wfn.org | The Protestant Reformation: an Historical Idea Ready for a Reform

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

1-March-2000 
00101 
 
    The Protestant Reformation: 
    an Historical Idea Ready for a Major Reform 
 
    Movement was far from monolithic, theologians agree 
 
    by Edmund Doogue 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
GENEVA - One of the most basic concepts of the history of Christianity - 
that of the 16th-century reformation which split the Western Church - is 
being radically revised thanks to a series of meetings aimed at bringing 
Protestant denominations closer together. 
 
    Theologians and officials representing a range of Protestant 
denominations have been meeting since 1986 to examine the nature of 
Protestantism.  As their dialogues have evolved -  the sixth in the series 
was held in Strasbourg, France, from Feb. 11-15 - the participants have 
dramatically revised the historical view of the reformation, throwing out 
the stereotype of a monolithic "Reformation" led by Martin Luther and John 
Calvin. 
 
    Instead, the theologians say, there were a whole string of events and 
people who reformed Christianity over a period of several centuries. 
 
    "Instead of speaking of `The Reformation,' it is more helpful to speak 
of different specific and historic `Reformations,' recognizing similarities 
and differences, rather than assuming or searching for one comprehensive 
definition," the 25 participants affirmed in a working paper drawn up at 
the Strasbourg meeting. 
 
    Milan Opocensky, who is about to retire as general secretary of the 
World Alliance of Reformed Churches, based in Geneva, told ENI in an 
interview in his office after the gathering: "The meeting was part of an 
effort to develop a more inclusive and comprehensive definition of the 
notion of reformation.  There was a feeling that Lutheran and Reformed 
theologians have believed that theirs was the `real' reformation, and that 
other efforts [to reform the church] were only secondary. 
 
    "This is not just a matter of correcting the footnotes in the history 
books.  We are saying that history should be partly rewritten with a 
greater awareness of what happened on what we think of as the margins.  A 
certain perspective of history needs to be rejected. 
 
    "My conviction," Opocensky told ENI, "is that those who used to be 
called the forerunners of the reformation, like the Waldensians, the 
Hussites, the Czech Brethren, constituted a reformation in their own right, 
and prepared the way for Luther, Calvin and other reformers. 
 
    "Luther and Calvin did not just fall from heaven.  Other people had 
worked the same field, and people at that time were aware of the earlier 
reformers.  I am of course aware that Luther and Calvin, for example, 
deepened what had been said before.  But what they said was not totally 
new.  Some of it had been worked out 100 years before; in some cases, like 
the Waldensians, some of it had been said several hundred years before." 
 
    Opocensky, who is a minister in the Evangelical Church of Czech 
Brethren, was one of the founding members of the series of dialogues which 
began in 1986 in Prague where he was teaching at the Comenius Faculty of 
Protestant Theology. 
 
    The dialogues - called the Prague I to VI consultations - began as a 
meeting of Protestant churches whose origins predate Luther and Calvin - 
churches such as the Waldensian Church (which traces its origins to the 
12th century), the Unity of Brethren, and the Hussite Church. The historic 
peace churches, such as the Mennonites, Hutterian Brethren, and Society of 
Friends (Quakers), also took part. 
 
    All of these churches are part of what the participants now call the 
"First Reformation" or the "Radical Reformation" during both of which 
reformers made radical changes to the practice of Christianity and broke 
away from the Roman Catholic Church, long before the births of Martin 
Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin. 
 
    As the consultations continued throughout the 1990s, they were expanded 
to include representatives from the Lutheran and Reformed churches.  They 
were then expanded further to include Baptists, Methodists and Roman 
Catholics.  The Strasbourg gathering included representatives of the 
Seventh-day Adventist and Romanian Orthodox churches. 
 
    Opocensky told ENI that the Prague consultations had covered a lot of 
ground.  In 1994, for example, the consultation known as Prague IV (held in 
Geneva), discussed the Sermon on the Mount. 
 
    An important objective for the consultations was "eventually to cancel" 
the various "mutual condemnations" which had been made among Protestant 
groups, Dr Opocensky said. The different strands of reform had in fact 
created division among Protestants.  He singled out the Anabaptists, a name 
which is now applied to a whole range of 16th-century groups who rejected 
infant baptism in favor of believers' baptism.  Some of these groups 
developed religious practices at odds with mainstream Protestantism, and 
were harshly persecuted. 
 
    "Maybe there were valid reasons at the time, but we believe that this 
part of history needs to be revisited," he said.  "The position adopted [by 
mainstream Protestants] was intolerant, and often ended in violence." 
 
    He added: "All of this has a bearing on our ecumenical fellowship 
today.  If we don't heal these problems, we continue to live with the 
wounds of the past." 
 
    Asked by ENI whether all the church representatives in the Prague 
consultations were professional theologians, Opocensky said that some, like 
the Hutterite Brethren, "are not theologically trained but put great 
emphasis on issues of lifestyle and ethics."  The Hutterian Bruderhof, set 
up in a bid to follow the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount, put their 
emphasis not on theology but on a simple lifestyle, largely ignoring the 
monetary system. 
 
    "That is a challenge to us," Opocensky said, adding that the Prague 
consultations had a momentum and implications which went well beyond those 
in many other inter-confessional dialogues. 
 
    The beliefs of some of the churches involved in the discussions have in 
fact enriched the consultations, according to Opocenksy, who mentioned as 
an example the Quaker method of reaching a consensus through discussion and 
silent reflection rather than by a vote.  Through this method, he said, 
"they [Quakers] reach consensus which is embraced by all.  Isn't this a 
lesson for us in the ecumenical movement?  Formal discussion and voting may 
work in the secular world, but if we struggle under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, democratic procedures are sometimes inadequate, and the truth 
has often been defended by minorities." 
 
    The next Prague consultation is expected to be held in two or three 
years. 

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