The Reformation Revised - AHB

The other day when we were locked in to this whole discussion of the reformation I was struck by a fascinating thought that made me chuckle. What if, rather than the oppressed and brave characters that we paint them as, the reformers were really just attempting to destroy the church? Couldn't we say that they have been incredibly successful? People almost always say that individuals like Martin Luther, "didn't intend to break away from the Catholic Church", but who are we to so blindly make that assumption.

Put it this way. The Catholic Church is one of the strongest and most resilient actors from the death of Christ to the beginning of the Reformation. How could anyone hope to destroy such a structure from the outside? Simply, it is impossible; however, from within the Church one could do an incredible amount of damage. Once the reforms took the power out of the clergy's hands and gave it to the people the church almost immediately became an irrelevant novelty rather than an essential component. Machiavelli constantly hints at the vulnerability of the Catholic church from an internal attack - maybe the Reformers were of the same mindset.

Really I think it is ridiculous when we take historical figures at face-value and assume the validity of their actions simply because we like them. Maybe Martin Luther just had it out for Catholics and Jews . . .

: )