Proto-Protestantism: Difference between revisions

[[File:Portrait of John Wycliffe.jpg|thumb|[[John Wycliffe]] is called the "Morning Star of the Reformation" by Andy Thomson.]]

[[File:Lutherdenkmal Worms 01.jpg|thumb|[[Luther Monument (Worms)|Luther Monument]] in Worms, including Protestant forerunners such as [[Girolamo Savonarola]], [[Jan Hus]] and [[Peter Waldo]]|294x294px]]

'''Proto-Protestantism''', also called '''pre-Protestantism''', refers to individuals and movements that propagated various ideas later associated with [[Protestantism]] before 1517, which historians usually regard as the starting year for the [[Reformation]] era. The relationship between medieval sects and Protestantism is an issue that has been debated by historians.   

Before [[Martin Luther]] and [[John Calvin]], some leaders tried to reform [[Christianity]]. The main forerunners of the Protestant Reformation were [[Peter Waldo]], [[John Wycliffe]] and [[Jan Hus]]. Martin Luther himself saw it important to have forerunners of his views, and thus he praised people like [[Girolamo Savonarola]], [[Lorenzo Valla]], [[Wessel Gansfort]] and other groups as prefiguring some of his views.

* [[Jovinian]] and [[Jovinianism]] (died c. 405): Jovinian was a 4th-century theologian who challenged the wave of ascetism in the 4th century, challenged the exaltation of virginity, denied the [[perpetual virginity of Mary]], and he believed that there is no difference between abstaining from food and enjoying it with thanksgiving. Jovinian taught a perseverance doctrine similar to John Calvin, as he taught the truly regenerate will persevere to the end. Some also have argued Jovinian held grace oriented salvation views, similar to the Reformation. Jovinian is sometimes praised as an early forerunner of the reformation. It has been argued that Jovinian believed in a distinction between the visible and [[Church invisible|invisible churches]], based on his statement that the Church is founded on faith, and that all in the Church are taught by God and that no "unripe" members exist within the Church and no one can enter the church "by fraud".

* [[Byzantine Iconoclasm]]: this was a movement within the Eastern Church that gained imperial support in the 8th century from [[Leo III the Isaurian]] (685 – 741) and some later emperors. They eliminated religious [[icon]]s, with some violence, possibly influenced by [[Islam]]. Protestant Iconoclasts looked back to the Byzantine iconoclasts to justify their assault on religious image. Protestants in the reformation used the same Biblical and [[Patristics|Patristic]] texts used by the Byzantines in the 8th and 9th centuries, to condemn religious images.

* [[Claudius of Turin]]: Claudius of Turin was the Bishop of Turin; because of his [[iconoclasm]], he is often seen as proto-Protestant. His commentary on the [[Epistle to Galatians]] shows some of his views prefigure those expressed by both the [[Waldensians]] and [[Protestant]]s centuries later. Claudius, in his writings, maintained that faith is the only requirement for salvation, denies the supremacy of Peter, sees praying for the dead to be useless, attacked practices of the church and held the church to be fallible.

* [[Gottschalk of Orbais]]: Gottschalk was a 9th-century [[Saxons|Saxon]] theologian who was condemned for heresy, due to his teachings on [[predestination]] and that Christ's redemption was only for the elect. The grace views of Gottschalk mirror the Protestant [[sola fide]] doctrine.

* [[Ratramnus]]: Ratramus was a theologian who died in 868. Ratramus believed that the Eucharist is merely symbolic, thus rejecting the real presence of the Eucharist. Ratramnus also believed in single [[predestination]]. The writings of Ratramus influenced Protestant theologians and contributed to the later [[Reformation]].

* [[Ælfric of Eynsham]]: Protestants have appealed to Ælfric of Eynsham as evidence for the English church not believing transubstantiation, because of his book: ''Sermo de sacrificio in die pascae'' where he defines the Eucharist.

* [[Berengar of Tours]]: Berengar of Tours (c.1005-1088), was a forerunner of the reformation. Berengar of Tours argued against [[transubstantiation]], saying that it is against logic and the Bible, and taught that the body and blood were not "[[Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist|real]]" in the [[Eucharist]].

