Ecclesia Reformanda – global and local perspectives
IN LOOKING back 500 years to the actions of Luther which triggered what we now know of as the Reformation, we can identify numerous strands of social, cultural, and political influences as well as the ecclesiastical origins which are all worthy of study today. The combination of a myriad of factors which found their kairos in the nailing of 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg is a fascinating study in itself; and we are benefitting from the excellent scholarship which is available to us today as we try to understand more fully what was going on at the time.
I want to make a distinction between that field of what might be called Reformation Studies – what actually happened during reformation times – and the Reformation Legacy, - what was understood in the popular mind to have happened at the Reformation. These factors have often surfaced in the popular imagination and the re-telling of the Reformation story. Issues such as these were expressed in popular, often sectarian, terms down the decades and centuries, but there is no doubt that it was these that shaped the identity of both the reformed churches such as Anglicanism, and the churches of the Reformation such as Presbyterianism. These factors which make up the Reformation legacy have had a lasting impact on the history of the church since then, are still with us today and are of real and lasting signi cance. I wish to look at just three of these now and ask whether they still have the capacity to demand of the church that they be addressed today, and further whether they carry a risk that if not addressed they will provide further schism and division in our own times.* Full article available in printed copies.
Kenneth Kearon
is Bishop of Limerick and former Secretary General of the Anglican Communion.