Comparison and History of the Catholic Church

Comparison and Hi invoice of the Catholic performDid proterozoic innovative (c. 1450-1700) Catholics have a better appreciation of the motivating for sacraments than Protestants?INTRODUCTIONThe years 1450 to 1700 were a beat of great convert and contradiction in terms in europium. The intellectual, scientific, and cultural enlightenment of the reincarnation was blooming prodigiously, yet the dominant societal force was al more or less invariably religion, fussyly ro soldiery Catholicism, whose fix domination gave way to an uneasy at vanquish violence-share- fall give away relationship with its questionable bastard child, Protestantism, whose birth was circa 1517. Though Protestantism was a bonny reaction to the hypocritical corruption and tyranny of the bloated Catholic bureaucracy, whose raison detre had become as a hefty deal near the perpetuation of its induce control over Western subtlety than about spectrality and enlightenment, both strains of deliver erianity nevertheless were intensely patriarchal, hierarchical, and structured, and as much(prenominal) relied heavily on a variety of customs dutys and rituals to perpetuate kindly and sacred continuity and stability during a time of turmoil. It was a two-way dynamic, as well it is difficult to overestimate the degree to which greens tribe in the Early modern period framed their existence and its compresseding d superstar ChristianityThe figure of the cosmos, the history and destiny of the world, and the shapeing of social, political and domestic relations were on the whole(prenominal) explained in biblical and theological terms. Faith and ritual affected people at legion(predicate) different levels, making un worldly, intellectual, emotional and visceral appeals. general and private affairs alike were deeply infused by religion.1Given that the mental picture of separation of church service and country was foreign to comm binglers and evening most ameliorate people of the time, the line between the perform and governments was blurry or n whizzxistent, and therefrom the church service occupied the meta corporeal and psychological mortala and space of The large Father digit, with whom interaction was governed by, and who maintained order and meted out blessings and punishments through a variety of rituals prescribed rites, ceremonies, and sacraments. These ranged from the mundane to the sublime the vulgar to the dignified and were interwoven into the fabric of allday life for tens of millions of people during the aforementioned 250 years. While doubtlessly there was much sincerity of intention from the perform (Catholic or Protestant in variety) in terms of attempting to bring weird sophistication to its followers, the church excessively had what resonatemed to be an almost genetically encoded need to exert and perpetuate its power. Rituals were a key component these ongoing efforts, because afterwards all, ritualization i s prototypical and foremost a strategy for the construction of certain types of power relationships effective at heart extra social governances,2 in this case power and relationships that were both likeable and retributory in both nature and habit.Though the average citizen was still piously religious and imbed much solace in religious practices and rituals, the Catholic church buildings fortunes had ebbed somewhat by 1450 in comparison to the close unrestricted power it had enjoyed for several centuries prior. The devastating benignant cost of the bubonic plague, a.k.a. The Black Death, had non single severely undermined the conventional economic structures that held Europe together, but had in addition severely undermined the populations religion in the power of Catholic church building. The church building, contempt predictable assurances and dicta proclaiming their power over sickness and shoemakers last as the nourishment re baffleative of Christ on earth, was u tterly powerless to confine the shocking and inescapably vast tragedy of the Black pestilence. Between 1347 and 1351, it is estimated that the Plague killed between a third and half of Europes wide population tens of millions of people. The church service promised they could cure the sick and banish the disease, but they of campaign could non, as their entrenched hostility to accomplishment had left them with a machination spot with respect to medicine, to say nothing of their complicity in perpetuating the socioeconomic structures which facilitated insanitary living conditions suffered by most common people the chief understanding for the spread of the Plague. Ironically, however, the morose and somber zeitgeist that was predominant in Europe after the Black Plague, the result of the collective grief of a civilization having befogged a colossal part of itself, resulted in some people clinging even more tightly to the structures and rituals of their religion. Though lif e itself was fragile, fleeting, and often seemed to unfold with a cavalier cruelty, the structure and order of religious ritual provided the feeling, authentic or not, that there was some structure and order to the greater universe. Sterility, bankruptcy, or death could strike whatsoeverone at any time, but rituals provided a countervailing principle of order Rituals brought the cosmic order into daily life by giving somebody access to divine power. 