUTHER AS A DEFENDER OF DEMOCRACY!

10.23856/3015 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 136-143
Author(s):  
Piotr Lisowski ◽  
Ivan Kopaygora ◽  
Volodymyr Morozov ◽  
Liliya Mykhailenko
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Analysis ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Catholic Church

The theoretical analysis of the philosophical - legal views of the theologian Martin Luther, the German religious and social figure, is presented. His main democratic ideas during the Reformation period in Germany and the countries of Western Europe are demonstrated. The stages of the struggle  for the reform of the Catholic Church and for the return of its bases to their correspondence to the Bible from the Reformation times till the present time, are revealed. 

Protestants and Continental Reformers (1517–1600)

2020 ◽  
pp. 203-232
Author(s):  
David W. Kling
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
John Calvin ◽  
Institutional Commitment ◽  
Political Resistance ◽  
The Bible ◽  
New Birth ◽  
Heart And Mind ◽  
The Catholic Church

By the early sixteenth century, the call to conversion had moved in other and more radical directions, resulting initially in renewed personal spiritual commitment at odds with the Catholic Church and then moving to outright schism and a change of institutional commitment. Reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin experienced new and profound reorientations through their focus on the Bible and its teaching of salvation by faith alone, by grace alone, and through Christ alone. Anabaptists such as Menno Simons embraced these basic teachings but also placed emphasis on conversion (the “new birth”) as a life of discipleship. The reformers’ success in transmitting a thoroughgoing change of heart and mind to the populace, however, had mixed results. Political resistance, spiritual indifference, theological polemics, Catholic intransigence, and the persistence of ancient magic lore and occult practices ensured that the wholesale reformation of Europe, even in Protestant-controlled areas, would never become a reality.

Adiaphora, Luther and the Material Culture of Worship

2020 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 246-272
Author(s):  
Andrew Spicer
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Desiderius Erasmus ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Catholic Church

The celebration of the late medieval mass and other religious ceremonies was carefully delineated through the ecclesiastical regulations of the Catholic Church. This legalistic approach to worship was strongly criticized by both Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther before 1517. With the subsequent Reformation, Luther reacted against Catholic legalism which, he argued, ensnared the faithful and threatened Christian freedom. He was therefore particularly reluctant to specify what he considered to be the appropriate form, place and setting for his German mass. Luther utilized the concept of adiaphora to argue that such issues were matters of indifference as they were not fundamental for salvation. However, this stance was tempered by his realization that such Christian freedom actually did require direction to ensure that the Reformation message was not confused or lost.

Johannes Dietenberger and his Counter-Reformation German Bible

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Fischer ◽  
Jourden Travis Moger
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Frankfurt Am Main ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
Scholarly Attention ◽  
The Catholic Church

AbstractJohannes Dietenberger (ca. 1475–1537), native of Frankfurt am Main, university-trained Doctor of Theology, and Dominican friar, served as prior in Frankfurt and Koblenz during the 1525 Urban Revolt of the German Peasants’ War and the early Protestant Reformation, respectively. Like Martin Luther, Dietenberger translated the Bible into the vernacular German after consulting recently published Greek and Hebrew biblical texts; however, unlike Luther he produced a translation that remained true to the Latin Vulgate and the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church. Dietenberger aimed to counter those parts of Luther’s translation which contradicted Catholic tradition, and at the same time to provide a translation whose language was less coarse and offensive. Still, there were more commonalities between the translations of Luther and Dietenberger than earlier research in controversial theology assumed. Overshadowed by the famous Wittenberg reformer and slandered by polemical Protestant scholarship of previous centuries, Dietenberger and his Bible translation have never received the scholarly attention they deserve. This article represents an attempt to correct the oversight.

A Joint Commemoration of the Reformation in 2017

Horizons ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-409
Author(s):  
Catherine E. Clifford
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Equal Footing ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Lutheran Church ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

When the young Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, affixed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on October 31, 1517, calling for the reform of the church, he could hardly have anticipated the succession of events that would lead to the division of Western Christendom. Luther had no intention of creating a “Lutheran” Church, nor could he have foreseen that his initiative would give rise to an ecclesial divide that would persist for half a millennium. The Second Vatican Council's Decree on Ecumenism, which acknowledged the need for continual reform and renewal in the church, created the conditions for the Catholic Church to enter in earnest into a dialogue “on equal footing” with other Christian communities. The Lutheran-Catholic Commission on Unity, as it is known today, was established in 1967 and was the first commission for official bilateral dialogue. Thus, as we commemorate five hundred years since the Reformation, we also mark with gratitude fifty years of official dialogue and growth in communion.

