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The Two Reformations in the 16th Century pp 224–248Cite as

Luther

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Abstract

It may be concluded from what has been said that — to use the words of Prof. Wallace K. Fergusson — “there grew throughout Europe, but especially in the northern [better: western] countries, a specifically lay piety, orthodox in the main, but tending to shift the emphasis from the means of salvation to the individual’s direct relation to God, and from theological dogma to the christian conduct of daily life.”1 Nevertheless, many remarks registered here cause me to doubt very much whether “orthodox in the main” was not often “externally orthodox,” because very much of what was fundamental for Roman Catholic belief and the ruling Church was, in its nature, seriously criticized or doubted by many people. There was, it seems to me, a process of revolution or reformation in religious thought which went deeper than merely stressing “conduct of daily life” and “the individual’s direct relation to God.” The latter tendencies are certainly perceptible, but there was more: with many people there dawned another view concerning God, man and the world, and consequently doubt in the value of the ways and means considered by orthodoxy as being the only possible ones in the intercourse between man and God.

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Authors
  1. H. A. Enno van Gelder
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© 1961 Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands

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van Gelder, H.A.E. (1961). Luther. In: The Two Reformations in the 16th Century. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9562-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-9562-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-8719-0

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