McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 18). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
The Conciliarist movement argued that ecclesiastical power should be
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 19). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Sociologists of knowledge argue that in every human society there is what Peter Berger terms “a plausibility structure,” that is, a structure of assumptions and practices, reinforced by institutions and their actions, that determines what beliefs are persuasive. This must not be confused with the pure idealism of a “worldview.” What Berger is referring to is a socially constructed framework that is mediated and supported by social structures.10 In the Middle Ages, the most important such social reality was the church and its rites, from baptism through marriage through funerals; the church mediated and affirmed a view of reality.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (pp. 20-21). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Growing pressure for reform developed. In part, this reflected abuse and corruption within the church; in part it also reflected an increased confidence on the part of clergy—and increasingly laity—to voice their complaints and expect to be heard.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 22). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Milan, chaplains had incomes lower than those of unskilled laborers. (ed. ain't changed much.)
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 22). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
As levels of lay literacy soared in the late fifteenth century, the laity became increasingly critical of their clergy.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 23). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
This growing popular interest in religion led to lay criticism of the institutional church where it was felt to be falling short of its obligations. Yet this criticism reflected a new interest in religion that was reflective, whereas in the past the laity might have been somewhat uncritical. Christians became dissatisfied with approaches to their faith that stressed its purely external aspects—such as just attending church. They demanded a form of Christianity that was relevant to their personal experience and private worlds and capable of being adapted or mastered to meet their personal needs. If anything, it was adaptation, rather than reformation, that seemed to be the primary concern of the articulate laity. Not only were people more interested in their faith, but levels of lay literacy had soared, enabling laypeople to be more critical and informed about what they believed and what they expected of their clergy. Studies of inventories of personal libraries of the age show a growing appetite for spiritual reading. With the advent of printing, books became more widely available and now lay well within the reach of an economically empowered middle class. Devotional books, collections of sermons, traditional “books of hours,” and New Testaments are featured prominently in these inventories.18 Laypeople were beginning to think for themselves and no longer regarded themselves as cravenly subservient to the clergy in matters of Christian education.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (pp. 24-25). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Erasmus of Rotterdam’s Handbook of the Christian Soldier,
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 25). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Without the advent of printing, there would have been no Reformation, and there might well have been no Protestantism either.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 25). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
The advent of printing allowed both discontentment with existing paradigms and enthusiasm for an alternative to spread with unprecedented rapidity.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 27). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
In the case of Christianity, the ideas in question derive from the Bible. As with any classic religious text, three fundamental questions arise concerning its application: How is the most authentic form of that text to be determined? How is it to be translated? And how is it to be interpreted?27
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (pp. 28-29). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
The rise of Protestantism is widely held to be linked with the transition between a medieval notion of worldly order, founded upon an order imagined to be natural and eternal, and a modern order founded upon the acceptance, even encouragement, of change as a means of pursuing the good.36
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 35). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Luther’s cardinal doctrine of the “priesthood of all believers” marked a decisive break with the medieval idea of vocation as a calling to a monastic life; Christians were called to serve God actively in the world and its affairs.
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 35). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
such is the historical power of contingency that if we were to rewind and replay the tape of history, it would reveal a different story each time. (ed. Butterfly Effect.)
McGrath, Alister (2009-10-13). Christianity's Dangerous Idea (p. 38). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
2009CDIAM