* [[Catharism|Albigenses]]: the Albigenses were a religious group, that first appeared in Western Europe around the first half of the 11th century, and were earlier called Cathars.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Cathari {{!}} Christian sect|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cathari|access-date=2021-10-29|website=Britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> The Cathars denied the Incarnation, Resurrection, Trinity and held to [[Dualism in cosmology|dualist]] ideas. The inclusion of the Cathars or Albigenses as a Protestant forerunner has been a matter of controversy, some people in the past attempting to justify the Albigensians as Protestants have even argued against them being dualist, however without much evidence. There is a degree of confusion about the Albigensians, as they are sometimes lumped with their contemporaries the Waldensians, an unrelated movement. Further, centuries later, "Albigensian" was used as a slur for the unrelated [[Huguenots]].

* [[Bosnian Church]]: Also called ''Krstjani,'' they denied the power of the Pope and were excommunicated by both the eastern and western churches. Some have claimed that the Bosnian church is an early pre-reformist church.

* [[Pataria]]: The Pataria were an 11th-century group in northern Italy, that was against corruption in the church.

* [[Tanchelm]]: Tanchelm was a 12th-century preacher who rejected the structure of the Catholic church.

* [[Peter Abelard]]: Peter Abelard was a Frenchman in around  the year 1100, he sought to include human reason as one of the ways to understand the meaning of scripture, instead of believing everything the church declares without question. He was condemned as a heretic, and his books were burned. Novelist and Abelard scholar George Moore referred to Abelard as the "first [[protestant]]" prior to [[Martin Luther]].

* [[Peter of Bruys]]: was a French reformer who fought against the Catholic church, he rejected [[infant baptism]] and religious images.

* [[Henry of Lausanne]]: Henry of Lausanne preached in France and his followers were called Henricans, Henry condemned Catholic clergy for their wealth.

* [[Arnold of Brescia]]: Arnold of Brescia attacked the Catholic bishops for their wealth, he was hanged in 1155.

* [[Waldensians]]: Waldensians were a 12th-century movement often viewed as a precursor to the Reformation. The Waldensians did not practice infant baptism and they rejected the use of [[indulgences]]; the Waldensians also denied [[transubstantiation]]. The Waldensians wanted to follow Jesus in poverty and simplicity. The Waldensians later joined the [[Reformation|Protestant reformation]]. The Waldensian movement was started by [[Peter Waldo]], they contested the institution of the papacy and the wealth of the church, however they still took part in the sacraments of the Catholic church.

* [[Fraticelli]]: the Fraticelli or Spiritual Franciscans were an extreme group of the [[Franciscans]] in the 13th century. The Fraticelli influenced later Protestant [[Mysticism|mystics]].

* [[Marsilius of Padua]]: Marsilius (born in 1270) is sometimes called a forerunner of the reformation. Marsilius believed that the only source of truth for a Christian are the scriptures, and he rejected the ultimate authority of the church. Marsilius believed that obedience to papal decrees is not necessary for salvation, and he believed the Papal system to be of human arrangement and not divine. The beliefs of Marsilius were largely in agreement with the Protestant reformers.

* [[William of Ockham]]: Ockhamite philosophy influenced Luther and Protestant philosophy. Luther conveyed the ethnical philosophy of Ockham into Protestantism.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Covington |first1=Jesse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vSAsAwAAQBAJ&dq=William+of+Ockham+protestant&pg=PA125 |title=Natural Law and Evangelical Political Thought |last2=McGraw |first2=Bryan T. |last3=Watson |first3=Micah |date=2012-11-16 |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-7391-7323-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ockham) |first=William (of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nTorEAAAQBAJ&dq=William+of+Ockham+protestant&pg=PR23 |title=William of Ockham: Questions on Virtue, Goodness, and the Will William Ockham: Qstns Virt Gdn Will |date=2021-05-06 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-49838-8 |language=en}}</ref> Ockham's stress on scripture anticipates Protestant views and some see him as a proto-Protestant.

