History of Theology - Reformation and Counter-Reformation Christian Theology

Reformation and Counter-Reformation Christian Theology

The Renaissance yielded scholars the ability to read the scriptures in their original languages and this in part stimulated the Reformation, a theological movement that protested the outlawing of their faith at the Second Diet of Speyer. Its main themes were Justification by faith, the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching, and the Priesthood of all believers, and. Important figures include Luther, Melanchthon, Bucer, Zwingli, Calvin, and the Anabaptists. Calvinist theology was developed by successors such as Beza, the English Puritans and Turretin. Lutheran theology entered a period of doctrinal unity with the adoption of the Book of Concord and preserved it through the work of theologians such as Chemnitz and Gerhard.

The Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation spearheaded by the Jesuits under Ignatius Loyola took their theology from the decisions of the Council of Trent and developed Second Scholasticism, which they pitted against Lutheran Scholasticism. The overall result of the Reformation was to highlight distinctions of belief that had previously co-existed uneasily.

The Fall of Constantinople in the East, 1453, led to a significant shift of gravity to the rising state of Russia, the "Third Rome". The Renaissance stimulated a program of reforms by patriarchs of prayer books. A movement called the "Old Believers" consequently resulted and influenced Russian Orthodox Theology in the direction of conservatism and Erastianism.