Xprycoctomos (James H)
Welcome! Nice to see you on OBOB.
Again, I thank you for your kind reception on TAW.
You were saying how Lutherans are like "Catholics in Exile, waiting to come back to Rome." I think that at least among some, that is true. The Lutheran/Catholic joint proclamation on justification in 1996 was a huge step in our ecumenical relations.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid that 300 years of bad Protestant European polemics, with stories of avaricious bishops, lascivious priests, oppressed women religious, and Papal scandals constitute enough to the misunderstanding of true Catholic theology and morality. It's like looking at the Orthodox Church through some of the monstrous Russian Monarchs while neglecting the St. Seraphim of Sarov's.
And honestly, I'm afraid (as this is the case with every denomination) that there are a few who will object to any change of any kind; for their faith was passed down to them by their families, and they are loathe to give it up, theological issues aside. For example, even though the Arians were excommunicated at 1 Nicea, several returned to the Church, but several continued to exist (and continue to exist, either in neo-Arian groups or old segments near the Holy Land) for hundreds of years, in small numbers. So too, even in the physical Church, there are many who are not one with the Church because they hold unorthodox opinions. I imagine that in any reunification, the spirit of schism may still remain.
May I also say, Xprycoctomos, that many of Luther's writings are not a light read. I read Bondage of the Will, and was taken aback at his sheer anger and the way he just bashed all of his objections aside. Sometimes he was quite infantile about it.
I also think that Martin Luther's psychological condition, especially his scrupulosity in his earlier years, contributed greatly to his actions and his theology. I think he focused to much on Judas, and left Peter. Perhaps his love for the faith turned into zeal without knowledge. As Michelina and others have commented, his "pre-Sola Fide" life was filled with a neurotic fear of hell and damnation. As you commented, Xprycoctomos, after that his theology took another end. But I also think that he exaggerated far too much, saying, "sin boldly."
Another unfortunate result of the Reformation is the hijacking of Augustinan theology unto the Lutheran and Calvinist doctrines. As a former Calvinist, I remember many times invoking Augustine as our doctrinal patron. As I acquired a deeper knowledge of his theology, I realised his great difference with Luther and Calvin as to the nature of Free will. Even if Luther had good intentions, he should have known as a Catholic, that schism itself is an evil.
An even funnier thing about Calvin in particular, is if you read his Institutes, how he even conceded the possibility that one can be predestined to grace but not to glory...because modern Calvinists say Calvin taught that an elect one was predestined, ipso facto, to glory, then this breeds a curious question. Calvin thought otherwise (at least in that book, at that time) than his modern followers - a very interesting resemblance on Augustine's view on perseverance.
I think that in cases like Luther and Calvin, their successors took them even further, as is to be expected. Even now, those like Zane Hodges are preaching among the Protestants a "no-Lordship Gospel", applying Sola Fide in an extreme form of antinomianism.
As you said, Xprycoctomos, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli et al. began to realise in their own lifetimes, that Luther's "plowboy" was beginning to turn himself into his own Pope. The arguments on transsubstantiation, Infant Baptism, etc. arose.
It also didn't help that European potentates capitalized on this spiritual revolution, along with came the largest seizure of private land in European History - that of the seizure of Church land, Monasteries, Papal lands, etc.
WE'VE MISSED YA!