* [[Thomas Bradwardine]]: Thomas was an English man and a teacher at Oxford. Bradwardine believed in the doctrine of [[predestination]], Thomas died in 1349.

* [[Gregory of Rimini]]: Gregory of Rimini (1300 – November 1358) was an Italian theologian; his teachings influenced later Protestant Reformers. Rimini believed in the human inability to lead a moral life without divine grace, and in [[Predestination in Christianity|predestination]].

* [[Friends of God]]: Friends of God or {{Lang|de|Gottesfreunde}} were a 14th-century Christian group in [[Germany]], some of the leaders of the movement were executed for their criticism of the [[Catholic Church|Catholic church]], the movement foreshadowed the Protestant reformation. The {{Lang|de|Gottesfreunde}} movement was a democratic lay movement that stressed piety, devotion and holiness.

* [[Petrarch]]: Many Scholars have regarded Petrarch as a proto-Protestant who challenged the Pope's dogma.

* ''[[Strigolniki]]'': The ''strigolniki'' were a 14th-century movement in [[Russia]] that were against monasteries, the upper clergy and they perhaps were [[Iconoclasm|iconoclastic]]. There is some debate if the ''strigolniki'' were similar to Protestantism or more "heretical".

* [[Lollardy]]: Lollardy was a 14th-century movement that stressed the importance of scripture, denied [[transubstantiation]] and rejected the system of the [[papacy]]. They were said to have taught the absolute sufficiency of scripture, maintaining it as the ultimate authority. They provided the view as an alternative to viewing the Church as an authority. The movement was started by [[John Wycliffe]] and its doctrine anticipated those found in the Protestant Reformation.

* [[Hussites]]: Hussites were a 15th-century group in Bohemia, founded by Jan Hus, who was influenced by the writings of [[John Wycliffe]]. Jan Hus attacked indulgences and believed the scriptures to be the only authority for every man.

** [[Taborites]]: Taborites were a faction of the Hussite movement, they denied transubstantiation, veneration of saints, prayers for the dead, indulgences, confession to clergy and renounced oaths.

* [[Lorenzo Valla]]: Lorenzo Valla broke loose from an infallible church tradition and thus some call him a Protestant forerunner and prefigured some teachings of the reformation. Luther himself praised Lorenzo Valla.

* [[Johannes von Goch]]: Goch asserted that the Bible is the supreme authority on doctrine, perhaps taught that faith alone is enough for salvation and questioned monasticism.

* [[Johann Ruchrat von Wesel]]: Johann attacked indulgences and rejected priesty celibacy and papal authority; he believed in predestination and in the [[Church invisible|church invisibile]], and believed that the Scriptures are the only trustworthy authority.

* [[Wessel Gansfort|John of Wessel]]: John of Wessel attacked indulgences, rejected the [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] doctrine of transubstantiation, Wessel believed that the pope and councils can err and laid stress on the faith of the recipient of the sacraments. While some Catholics have claimed that the identification of John of Wessel with Protestantism "exaggerates the similarities".

* [[Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg|Johannes Geiler von Kaysersverg]]: Born in 1445, Johannes was concerned for moral reform in [[Strasbourg]], and preached about God's justice. His reforms laid groundwork for the later Protestant reform in Strasbourg.

* [[Girolamo Savonarola]] was an Italian preacher and reformer, he was born in 1452 and died in 1498. Historians believe that Girolamo Savonarola influenced [[Martin Luther|Luther]], and possibly also [[John Calvin]]. Despite having many beliefs that align with Roman Catholicism, Savonarola believed in divine grace, such as Protestants do. Savonarola declared, that good works are not a cause of predestination but result of predestination. His followers were called the [[Piagnoni]]. Savonarola never abandoned the dogmas of the Roman Catholic church, however his protests against papal corruption, reliance on the Bible as the main guide link Savonarola with the reformation.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Savonarola, Girolamo}}</ref> Although some dispute the inclusion of Girolamo Savonarola as a proto-Protestant.

* [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola|Pico della Mirandola]]: Pico della Mirandola published 900 theses against Rome, where he argued that "this is my body" must be seen symbolically and that no images should be adored. Pico was also an admirer of Girolamo Savonarola.

