Counter-Reformation

Background

The Reformation, which began in 1517 with Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, spread to Germany, Switzerland, Northern Europe, and England. As a result, the Roman Catholic Church lost many regions and adherents.

Within the Catholic Church, calls to correct abuses had been raised even before the Reformation. The principal abuses were simony (the buying and selling of church offices), the practice of bishops not residing in their own dioceses, and the inadequate education of the clergy. The term Counter-Reformation refers to a movement in which a response to Protestantism and the internal renewal of the Church overlapped.

Development

• New religious orders: New orders such as the Capuchins came into being. Most notably, in 1540 Pope Paul III approved the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), founded by Ignatius of Loyola. Devoting themselves to education and missions, the Jesuits became the leading force of the Counter-Reformation.
• Reorganization of the Inquisition (1542): Paul III reorganized the Roman Inquisition, which dealt with matters of heresy.
• Council of Trent (1545–1563): Meeting in three periods, the council defined and clarified Catholic doctrine and church order. Its principal decisions were as follows:
• Scripture and the tradition of the Church (Sacred Tradition) were together affirmed as sources of revelation.
• The canon of Scripture was fixed, including books that Protestants regard as apocryphal.
• The Vulgate was recognized as the official text.
• Justification was explained as an inward renewal by grace and a process accompanied by human cooperation, and the claim that one is justified "by faith alone" was condemned.
• The seven sacraments and the doctrine of transubstantiation (the teaching that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are changed in substance into the body and blood of Christ) were reaffirmed.
• The establishment of seminaries for the training of clergy was mandated.
• Subsequent measures: The Index of Forbidden Books was promulgated in 1559. In accordance with the council's decisions, the Roman Catechism appeared in 1566 and the Roman Missal in 1570.

Results and Influence

Italy, Spain, Poland, southern Germany, Austria, and other regions either remained Catholic or returned to Catholicism. Europe became divided along confessional lines, and religious conflict, intertwined with political issues, is regarded as one of the factors behind the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648).

Overseas missions also flourished. In 1549 the Jesuit Francis Xavier arrived in Japan, and Matteo Ricci, working in China, wrote The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven (Tianzhu Shiyi). The transmission of this and other works of Western Learning to Joseon Korea formed the background for the reception of Catholicism in Joseon.

In the arts, the Baroque style, which emphasized the emotional power of faith, flourished in Catholic regions during this period. The system established by the Council of Trent remained the basic framework of the Catholic Church until the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) in the twentieth century.

Assessment

Terminology: Protestant histories generally use the term "Counter-Reformation" (rendered in Korean as either banjonggyogaehyeok or daehang jonggyogaehyeok). Catholics sometimes call this period the "Catholic Reformation." The twentieth-century Catholic church historian Hubert Jedin is known to have argued that the response to Protestantism and the Church's self-initiated renewal should be considered together.

Protestant perspective: The Reformed tradition, including Presbyterianism, holds that the Council of Trent, by condemning the heart of the Reformation in its doctrine of justification, hardened the differences between the two churches.

Catholic perspective: Catholics regard it as a period of renewal that revitalized clerical education, church discipline, and missionary zeal.

Recent dialogue: In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church issued the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which the World Methodist Council and others later joined. Within Korean Protestantism, those who participate in the ecumenical movement see this as progress in dialogue, whereas conservative Reformed circles maintain that the fundamental differences have not been resolved.