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BACKGROUND CURRENTS TO REFORMATION
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| 1. POLITICAL CHANGES: MOVEMENT FROM CHRISTENDOM TO INDIVIDUAL STATES AND COUNTRIES | ||
| 2. GROWTH OF NATIONALISM: ONE WAS FIRST FRENCH, GERMAN, ETC., BEFORE BEING CHRISTIAN | ||
| 3. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: GROWTH OF CITIES. URBANIZATION. PEOPLE NOT BOUND TO THE LAND IN ORDER TO SURVIVE | ||
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4. GROWTH OF INDIVIDUALISM: EMPHASIS ON SELF & SELF-DEPENDENCE OVER COMMUNITY |
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| 5. DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN LANGUAGES | ||
| 6. INVENTION OF PRINTING PRESS: PEOPLE LEARNED TO READ (THE BIBLE). EXCHANGE OF IDEAS. (CAN BE COMPARED TO MODERN COMPUTER) | ||
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Session 1, notes 2 |
| 1. CONDITIONS IN THE CHURCH CALLING FOR CHANGE AND RE-FORMATION | ||
| A. LITURGY HAD BECOME THE BACKGROUND FOR PRIVATE DEVOTIONS | ||
| -- IGNORANCE OF LATIN BY LAITY MADE THEM PASSIVE SPECTATORS BETWEEN THE PRIEST AND CHOIR | ||
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-- LACK OF UNDERSTANDING LED TO SUPERSTITION CONCERNING EUCHARIST AND OTHER SACRAMENTS |
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2. IGNORANCE OF LATIN & THEOLOGY ON PART OF GREAT NUMBER OF CLERGY |
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| 3. CLERICAL AND HIERARCHICAL ABUSES | ||
| -- "SELLING" OF INDULGENCES, MASSES, ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICES | ||
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-- CENTRALIZATION OF POWER IN CHURCH OFFICES IN HANDS OF A FEW WHO USED AUTHORITY FOR PERSONAL GAIN |
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Session 1, notes 3 |
| 1. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH AND NOT BY GOOD WORKS (FAITH IS A FREE GIFT OF GOD) | ||
| 2. PRIESTHOOD OF ALL THE BAPTIZED | ||
| 3. UNDERSTANDABLE WORSHIP | ||
| 4. HIGHEST AUTHORITY IN CHURCH IS FOUND IN THE SCRIPTURES | ||
| 5. LIMITING NUMBER OF SACRAMENTS ONLY TO WHAT IS FOUND IN THE BIBLE | ||
EXTREME POSITIONS OF REFORMERS |
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| 1. GOOD WORKS ARE USELESS | ||
| 2. IF ALL SHARE IN PRIESTHOOD BY REASON OF BAPTISM, NO NEED FOR AN ORDAINED PRIESTHOOD | ||
| (ALL ARE PRIESTS — PRESBYTERIANS — WITH DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS OR SERVICES) | ||
| 3. SACRAMENTS ARE NOT VALID UNLESS UNDERSTANDABLE | ||
| 4. LIMITED SACRAMENTS PRIMARILY TO BAPTISM AND EUCHARIST (IF AT ALL) | ||
| 5. TOTAL AUTHORITY FOUND IN BIBLE—NO NEED FOR A HIERARCHY | ||
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Session 1, notes 4 |
COUNCIL OF TRENT: A REFORMING COUNCIL |
| (THE COUNCIL OF TRENT EMPHASIZED WHAT WAS BEING DENIED BY THE EXTREMISTS—WHICH LED TO A DE-EMPHASIS OF CERTAIN TRUTHS OF THE FAITH |
| 1. EMPHASIS ON THE ROLE OF THE LIVING HUMAN AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH (POPE, BISHOPS, PRIESTS) AND THIS LED TO A DE-EMPHASIS ON THE SCRIPTURES |
| 2. EMPHASIS ON THE ORDAINED CLERGY—LED TO A DE-EMPHASIS OF THE ROLE OF THE LAITY IN THE CHURCH |
| 3. EMPHASIS ON THE TOTAL SACRAMENTAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH—LED TO A DE-EMPHASIS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SCRIPTURE |
| 4. EMPHASIZED USE OF LATIN IN THE LITURGY—AS A SIGN OF UNITY, THE VALIDITY OF SACRAMENTS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND FOR PASTORAL REASONS. |
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Session 1, notes 5 |
CONTEMPORARY CHANGES BRINGING ABOUT THE POST MODERN
WORLD
| A. SECULAR CHANGES: | ||
| 1. POLITICAL CHANGES; FROM NATIONALISM TO INTERNATIONALISM (E.G. EUROPEAN UNION) | ||
| --GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY AS POLITICAL STRUCTURE | ||
| 2. MOVEMENT FROM AN INDUSTRIAL
SOCIETY TO A TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY (SCIENTIFIC MENTALITY IN CONFLICT WITH A PHILOSOPHICAL MENTALITY) |
