The unintended consequences of the Reformation

originally published 5/1/2012

Historian Brad Gregory discusses the unintended consequences of the Reformation, consequences which continue to this day in the hyperpluralism and polarization of the public sphere, the unsustainable consumerism of the developed world, and the marginalization of truth in human morality and culture. He begins by articulating the problems with a “supersessionist” view of history, the idea that later epochs completely displaced earlier periods of time so that the concerns of earlier periods effectively evaporate. Among these problems is the forced homogeneity this view imposes on what really is a very heterogenous mix of persons, perspectives, and lives in modern society. Gregory then explains how the disagreements and conflicts of the Reformation era between various Protestant and Catholics communities led to institutional solutions that first created a category of private religion and then removed that religion from the domain of public life. Ironically, this development would not have been acceptable to any of the Reformation-era parties, all of whom insisted Christianity ordered all of life, but nonetheless their inability to unite led to the secularization of the world. Gregory ends with a discussion of religious liberty and how the modern State controls the religious lives of individuals as much if not more than civil or ecclesiastical authorities in the medieval period.

26 minutes

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In our inaugural Areopagus Lecture, pastor-theologian Peter J. Leithart presented a lecture entitled “The Cultural Consequences of Christian Division.” In this talk, Dr. Leithart focuses on the pivotal role that the 1529 Marburg Colloquy played in Christian division among Protestants, particularly in the debate between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli over the Real Presence in the Eucharist. As a result of the impasse between Luther and Zwingli (and their subsequent refusal to commune at the Lord’s table), the Colloquy of Marburg shifted the Eucharist from something that Christians primarily do together to something about which Christians think or believe a certain way.

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