Martin LutherOne of the Oxford dictionaries available online defines the term “to celebrate” as to “acknowledge with a social gathering or enjoyable activity”. Other dictionaries will certainly have similar definitions to this one and in order to be correct the words “social” and “enjoyable” would almost surely feature somehow or other.
On October 31, 2017, the last day of the 10th month of the year, Christians and non-Christians alike will commemorate the 500th anniversary since German reformer Martin Luther published his 95 theses, and according to tradition, nailed them to the cathedral door of his city of Württemberg.
The want for change married to the spirit of the age warranted the so-called Protestant Reformation, which historians consider as one the greatest upheavals to have taken place during the past millennium. However, considering all the effects of such a huge upheaval and given the meaning of such a term, would we be right to celebrate the Reformation?
Hundreds of books, essays and scholarly articles have been written about this greatest event of the 16th century. Among the millions of words printed on the subject, the reader is likely to find books which argue in favour of it and many hundred others which offer a balanced critique even arguing that its very name may be misleading and therefore subject to error.
The point of view of an author discussing a delicate theme such as the Reformation is never to be taken for granted since no author is entirely unbiased and free of external influences; the subjectivity of the researcher can hardly be underestimated.
Having said this, some authoritative studies published about the Protestant Reformation throughout the centuries presented a balanced view. St Augustine’s statement that “man is not able to reform himself as he is able to deform himself” connected reformation with individual conversion and divine grace.
Ecclesia semper reformanda (the Church is always undergoing reformation) is a phrase first used by Protestant theologian Karl Barth in 1947, which allegedly has been derived from a saying of St Augustine and therefore proving that the term is much older than the Reformation itself.
Ironically, even to this day, these ancient words are a rallying cry for Presbyterians and other Reformed Christians. The entire phrase states that ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei, meaning that the Church is reformed and is always reforming itself according to the Word of God.
The 16th century provided the right time and space for a healthy evolution for the medieval Catholic Church; what was lacking was the sense of control and right reason
From a historical point of view, the saying is a post-World War II ‘creature’ and Barth himself is considered to be its ‘creator’. On the other hand, from a strictly Catholic perspective, it is most probably the case that a reformation willed by the Church happened when Pope John XXIII – now canonised – called for Vatican Council II and allowed a ‘breath of fresh air’ into the Church.
Strangely enough, this ‘opening of the windows’ did not benefit his successor Pope Paul VI who spoke of the “smoke of Satan” having entered the Church; apparently the words having been uttered in 1972 by Papa Montini on the ninth anniversary of his coronation during a homily given at a Mass for the solemnity of St Peter and St Paul.
If we are to give weight to this latest quotation, we may then conclude that ‘reformation’ and the Catholic Church have not been the best of friends until relatively recent.
However, the Church has ‘reformed’ itself when it gave the vernacular languages prominence over Latin and allowed for the revision of the Mass.
A celebration entails a sense of enjoyment and involves an entire community, two aspects that are actually absent from the spirit of the Reformation. One does not need to study the Reformation in detail to conclude that the movement brought with it havoc, confusion and dismemberment in the Church.
In simple words, the Reformation provided for the milieu of the destruction of Christendom. The unity that existed – even if defective – between the secular authorities and the Christian Church in Europe headed by the bishop of Rome nourished a spirit which kept united the various Christian churches of the European countries which looked at the bishop of Rome as the man who had the ultimate say in many a situation.
With the coming of the Reformation, this ‘unity’ was brought to bits. One has to keep in mind that not all European countries experienced the Reformation in the same manner, and some did not experience it at all. In his scholarly article ‘The Northern Renaissance and the Protestant Reform’, lecturer Sebastian Morello puts under scrutiny the destiny of the northern European countries at the time of the Reformation.
He stresses the fact that in the north of Europe were the Northern humanists like Erasmus and in a very different way, Thomas More, who pushed forward the spirit of reform, sane at the beginning, transformed into a complex one in its later stages.
At the end of his essay Morello says: “One thing is crystal clear: there is nothing about Luther and his Protestant rebellion that we should celebrate.” Blunt as it may sound, the affirmation contains a truth that is more than subjective and it invites us all to think hard and move slowly when confronted with the ‘urge’ for an ecumenical stance.
Christendom needed a reform in the 16th century and Trent was late to come; the arrival of the mendicant orders of the Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers in the 13th century was already a red light for the powers to be in the Church, a light the importance of which was either underestimated or ignored altogether.
The 16th century provided the right time and space for a healthy evolution for the medieval Catholic Church; what was lacking was the sense of control and right reason which would have been ideal ingredients for a sane transformation.
The involvement of the ‘secular hand’ in the spirit of change that characterised both the Renaissance and the Reformation was not what the Church wanted or needed at the time; it was the engagement of these greedy German princes which threw out the baby with the bath water as the famous dictum asserts and took Christendom in a direction not even Luther himself wanted.
Commemorating rather than celebrating the Reformation is the direction I believe we should take, confronted with the reality of the fifth centenary anniversary since Europe underwent the colossal transformations of the 16th century.
As the Renaissance brought with it a rediscovery of the writings of the ancient Greek and Latin writers together with the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg, Christendom did not manage to find a way how to move on with the times without losing its sense of unity and harmony that had kept it going since the fall of the Roman Empire.
Thus Christendom was condemned to become a house divided, a family without a father, a ship without a sailor going through such a huge change that no amount of goodwill and ‘feel good’ ecumenism will ever unite once again Christendom as it once stood in times now past.