Reformation 500 Years and Counting...
The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. (history.com/topics/reformation)
For the regular people like us there are three important points in our modern Christian lives being changed forever:
1. Sola Fide (Faith alone)
One does not have to do anything but having "faith"
2. Sola Gratia (Grace alone)
The "Grace" alone makes all the difference in us
3. Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone)
The Scripture (Bible) is no longer the clergyman's sole authority of interpretation. It can now be read and interpreted by all the believers as all the translations and printings became available.
In the last 40 years or so, I have been in quite a few churches across the United States and Taiwan where "Adult Sunday Schools" taking place right after the Sunday services. Many still use the same format of lecture style (speaker there and audience here) with few questions involved.
Why don't we start asking biblical questions in those Adult Sunday school sessions and therefore seeking answers for a change?
500 years (and counting) of Reformation - should the Adults Sunday School approach be changed as well?
We all have the bibles (English, Taiwanese, Japanese and Chinese; not to mention the Latin, Greek and Hebrew versions).
Take your pick, read it and mark the questions and seek the answers with our fellow sisters and brothers.
Who knows? Perhaps another smaller reformation would take place right here and right now!
-- Comments --
The reason most of us Sunday
School students do not ask questions, I believe, is not paying attention to the
subject or not thinking independently, including myself. I rarely ask any
question or make comment in Sunday School classes. Part of the reason, if I
want to place the blame to someone else, is that most of teachers do not leave
enough time for discussion.
You mentioned three
"Sole" in your article. I think we need to complete our
theological basis of the Protestant by not forgetting the other two
"Sole" i.e. "Sole Christus" and "Sole Deo Gloria".
We Christians are easily
treating the Grace too cheap if we do not include the last two
"Sole". The first three "Sole" are the free Grace from
almighty God.
Christian needs to relate
more on the last two "Sole" in order to live out our believe.
That means we need to live our lives, or behave only for our Lord Jesus Christ
and give all glory to our God.
- by Bernard Tsai 5/14/2018
Luther proposed “Sola Scriptura” to challenge the authority of the
church (i.e., the Pope and the church hierarchy) for their selling of
indulgence. However, historically, the authority of canonization of the
Bible came from the church itself – through various councils. In fact,
the canonization of scripture did not take shape until the fourth
century. Luther himself did not include the Apocrypha in the Old
Testament and removed Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the New
Testament (his followers did not agree with him on this part). My point
is: the scripture is not an absolute authority by itself. Just like the
constitution of a nation, it can be amended, modified, and trimmed by
the authority of the church. I always wonder that if Luther were born
500 years later and had studied the libraries of Dead Sea Scrolls and
Nag Hammadi, what would his biblical views be?
On the other hand,
as time goes by, the interpretation of the Bible is more and more
de-centralized – as Steve said: “The Scripture (Bible) is no longer the
clergyman's sole authority of interpretation. It can now be read and
interpreted by all the believers…” The “New Eye (vision) Bible
Studies” movement which the Presbyterian Church on Taiwan has been
promoting for the last decade is actually encouraging all Christian
readers to interpret the Bible through their own social contexts,
reflections and revelations.
Thus, raising questions in the scripture
is truly an important aspect now in Bible studies. The collection of
books in the Christian Bible is not necessarily to be viewed as
“sacred”, “inerrant” and “non-questionable.” If we view Bible study
like a boy learning from his father by unceasing questions and answers –
which we all do as we were growing up – then we would never be afraid
of asking questions, albeit naïve or stupid. By asking questions
bravely, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to approach closer to
the truth, one question at a time.
- by PoShu Huang 5/14/2018
Luther proposed “Sola Scriptura” to challenge the authority of the church (i.e., the Pope and the church hierarchy) for their selling of indulgence. However, historically, the authority of canonization of the Bible came from the church itself – through various councils. In fact, the canonization of scripture did not take shape until the fourth century. Luther himself did not include the Apocrypha in the Old Testament and removed Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the New Testament (his followers did not agree with him on this part). My point is: the scripture is not an absolute authority by itself. Just like the constitution of a nation, it can be amended, modified, and trimmed by the authority of the church. I always wonder that if Luther were born 500 years later and had studied the libraries of Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi, what would his biblical views be?
On the other hand, as time goes by, the interpretation of the Bible is more and more de-centralized – as Steve said: “The Scripture (Bible) is no longer the clergyman's sole authority of interpretation. It can now be read and interpreted by all the believers…” The “New Eye (vision) Bible Studies” movement which the Presbyterian Church on Taiwan has been promoting for the last decade is actually encouraging all Christian readers to interpret the Bible through their own social contexts, reflections and revelations.
Thus, raising questions in the scripture is truly an important aspect now in Bible studies. The collection of books in the Christian Bible is not necessarily to be viewed as “sacred”, “inerrant” and “non-questionable.” If we view Bible study like a boy learning from his father by unceasing questions and answers – which we all do as we were growing up – then we would never be afraid of asking questions, albeit naïve or stupid. By asking questions bravely, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to approach closer to the truth, one question at a time.
- by PoShu Huang 5/14/2018
