1 Chapter 1: The Protestant Reformation

In many ways, the essence of the Protestant Reformation can be witnessed in this extraordinary event from OUR time, the “briefcase man in Tienanmen Square”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq8zFLIftGk

In this, we saw a singular man stand up against a force much greater than himself.  Those tanks were more than tanks.  They represented the Old Order, one that was resistant to any kind of democratic change or shift.  When protesters hit Tienanmen Square in June of 1989 to rally for change, the government called in the army.  This man, this anonymous ‘everyman,’ took and stand and said, “no.”

Martin Luther~ A Cry for Reform in Christianity

This painting by Anton von Werner entitled Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms (1877) shows a moment of defiance.  Martin Luther was not facing tanks.  Rather, he was facing the Catholic Church.  His ideas about what it meant to be a Christian came in conflict with the longstanding dictum of the Church.  When he was called to

testify at the Diet of Worms in 1521, to renounce all his beliefs, it is said he stated, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.”

Please read more about the Protestant Reformation here, through Smarthistory, parts 1-4:

Reformation and Counter-Reformation

After reading the above chapters about the Protestant Reformation, let’s consider how art, precisely the visual arts, can articulate ideas with great impact.  Sometimes, a work of art just says it better!  Perhaps because it relies on nuance, on personal connections and associations, or because it calls upon the imagination in unique ways.  Art can work in very clever ways.  For example, consider how art can promote ideas about protest and reform.  And let’s not go to a museum.  Let’s go to the street and the work of graffiti artist, Banksy:

Banksy is a contemporary street artist.  Not much is known about him because anonymity is his modus operandi.  His work seems to just appear and it has done so in many countries.  It is often whimsical and humorous.  Oftentimes, it is political.  He uses his art to comment on contemporary issues.  The above work is a great example.  This work appeared several years ago during the Syrian migrant crisis.  It shows birds, who are known for their migratory tendencies, who are where they are because of migration, banding together to ban a single bird that has just arrived.  Notice the statements on their placards.  Banksy creates a very provocative parallel here.  His art is a fine example of a picture saying a thousand words.

16th Century Visual Arts~ Allegory and Insight

During the Protestant Reformation, many artists used their skill and insight to create works that spoke volumes.  A fine example is artist, Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553).  He was a German artist, print maker, painter, and one who used his craft to explore ideas that might have been considered too controversial to explore in more conventional ways.  Please read this chapter on one of his works that encapsulated the issue at the crux of the Protestant Reformation: How DOES one achieve salvation?

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Law and Gospel (Law and Grace)

Protestant Intellectual and Spiritual Inquiry~ The Impact on 17th Century English Literature

In looking at a sampling of 17th Century English Literature, we get to see how these art forms, literature and poetry, played a role in Intellectual Inquiry in Protestant England.  That is, intellectual inquiry that is in many ways the nature of the protestant approach to the kind of study and prayer that became the basis of one’s personal relationship with god.  If you recall the section on Luther, I hope you remember that this is one of the most important tenets that he called for in his reforms.  That the individual is his own priest… the individual is responsible for his own salvation.  A life of faith is not between the individual and the institution of the Church.  Rather, it is between the individual and God.

The Protestant way includes:

• Private devotion over public ritual. Going to church is a wonderful, communal experience.  Communal worship.  But one’s own reading and meditation is very important in coming closer to God.
• Necessitates the rise of literacy rates. According to James Melton in his book “The Rise of the Public in Enlightenment Europe” The rate of literacy increased more rapidly in more populated areas and areas where there was mixture of religious schools. The literacy rate in England in the 1640s was around 30 percent for males, rising to 60 percent in the mid-18th century. This increase was part of a general trend, fostered by the Reformation emphasis on reading the scripture and by the demand for literacy in an increasingly mercantile society. The group most affected was the growing professional and commercial class, and writing and arithmetic schools emerged to provide the training their sons required.
• Printing and publishing houses play crucial role in one’s ability to create a personal library
• Home is a great place for study, reflection, conversation, examination of all things sacred and secular
• English Protestants embraced a ‘puritanism’ which advocated a ‘purity’ of worship, the importance of doctrine over dogma, and a simple morality based on scriptural imperatives
• Rise of the ‘vernacular’: the language of the people, conversational, informal, not purposefully lofty or elevated. It’s real.  It’s language you would use when talking to a friend.  However, when we look at some vernacular work of this time it still seems rather ‘literary’ and elevated.

John Milton is considered one of the most magnificent and glorious of English poets.  Born in London on December 9, 1608. Father was disinherited for becoming a Protestant. The Milton family kept company with artists and progressive thinkers.  And this contributed to John Milton developing a stunning intellectual acumen.At age 17, John began his studies at Christ’s College, Cambridge;  finished BA in 1629, MA in 1632. Afterwards he travels through Europe. Home becomes a boarding school of sorts that took in money for lodging and tutoring.

1642 Milton begins work on Paradise Lost, modeled on the Greek model of tragedy.  Paradise Lost examines aspects of the Judeo-Christian narrative in a liberal thinking way.  Milton was interested in the paradoxes of Christianity.  Wanted answers to questions like, if God is all-knowing how is one living one’s life via free will possible?

Here is a link to Milton’s Paradise Lost ~ Paradise_Lost_  As you can see, it is a massive work.  But read through the first two pages to get a sense of Milton’s style.

The poem begins with the theme of disobedience in the story of the fall of Lucifer.  Lucifer was one of the archangels and apparently God’s favorite.  That is, until he ‘dared raise his eyebrows to God’ in a show of pride.

He is thrown out of heaven.  But gone is the creepy goat-headed satan type.  This Lucifer is splendid, beautiful, smart, willy … in fact, we kind of like him.  He’s a lot…like us.

Down in hell, surrounded by minor demons he makes the most of this situation when he says its better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.

The story of Adam and Eve he addressed the idea that we are “free to fall” and examines the
Issue of freedom and justice in the biblical narrative.  And though it is written in poetic form, it’s a work that forces you to slow down and take it bit by bit.  Because the reward, the heightened intellectual argument of Milton’s is fascinating.

Now the bible was for centuries and centuries the go to book , the primary source for the Christian narrative and ethical and moral imperatives.  Luther insisted that it be translated into vernacular languages.  But in 1604, King James had the foresight to create a bible in English that was a work of literature.  A book one would enjoy reading.  He brought together a group of scholars and translators and over a period of 7 years, this committee created the King James bible.  It was a work of literature that brought English, the language, up new heights!

Lastly, John Donne was ‘one of the most eloquent voices of religious devotionalism’.  Born and raised Catholic, he turned to Protestantism.  Eventually he became an Anglican priest.  He used his writing acumen to create little “meditations” that are sort of like personal sermons.  He also used the poetic form of the sonnet for the same purposes.

Please read: Death Be Not Proud

A classic, “Death Be Not Proud” reminds the reader that death is kind of wimpy.  Not something to fear.  That sleep and chemicals like poppies can produce the same effect.  In other words, it’s not singular in its strength if it can be duplicated.  Eternal life, gotten via god’s grace, erases the potency, the fear and the threat of death.

“Death shall be no more; Death thou shalt die.”  Those final words give the individual, whose faith is strong, the ability to triumph over death through the Christian promise of resurrection and eternal life.