3 Nonetheless, the inescapable conclusion drawn by some(prenominal) people was that the church service, rituals or no rituals, was impotent to stop the greatest human tragedy anyone had experienced. As much(prenominal), the atmosphere in the decades comprising the tumultuous wake succeeding(a) the Plague was one in which people were far more automatic and interested in secular and scientific approaches to problems like disease, poverty, and other common woes. This shift contributed heavily to both the metempsychosis and the Prote stant Reformation itself.The climax of the Renaissance, agreed upon by most scholars as organism around the station of the 15th century, coincided with what is termed Early Modern Catholicism, a religion that found itself nowadays competing for the peoples relevance and trust with subversive elements within Renaissance science, art, and literature which began in Italy and quickly spread throughout Europe. Some elements of the Renaissance were intentionally subversive in attacking the Church others had subversive do inasmuch as the scientific or philosophic conclusions they reached were not in lot with Church doctrines. In particular, scientific advancements rooted in the use of sensualism which demanded verifiable, tangible proof or else of faith in abstractions or religious dogma presented a direct challenge to the sureness of the Church. The collective sue of a succession of scientists, including Copernicus, Gilbert, Kepler, Galileo, Bacon, Descartes, and Newton, serio usly undermined a variety of official Church positions that seem ludicrous in retrospect, such as the insistence that the solar system and indeed, the universe revolved around the Earth. The Catholic Churchs reaction to the shifting tides was its own rather fierce effort to corroborate its power and relevance in both earthly and spiritual domains through a variety of methods ranging from clumsy and violent suppression of ideas it deemed impertinent or blasphemous, to a Reformation within itself (the Council of Trent, 1545-1563) to counter the great schism in Christianity caused by the Protestant Reformation. A constant theme, though, was a perpetual Catholic insistence on the use and revalue of rituals both for less overlord purposes of control and power, as well as more noble humanist and spiritual purposes. Even the Protestants, breaking so strongly with the Catholics as they did, accept the value of rituals and utilized them to both perpetuate and increase their numbers an d institutional strength as they competed with Catholics to win the souls and minds of the Renaissance-era Europeans. To understand these rituals is to understand, at to the lowest degree from one perspective, an era so far removed from our own that it is difficult for many people to comprehend the times as much beyond rhetorical barbarism. Europe of the era was more than such a one-dimensional creation it was, as all history is, a history of human universes try to make sense of their lives, people who during the Early Modern period exhibited a highly sophisticated sensitivity to rituals. As the English jurist, John Selden sick it in his Table Talk (London, 1689), to know what was for the most part believed in all ages, the way is to consult the liturgies.4 Indeed we shall, paying close attention to whether Catholics or Protestants seemed to have a better comprehension of why people skill embrace and/or cling to ritual.CATHOLIC VIEWPOINTAfter the slide by of the Roman Empir e, the Catholic Church ascended to the share of the most powerful and far-reaching organization on the planet, thanks in part to the vestigial influence it inherit from its incestuous intert wine-colouredment with the civic element of the Roman Empire itself Emperor Flavius Theodosius had state Christianity the state religion in 391 A.D., an extremely fortuitous turn of events disposed(p) the centuries of vicious persecution endured by Christians at the slews of the Roman government. However, the Catholic Church claimed its legitimacy and roots as far back as the initial years after Christs death, holding the (later controversial) institutional credit that its papal lineage was descended directly from the apostle (and later saint) beam of light, whom is considered under Catholic tradition to be the original pope. The Pope was, and is considered to this day to be the Vicar of Christ, acting on His behalf and wielding His billet the Pope carries the official title Vicar of Ch rist and the Supreme pontiff of the Universal Church. In keeping with such an inflated sense of importance, the Pope is considered infallible, a state of perfection the Church maintains was and is granted by the Naz atomic number 18ne himselfChrist endowed the Churchs shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this charism takes several forms The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in rightfulness of his office, when, as supreme pastor and instructor of all the faithful who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium the Pope proposes a doctrine for belief as being