William A. dePrater III - God Hovered Over the Waters: The Emergence of the Protestant Reformation

God Hovered Over the Waters

The Emergence of the Protestant Reformation

William A. dePrater III

introduction

W hen our youngest daughter gave birth to her first child and our first grandchild, my wife and I arrived at the hospital while she was in labor. Sitting anxiously in the hospitals maternity waiting room, we waited for news from the medical staff about our daughter and soon to be born grandchild. Finally, the news came! Our daughter was fine, and a new member of our family was born. His parents named him Jacob, one of the biblical patriarchs, and Christopher, which means Christ-bearer. Further, being born on July , Jacob would share a birthday with John Calvin, the theological literary giant of the Reformation period. From the beginning of his life, his name and his birthday would remind him of the witness of those saints that have preceded him.

As soon as we first met Jacob, we began looking at his physical featureshis long legs, his chubby cheeks, his sturdy frame, his almond-shaped eyes, and his hands and feet. We were excited when we recognized in him physical features similar to that of the members of his larger family. In so doing, we were bonding with him. We were claiming him as a family member. As he grows, he will continue to have characteristics that are similar to that of his parents, grandparents, aunts, and other family members, both the living and the dead. At the same time, he will be far different from anyone else that ever has lived. That is because Jacob is a unique person in his own right, with his own particular mixture of God-given gifts and graces that will enable him to live his life in faith. As he grows in wisdom and stature in facing the perils of childhood and the temptations of youth, he will become Jacob the man. He also will learn what it means to experience Gods unbounded love in all of lifes adventures.

In a similar manner, we have spiritual ancestors. Some of those spiritual ancestors we read about in the Scriptures: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua, Joseph, the prophets, Paul of Tarsus, Timothy, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and of course Jesus. These stories tell us where we have come from as people of faith, how they faced their own life struggles, and how God established Gods covenant with them and us.

We also have other spiritual ancestors whose names do not appear in the Scriptures. Their lives, likewise, have shaped us as Christians. These spiritual ancestors stepped out in faith, claimed Gods vision for the future, and remained true to that vision against all opposition. I will share some of their stories in this book. Along with countless other unnamed women and men who faithfully served in congregations throughout the world, they are cheering us on in our Christian discipleship.

My hope for you as you read this book is fivefold: First, my hope is that I can kindle in you an appreciation of the struggles of these spiritual ancestors who have bequeathed to us the Reformed faith. Second, in such a short book, I certainly cannot pretend adequately to cover the lives of those who have gone before us. That is not been my intention. There are a number of scholarly books already on the market that have far more adequately achieved that task. My purpose therefore in writing this book is to introduce you to some of our ancestors in the faith, so that you might want to explore their lives further. Third, I have chosen to confine the time period to be covered in this book to that of the sixteenth and a portion of the seventeenth centuries. During the sixteenth century, the Reformers faith was original, fresh, and groundbreaking. However, during the seventeenth century, Reformation leaders became more concerned with defending and codifying the Reformed doctrines and practices than with continuing the Reformed theological conversation. Orthodoxy became the standard of the faith, and the Reformed confessions increasingly became the means of gatekeeping within the community. Besides, with the writing of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the era of the great confessional documents passed into history. There are other fine confessional documents written in recent centuries, yet most of these confessional documents look back to the sixteenth and seventeenth century as the foundational confessional era.

Fourth, when I was a student in seminary in the early 1970 s, there was great interest in the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), which was formed in 1962 under the leadership of Eugene Carson Blake, the stated clerk of the United Presbyterian Church USA, and Bishop James Pike of the Protestant Episcopal Church. With the overwhelming denominational rejection of the 1970 Plan of Union, the Consultation on Church Union eventually dissolved. The organization named Churches Uniting in Christ (CUIC) succeeded it. Instead of COCUs original goal of organic union, CUIC advocated goals that are more modest. Since then, several ecumenical actions have taken place, including approval in the late 1970 s of the CUICs Visible Marks of Churches Uniting in Christ, and the Formula of Agreement between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ. Finally, in 2008 the General Assembly approved the Covenant Relationship between the Korean Church in America and the PC (USA). Other denominational traditions likewise have established similar relationships within their own communions. Yet, in the five hundred years since Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses, the church continues to split asunder into ever-smaller denominations which are seeking unity through their uniformity of belief and practice. Martin Luther and the other Reformers never sought such divisions of Christs Body, and they would be horrified at its extent today. Amidst that bitter period of religious estrangement, a Benedictine devotional writing, Beneficio di Christo , expressed the pain of such trauma:

This may sound counted among the greatest evils with which this age is infected, that they which are called Christians are miserably divided about Christ; and yet in truth as the Apostle saith unto us, there is but one God, which is the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him, and our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom all things, and we by him. To discourse on this division, and to cause thereof would be to some pleasing; to some it would unpleasing. For what one truth can please minds so diversely divided? Would God it could please all to become one in that one Christ whose name we all do carry.

At the same time, there are those churches who are seeking their unity not in polity and theology, but rather in the Christ and his calling to proclaim the gospel. These churches have been forming cooperative ecumenical relationships in communities large and small.

Fifth, in our celebration of our ecumenical relationships and common ministries, it is important that we have an understanding of the cultural, economic, ecclesiastical, and political circumstances that helped to usher in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. Only then can we affirm our own denominational traditions while following the Holy Spirits lead in affirming:... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph :). With the upcoming celebration of the five-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luthers posting of his Ninety-Five Theses, my hope is that celebration will spur us onward in a continued dialogue of what it means for us to be the one Body of Christ.