Didn’t read the whole thread (I know…) but one major difference was that Protestants *actually *read the Bible. The various Protestant sects (along with some dissident Catholic groups like the Jansenists) put a big emphasis on publishing the Bible in the common tongue(s) for people to read and ponder on their own ; whereas the Catholic Church was adamant it should remain in the much more esoteric Latin, so that proles would need it explained by the priests, who would take the opportunity to tell people what they should believe and do where Protestant groups would rather let people come to their own conclusions and beliefs.
Protestants and Jansenists would in turn publish many many critical discourses on scripture ; where “critical” is not to be understood as “the holy text is crap” (atheism being very much out of the norm back then) but merely going over the text line by line and the author adding “I believe this means X, which entails Y, and when you think about it that means Z” etc…
Which is why Luther made his famous translation of the New Testament into German. Also the transition of worship into the vernacular, which the Protestant churches made centuries before the Roman Catholic church.
Regards,
Shodan
It was a political matter, not a theological one In the 15th century the last of the Moors were driven out of the Iberian peninsula and Spain created as a united country by a combination of dynastic union and absolute uncompromising Catholicism- a formula for success that the Habsburgs attempted to extend throughout Europe. So Protestantism found a ready audience in regions seeking independence from Catholic overlords: the Netherlands from Spain and the German principalities breaking free from the Austrian emperor. So one’s faith was not merely a matter of private conscience but whether or not one was considered loyal to one’s country, with whichever faction was a local minority perpetually suspected of actual or potential treason. In an era of near-constant war, conquest and rebellion this was no small matter.
That’s actually an important point : back then, everybody lived under the yoke (not always imposing or damaging, but still) of a local lord ; and whenever that guy converted the locals often followed suit. Which helps explain the wars, and why they lasted that long. See, in France for example the Protestants made up about 10-15% of the total population and should by all rights have been crushed under sheer numbers ; but they were not evenly distributed across the land. Rather you’d have a region or city with 95% Huguenots in the middle of it all, communities which could defend themselves. and even threaten nearby Catholic bastions. And in those places, being Catholic was not a good idea.
Bold, ital, and underline most definitely added.
Congratulations, Mister Rik!
Blah, never mind.
No ! I call myself a Catholic, I was brought up protestant and did hate the Roman Catholics but when one grows in understanding and faith, then one becomes a Catholic but in saying that I am not a RC and I do not look up to Pope Frances at all, I will say he is the worst Pope ever, not to mention when the media call him the peoples pope you know that something is totally wrong, he does not serve God he serves man, he is a Freemason and it sticks out like dogs balls.
Remember that slut that was called the peoples princess, how she was elevated by the media, as greater than all in the eyes of fools, but the fact was who would want some backsliding reptile like that in your family acting like such a moron, she was not the bloody Queen, but some snivelling conniving little brat the media built up and controlled.
The same is with Pope Frances he is gutless and a disgrace to God !
Jesus Christ was not popular with the people, because he was Correct with God the Father.
People do not like God because it’s not in there nature, our nature is a Sinful one, that’s lead astray due to this, but we can not win and it does not matter how we slice it God will win, people are just fools to oppose God and the only thing we do is make a total mess of it due to such total ignorance, our laws we make up can be just nonsense, Gods Laws are the true worthy laws.
If you do not abide in Christ Jesus then you are lost and under the power of Satan and demons can control you.
Well, not entirely. At the time, and for a long time thereafter, most Protestants (and most Catholics) couldn’t read.
So, for your man or woman in the pews, the choice wasn’t between accepting someone else’s interpretation of the scriptures versus coming up with your own. You would have to accept someone else’s interpretation; if you had a choice at all it would be about whose interpretation you would accept.
Which has the result that the RC attitude to Bible translations was not a rigid rejection. (They had, after all, translated the Bible into Latin, at a time when it was the vernacular of western Christians.) It was much more flexible or, depending on your point of view, opportunistic. For any translation, the official RC attitude depended to some extent on who prepared it, and what use they were making of it. So Tyndale’s translation into English, Luther’s translation into German, got slammed. And while there was in the early stages of the Reformation a general suspicion of translations, pretty early on the RCs realised that cheap printing was creating an unstoppable demand for Bible translations, so they started producing their own. The (RC) Douay-Rheims translation into English was published before the (Anglican) King James translation.
As always, religion is first and foremost a flag you wave to let people know what side you’re on. Just the current conflict between Sunnis and Shiites has little to do with theology and everything to do with the power play between Saudi Arabia and Iran, back in the mid-1500s, Catholicism vs. Protestantism was a proxy for the conflict between the Hapsburg Empire and everyone else.
If I am not mistaken, the split between Sunni and Shi’ite happened originally because of a power play. I thought it was a disagreement over who was caliph.
Of course, lots of other differences accrued as the division continued.
Regards,
Shodan
Moderator Warning
Commodore, you’ve been instructed before not to make posts like this in General Questions. This is an official warning for religious jabs, failure to follow a moderator’s instructions, and witnessing outside of Great Debates. Further violations may bring your posting privileges under discussion.
If you disagree with this warning, do not discuss it here but open another thread in ATMB.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Moderator Note
For the record, this post was unacceptable as well. I didn’t see it earlier.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator