Chapter 54 Chapter V The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation

Both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation represented the revolt of the less civilized peoples against the spiritual domination of Italy.As far as the Reformation was concerned, this resistance was also a political and theological resistance: the pope’s prestige was denied, and the tribute he had originally obtained with the “key to the kingdom of heaven” was no longer paid.As far as the Counter-Reformation is concerned, there is only resistance to the spiritual freedom and moral freedom of Renaissance Italy; the power of the Pope has not been weakened, but has been strengthened, but at the same time it has clearly defined his prestige and the Borgias and May. The looseness and indulgence of the Dicky family are too much to tolerate.Roughly speaking, the Reformation was a German movement, the Counter-Reformation a Spanish movement; and the Wars of Religion were at the same time wars between Spain and her enemies, which coincided chronologically with the period when Spain was at the height of its power.

The attitude of the public opinion of the northern peoples towards Renaissance Italy is illustrated in this English proverb at the time: An Italianized Englishman is the devil incarnate. We are reminded how many of the sticklers in Shakespeare's plays are Italian.Ago is perhaps the most famous example, but a more typical instance is that of Achimo in Cymbeline, who leads astray the virtuous Briton who is traveling in Italy, Came to England again to play tricks on the sincere and unsuspecting natives.Moral resentment against the Italians was closely related to the Reformation.Unfortunately, this resentment also involved an intellectual denial of the Italians' contribution to civilization.

The three masters of the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation were Luther, Calvin, and Loyola.All three were medieval in their philosophy, compared with the Italians immediately before them, or with Erasmus and More.Philosophically speaking, the century following the beginning of the Reformation was a barren century.Luther and Calvin returned to St. Augustine, but only preserved the part of his teachings that dealt with the relationship between the soul and God, not the part about the church.Their theology is one that undercuts the power of the Church.The souls of the dead in purgatory can be saved by mass sacrifices, and they abandoned purgatory.A large part of the pope's income depends on the theory of exoneration, which they deny.According to the theory of predestination, the fate of the soul after death is made completely independent of the priest's actions.These innovations, though they aided the struggle against the Pope, prevented the Protestant churches from becoming as powerful in Protestant countries as the Protestant churches were in Protestant countries.Protestant priests were (at least at first) just as bigoted as pagan theologians, but they were less powerful and therefore less harmful.

Almost from the beginning, Protestants were divided on the question of the competence of the state in matters of religion.No matter which country's monarch, as long as he is Protestant, Luther is willing to recognize him as the religious head of his country.In England, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I vehemently insisted on their right to do so, as did the Protestant monarchs of Germany, Scandinavia, and (after the Spanish defection) Holland.This accelerated the existing trend of royal expansion. But Protestants, who took seriously the individualistic aspects of the Reformation, were no less willing to submit to the Pope than to the King.German Anabaptists were suppressed, but their teachings spread to Holland and England.

Cromwell's struggle with Long Parliament had many aspects; on the theological side it was partly a struggle between opponents and supporters of the idea that the state should have a say in matters of religion.Gradually, in the weariness of the wars of religion, a belief in religious toleration grew, which was a source of the movement that developed into liberalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Protestant success was initially rapid, but was thwarted mainly by Loyola's founding of the Society of Jesus.Loyola was formerly a soldier, and his order was formed after the example of an army; unconditional obedience to the General was required, and every Jesuit should consider himself engaged in the battle against heresy.As early as the Synod of Tulent, the Jesuits had gained momentum.They are disciplined, savvy, totally dedicated to their cause, and good at publicizing.Their theology was the exact opposite of Protestant theology; they denied those elements of St. Augustine's teaching which were emphasized by Protestants.They believe in free will and oppose predestination.Salvation is not achieved by faith alone, but by both faith and merit.The Jesuits gained prestige especially in the Far East with their zeal for preaching.They were welcomed as ministering priests because (if Pascal's story is to be believed) they were more merciful than other priests, except for heretics.They devote all their energy to education, and thus have a firm grip on the hearts and minds of the young.The education they give is always a good education, so far as it is not entangled with theology.As we shall see later, they taught Descartes a great deal of mathematics that he could not have learned elsewhere.Politically, they were a united and disciplined unit, avoiding danger and labor; they urged the pagan monarchs to persecute cruelties, followed the dust of the victorious Spanish army, and even in Italy, which had enjoyed freedom of thought for nearly a century. , and then establish the atmosphere of terror in the Inquisition.

The consequences in intellectual circles of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation were purely bad at first, but beneficial in the end.Through the Thirty Years' War, when everyone was convinced that neither Protestant nor Confucian could win, the medieval desire for the unity of doctrine had to be abandoned, thus extending man's freedom of independent thought even on fundamental questions.Different countries have different religious beliefs, so it is possible to escape persecution by living abroad.Talented men, disgusted by theological strife, turned their attention more and more to worldly learning, especially to mathematics and the natural sciences.Partly for these reasons, although the sixteenth century following the rise of Luther was a philosophically barren period, the seventeenth century bears the names of the greatest men and marks the most remarkable development since the age of Greece.This development began with science, which is discussed in the next chapter.