Summary of Justo L. González's The Story of Christianity: Volume 2

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 As the fifteenth century came to a close, it was clear that the church needed reform. The Great Schism had weakened the papacy, and many people were not happy with the corrupt leadership in Rome.
#2 The church seemed to be in need of reform, as many priests and monastics were corrupt, and the laity were unable to trust a sacrament administered by a member of the clergy who seemed to have no sense of the enormity of sin.
#3 The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were the formative period for most of the literary languages of Western Europe. Nationalism, which had begun to develop centuries earlier, found expression in these languages.
#4 The Inquisition was a church court that was used to investigate and punish those who were considered heretics. It was under the authority of Ferdinand and Isabella, and their names have become famous for the zeal with which they persecuted Jews.

Sujets

• Christianisme
• Religión
• Général

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 20 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669355519
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Justo L. Gonzalez's The Story of Christianity Volume 2
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

As the fifteenth century came to a close, it was clear that the church needed reform. The Great Schism had weakened the papacy, and many people were not happy with the corrupt leadership in Rome.

#2

The church seemed to be in need of reform, as many priests and monastics were corrupt, and the laity were unable to trust a sacrament administered by a member of the clergy who seemed to have no sense of the enormity of sin.

#3

The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were the formative period for most of the literary languages of Western Europe. Nationalism, which had begun to develop centuries earlier, found expression in these languages.

#4

The Inquisition was a church court that was used to investigate and punish those who were considered heretics. It was under the authority of Ferdinand and Isabella, and their names have become famous for the zeal with which they persecuted Jews.

#5

The Spanish Inquisition was a religious extremist institution that used torture to force conversions and punish nonbelievers. It was used as a tool by the Catholic Reformation to prevent the spread of Protestantism.

#6

The Reformation was a period of great change in the church, and many advocates of reform were convinced that the greatest ill of the church was the obscurantism of the Dark Ages. They hoped that the furtherance of scholarship and education would produce the needed reformation.

#7

Erasmus was a humanist who studied classical literature. He published the Enchiridion militis Christiani—Dagger, which was a handbook for the Christian soldier. He used military metaphors to explain what he saw as the Christian life.

#8

Erasmus was a reformer who sought to reform the church’s practices and customs. He believed that the true Christian life is one of inwardness, and that outward means, such as the sacraments, are important but should not be discarded.

#9

The Protestant Reformation began when Erasmus was ignored. It was a radical shift in Christianity, and it was no longer a matter of reforming customs or clarifying some aspects of Christian theology, but rather of radically shifting some of the fundamental premises of traditional Christianity.

#10

Martin Luther was a man who was uncouth and even rude in his manner. He was sincere in his faith, and he was willing to express it vulgarly. He was not the type of disciple who, having put a hand to the plow, looks back.

#11

Luther’s impact was due to circumstances that he did not create, and of which he was only dimly aware. The invention of the movable type printing press gave his writings a widespread audience they otherwise would not have had.

#12

Luther was born in 1483. His parents were extremely strict, and he had a difficult childhood. He joined the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt in 1505, and was convinced that he had made a wise decision. He felt happy and at peace with God.

#13

Luther’s search for salvation was similar to that of many other Christians at the time. He sought to overcome his sins through the church, but he soon realized that his sin went far beyond what he could confess. If God was like his father and teachers, who had beaten him, how could he love such a God.

#14

Luther’s great discovery was the gospel, which was the revelation of the righteousness of God. But it was precisely the justice of God that Luther found unbearable. How could such a message be good news.

#15

Luther’s discovery was that the justice of God does not refer to the punishment of sinners, but rather that the righteousness of God is given to those who live by faith.

#16

Luther’s Ninety-five Theses were a series of essays he wrote criticizing the sale of indulgences and the theological presuppositions behind it. They created a huge stir, but little interest beyond the university itself.

#17

The sale of indulgences was a major controversy that sparked the Protestant Reformation. It was authorized by Pope Leo X, and involved the economic and political ambitions of the powerful house of Hohenzollern, which aspired to hegemony in Germany.

#18

Luther’s Ninety-five Theses were a response to the exploitation of Germany by foreign interests. He attacked the sale of indulgences, which were supposed to free people from purgatory, and pointed out that the pope was actually exploiting the poor.

