“As I am the image and presence of the divine substance of God, my father, so you shall be the image of my substance in humanity. Your glorified soul shall receive the indwelling of my divinity as the air receives the light of the sun’s rays. You will be transformed by this so that you can attain the closest union with me.”
Most noble balm of the divinity! Like an ocean of live, you empty yourself in eternal light and in eternal budding of life. You transform as https://www.rksloans.com/title-loans-il you diffuse yourself until the end of time. O invincible strength of the hand of the most high God! You enable a weak vessel to receive such a precious liquor within itself when that vessel is only fit to be cast away in contempt. O most divine goodness, what greater testimony can there be to the depth of your care!
The period of the Reformation, some would say reformations, began in 1517 when a monk named Martin Luther posted 95 theses challenging the Church’s authority to sell indulgences (explained below). The plural “reformations” reflects the large number of people and movements that flourished within the general spirit of reevaluating beliefs based on individual conscience. Also in the sixteenth century the Council of Trent can be counted as a reformation in its own right, although not protestant. The term “protestant” began as a description of those who protested the 1529 council which prohibited Luther’s 95 theses. There is no one protestant church. Today the term refers to all Christian churches that trace their heritage through Western Europe but reject the authority of the bishop of Rome (pope), which basically means all Christians other than Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. Just as there is no one protestant church, there is no one protestant set of beliefs. There are, however, some major re-evaluations of specific theological questions, and more importantly, new ways of asking theological questions. The following sections will go into specific theological questions. Continue reading “5.1. What changed with the Renaissance leading to the Reformation?”