Rome, Relics, and Christ’s Five-Legged Donkey (Luther)

I was just reading a satire piece by Martin Luther. In the piece, Luther said we should be so thankful and rejoice that the Pope has all those relics: three flames from the burning bush, two feathers and an egg of the Holy Ghost, half of the angel Gabriel's wing, and a pound of wind …

The Problem of Good Works: Martin Luther’s Forty Theses

One of the best ways to learn about the core aspects of the Protestant Reformation is to read a fair amount of Martin Luther's writings. In fact, you might want to start with the forty theses Luther wrote for the Heidelberg Disputation in 1518. Of the forty theses, twenty-eight of them were specifically doctrinal/theological.  In some …

Luther, Spiritual Disciplines, and Our Neighbors

One of the many practical effects of the Reformation was a change in how people viewed what are now called "spiritual disciplines." In the context of the Reformation, most people believed that their good works contributed to their justification. They also believed that doing super-spiritual things like becoming a monk/nun would be rewarded by God. …

Sola Scriptura and Unbiblical Doctrines/Practices (Bray)

Here's a section of Gerald Bray's Doing Theology with the Reformers that I highlighted some time ago. There is more to "Sola Scriptura" (Scripture Alone) than this, but I appreciate this insight: ...But if the Reformation doctrine of sola Scriptura has been romanticized and misunderstood by some of its later advocates, we must not let …

Thank God for the Church Fathers!

The Protestant Reformers were very Bible-centered (as we might call it today). They were very concerned with the truths of Scripture. They labored to read, study, interpret, and biblically apply Scripture. However, they did not reject Christian interpreters, commentators, and preachers before them. They weren't anti-tradition. One example is John Jewel, a student of Peter …