History Summarized: Pope Fights 2 — The Reformation

This video is brought to you by Audible. Stay until the end to hear more! Hey? Do you understand? When we use the term “Christianity,” it is tempting to think of a cohesive religious body working together to turn the world into a holy brotherhood of man. But reality sometimes seems more like a Voltron of different denominations reluctantly and vaguely united trying to kick their own shins and punch each other in the face. There is the Eastern Orthodox Church that remains from the Byzantine Empire, the Catholic Church that continues the tradition of St. Peter, but somewhere between the Crusades and now, we also have Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Episcopalians, which are like Anglicans but not English. -and- Guys, this is really too much.

So to find out how we got from point A to point C to P-4.5, I'll tell a story about the years 1500-1600, the centuries of the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation. So get ready for tonight's

history

lesson on the POPE'S STRUGGLES! Our first event literally pits the Vatican against itself, as corruption grips the church in the early 16th century. The Borgia Pope, Alexander VI, had desecrated the papacy with what I can only describe as an orgy of orgies, and it didn't help that he also sent his maniacal son Caesar to try to conquer Italy for the Papal States, papal territory. possessions around Rome.

In 1506, Pope Julius II began construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica and the frescoed ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, both financed largely by the sale of indulgences. These bad boys were the "get out of purgatory free" cards that church officials sold for over half a year's salary, essentially buying your way to heaven. His successor Leo If I had to write it down, I would say... Catholic Church - 0, lessons learned from the last papal battles... Um, also 0. Now, even before this, centuries of faithful Christians had expressed concerns about how it is running the church, including our boy Dante.

They spoke of persistent problems of divine accessibility and institutional corruption. Fast forward to 1517 and a German monk named Martin Luther posted a speech on Twitter the old-fashioned way: by nailing it to the door of the local church. What he didn't know was that things would escalate at an unimaginable speed from that moment on. Which he would start with "Hey, I'm pretty sure selling indulgences is complete nonsense." became “Only our faith can save us.” which later became "And the church can't save you." and that turned into, "Oh, by the way, the Pope is not infallible and, in fact, they and all the clergy make mistakes all the time." and finally it became "You know what?

No, the priesthood is meaningless! No one is holier than anyone else!" It's like every time Martin Luther comes up with a different idea, he takes a photo, goes back to the microphone and shouts, "And one more thing!" And honestly, he can't be blamed in 1517. What began with the 95 Theses as a call to stop the sale of indulgences quickly became a call for a complete reconstruction of the church and its priorities. So, for our next fight, we will pit 1,500 years of tradition and the most powerful bureaucracy in European

history

against a hat-boi. When Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor of Germany and Spain, called upon Martin Luther in hopes of humiliating him, he redoubled all reformist demands of him.

A brave move! The madman then went one step further and hid in a castle to work on a complete translation of the Bible into German, which he then distributed cheaply through the new printing press, allowing thousands of ordinary people to evade surveillance. of the priests and gain access. at the O.G. In terms of opening religion to the German masses, this was a great success. But it did not have the desired effect. Instead of changing the mentality of the church in Rome, they seemed to stubbornly stick to their course, and the new readers of the Bible developed very different ideas about the path to divine salvation.

Instead of demanding reforms with one voice, they split into dozens of directions, each accusing the others of being clearly wrong and going to hell anyway. Turns out times don't change much after all. But this shouldn't have been a surprise either. The radical democratization of knowledge left everyone free to make their own interpretation, so the constant theme "spirituality is up to you" was essentially destined to diverge in details. For example, in Germany in 1525 there was a peasant uprising of 300,000 men who followed Luther's ideas, but instead demanded political freedom from serfdom and raided several churches. Luther obviously thought this was wrong because his problem was spiritual and not political, but we are dealing with Renaissance Europe here, so separating the two is like telling an alcoholic priest to stop drinking the blood of Christ.

In other… important matters… young Protestants in Germany and Switzerland took seriously what the Bible says about “avoiding falsified images,” so they tore down works of art and whitewashed local churches to avoid distractions between people and God. . In the following centuries, Protestant art became increasingly secular, with landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and historical paintings replacing the highly religious art of the Renaissance, which they considered bordering on blasphemy. An important exception is the work of Dutch painters such as Rembrandt, who addressed religious themes, but through a strictly historical lens. Instead of paintings, Protestants often carried out their ideological campaigns through books.

Like a bunch of NEEEERDS! While Pope Leo dismissed this 'Martin Luther' as a local problem, it would soon become clear that the Reformation was much bigger than a hammer-happy German priest. It's one thing for a random monk to say, "The church can take care of it. I'll do it myself," but what if a king says that? In 1525, Albert founded the Duchy of Prussia as the first explicitly Protestant state, with the added benefit of "you can take the things and lands of the church and not pay taxes to Rome." A pretty good deal, all things considered. In England, Henry VIII was the second king to break with Catholicism.

He founded the Anglican Church so he could divorce his wife... and (plural)... As would-be kings saw dollar signs of land, money and power everywhere, and heirs they could obtain by abandoning Catholicism, did he? We must also think of the millions of people across Europe who deeply believed that, for virtually the first time in history, they could literally take control of their faith by reading the Bible. That's huge! Red: Dude, you're getting too analytical. B: What? A: We need more memes. Bright. The score at the end of the second round is Catholics: a corrupt church, Protestants... Ugh.

