Part of a series on the |
Reformation |
---|
Protestantism |
Proto-Protestantism, also called pre-Protestantism, refers to individuals and movements that propagated various ideas later associated with Protestantism before 1517, which historians usually regard as the starting year for the Reformation era. The relationship between medieval sects and Protestantism is an issue that has been debated by historians. [3]
Successionism is the further idea that these proto-Protestants are evidence of a continuous hidden church of true believers, despite their manifest differences in belief.
Before Martin Luther and John Calvin, some leaders tried to reform Christianity. The main forerunners of the Protestant Reformation were Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe and Jan Hus. [4] Martin Luther himself saw it important to have forerunners of his views, and thus he praised people like Girolamo Savonarola, Lorenzo Valla, Wessel Gansfort and other groups as prefiguring some of his views. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Pre-reformation movements that have been argued, with differing degrees of anachronism and accuracy, as having individual ideas later espoused by some Protestant groups include:
John Foxe (c. 1563) was the first English Protestant author to defend Protestantism from charges of novelty by claiming, in S.J. Barnett's words, "the continuity of a proto-Protestant piety since apostolic times": in England's case this included a national first-century conversion to Christianity from a visiting Joseph of Arimathea. [78] This has no historical basis.
According to Brethren missionary Edmund Hamer Broadbent in The Pilgrim Church (1531), over much of the Christian era, many Christian sects, cults and movements foreshadowed the teachings of what later became the Non-conformist Protestant movements. [79]
Baptist successionism postulates an unbroken lineage of churches which have held beliefs similar to those of current Baptists. Groups often included in this lineage include the Montanists, Novationists, Donatists, Paulicians, Albigenses, Waldenses, Petrobrusians, Arnoldists, Henricians, Hussites (partly), Lollards (partly) and Anabaptists. Baptist successionism proposes that groups such as Bogomils or Paulicians were Baptist in doctrine instead of Gnostic. [80]
The idea of proto-protestants has been criticized as a diverse category whose only commonality is a perceived anti-Catholicism rather than any adherence to the Five Solae; the idea of successionism (or the hidden church) has further been criticized as lacking historical evidence, linking unrelated groups (e.g. the Manichaean Bogomil "Cathars", the Albigensian "Cathars", the semi-monastic Beguine movement, the antipapal fraticelli friars, the Trinitarian and eucharistic Waldenses,and the Lollards) and as fabricated to serve a polemical need. [78]
For the Catholic denial of the antiquity of the Waldensians and assertion of Petrine apostolicity, "the ideal parry to Rome would have been to identify apostolic origins for the Waldenses, but the evidence for such a claim was thin to nonexistent, a factor often necessarily limiting arguments in favor of apostolic origins to rather vague assertions."
— S.J.Barnett [78]
It is plainly evident that Jovinian could only have understood by the church , here , the invisible church
As Jovinian taught the Pauline doctrine of faith, so he did the Pauline idea of the invisible Church
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cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
Jovinian (a choice spirit who differentiated the invisible from the visible church
But there is an invisible Church, which has existed in every century, which is pure and spotless. ... This whole train of thought has been suggested by reading the words of Jovinian, in Neander
{{
cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(
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A comment on the epistle to the Galatians, is his only work which was committed to the press. In it he every where asserts the equality of all the apostles with St. Peter. And, indeed, he always owns Jesus Christ to be the only proper head of the church. He is severe against the doctrine of human merits, and of the exaltation of traditions to a height of credibility equal to that of the divine word. He maintains that we are to be saved by faith alone; holds the fallibility of the church, exposes the futility of praying for the dead, and the sinfulness of the idolatrous practices then supported by the Roman see. Such are the sentiments found in his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians.
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cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(
help)
Berengar of Tours was an 11th-century theologian who argued that the doctrine of transubstantiation was contrary to reason and unsupported by scripture
Berengar of Tours (c. 1005-1088), Bernand of Clairvaux, the Waldensians in the twelfth century, the Albigensians in the thirteenth century and John Wycliffe (x. 1330-1385) and Jan Hus (c. 1370-1415) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are all prefigured in the poetic images of Solomon's Songs. They all become forerunners of Luther and Calvin
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Berengar of Tours (first half og the eleventh century), whose views occasioned the dispute known as the Second Eucharistic Controversy. Berengar aught that the body and the blood of the Lord were no "real" in the Eucharist but a specific image or likeleness ("figuram quandam similitudinem"). He was thus a forerunner of the Reformers.