The Sermon as A Multimedial Instrument of Communication in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Reformation and Counter-Reformation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia Marija StančIene
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Other ◽  
Lay People ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Important Means ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Catholic Church

Abstract At the end of the sixteenth century, during the Christianization of Lithuania, sermons became one of the most important means of communication. As a medium, the sermon functioned through systems of codified sounds and symbols, as well as representing the institution of the Church for which it served as a broadcaster. Increased attention to the sermon was prompted by the desire of the Catholic Church to resist the Reformation and to preserve its spiritual monopoly. Martin Luther and Erasmus of Rotterdam underlined the importance of preaching, claiming that preaching the Gospels could improve society. The Jesuits instructed preachers not to limit themselves to religious matters alone but also to pay attention to social and political problems. There were two kinds of sermon: one for churchmen, preached in Latin; the other for lay people, in the vernacular. The Jesuits trained priests to preach in Lithuanian.

scholarly journals Some of Martin Luther‘s Written References to the Eastern Church

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-370
Author(s):  
Vasilică Mugurel Păvălucă
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
Eastern Christianity ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The Catholic Church

Abstract In his honest desire to reform the Catholic Church, Martin Luther looked up sometimes to Eastern Christianity and its Ancient Fathers. Especially in the context of his debates with Catholic theologians, Luther tried to accomplish a theological norm through quotes and arguments from the spiritual thesaurus of the Eastern Church. In spite of the fact that Luther‘s references to the Eastern Church show a certain ambiguity and are not as extensive as one would wish today, these are of particular importance and carry undeniable weight for the Reformation period and the Reformers’ knowledge of Eastern Christianity. Luther’s mentions of the Eastern Church constitute until today the basic points of modern ecumenism between Protestantism and Orthodoxy.

scholarly journals Propozycja obrzędów Pierwszej Komunii Świętej dzieci w parafii

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Jan Szczepański
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
First Communion ◽  
Original Concept ◽  
The Catholic Church

The article contains an outline for the ceremony of the First Communion of children in the parochial church. It is based on historical research investigating the ways of preparing children for the First Communion in the Catholic Church of Western Europe and in Poland. The goal of this article is to create a new, original concept of this ceremony in order to improve the participation of children and all the faithful in a better and deeper experience of the First Communion. The liturgy is meant to be easier to comprehend by the children. In the rites, one of the ways of supporting those attempts will be through children’s gestures performed during the renewal of baptismal promises.

Images of the Priesthood: An Analysis of Catholic Sermons from the Late Seventeenth Century

2000 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renate Dürr
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Pastoral Care ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Council Of Trent ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Catholic Church

“All, therefore, who consider themselves Christians may be absolutely certain that we are all equally priests.”1 With this declaration Martin Luther categorically repudiated the Catholic understanding of priesthood as a holy estate with indelible marks bestowed at consecration. According to the reformers all Christians, in principle, have the same authority in word and sacrament, but only those authorized by the respective community of believers may wield it. This assessment not only reflected certain irregularities within the clergy but also signified a completely new definition of the priesthood. It cannot be understood outside the context of existing contemporary criticism—not only from reformatory circles—of the state of numerous parishes who suffered under poorly educated, morally unacceptable (from a contemporary point of view) or indeed absent clergymen. The Catholic Church's answer to this challenge, therefore, had two aims: plans for far-reaching reforms were intended to renew the image of priests and, primarily, to provide effective pastoral care. Polemical theological debates against Protestants and discussions within the Catholic Church were intended not only to strengthen the certainty of the fundamental essence of priestly identity but also to facilitate a differentiation of Catholic from Protestant understanding. The decisions of the Council of Trent also touched both areas. At the 23rd session both the theological basis of the sacrament of consecration and the plans to reform the rules concerning the bishops' obligatory residence in their parishes were debated.2

Roman Catholicism and Europe

2021 ◽  
pp. 436-457
Author(s):  
Petr Kratochvíl
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
The Political ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Global Nature ◽  
The Church ◽  
Hostile Attitude ◽  
The Catholic Church

This chapter explores the complex relationship between the Catholic Church and Europe over many centuries. It argues that the Catholic Church and Europe played a mutually constitutive role in the early Middle Ages and one would not be conceivable without the other. However, the Church gradually disassociated itself from Europe and vice versa. Since the Reformation, but even more strongly in the last two centuries, the Church’s attitude to Europe has become markedly more ambivalent, due to the rise of the European state, the hostile attitude of the Church to modern European social and political thought, Europe’s ongoing secularization, and the increasingly global nature of the Catholic Church. While the tension between the Church and Europe persists, the process of European unification marked a watershed in the Church’s relationship to Europe, given that integration is a key area in which the Church strongly supports the political developments of the continent.

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