The Middle Ages were the era of Reformation. The Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and the Catholic counter-reformation were all major reform movements that brought about much needed change. However, these three movements strongly disagreed with each other. Why did they disagree? Because they had different perspectives concerning Christianity and the church’s authority.
The first perspective was held by the “Renaissance artists” (HIST 101 Western Civilization I, Section 6: Humanism). These humanists “rarely challenged the truth of Christianity” (Section 6: Humanism). In fact, they did not even challenge the “Bible” (Section 6). However, humanism “did not emphasize human sin” (Section 6). See, this philosophy taught that human beings
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This perspective can be summed up by John Wycliffe’s opinion. What exactly was Wycliffe’s opinion? Well, he believed in “the spiritual freedom of the individual” (HIST 101 Western Civilization I, Section 8: The Church in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance). See, Wycliffe believed “that every person – priest or laymen – held an equal place in the eyes of God” (Section 8: The Church in the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance). He also viewed every believer as being important to the body of Christ, not just the church authorities. This might explain why he was very critical of the Pope. Why did he criticize the Pope? Because Wycliffe did not believe the Pope was the final authority in matters of faith. In fact, he went as far as to say that the Pope “should not be adorned with riches but rather with poverty” (Section 8). His disdain for the Pope was so strong that he wished poverty would come to this famous church leader. He was also against the Pope being involved in politics. Such a degrading view of the Pope shows that Wycliffe valued and cherished all believers equally, and that they are all equal to the church …show more content…
“All” believers “are one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28, NIV). A person’s race, financial status, gender, and appearance are all irrelevant. If a person believes in Christ, he is equal to all the other Lord’s sheep. No Christian is better than the other. In fact, all of us are the opposite of better. We are all sinful and wicked. “All” of us “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NIV). None of us do good, “not even one” (Romans 3:12, NIV). Because of this, we all equally need Jesus. Pastors, Sunday school teachers, theologians, Popes, Reverends, church janitors, choir members, bishops, elders, prison ministers, lay ministers and speakers, and Christian philosophers are all the same. They are all sinners who need to be washed clean of their iniquity by the blood of the Lamb. None of the groups listed above are any better than the other. They are all fallen human beings with flaws, and their flaws should make them want to be more gracious to each other instead of arguing over who is more pious. Why? Because, truthfully, no one is completely