But within a short time both Rome and Constantinople had excommunicated the Bosnian Church , which claimed to represent the true form of Christianity . ... The Bosnian faith was , in a way , the forerunner of the great Reformation
The Bosnian Church has, however, been described primarily as a heretic Catholic sect. It has furthermore been seen as a forerunner to the Protestants
The Pre-Reformers: All groups that spoke out against the church were regarded as "heretical" groups. In the same light, the present-day church considers those individuals that questioned the church "doctrine" and "teachings" as heretics. McCallum (2002:n.p.) states that there were eight heretical groups of pre-reformers between the 12th and 15th centuries during the various European regions. McCallum 2002:n.p. mentions them as follows:
- Flagellants were in 1259. They marched with only loincloths through the streets crying out to God to show mercy on them (McCallum 2002:n.p.). In 1349 they were condemned.
- Then there was a variety of lay groups known as Beguines who had no specific set of forms (McCallum, 2002;n.p.). They were followers of Lambert le Begue who was a stammerer.
- In the 12th century Tanchelm preached in the diocese of Utrecht. He denied the author of the pope and the church and attacked the structure of the Catholic Church (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
- Peter of Bruys in the 12th century also rejected christening of infants. He rejected prayers for the dead, the Eucharist veneration of the cross and ecclesiastical ceremonies (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
- In the first half of 12th century Henry of Lausanne preached in what is known as France. His followers were known as the Henricans. The clergy were condemned for the love of wealth and power by Henry of Lausanne (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
- The Adamists engaged in behaviour that was socially unacceptable and indulged in the practice of nude worship.
- Arnold of Brescia wanted the church to follow Christian ideals (McCallum 2002:n.p.). He attacked the bishops for their dishonest gains. He was hanged in 1155 and his body was burned.
- The Pataria, in Northern Italy were in reaction to the corruption which was taking place in the church. McCallum (2002:n.p.) states that the self-indulgent practices within the Roman Catholic Church were also opposed by other smaller movements.
(Chapter name: Forerunners of the Protestant Reformation) Despite the failure of the efforts atr a reformation of the church's governance, there were efforts to reform the church's theology and manner of faith. Yet the church was slow to change, Peter Aberlard, a Frenchmand sought to include human reason as one of the means of understanding the meanings of scripture.
Peter bruys became one of the earliest leaders of the Reformation, rejecting images, infant baptism,
(Chapter name: Forerunners of the Protestant reformation) Bradwardine in his study of Augustinian theology came to an understanding of the doctrine of predestination as a positive affirmation of Gd's benevolent grace unto us.
in the middle of the fourteenth century the Strigolniki heresy broke out in Russia, chiefly in the cities in the north of the country, which gave this movement a proto-Reformation character
John Pupper, 1400–1475, usually called John of Goch from his birthplace, a hamlet on the lower Rhine near Cleves, seems to have been trained in one of the schools of the Brothers of the Common Life, and then studied in Cologne and perhaps in Paris. He founded a house of Augustinians near Mecheln, remaining at its head till his death. His writings were not published till after the beginning of the Reformation. He anticipated that movement in asserting the supreme authority of the Bible. The Fathers are to be accepted only so far as they follow the canonical Scriptures. In contrast to the works of the philosophers and the Schoolmen, the Bible is a book of life; theirs, books of death.1167 He also called in question the merit of monastic vows and the validity of the distinction between the higher and lower morality upon which monasticism laid stress. What is included under the higher morality is within the reach of all Christians and not the property of monks only. He renounced the Catholic view of justification without stating with clearness the evangelical theory These three German theologians, Goch, Wesel and Wessel, were quietly searching after the marks of the true Church and the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone. Without knowing it, they were standing on the threshold of the Reformation.
