I have often considered it a sign of wisdom and maturity when one does not only admit when one does not know something but as well makes no pretense that he does. I saw the Schipfe where the first Anabaptist was martyred and St. The Museum explores the ideas behind years of Protestantism, from early theological debates to the influential charismatic preachers who today lead many churches around the world.
The causes that led to the break between Roman Catholicism and what came to be known as Protestantism are complex and are still in dispute. Political economy, nationalism, Renaissance individualism, and a rising concern over ecclesiastical abuses all played their part. They do not, however, camouflage the fact that the basic cause was theological, a difference in Christian perspective between Rome and those that did not share her views.
View the 16th century, when most of the events we now call the Reformation took place, as a vast tunnel. The Western Church entered that tunnel whole and emerged from it in several sections, or movements of churches. The two great enduring themes which split the Western Church apart were justification by faith and the principle of idolatry.
Faith, in the Protestant conception, is not simply a matter of belief β an acceptance of knowledge held with certainty to be true yet not based on evidence. When Protestants say that human beings are justified by faith, they are saying that faith requires a movement of the total self, in mind, will and affections. It is a mark of the strength of the ecumenical movement in the 20th century that Roman Catholic theologians, including the present Pope Francis, now increasingly understand faith in the same way.
To feel the force of the Protestant emphasis on faith as the response of the entire self, we need to see it as a passionate repudiation of religious perfunctoriness, the unthinking repetition of routine. No number of religious observances, no record of good deeds, no roster of doctrines believed, could guarantee that an individual would reach their desired state. Creeds, sacraments and good works are the consequences of faith, not the prerequisites.