divinely revealed, and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.5 early(a) relevant tenets of Catholicism included the notion of a separation of man from beau ideal due to sin. The Church offered a chance to be reunited with divinity fudge through a combination of faith and good works, and served as an infixed intermediary between man and matinee idol/Christ. The byzantine structures and rituals of the Church served as meat of manifesting the means for reconnection and for better or for worse, the Church from the Pope on down has always had an authoritarian and arbitrary control over what those means were and be, including the invention and perpetuation of any number of rituals which are not needs literally prescribed by Biblical texts (though the Catholics would argue they in concomitant are). Nonetheless, the Church believes the infallibility of the Pope endows it with the power to do whatever it deems fit to enable mankind to reconnect and reunite with paragon through the Church, which is a sine qua non intermediary between God and man in fact, according to Catholic doctrine, the Churchs first purpose is to be the sacrament of the in ner fraternity of men with God.6The sacraments, plural, are in fact a key component of Catholic ritual, and are considered actions that are integral demonstrations and requirements of faith. Sacramentals, or signs and symbols that manifest spiritual power, often went hand in hand with the sacraments. The sacraments were intend to confer the grace of the Holy personality on the faithful sacramentals were intended to facilitate cooperation with God by luck as reminders of His glory. There are seven sacramentsBaptism the initial sacrament, involving the immersion in or pouring of water on the head of a newborn. It is intended to free the person from original sin and mark the person as belonging to Christ and embark him or her on a Christian path.Confirmation the second chronological sacrament, intended to signify a increase and solidifying of a persons walk with Christ and rank and file in the Church. It is generally administered to young adults who have undertaken biblical stud y and church-sponsored activities to heighten their faith and illustrate their commitment to good works.The Eucharist unlike the first two sacraments, the Eucharist is administered numerous times hebdomadal participation is generally considered mandatory, if not obligatory. Perhaps the most important Catholic sacrament, the Eucharist involves the sharing of bread and wine between Church and churchgoer to honor Christs sacrifice of his body and blood in a ritual He described to his disciples during the Last Supper (Matthew 2626-28 Mark 1422-24 Luke 2219-20). The Catholic Church holds that during this ritual, the bread and wine literally become, in any manner except sensual appearance, the body and blood of Christ and invokes the spiritual ramifications therein. This divine act upon is known as transubstantiation the bread and wine are transformed into both the physical and spiritual substance of messiah body and blood.Reconciliation known currently as the confession process and consists of a priest bestowing spiritual better on a person who has increased his or her distance from God by sinning it involves quartet elements the confession of sin the persons authentic contrition and tender to reconcile the priests recommendation for self-mortification, i.e., what the person can do to make up for the sin(s) and lastly, the priests absolution. This sacrament, more than any other, cements the Churchs mandatory role as an intermediary between God and man.Anointing of the Sick a special blessing and spiritual healing administered to a sick person, which also includes last rites for the dying.Holy Orders the sacrament by which a lay believer is endowed with the privileges, powers, and responsibilities of church leader, specifically a bishop, priest, or deacon. Only a bishop can administer this particular sacrament. trade union a couple marries in the presence of a church official, though by tradition the couple is understood to be administering the sacr ament to one another. Once a couple has accepted the sacrament of marriage, the Church holds that the union cannot be dissolved.Though ostensibly purely religious or spiritual in nature, the sacraments in fact touched every major rite of passage in a persons life birth, the transition to adulthood, marriage, sickness, and death, as well as everything in between the temptation to sin, the acts and consequences of sin, the solemnisation of the idea that Jesus gave his life so that sin would not permanently estrange mankind from God. In addition to mandating participation in the sacraments, the Catholic Church also recognized the value of allowing them to intermix and intermingle with the conglomerate local secular (and sometimes even pagan) customs and celebrations that went along with the same rites of passage. In this way, the church made itself indispensable by insinuating itself into every facet of daily life. And for good measure, the church fortified its societal value by de claring itself indispensable for good measure, on no less an authority than the Son of God Himself.If the sacraments were