#19

The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is often said to be the date of Luther’s theses, published on October 31, 1517. The theses were sent to Rome, and the pope asked the Augustinian Order to deal with the matter. Luther was called to the order’s next chapter meeting, in Heidelberg.

#20

The pope, fearing the power of Charles and Francis, chose Frederick the Wise of Saxony as his candidate for emperor. Frederick protected Luther until he was properly tried and convicted, at which point the pope sought better relations with him and his protector, Maximilian.

#21

Luther’s teachings began to spread throughout Germany, and many universities began to debate his ideas. While not always as dramatic, similar events took place all over Germany.

#22

The Leipzig Debate was the final nail in the coffin for Luther and the reform movement he had started. The bull issued by Pope Leo X, which ordered the burning of all Luther’s books, took almost two years to reach him. He burned it publicly, along with other books that he considered to be the worst proponents of popish doctrines.

#23

The Diet of Worms was the final attempt by the pope to force Luther to recant his teachings. When he refused to recant, he was asked to do so three times, and each time he refused. He was then asked to recant, and he responded, My conscience is a prisoner of God’s Word. I cannot and will not recant, for to disobey one’s conscience is neither just nor safe. God help me. Amen.

#24

Luther’s translation of the Bible shaped the German language and national identity. While he was in exile, his collaborators in Wittenberg continued the work of reformation.

#25

The conflict between Charles V and Francis I of France was not just about religion, but also about territory. Charles held vast hereditary possessions that practically surrounded France, and the two monarchs seemed to have come to an end in 1525 when Francis was captured at the Battle of Pavia.

#26

In 1524, a peasant rebellion broke out. The Twelve Articles of the Peasants declared that they would accept no demands that were not based on the authority of Scripture. Thus, although Luther himself could not see any relationship between his doctrines and the rebellion, the peasants themselves did see such a relationship.

#27

The Twelve Articles addressed the peasants’ grievances, but when the rebellion broke out, Luther tried to persuade the peasants to follow a more peaceful course. He then called on the princes to suppress the movement.

#28

The controversy between Luther and Erasmus marked the end of all hope for close collaboration between Lutherans and humanists. It was on this point that Erasmus attacked him, publishing a treatise on free will.

#29

The Peace of Nuremberg, signed in 1532, stipulated that Protestants would be allowed to practice their faith, but could not extend it to other territories. The Edict of Augsburg was suspended, and the Protestants offered the emperor their support against the Turks.

#30

Luther’s theology was based on the doctrine of justification by faith, but he also believed in the power of the Holy Spirit. He expanded on the main points that led him to his position at Worms.

#31

The Word of God is not simply the words written in the Bible. It is God himself, and his Word creates something in us and in all creation. Jesus, the Word Incarnate, comes to us in the Bible.

#32

Luther’s doctrine of the Word of God as Jesus Christ allowed him to respond to one of the main objections Catholics raised to his doctrine of the authority of Scripture above the church: that the church had authority over the Bible.

#33

The God of revelation is very different from the God of a theology of glory. In the cross, God reveals himself in his weakness and suffering, as a stumbling block. When we know God in the cross, we must set aside our previous knowledge of God, which was based on the assumption of divine glory.

#34

The doctrine of justification by faith does not mean that God is indifferent to sin. It is not simply that God forgives us because after all our sin is not of great consequence. Rather, it is the contrast between God’s holiness and our own sin that is overwhelming.

#35

Luther was not a rationalist, and he was not an individualist. He was a priest in the church, and he believed that the church was an essential element of the Christian message. He opened the way for the modern sense of vocation, though he generally felt that each person’s calling was determined by birth.

#36

The Word of God comes to us in the sacraments. Baptism is the first sacrament, and it is a sign of the believer’s death and resurrection with Jesus Christ. But communion is the other sacrament, and it is the center of Christian worship.

#37

The presence of Christ in communion was a point of contention among the leaders of the Reformation. Some, like Luther, felt that it was a clear and undeniable proof of his physical presence at the sacrament. Others, like Karlstadt, believed that it was merely symbolic.

#38

Luther’s theology was complex, and he had many different views on how the two kingdoms, the church and the state, should relate to each other. While he believed that Christians should not expect the state to be ruled by the gospel, he also did not believe that believers had any obligation to suppo