John Ruchrath von Wesel, d. 1481, attacked the hierarchy and indulgences and was charged on his trial with calling in question almost all the distinctive Roman Catholic tenets. He was born in Oberwesel on the Rhine between Mainz and Coblentz. He taught at the University of Erfurt and, in 1458, was chosen its vice-rector. Luther bore testimony to his influence when he said, "I remember how Master John Wesalia ruled the University of Erfurt by his writings through the study of which I also became a master."1169 Leaving Erfurt, he was successively professor in Basel and cathedral preacher in Mainz and Worms. In 1479, Wesel was arraigned for heresy before the Inquisition at Mainz.1170 Among the charges were that the Scriptures are alone a trustworthy source of authority; the names of the predestinate are written in the book of life and cannot be erased by a priestly ban; indulgences do not profit; Christ is not pleased with festivals of fasting, pilgrimages or priestly celibacy; Christ's body can be in the bread without any change of the bread's substance: pope and councils are not to be obeyed if they are out of accord with the Scriptures; he whom God chooses will be saved irrespective of pope and priests, and all who have faith will enjoy as much blessedness as prelates. Wesel also made the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church and defined the Church as the aggregation of all the faithful who are bound together by love—collectio omnium fidelium caritate copulatorum. In his trial, he was accused of having had communication with the Hussites. In matters of historical criticism, he was also in advance of his age, casting doubt upon some of the statements of the Athanasian Creed, abandoning the application of the term Catholic to the Apostles' Creed and pronouncing the addition of the filioque clause—and from the Son—unwarranted. The doctrines of indulgences and the fund of merit he pronounced unscriptural and pious frauds. The elect are saved wholly through the grace of God—sola Dei gratia salvantur electi. These three German theologians, Goch, Wesel and Wessel, were quietly searching after the marks of the true Church and the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone. Without knowing it, they were standing on the threshold of the Reformation.
John of Wessel was one member in the group who attacked indulgences (Reddy 2004:115). The doctrine of justification by faith alone was the teaching of John of Wessel (Kuiper 1982:151). He rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation where it is believed when the priest pronounces the sacraments then the wine and bread in turned into the real body and blood of Christ
(Chapter name: forerunners of the Protestant reformation) Yet his modest ethnical reforms would lay the grounwork for the later Protestant Reformation movement at Strasbourg.
Part of a series on the |
Reformation |
---|
Protestantism |
Proto-Protestantism, also called pre-Protestantism, refers to individuals and movements that propagated various ideas later associated with Protestantism before 1517, which historians usually regard as the starting year for the Reformation era. The relationship between medieval sects and Protestantism is an issue that has been debated by historians. [3]
Successionism is the further idea that these proto-Protestants are evidence of a continuous hidden church of true believers, despite their manifest differences in belief.
Before Martin Luther and John Calvin, some leaders tried to reform Christianity. The main forerunners of the Protestant Reformation were Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe and Jan Hus. [4] Martin Luther himself saw it important to have forerunners of his views, and thus he praised people like Girolamo Savonarola, Lorenzo Valla, Wessel Gansfort and other groups as prefiguring some of his views. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Pre-reformation movements that have been argued, with differing degrees of anachronism and accuracy, as having individual ideas later espoused by some Protestant groups include:
John Foxe (c. 1563) was the first English Protestant author to defend Protestantism from charges of novelty by claiming, in S.J. Barnett's words, "the continuity of a proto-Protestant piety since apostolic times": in England's case this included a national first-century conversion to Christianity from a visiting Joseph of Arimathea. [78] This has no historical basis.
According to Brethren missionary Edmund Hamer Broadbent in The Pilgrim Church (1531), over much of the Christian era, many Christian sects, cults and movements foreshadowed the teachings of what later became the Non-conformist Protestant movements. [79]
Baptist successionism postulates an unbroken lineage of churches which have held beliefs similar to those of current Baptists. Groups often included in this lineage include the Montanists, Novationists, Donatists, Paulicians, Albigenses, Waldenses, Petrobrusians, Arnoldists, Henricians, Hussites (partly), Lollards (partly) and Anabaptists. Baptist successionism proposes that groups such as Bogomils or Paulicians were Baptist in doctrine instead of Gnostic. [80]
The idea of proto-protestants has been criticized as a diverse category whose only commonality is a perceived anti-Catholicism rather than any adherence to the Five Solae; the idea of successionism (or the hidden church) has further been criticized as lacking historical evidence, linking unrelated groups (e.g. the Manichaean Bogomil "Cathars", the Albigensian "Cathars", the semi-monastic Beguine movement, the antipapal fraticelli friars, the Trinitarian and eucharistic Waldenses,and the Lollards) and as fabricated to serve a polemical need. [78]
For the Catholic denial of the antiquity of the Waldensians and assertion of Petrine apostolicity, "the ideal parry to Rome would have been to identify apostolic origins for the Waldenses, but the evidence for such a claim was thin to nonexistent, a factor often necessarily limiting arguments in favor of apostolic origins to rather vague assertions."