the ritualistic cornerstones of the Churchs religious and social interaction with the flock, then sacramentals were the symbols and tools used to facilitate the rituals, and in some cases fake ritual elements themselves. Sacramentals included such actions as the making of the sign of the crossway to bless oneself the use of holy water to bless a physical space, object, or another person the display of blessed icons and legal ousters. Though tie in in some sense, the sacramentals were not necessarily dependent on sacraments observation within churches, i.e., they permeated everyday life outside of the church, thereby extending its authority. The words of a modern Catholic, theologian Scott Hahn, by chance best sum up the best intention these Early Modern Catholic rituals and their elements God has a particular and characteristic way of dealing with His people down through the ages. He made covenants with them, and he always sealed these covenants not with an abstract words on the nature of salvation and law, but with an outward sign, a physical sign.7 Perhaps, then, the sacraments and sacramentals were the physical symbols of these covenants. But benevolent as they may have been in intent, they were not always benevolently exercised or exorcised, as it were in practice.Indeed, the last mentioned sacramental in the aforementioned list, exorcism, was a way in which the Church wielded the punitive element of its vast power over its followers. To challenge the role of the church in any way was an act of heresy guilty in any number of fashions ranging in magnitude from excommunication to exorcism to execution. For a religious institution priding itself nationally, at to the lowest degree on facilitating spiritual redemption and forgiveness of sin, the Church unfortunately was an active participant in a litany of barbaric and genocid al pursuits that relied on the circular logic of its own self-declared lordly spiritual authority to legitimize activities that as often as not had to do with irrational, cruel, or selfish human agendas, more than bona fide efforts spiritual edification or purification. (Regrettably, the former was often cloaked in the guise of the latter.) zero point if not consistent in its methodology, the Church utilized a panoply of rituals, of variable degrees of formality compared to the sacraments, including sacramentals in an arbitrary fashion, to maintain order and mete out justice. According to Church writings, One of the most remarkable effects of sacramentals is the virtue to drive away evil spirits whose mysterious and baleful trading operations affect sometimes the physical activity of man. To combat this occult power the Church has recourse to exorcism, and sacramentals.8Exorcism, though certainly more rare than, say, weekly celebrations of the Eucharist, provided ample pageantry , drama, and the ability to instill fear and awe in the populations which, despite the advances of the Renaissance, were still heavily steeped in superstition. One particularly noteworthy (and low-spirited) story is recounted in great detail within a 1703 report empower The Cheats and Illusions of Romish Priests and Exorcists, delivered to the Archbishop of Canterbury in England to foment anti-Catholic sentiments amongst Protestants. The report, translated from French to English, describes the unfortunate fate of a one Father Urbain Grandier, the Catholic parish priest of St.-Pierre-du-March in Loudun, France, who was accused of witchcraft in 1630 by a group of nuns. The sisters claimed Grandier had wielded his considerable spiritual authority to command demons to possess them and force them to exhibit a variety of yucky behavior. In reality, Grandier was guilty of indiscreet disregard of his vows of celibacy and otherwise living a more ostentatious life than the Church deemed pr oper for a priest, which had made him some enemies within the Church hierarchy and local community. To entangle matters, Grandier had earned the specific wrath of his superior, Cardinal Richelieu, about whom Grandier had penned an unflattering and blistering tract. The nuns made a public spectacle of their putative possession They uttered cries so horrible and so loud that nothing like it was ever hear before. They made use of expressions so indecent as to shame the most debauched of men, while their acts, both in exposing themselves and inviting lewd behavior from those present would have astonished the inmates of the lowest brothels in the country.9 An exorcist was dispatched who, not coincidentally, was an foeman of Grandier, and in addition to conducting the exorcism ritual in public, he also urged the nuns who were faking the entire spectacle to continue and heighten the freakishness of their antics. He was soon coupled by other exorcism experts from Loudon and within shor t order, thousands of people were observation daily as the exorcists shouted, read Bible verses, sprinkled holy water, genuflected, and theatrically performed sections of the Catholic Rite of Exorcism, a codified, specific, and comprehensive ritual of its own. In short order, the public outcry against Grandier became so overwhelming that the Cardinal was forced to arrest him. He was tortured brutally by