On October 31, 1517
Martin Luther, an Augustinian priest, is said to have nailed his
Ninety-Five Theses on the door of
All Saints Cathedral in Wittenberg, Germany. Although this dramatic event is likely apocryphal, in time the
Theses were distributed throughout much of then-known Christendom. Dealing primarily with ecclesiastical abuses, Luther’s main contention was that the pope had no authority to grant indulgences. In 1520
Pope Leo X condemned many of the items found in the
Theses as heresy. He
excommunicated Martin Luther a year later.
Luther also attacked the sacraments, rejecting that they are
channels of grace when faith is absent. He denied
free will and he called for the suppression and eradication of the Mass. His revolutionary writings
led to outbreaks of violence throughout Germany. By 1525, mobs had destroyed churches, burned sacred art, and desecrated the Eucharist. Nobles sympathetic to Luther’s teachings appealed to him for help ending the violence. In response, Luther wrote a pamphlet titled
Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, in which he called on the nobility to suppress the rebellion with all necessary violence. Their response saw the death of 130,000 peasants. That same year Luther married a former nun whom he helped “escape” from the convent. Toward the end of his life, Luther wrote
On the Jews and Their Lies, a treatise in which he put forth an eight-point plan to rid Germany of its Jews. In Luther’s last treatise before his death in February 1546,
Against the Pontificate at Rome, Founded by the Devil, he called for the torture and murder of the pope and cardinals. A Catholic priest who had at first tried to address several valid errors in the leaders of the Church in his time, Luther's approach - as well as some of his personal issues and weaknesses - soon unleashed a genie even he could not control.
By 1545
John Calvin, a French theologian who expanded upon some of Luther's ideas while at the same time opposing others, had fled his native Catholic France and created a state in the city of Geneva in Switzerland that enforced its own version of Christian morality upon the citizens. In the name of
restoring what Calvin considered their "lax morality", commissions were formed to investigate whether the citizens attended church services regularly and lived moral lives in accord with his creed, classifying them as “pious,” “lukewarm,” or “corrupt” in their faith. The
death penalty was prescribed for adultery, blasphemy, idolatry, pregnancy out of wedlock, and striking a parent. It was also
against the law in Calvinist Geneva to dance, sing (outside of church services), stage or attend theatrical plays, wear jewelry, or play cards or dice.
As the Reformation unfolded, other leaders continued to disagree not only with the Catholic Church but with many of the innovations of prior Reformers. The more that individuals disagreed on interpretations of scripture and authority, the more denominations were formed. Today
there are thousands (the number varies between 20 and 50 thousand) of
ecclesial communities under the Protestant tradition (there is no such thing as a "Protestant Church" as each operates in a largely independent style, unlike the
hierarchy of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Christian "
Sister Churches").
Martin Luther and John Calvin were complex men who were anything but the pious reformers of modern myth. They viciously attacked their critics. Luther’s writings spurred an armed rebellion in Germany that had to be forcibly put down by the nobility. Calvin created a theocracy in Geneva that interfered in the private lives of all citizens. Both men rebelled against the Catholic Church and contributed to the fracturing of Christendom, which persists to this day.
Is there a way to once again reform these differences and respond to Jesus' prayer to his Father that "all may be one" (
Jn. 17:21)? There have been several initiatives in the last 25 years to help bring about reconciliation. Popes St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have encouraged and opened dialogue with the various Protestant communities. One major step in this process was the
Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church in 1999, which recognized those areas in which Catholics and Lutherans agree as a beginning towards reconciling our disagreements.
More recent is the establishment of personal ordinariates with the Catholic Church and various Anglican congregations, such as the
Prelature of the Chair of St. Peter for the United States in 2012, which are facilitating the process of these congregations drawing closer to the Catholic Church while still maintaining many elements of the Anglican faith tradition.
Further steps would involve and awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of both traditions and using the areas on which we agree to begin a true dialogue: starting with what
unites us instead of what
divides us. One should not seek to convert the other side as a first step, but simply to learn through conversation. Whether we see the Protestant Reformation as an immense step forward in human history or as a major theological setback, there should certainly be room for dialogue. It is by trusting in our heavenly Father and working through the gifts and talents that He has given to us that any hope of reconciliation could be possible. It may seem impossible but we are assured by Jesus himself: "For human beings it is impossible, but for God all things are possible" (
Mt. 19:26)!