The Reformation can be divided four spheres of issues: Epistemology, Ecclesiology, Liturgy, and Soteriology. Each of these issues came with different responses from three primary groups, the Catholic Church, the Reformers, and the Radical Reformers. The Reformation impacted Christianity in a major way, and we can still see the effects of it today within what we can loosely call these three sub-traditions.

Corruption filled the western Church during the time leading up to the Reformation. The Church abused their power, and claimed to be the ultimate source of authority on earth. The clergy were also heavily involved with politics - the political and religious spheres were so intertwined that they seemed impossible to seperate. The authority the Church claimed stemmed from Matthew 16:18 & 19: “(18) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. (19) I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (RSV)
Author and historian Tim Dowley writes on this structure:

We can see tension becoming to arise between the old way of looking at things, and the new. Humanism is on the rise, and there is a growing movement of the Devotio Moderna, a revival of spirituality within the Catholic Church. The cry of “Ad Fontes” was at the forefront of this movement, a desire to return back to the original sources bypassing the tangible earthly authorities. An important figure is Erasmus of Rotterdam, who challenged the traditionally authorised Vulgate Latin bible which had been in use since its writing by St Jerome in the 4th century. In writing his Novum Instrumentum translation of the Vulgate, Erasmus notes a mistake in the older translation. In the Vulgate translation, the greek word “metanoia” found in passages such as Matthew 4:17 was translated as “do penance”, which would have appeared to a Catholic as referring to the Sacrament of Penance, whereas metanoia is defined as an internal repentance, or a change of heart. Whilst in truth the Catholic understanding of penance as a concept is not far from repentance, this translation error came across as promoting one particular practice.

There is this growing shift of thought which influences Luther that claims authority does not come from an institutionalised Church on earth. Humanism is the opposition to this traditional structure, and sought to place primacy on individual conscious. Knowledge is to be gained through Scripture, and it is between only the believer and God not by mediation of the Church.

Luther’s response to the abuse of the Catholic system was to reject it. Luther presented his renown “95 theses” against the Church’s incorrect teaching in 1517. With the rise of the printing press, soon his challenges to the Church were published and distributed. Thus his ideas began to grow in the minds of the people. Luther was called to recant his deemed heretical ideas at the Diet of Worms held in 1521.

Luther places Scripture at the heart of Christian life, and challenges the Catholic idea of the twofold Deposit of Faith. The individual conscious has primacy, and should discern directly with the transcendent Divine on matters of Faith and morals. Post-modernity echoes similar ideas to this in its placement of individual opinion over fact. The Radical Reformation took this one step further. Traditions that came from the Reformer Zwingli, such as the Anabaptists, sort to remove any sense of world intermediates — only the Bible is authoritative. The modern Pentecostal movement draws on this individualised form of Christianity, whilst also introducing the element of the Spirit’s personal revelation as a source of authority. Luther, though placing the Bible as the highest authority, still recognised authority of other sources, such as the Church Fathers. The Anabaptist’s claim is that only Scripture holds authority over man.

On the other hand, the response of the Catholic Church only affirms with greater vigour the twofold spiritual authority. An example might be the declaration of Papal Infallibility at the Vatican I council in 1870 (Decrees of the First Vatican Council - Papal Encyclicals, 1868). As a result of this affirmation, there are many doctrines still taught in the Catholic Church that Luther had condemned. Despite this, in recent times the Catholic Church has followed some of Luther’s footsteps through the Vatican II Council (1962). Dei Verbum seeks to ensure that Catholics have easy access to the Sacred Scripture. It reaffirms that the Bible’s has an essential place in the life of a Christian.

Ecclesiology underwent a major shift in focus during the Reformation times. The ecclesiological issue in the Reformation times link back to epistemology. Prior to Reformation, there was a clear hierarchy to the entire Church — still held in the Catholic Church today. At the top is the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), then descending from that: Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and monastics. These were people who held the same spiritual authority given to and passed down from the Apostles in Matthew 16:19. The challenge during the Reformation was that this ecclesial system was integrated with the politics, giving ecclesial figures more control than perhaps intended. Since the clergy have worldly power, naturally there are abuses. The sale of indulgences is a primary instance of this.

Luther responded to abuse of clerical power by deconstructing the notion of the Priesthood, diluting their authority. This meant that those who pastored a church were more accountable to their congregation. Luther presses on the notion of the “priesthood of all believers”. He did not draw a line, such as the Catholics did, between the Priesthood and the Laity — they were one. This is why in the Protestant tradition today, we can witness various governmental systems of Church leadership. Some still retain an episcopal system, (albeit with removed Catholic concepts such as the Church Magisterium). Other communities have a presbyterian structure where the church is lead by a group of elders, or a congregational structure that is self governed.

The Radical Reformation response adopted the latter congregational system, which in theory sought to remove all hierarchy. This echoes their desire to remove the church entirely from the state, and the belief that a Christian should not be involved with the state affairs — leading to many Anabaptists refusing to pay tax, fight in war, or be involved with politics. Today, the congregational format is popular among many Baptist, Pentecostal, or “non-denominational” churches, who still distance themselves from hierarchy through the argument that scripture is the standalone source of authority. Many churches that are popular within Christianity today would not exist without the Anabaptist movement. There are, however, negatives to the Anabaptist response. “Celebrity pastors” and megachurches that sometimes exist more as a financial business only exist as there is no authoritative figure to condemn their practices, such as the Bishop of Rome or a Patriarch.