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| 3. INSTANT INFORMATION... INFORMATION EXPLOSION: VISUAL AS WELL AS LEGIBLE (MOVE BEYOND PRINTING PRESS) | ||
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Session 1, notes 6 |
B. CHANGES IN RELIGIOUS AREA |
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| 1. REDISCOVERY OF HISTORY: FROM A STATIC UNDERSTANDING TO A DYNAMIC UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH AND ITS DEVELOPMENT | ||
| 2. THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT: GOING BACK TO HISTORICAL & ORIGINAL SOURCES TO UNDERSTAND CHRISTIAN WORSHIP | ||
| 3. THE RISE OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP: FROM A RATHER FUNDAMENTALISTIC APPROACH TO A CRITICAL APPROACH (RECOGNIZE VARIOUS FORMS OF LITERATURE IN USE). | ||
| 4. ECUMENISM: WORLD WAR II BROUGHT SEPARATED CHRISTIANS TOGETHER IN A COMMUNAL REACTION TO THE ENEMY | ||
| 5. INFLUENCE OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY | ||
| -PEOPLE THINK IN DIFFERENT CATEGORIES THAN IN THE PAST. THEOLOGY MUST BE RE-TRANSLATED TO A CONTEMPORARY APPROACH. E.G. UNDERSTANDING OF CHURCH, SACRAMENTS, ETC. | ||
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Session 1, notes 7 |
VATICAN II A CALL FOR THE CHURCH TO RENEW ITSELF |
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| (THE FIRST COUNCIL IN TILE CHURCH'S HISTORY NOT CONVENED TO FIGHT A HERESY BUT TO BECOME WHAT GOD CALLED IT TO BECOME IN A NEW WORLD SITUATION—A TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD.) | ||
| FOUR "CONSTITUTIONS" SET FOUNDATION FOR RENEWAL: | ||
| 1. CONSTITUTION ON THE LITURGY (THE CHURCH CELEBRATING ITS FAITH) | ||
| 2. CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH (WHAT IS THE CHURCH) | ||
| 3. CONSTITUTION ON DIVINE REVELATION (GOD COMMUNICATING SELF THROUGH SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION) | ||
| 4. PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD (MISSION OF THE CHURCH IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY) | ||
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Session 1, notes 8 |
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SOME MAJOR REFORMS |
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| 1. THE CHURCH IS AN INSTITUTION, AN ORGANIZATION | |
| -- BUT NOT PRIMARILY AN INSTITUTION.... | |
| A. CHURCH IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD CALLING ENTIRE HUMANITY COMMUNITY INTO COMMUNITY WITH COMMUNITY OF TRINITY | |
| B. CHURCH IS THE PEOPLE, THE FAMILY, THE COMMUNITY OF GOD....THE VERY BODY OF CHRIST | |
| C. THIS PEOPLE OF GOD, THE CHURCH, IS STRUCTURE (HIERARCHICALLY) TO ACHIEVE ITS MISSION | |
| D. THE LAITY SHARE IN THE MISSION AND MINISTRY OF CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH BY REASON OF BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION (PRIESTHOOD OF THE BAPTIZED) | |
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E. ALL THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE CALLED TO HOLINESS...THE GROWTH IN HOLINESS IS NOT BASED ON ORDINATION BUT ON COOPERATION WITH GOD'S GRACE IN FULFILLING ONE'S RESPONSIBILITY (response) IN THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH |
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| 2. THE SACRAMENTAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH (LITURGY, ESPECIALLY THE EUCHARIST) CELEBRATES THE FAITH OF GOD'S PEOPLE THROUGH CHRIST—AND IS NOT THE DOMAIN OF THE CLERGY BUT OF THE ENTIRE PEOPLE OF GOD | |
| A. THE CHURCH MAKES THE EUCHARIST AND THE
EUCHARIST MAKES THE CHURCH... (THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENTIRE PEOPLE BEING INVOLVED IN THE WORSHIP OF GOD AS A COMMUNITY RATHER THAN AS INDIVIDUALS) |
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| B. IMPORTANCE OF VARIED MINISTRIES BEING SHOWN FORTH IN WORSHIP | |
| C. TOTAL RENEWAL OF LITURGY—RETURN TO EARLY
CHURCH'S UNDERSTANDING OF WORSHIP AS THAT OF A COMMUNITY BEING CALLED
TOGETHER BY GOD FOR WORSHIP — AND NOT PRIMARILY A TIME FOR INDIVIDUAL
DEVOTION. --SHOWS FORTH A COMMUNITY OF FAITH RESPONDING TO GOD'S CALL & JESUS' MISSION. |
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