Wow, and that's the simplified picture. Anyway, it's been a hot time. Shall we sack Rome again? Today in the third round, the Papal States mind their own business and the Germans come down to the peninsula to ruin their century! Again... No, again... Well, but that will come later. Oh my God, Germany, tell us how you really feel. After a victory over France, Charles V's armies cheated and entered Rome to sack the city. The good thing about this is that Italy, France and Germany were ruled by Catholics, so this conflict makes no sense because the modus operandi is bullshit. of European history.

In short, Rome remained a powerless ghost city for an entire century after the sack. Only in the last few years, 1600-1700, things started again with the Baroque. That makes the result... Ouch. A big pouf. But just because Rome was in ruins doesn't mean Catholicism sat idly by for two centuries. The church realized that it needed renewal and at the Council of Trent of 1545-1563 they did three important things. They affirmed Catholic teaching on the sources of divine authority and salvation. They reformed church practices to better train priests in the seminaries and the Jesuit order. And they affirmed Catholicism's focus on personal spirituality.

Now, putting aside the differences over whether the bread and wine are actually the body and blood of Christ, this sounds strikingly similar to the goals of Protestantism: "To educate the faithful to deepen their relationship with God." However, the means for this 'Counter-Reformation' were eminently Catholic. Since many people couldn't read very well, the church focused on art. It was essentially religious propaganda, yes, but it is one of the best works of art out there. Painting, sculpture and even architecture are dynamic, intense and vibrant, another great leap in quality and photorealism after the Renaissance. The most striking aspect for me is the way the weight and movement capture deep emotions.

The painter Caravaggio and the sculptor Bernini are masters of this. I mean, I like baroque, okay? I know what I represent. But it's nice how asymmetrical the conflict was. Protestant literary culture was revolutionary and Catholics did everything they could for the arts. Bringing a knife to a gunfight is a foregone conclusion, but bringing a book to a paint fight is a much more intriguing competition. At the end of this round, it's books, good, art, good. More culture is good. Everyone wins! Anyway, now let's talk about people who lose very badly and also die. Nice! Part of the problem with talking about the Reformation and Counter-Reformation is that I could literally sit here all day talking about 200 years of history from all of Europe.

That's heavy! So...quick turn! Here is a quick list of some wars. Wow, that sure is a lot of stabbing. I'll skip it all. What is important for our purposes is that, in addition to territorial ambitions, nations now had ideological/religious reasons to unite or hate each other. Cool! We continue. In 1555, the Peace of Augsburg gave the individual states of the Holy Roman Empire the right to choose between Catholicism and Protestantism. Of course, it was the monarchs who made this decision and not the subjects, but it is still better than nothing. However, it wasn't all roses and moonlight.

France was still Catholic in 1572, but a minority of Protestant Huguenots had grown to about one in six Frenchmen. Catholics attempted to assassinate a prominent Huguenot in Paris, but failed, so the monarchy finished the job. But then, on Bartholomew's Night, the Catholic mob thought they had royal permission to be completely crazy, so they massacred thousands of Huguenots. Seriously Christian, guys, have fun in the seventh circle. The next is a war that started because of religion and ended because no one likes the Habsburgs. They are spread all over Europe and made drawing this map extremely tedious. I would tell the Habsburgs to go to hell, but they beat me to it.

In 1618 his dominions in Spain, Naples and Austria clashed with the Protestant parts of Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, becoming the Thirty Years' War. It started, calmed down when the Catholic Habsburgs won a battle, and started again when Protestant Sweden entered the second round and Catholic France pulled a damn trick by uniting against the Habsburgs, fearing their imminent hegemony over Europe if they won, despite of Catholic loyalties. . The war ended with the Treaty of Westphalia, which allowed minority communities of Protestants and Catholics across Europe to practice their own religion at home without the threat of interference. This is where you see people realize, "Look, guys, we can keep killing each other or we can calm down and handle this like adults." And it is not surprising that this culture of tolerance quickly leads to enlightenment.

And our bottom line for tonight's Pope fight is... Wars... too many, I don't like it. Cool art; actually, a lot of it turned out pretty well. And finally: object lessons on how not to get your way in a disagreement and cultural triumphs like the Enlightenment are only possible when you recognize that the person on the other side of an argument is also a human being with thoughts and feelings: ONE! ! But that is a very important 'One'! - In short, Martin Luther saw a church in dire need of reform, beyond indulgences, people throughout church history saw deep problems with the way things worked and wanted to change them.

Not surprisingly, Luther's theological whirlwind had an impact far beyond the Protestant world he inadvertently created. Ultimately, yes, there may be too many denominations to keep track of, but Luther's main goals have been accomplished. The Catholic Church was reformed and now almost anyone who wants it, regardless of their denomination, has direct access to the Bible. Self-reflection can be a difficult process, but if we face our mistakes, we will all be better. A: Dude, the memes. Bright! Uhhhh… Tada!Martin Luther recognized the power of books, so you'd be happy to know that these days you can get them literally anywhere.Listen with today's sponsor, Audible.

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But hey, Audible can give your tracks a little zoom if you're one of those fast-moving types. Audible members who sign up get credit for every audiobook completely free each month, as well as additional discounts in the store. If you want to dig deeper into the Reformation, consider reading this very comprehensive audiobook for free, as Audible is offering a 30-day trial and a free audiobook, along with two free Audible Originals to get you started when you sign up. Upload through our link at audible.com/overlysarcastic or text OVERLYSARCASTIC to 500 500. If you do, you'll support the channel and get a good audiobook.

Again, visit audible.com/overlysarcastic and the spirit of Martin Luther will be very proud of you!