a surgeon ordered to investigate for the Devils Mark, an arbitrary defined body feature which could be anything from a mole to a birthmark, supposedly serving as evince the Devil had branded his servant the barbarous surgeon would make them see that the other parts of Grandiers body were very sensible, he turned the canvass at the other end, which was very sharp pointed, and thrust it to the very stand up and then the abundance of people outside heard complaints so bitter, and cries so piercing, that they were movedto the heart.10 It only got worse from there. The Cardinal refuse d to allow Grandier a civil trial and instead, sorry a confessional document which laughable now, but frightening at the time was a contract between Satan and Grandier bearing signatures of hellish figures such as Astaroth, Beelzebub, and Leviathan, and Lucifer himself. (See Figure A.) The Cardinal deemed this evidence enough to cross Grandier any recourse through the government courts and his tribunal sentenced Grandier to a steep form of torture known as the boots, which were wedges that fitted the legs from ankles to knees. The torturer used a large, heartbreaking hammer to pound the wedges, driving them closer together. At each strike, the inquisitor repeated the question. The wedges lacerated flesh and crushed bone, sometimes so soundly that marrow gushed out and the legs were rendered useless.11 Grandier confessed nothing under the torture which was carried out by the local priests. He cried out to God that his accusers were hypocrites with their own agenda, enraging the priests, who tried to button up him by dumping holy water on him. Eventually, the sadistic priests were so enraged by their failure to extract any information about accomplices out of him that they burned him alive and conscious (generally, the victim was at least strangled to unconsciousness first), in front of a huge crowd.In this, one of far too many examples in the Early Modern Era, the grotesque rituals of exorcism and witchcraft, one as ungrounded in rational science as the other, had served a dual purpose to reinforce the Churchs position as a mighty force against the Devil, who ostensibly roamed the earth in search of victims and accomplices, and also to send a clear marrow to those who were listening that it was both unwise to stray too far from the Churchs teachings and even less wise to cross paths with Cardinal Richelieu, who clear had no qualms about vulgar and public displays of power. The Church could be benevolent if the flock toed the line, i.e., the seven sacraments, but indescribably cruel and remorseless when threatened or insulted utilizing the same symbols and rituals sedulous in its benevolent acts. Of course, without a public appetite for grotesque spectacle scarce unique to the Early Modern period, the Church rituals would not have been quite so effective. In any case, the success of the Churchs carrot-and-stick approach to herding the flock can hardly be doubted.Another self-justified ritual that the Catholic Church utilized to switch its own relevance and staying power was the system of indulgences. Indulgences were pardons granted by the church for all or part of a blase punishment mandated by sins, as opposed to the eternal punishment, pardon for which was granted by the sacraments of baptism and reconciliation. As the Church states,An indulgence is a remission before God of the impermanent punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is punctually disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints.12An arbitrary penance for temporal punishment, for example 10 days of feeding the poor because one had suffered from impure thoughts, was assigned as part of reconciliation, but an indulgence granted by the Church who believed it had an inexhaustible bank account of spiritual grace could dispense with any such temporal punishment if it chose to. Indulgences were usually meted out in time measurements days, weeks, etc. Further complicating matters was the Churchs belief that those believers who died without having dispense with the totality of accumulated punishments for their temporal sins would have to wait in Purgatory a halfway house of sorts between earth and Heaven until those temporal sins were paid off. The Church granted itself the power to bestow indulgences not just t o individuals for their own sins, but also to family members on behalf of relatives whose souls were believed to be Purgatorys state of limbo.If this paradigm were not already complicated and mistrust as it was, the Church further muddied the practical and moral aspects of indulgences by allowing money to take part into the equation. The most notorious example, in fact, was one of the straws that broke the proverbial camels back and helped cause the Protestant Reformation. In 1517, Pope Leo X announced that indulgences would be awarded to those Catholics who gave alms to assist in the spectacularly ambitious (and expensive) build of St. Peters Basilica in Rome. The project had not been undertaken for solo spiritual motivations Pope Julius II, a notorious egomaniac, had wished for a burial place whose grandeur would match his own sense of self-importance, given the association with St. Peter