Reflection Paper no.3

Thomas Oyaro Ong’ou
THST 624 Protestant Theological Heritage
Reflection Paper No. 3


In the past week during our class discussion and notes writing in our course we learned about the Anabaptism and the radical reformation, and the Lutheran theology to the formula of concord. The Anabaptist movement began in Zurich, among some who thought that Zwingli was too moderate and cautious in his theology and policies. Some of these were native Zurichers, and others were exiles who had come to that city because the reformation was making headway in it. They believed that the reformation must purify not only theology but also the actual lives of Christians, especially in what had to do with social and political relationships.

The church should not be supported by the state, neither by tithes and taxes, nor by the use of the sword. They said that Christianity was a matter of individual conviction, which could not be forced on anyone but required a personal decision. They opposed the baptism of infants for they cannot make a decision. They questioned infant baptism but did not rebaptized those who had been baptized as children. The opponents of the movement called them Anabaptists which means rebaptizers. Most of the Anabaptists were baptized by pouring water not by immersion as Catholics do later they began baptizing by immersion. The Lord’s Supper was usually administered in small groups and its symbolism was connected with the fellowship that binds Christians together with Christ.

Spiritualists and rationalists had strong mystical tendencies, and they therefore tended to be more concerned with spiritual life of the individual than the reformation of the church itself. Luther and Calvin were followed by others who at once systematized and mitigated their traditions. Melanchthon moved away from Luther’s theology and began controversies with the Lutheran churches which were pro Luther. Differences between Melanchthon and Luther threatened the core of Protestantism as for instance the case of Osiander. These various controversies finally led to the formula of concord in 1577 to solve their disputes. Even in the Lutheran camp there were some controversies which needed to be settled.
So far in our class discussion there are so many issues concerning protestant theology which I am observing for my first time in history. The course is moving me to a good direction Thanks professor for the transparency that you have.

REFLECTION PAPER 2

THOMAS OYARO ONG’OU
THST 624 PROTESTANT THEOLOGICAL HERITAGE
REFLECTION PAPER 2
June 22, 2009


In our previous week we learned about the theology of Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and some touching class discussion debates. Martin Luther is the important theologian of the 16th century. He grew up in a tendency of psychological depression and this motivated him to become a monk in a monastery. In the monastery is started to loose confidence in the system and in the search to find confidence he became a reformer. On his pilgrimage to Rome he saw abuses at high level of the hierarchy. His friend Stalpetz suggested that he should become a theologian and he accepted. He read the gospels of the New Testament, Romans and Galatians and Psalm 22 when he discovered about the forgiveness of God. He wrote 97 thesis of righteousness by faith and 95 in thesis on indulgences. He gained powerful friends and enemies. He talked about the theology of creation and revelation, faith and reason, legal preaching and evangelical preaching, law and gospel absolute knowledge and hidden knowledge, law and gospel and faith and works.
Whereas Luther was dealing with the basic issue of his relationship with God, Zwingli was led by patriotic and intellectual considerations. He believed that the gospel was for the state and the church. He was open to reason, but because there is a distance between God and man, reason was not enough. To him there was no difference between providence and predestination. He says that God not only knows all things but also does all things.

In our class discussion there came an argument of ecumenism, holistic and cosmic interpretations. With a hot debate those issues were discussed theologically with so many arguments. This makes our class one of the best democratic classes where by different views are welcomed because it is a class of theology considering positive opinions and choosing the right choice individualistically.

Reflection Paper 1

In the previous week I have learned so many important and useful presentations both in class discussion and on what I have read in the History of Christian Thought, vol.3
I have learned that in the protestant theological heritage God’s talk extends even to the creation. God has revealed himself in salvation history or sacred history. Salvation history begun before the canon was written and even before Eden.
The word protestant came as a result of theological reformers of the 16th century with the influence of Luther and Calvin. I have also learned that the history of theology is divided into three stages namely; Pre-modern, modern and post-modern.
I have also learned in the class that Christ is the ruler, scriptures the rule and creation the realm. Some of the causes causing to the fall of the church were;
1. The medieval synthesis was weakening.
2. Declining power of the hierarchy.
3. Mystism (people did not find a spiritual sustenance in the church.
4. They began to respect the spiritual giants who respected in the society.
5. Nominalism (When we think and reason we do not perceive ultimate reality).
6. Humanism
I have studied the book and discovered that nominalism in the middle ages was a best indication of the process of dissolution through which the medieval synthesis was going. Universals were real; they were there, with givenness even greater than one’s personal existence. Beginning from them the entire universe was a logical hierarchy of which ecclesiastical and civil hierarchies were reflections.