— S.J.Barnett [78]
It is plainly evident that Jovinian could only have understood by the church , here , the invisible church
As Jovinian taught the Pauline doctrine of faith, so he did the Pauline idea of the invisible Church
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
Jovinian (a choice spirit who differentiated the invisible from the visible church
But there is an invisible Church, which has existed in every century, which is pure and spotless. ... This whole train of thought has been suggested by reading the words of Jovinian, in Neander
{{
cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(
help)
A comment on the epistle to the Galatians, is his only work which was committed to the press. In it he every where asserts the equality of all the apostles with St. Peter. And, indeed, he always owns Jesus Christ to be the only proper head of the church. He is severe against the doctrine of human merits, and of the exaltation of traditions to a height of credibility equal to that of the divine word. He maintains that we are to be saved by faith alone; holds the fallibility of the church, exposes the futility of praying for the dead, and the sinfulness of the idolatrous practices then supported by the Roman see. Such are the sentiments found in his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians.
{{
cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(
help)
Berengar of Tours was an 11th-century theologian who argued that the doctrine of transubstantiation was contrary to reason and unsupported by scripture
Berengar of Tours (c. 1005-1088), Bernand of Clairvaux, the Waldensians in the twelfth century, the Albigensians in the thirteenth century and John Wycliffe (x. 1330-1385) and Jan Hus (c. 1370-1415) in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, are all prefigured in the poetic images of Solomon's Songs. They all become forerunners of Luther and Calvin
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Berengar of Tours (first half og the eleventh century), whose views occasioned the dispute known as the Second Eucharistic Controversy. Berengar aught that the body and the blood of the Lord were no "real" in the Eucharist but a specific image or likeleness ("figuram quandam similitudinem"). He was thus a forerunner of the Reformers.
But within a short time both Rome and Constantinople had excommunicated the Bosnian Church , which claimed to represent the true form of Christianity . ... The Bosnian faith was , in a way , the forerunner of the great Reformation
The Bosnian Church has, however, been described primarily as a heretic Catholic sect. It has furthermore been seen as a forerunner to the Protestants
The Pre-Reformers: All groups that spoke out against the church were regarded as "heretical" groups. In the same light, the present-day church considers those individuals that questioned the church "doctrine" and "teachings" as heretics. McCallum (2002:n.p.) states that there were eight heretical groups of pre-reformers between the 12th and 15th centuries during the various European regions. McCallum 2002:n.p. mentions them as follows:
- Flagellants were in 1259. They marched with only loincloths through the streets crying out to God to show mercy on them (McCallum 2002:n.p.). In 1349 they were condemned.
- Then there was a variety of lay groups known as Beguines who had no specific set of forms (McCallum, 2002;n.p.). They were followers of Lambert le Begue who was a stammerer.
- In the 12th century Tanchelm preached in the diocese of Utrecht. He denied the author of the pope and the church and attacked the structure of the Catholic Church (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
- Peter of Bruys in the 12th century also rejected christening of infants. He rejected prayers for the dead, the Eucharist veneration of the cross and ecclesiastical ceremonies (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
- In the first half of 12th century Henry of Lausanne preached in what is known as France. His followers were known as the Henricans. The clergy were condemned for the love of wealth and power by Henry of Lausanne (McCallum, 2002:n.p.).
- The Adamists engaged in behaviour that was socially unacceptable and indulged in the practice of nude worship.
- Arnold of Brescia wanted the church to follow Christian ideals (McCallum 2002:n.p.). He attacked the bishops for their dishonest gains. He was hanged in 1155 and his body was burned.
- The Pataria, in Northern Italy were in reaction to the corruption which was taking place in the church. McCallum (2002:n.p.) states that the self-indulgent practices within the Roman Catholic Church were also opposed by other smaller movements.
