The Reformation and the nature of the church
Stewart examines the Reformation's fundamental dispute over ecclesiology, contrasting Rome's institutional definition of the church (centered on papal authority and clergy) with the Reformers' biblical understanding of the church as God's people. The article explores how disagreements over the nature and government of the church necessitated the Reformation and made internal reform of the papal system impossible, establishing the theological foundations for Protestant ecclesiology.
It is not claiming too much to say that the great Reformation of the church included a battle over the very nature of the church of Christ itself!1 1) The battle against Rome The Reformers fought against the false definition of the church that was deeply entrenched in the corrupt medieval church in Western Europe. According to Rome, the church is (well-nigh exclusively) an institutional church, that hierarchical organization with the pope as her visible head. Moreover, the church is not even...
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