himself. The notion of even using the term alms in conjunction with the project was also suspect, given the Church was not exactly known for being impoverished if any financial strain was present, it was of the Churchs own making. Nonetheless, the sale of these indulgences was sanctioned blessed by the Vicar of Christ, who appointed a trustworthy lieutenant to tour Europe collecting money. This most enthusiastic sales representative was a Dominican Friar named Johan Tetzel, who was Leos commissioner of indulgences for Germany. The certificates he issued (see Figure B) provoked outrage from many fellow Catholic figures (or at least those who possessed enough personal power to dare challenge the Church) because of their suspect language By the authority of all the saints, and in mercy towards you, I absolve you from all sins and misdeeds and remit all punishments for ten days. Some took this to mean the Church was willing to forgive sins in advance and therefore was O.K. sinful behavior worse, the language was inconsistent with Catholic theology, insofar as indulgences were intended to render unnecessary the punishments mandated by temporal sin. (The sin itself was already forgiven and ask no absolution penance was the requirement and the indulgences were penance vouchers, if you will.) In addition the muddled theology, Tetzels marketing campaign was shameless. As he traveled around Europe gleefully raising money, he employed the slogan as soon as the coin in the pneumatic caisson rings, the soul from purgatory springs.13 For many Catholics, even the most loyal and faithful, the rituals had become loose from their spiritual moorings.PROTESTANT VIEWPOINTOne church figure who found the selling of indulgences repugnant was Martin Luther, a Franciscan monk and priest at the Castle Church in Saxony. He was deeply concerned that those with more money could buy their, or their dead relatives, way out punishment for temporal sins, or worse, that some of the poor who would often travel to the Vatican to give what little money they had were being expl oited by the Church instead of receiving its blessings without the strings of money. A bold man, Luther preached three sermons criticizing the current method of administering indulgences between 1516 and 1517. Indulgences were not Luthers only point of deep disagreement with the Church. He believed the Churchs self-perceived role as mediator between God and man, and the rituals it employed in that role, had become dangerously distorted and had lost their spiritual authority. Accordingly, he wrote his 95 Theses, which gained widespread distribution throughout Europe within two months, thanks to a new invention of the Renaissance the make press. 95 Theses directly challenged the Church, accusing it of greed and debasing itself by excess in worldly matters, and asked for a debate and clarification from the Church regarding the theological basis for the administration of indulgences. (Luther was careful not to assert that the Pope did not have the right to grant them, just that the m ethodology was suspect and corrupt.) Additionally, and perhaps more shockingly, Luther openly questioned the infallibility and supreme authority of the papacy. Pope Leo X was outraged and demanded on several occasions that Luther recant and declare his incoming to the Church, but Luther refused and Leo excommunicated him in January 1521, then declared him a non-conformist and banned his writings in July of the same year. Luther was spared a more gruesome fate, a la witch, by virtue of his good relationship with voter Frederick of Saxony, who was expected to become the next Holy Roman Emperor and whose good graces Pope Leo wished to maintain. Frederick arranged to have Luther taken into protective custody, and Luther exhausted the remainder of his life dependent upon the protection of sympathetic princes.Luthers aspect unleashed a series of transformations known as the Protestant Reformation, that had profound political effects on Europe that would reverberate for years to come i n clashes of Protestants vs. Catholics many of them bloody. But from a religious and social perspective, Luther ushered in a re-examination, and ultimately, a reorganization of the way Christianity defined and facilitated the relationship between God and man, including the role and use of rituals. The essence of Luthers grievances was not necessarily his protest to indulgences, though perhaps they were the catalyst. Luther represented a new philosophy, which eventually was be in the various offshoots of Protestantism, all of which refused to accept that the Church was a required intermediary between God and man, nor were the arbitrary and complex procedures often manifested in required rituals such as the sacraments necessary for salvation or the sustentation of faith. In essence, the Church had become more style than substance. Eventually, due to the philosophical groundwork laid by theologians such as St. Augustine and expounded upon and propagated by Luther, the Protestant mo vement came to hold salvation was earned by the act of faith alone, not faith and good works as the Catholic Church insisted. Luther wroteBeware, therefore, that the external pomp of work