(Chapter name: Forerunners of the Protestant Reformation) Despite the failure of the efforts atr a reformation of the church's governance, there were efforts to reform the church's theology and manner of faith. Yet the church was slow to change, Peter Aberlard, a Frenchmand sought to include human reason as one of the means of understanding the meanings of scripture.
Peter bruys became one of the earliest leaders of the Reformation, rejecting images, infant baptism,
(Chapter name: Forerunners of the Protestant reformation) Bradwardine in his study of Augustinian theology came to an understanding of the doctrine of predestination as a positive affirmation of Gd's benevolent grace unto us.
in the middle of the fourteenth century the Strigolniki heresy broke out in Russia, chiefly in the cities in the north of the country, which gave this movement a proto-Reformation character
John Pupper, 1400–1475, usually called John of Goch from his birthplace, a hamlet on the lower Rhine near Cleves, seems to have been trained in one of the schools of the Brothers of the Common Life, and then studied in Cologne and perhaps in Paris. He founded a house of Augustinians near Mecheln, remaining at its head till his death. His writings were not published till after the beginning of the Reformation. He anticipated that movement in asserting the supreme authority of the Bible. The Fathers are to be accepted only so far as they follow the canonical Scriptures. In contrast to the works of the philosophers and the Schoolmen, the Bible is a book of life; theirs, books of death.1167 He also called in question the merit of monastic vows and the validity of the distinction between the higher and lower morality upon which monasticism laid stress. What is included under the higher morality is within the reach of all Christians and not the property of monks only. He renounced the Catholic view of justification without stating with clearness the evangelical theory These three German theologians, Goch, Wesel and Wessel, were quietly searching after the marks of the true Church and the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone. Without knowing it, they were standing on the threshold of the Reformation.
John Ruchrath von Wesel, d. 1481, attacked the hierarchy and indulgences and was charged on his trial with calling in question almost all the distinctive Roman Catholic tenets. He was born in Oberwesel on the Rhine between Mainz and Coblentz. He taught at the University of Erfurt and, in 1458, was chosen its vice-rector. Luther bore testimony to his influence when he said, "I remember how Master John Wesalia ruled the University of Erfurt by his writings through the study of which I also became a master."1169 Leaving Erfurt, he was successively professor in Basel and cathedral preacher in Mainz and Worms. In 1479, Wesel was arraigned for heresy before the Inquisition at Mainz.1170 Among the charges were that the Scriptures are alone a trustworthy source of authority; the names of the predestinate are written in the book of life and cannot be erased by a priestly ban; indulgences do not profit; Christ is not pleased with festivals of fasting, pilgrimages or priestly celibacy; Christ's body can be in the bread without any change of the bread's substance: pope and councils are not to be obeyed if they are out of accord with the Scriptures; he whom God chooses will be saved irrespective of pope and priests, and all who have faith will enjoy as much blessedness as prelates. Wesel also made the distinction between the visible and the invisible Church and defined the Church as the aggregation of all the faithful who are bound together by love—collectio omnium fidelium caritate copulatorum. In his trial, he was accused of having had communication with the Hussites. In matters of historical criticism, he was also in advance of his age, casting doubt upon some of the statements of the Athanasian Creed, abandoning the application of the term Catholic to the Apostles' Creed and pronouncing the addition of the filioque clause—and from the Son—unwarranted. The doctrines of indulgences and the fund of merit he pronounced unscriptural and pious frauds. The elect are saved wholly through the grace of God—sola Dei gratia salvantur electi. These three German theologians, Goch, Wesel and Wessel, were quietly searching after the marks of the true Church and the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone. Without knowing it, they were standing on the threshold of the Reformation.
John of Wessel was one member in the group who attacked indulgences (Reddy 2004:115). The doctrine of justification by faith alone was the teaching of John of Wessel (Kuiper 1982:151). He rejected the doctrine of transubstantiation where it is believed when the priest pronounces the sacraments then the wine and bread in turned into the real body and blood of Christ
(Chapter name: forerunners of the Protestant reformation) Yet his modest ethnical reforms would lay the grounwork for the later Protestant Reformation movement at Strasbourg.