* [[Johann Reuchlin]]: Johann Reuchlin was a scholar, who got his master's decree in 1477, and later went through other studies. When the reformation had begun, he never left the Catholic church but was suspected of leaning towards reformation ideas. Later his grandnephew, [[Philip Melanchthon|Melanchthon]] joined the Protestant reformation.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|last=dePrater|first=William A.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rXLDCAAAQBAJ&dq=Peter+Abelard+reformation&pg=PA37|title=God Hovered Over the Waters: The Emergence of the Protestant Reformation|date=2015-03-25|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-4982-0454-5|page=43|language=en|chapter=Forerunners of the Protestant reformation}}</ref>

* [[Johann von Staupitz|Johannes von Staupitz]]: Johannes was born in 1460 and served as [[Martin Luther|Luther's]] superior in the [[Order of Saint Augustine|Augustinian order]], Staupitz stressed the doctrine of [[unconditional election]].

* [[Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples|Faber Stapulensis]]: Faber was a forerunner of Luther in France, and anticipated the doctrine of justification by faith. Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples wrote commentaries on the Bible which influenced Martin Luther.

* [[Erasmus]]: Erasmus was born only 20 years before Luther in the [[Netherlands]] and produced the [[Novum_Instrumentum_omne|Latin and Greek New Testament]] that the Reformers used for their vernacular translations. He sought thorough-going moral and institutional reform, and doctrinal tolerance through simplification, education and biblicism, though not doctrinal revolution or violence. Erasmus initially defended Luther when Luther was in trouble with authorities; yet he felt that the doctrine of ''sola fide'' was not supported in the Bible in the simplistic way Luther proposed and that Luther's reforms verged on extremism and were thus unbiblical. Erasmus' contemporaries charged him with "laying the egg that Luther hatched".

[[John Foxe]] (c. 1563) was the first English Protestant author to defend Protestantism from charges of novelty by claiming, in S.J. Barnett's words, "the continuity of a proto-Protestant piety since apostolic times": in England's case this included a national first-century conversion to Christianity from a visiting [[Joseph of Arimathea]]. This has no historical basis.

According to Brethren missionary [[Edmund Hamer Broadbent]] in ''The Pilgrim Church'' (1531), over much of the [[Christian era]], many Christian [[sect]]s, [[cult]]s and [[Sociological classifications of religious movements|movements]] foreshadowed the teachings of what later became the Non-conformist Protestant movements.

[[Baptist successionism]] (or "[[landmarkism]]") postulates an unbroken lineage of churches which have held beliefs similar to those of current Baptists. Groups often included in this lineage include the [[Montanists]], [[Novatianism|Novationists]], [[Donatists]], [[Paulicians]], [[Albigenses]], [[Waldenses]], [[Petrobrusians]], [[Arnoldists]], [[Henricians]], [[Hussites]] (partly), [[Lollards]] (partly) and [[Anabaptists]]. Baptist successionism proposes that groups such as [[Bogomils]] or Paulicians were Baptist in doctrine instead of Gnostic.

The idea of proto-protestants has been criticized as a diverse category whose only commonality is a perceived anti-Catholicism rather than any adherence to the [[Five solae|five ''solae'']]; the idea of successionism (or the hidden church) has further been criticized as lacking historical evidence, linking unrelated groups (e.g. the Manichaean [[Bogomilism|Bogomil "Cathars"]], the [[Albigensians|Albigensian "Cathars"]], the semi-monastic [[Beguines_and_Beghards|Beguine movement]], the antipapal ''[[fraticelli]]'' friars, the Trinitarian and eucharistic [[Waldenses]], and the [[Lollards]]) and as fabricated to serve a polemical need.<blockquote>"For the Catholic denial of the antiquity of the Waldensians and assertion of [[Pope|Petrine]] apostolicity, "the ideal parry to Rome would have been to identify apostolic origins for the Waldenses, but the evidence for such a claim was thin to nonexistent, a factor often necessarily limiting arguments in favor of apostolic origins to rather vague assertions." ⏤ S.J. Barnett</blockquote>