The Ecumenism Files III: From the Reformation to Postmodernity

The dialectical spirit of ecumenism gives rise, among other things, to a question whose full answer is still awaited: How is it that the critical spirit and rationalism of Enlightenment origin, combined with making the Bible available to ordinary people, has led to so many schisms?

Is reason to blame? Church heresy? The church’s lust for power? Or maybe the ecclesiological meaning (for example, “The church does not make mistakes”)? All of these actually lead to the most important question: “Where is the truth?”

In such a fragmented postmodern Christianity, ecumenism seems like a utopia, especially since the history of Christianity has already confirmed to us how easily attempts at unity fail. As we observed in the two previous articles of this series, the Christian ideal of being “one” was strongly contested, in the history of the church, by Christological and liturgical disputes or by the sad image of forced conversions; by the idea that “the church does not make mistakes” or by the mistaken understanding that the church institution is the measure of Christianity.

Throughout the ages, sincere searches have generated currents of opinion that have brought minds eager to know the Truth closer to Scripture. What the ecumenical councils of the first Christian centuries failed to achieve, but the Protestant Reformation did, was precisely the liberation of the human spirit and its confrontation with the uninstitutionalised biblical truth.

The spirit of the Reformation has preserved its countercurrent character to this day, in response to the overcomplication of the road to the Bible and the word of Truth. In the context of disconcerting confessional divisions and fragmentation, which inevitably raises the question of “Where is the truth?”, this spirit further legitimises the search for the true faith.

Via Reformationis[1]: the cultural-ideological framework, the individual, and the new reading of the Bible

Unlike many church schisms from the first centuries or from the Middle Ages, the Protestant Reformation was based on the inner motivation of individuals—the desire for the purification of the soul and closeness to God.

The intention of most reformers, who later generated religious movements, was to change the traditional church from the inside. Problems such as corruption, immorality, and manipulative doctrines (purgatory, judgement, the cult of the saints, indulgences, intermediation of salvation, and so on) were defining for the spirit of the Reformation.

Putting the Bible in the hands of the people as the only source of authority made the popes, priests, and some philosophers feel their power and authority were undermined. Ecclesiastical power offered political influence and thus material resources. Consequently, undermining the authority of the traditional church had the effect of undermining its influence and wealth.

In addition, the fact that the church was lenient towards sinners, especially towards the sins of priests, but harsh towards heretics (even resorting to the death penalty), denotes a series of hidden motivations, under the guise of defending the faith.[2]

If the spirit of the Middle Ages instilled in Christians the idea that identity is obtained through obedience to authority, tradition and the collective spirit, the Renaissance changed the direction of identity from the community to the individual. In the Middle Ages, there was a perception that the individual had no self-worth outside of the community.The Man Versus the State, Liberty Fund Inc., June 30, 1982, passim."”.">[3] Access to education changed this fact by broadening the sphere of knowledge and conferring an individual identity. This would become the premise of future reformative initiatives.