Liturgy had a distinct transformation as result of the Reformation. At the time, the laity arguably did not have a meaningful role in the Mass. Both the Reformers and the Catholic Church saw this as an issue, yet responded to the challenge differently. During the Reformation, the Catholic Church kept the Eucharist at the heart of the liturgy. Their solution was found in St Ignatius of Loyola, who tried solving the lack of catechises by creating the Jesuit Order which had the purpose of preaching and evangelisation, and also helped in creating the Catholic education system (O'brien, 2011).The Jesuits also had large importance of evangelising in the “New World”, which is why today we can see that South America has a largely Catholic population (Villarrubia, 2011). The Council of Trent gave birth to the renown Tridentine Mass that was used right up until Vatican II. However, the Tridentine Mass was still only allowed to be celebrated in the Latin language. The change to the vernacular happened at Vatican II — to the delight of some Catholics and the regret of others. In the Vatican II Council, the Novus Ordo Mass was created, which allowed for the Mass to be celebrated in other languages, almost 450 years after Luther ("Dei verbum", 1965).

Luther’s response to the issue was the creation of the Deutsche Messe. This mass form was in the German language rather than Latin. Whilst Luther retained many Catholic traditions in his mass, his main liturgical reform was to emphasise the involvement of the laity. He enriched the liturgy by creating simple hymns the congregation could sing, and placed the preaching of God’s word at the centre of the liturgy (a result of his emphasis on Scripture). However, if one were to summarise Luthers liturgical changes, it would be at heart to make liturgy more flexible. After Luther, Protestant churches could create their own order of service in a fashion that suited them.

A key difference between Luther and John Calvin, Zwingli, and the Radical Reformers was that Luther allowed anything in liturgy as long as it was not explicitly condemned by Scripture. The more fundamentalist perspective contended that if a liturgical action was not explicitly explained in scripture, it should not occur.

Following their seemingly anti-hierarchical nature, the Radical Reformer groups sort for as little liturgy as possible. They also condemned use of most objects during worship, such as icons, statues, candles, and incense, in that they were either idolatrous or distracted from the meaning of worship. As society developed into Modernity, overall Protestant liturgy distanced itself from ritual moved to free expression. An example is the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement that centres on the movement of the Holy Spirit and a casual atmosphere of worship. The emphasis is not on external ritual, but on the internal conscience.

The positive side to the reformers’ liturgical response is that today there is a rich variety of liturgies and tradition that may not have developed without the Reformation. Despite this, there is an important negative impact to keep in mind, and that is disunity. As a result of the Reformation, one cannot walk into a Church and know exactly what to expect and how to worship, as there are thousands of unique manners in which people conduct their service.

Soteriology was a derisive theological issue during the Reformation. Luther disagreed that we, and the Church, are responsible for and can participate in our salvation. Luther struggled with scrupulosity, being unsure of his saved state which pushed him away from the Catholic soteriological perspective. In the medieval Catholic system, one’s salvation was overly reliant on the believer, aided by the graces dispensed by the Church through sacraments and indulgences. As Luther began to study scripture, he found issues with the Catholic approach. Reading passages in the Bible such as the book of Romans, Luther came to understand salvation as not depending on the believer, but as an act of God. One key issue at the heart of Luther’s struggle was the nature of justification. The Catholic Church defines justification as referring our initial salvation in addition to our journey of becoming sanctified. Salvation is infused into the believer, as Christ, working through the Church, makes one righteous (Catholic Church, 1987-2011). This is the traditional Catholic understanding, and is still upheld by the Church today, albeit without the abuses that took place during the Reformation. Luther rejected how he interpreted the Catholic way of salvation, as when he witnessed how people relied on the Sacraments, indulgences, and the Saints. It appeared to him that it was the work of the people, and not Christ, that did the saving work. Justification for Luther is distant to the believer — they are declared just. It is imputed not infused.

The distinction is we are the ones in Christ, instead of Christ infusing into our soul. Our soul remains sinful but is covered by Christ’s righteousness.
The Radical Reformation kept to Luther’s theology, however went on to disagree with many of John Calvin’s beliefs. One such is Predestination. Calvin taught that everyone, before time, is predetermined to go to heaven or hell. This stream of Christianity took a middle ground. They returned to the Catholic idea that we all possess Free Will to accept or reject salvation, yet they were against the Sacramental system and infused salvation. Today this perspective is most prominent in Protestant Christianity, which is helpful for Protestant and Catholic ecumenical dialogue.

In post-reformation study, we can see that there has been soteriological reconciliation between Protestants and Catholics. In 1999, the World Lutheran Federation and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity signed a join declaration on the nature of Justification. This was only able to happen after years of the Catholic Church defining more precisely what it believes and refuting heresies revolting around salvation. It also highlights how though the Reformation divided Christianity, some issues can be resolved.

The Reformation provoked an array of response. On one side we see the leaders of reform who broke from the Catholic Church. Figures such as Zwingli, Calvin, and Knox who promoted the freedom of individual conscience and a separation from sacramentality. On the other side, we see figures such Erasmus solving Biblical translation errors and Ignatius of Loyola with his Jesuit mission to reform the Catholic Church from the inside. Through Church Councils such as Trent, we can see the Catholic Church trying to set itself right. The Reformation was not isolated to just Christians, however, it was a movement that altered the fabric of western thinking. Its central challenge however is this: where, how, and from whom, does our authority originate?

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