Hello again!
This is my last paper. It's due 5 PM tomorrow, 11 PM your time if you are in Texas. If you have a hankering to do some editin', I would greatly appreciate some hacking of a paragraph or two. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Prompt: Why didn’t European Protestants engage in serious missionary activity before the early 1800s? Explain your answer.
The European Protestant churches did not engage in any serious missionary activity because the Reformation had left the church and state trying to figure out political problems. Calvinist Presbyteries wanted to be separate from state. Catholic and protestant princes were divided in the Holy Roman Empire. The Anabaptists were generally shunned from general population. English Puritans pushed for reform and eventually civil war. All of these different problems and issues contributed to the delay of Protestant missions.
Calvinist presbyteries wanted to be separate from the city councils of the city. However, Calvin had an unusually large influence over the city council of Geneva. Michael Servetus was burned for heresy by the city council. Many missions, such as the Portuguese, were sponsored by the state. Since the church and state were separate, there was no possibility of a state-sponsored mission. The Presbyteries were still getting organized and precedents were being set. Missions would have to wait a while.
The Catholic and Lutheran princes did not get along in the Holy Roman Empire. Charles V was busy trying to hold the empire, and the Catholic princes and the Schmalkaldic League became divided. They decided to coexist in the Peace of Augsburg, but this division took away from the strength of the Empire. They would not be able to join together to send out missions if they did not agree with each other religiously. Also, Luther called for the churches to give their land to the princes. This took away from Church wealth and ability to send out missionaries.
The Anabaptists had a hard enough time trying not to be expelled from society. They were Pacifist, and leaders frowned upon having members of the community that did want to fight, swear an oath, or participate in the community life. Also, the Muenster incident put a black mark on the Anabaptist community. It had been a bloody massacre that destroyed the chance for Anabaptists to really flower without any condescension from others. This black mark and expelling from society definitely took the focus off of missions.
The Church of England was having political problems. Bloody Mary definitely put a halt on any protestant movement with all of her executions. But even after that things got complicated. The English Puritans pushed for reform in the church, and then they got angry about taxes. They started the Civil War and chopped off Charles I’s head. Oliver Cromwell was anything but an improvement. By the time Charles II was reunited with his crown, the church and the country were much too shaken to send out any missions quite yet.
After the Reformation, Protestants were having too much trouble at home to send out missions quite yet. The Calvinists wanted separation from state, but in reality Calvin still wanted control over the state. The Catholic princes and the Schmalkaldic League efforts in the Holy Roman Empire did not exactly combine efforts to send out missions, they were too worried about fighting each other. Not many countries wanted to have the Anabaptists and the Muenster incident was a black mark. The Civil War in England caused much instability. Overall, the Protestants would not send out missionaries for a while because the Reformation had unsettled their governments and stability.
No comments:
Post a Comment