Honestly, why? -Sydney Snow
First of all, why have I not heard of this Zwingli person before now? He was basically the early version of Martin Luther from what I can understand, so why do we not learn about this man before Luther? He may 95 theses like Luther, but he had 67 of his own. That is still pretty impressive. I do not agree with everything he says, but he still put himself out there. He even basically challenged the Pope at the time and had many followers to help him. Dropping the assigned lessons for the church took a lot of courage. He even opposed pilgrimages and indulgences. I understand that we teach Luther in schools because of the big impact he made, but as a student, I would have also liked to know about the man who came before Luther (or the pre-Luther, as I have been calling him in my head).
Now that I have gotten that rant out of the way, we can talk about John Calvin. I have a major bone to pick with him. Almost everything he says makes me cringe. I get that the man has a hatred for "disorderly living," but he took it way too far. Also, the fact that he wanted to fix everyone's lives based on how he understood "God's law" is very unrealistic. Everyone interprets/understands scripture and "God's law" differently. I mean His law is His law, but different situations bring people different interpretations at different times. I greatly disagree with most of the statements he makes, but some are just silly. His look on song and dance is childish. If you spin wildly in dance you get imprisoned? Dance can be form of expression or even worship. What gives him the authority to tell people that they cannot express themselves in that way? Also, no games can be played for money. Athletes play for money. It is the job and source of income. That is only a few declarations that I find so wrong that they are actually silly.
P.S. I commented on Madison's and Cody's post.
Now that I have gotten that rant out of the way, we can talk about John Calvin. I have a major bone to pick with him. Almost everything he says makes me cringe. I get that the man has a hatred for "disorderly living," but he took it way too far. Also, the fact that he wanted to fix everyone's lives based on how he understood "God's law" is very unrealistic. Everyone interprets/understands scripture and "God's law" differently. I mean His law is His law, but different situations bring people different interpretations at different times. I greatly disagree with most of the statements he makes, but some are just silly. His look on song and dance is childish. If you spin wildly in dance you get imprisoned? Dance can be form of expression or even worship. What gives him the authority to tell people that they cannot express themselves in that way? Also, no games can be played for money. Athletes play for money. It is the job and source of income. That is only a few declarations that I find so wrong that they are actually silly.
P.S. I commented on Madison's and Cody's post.
I think maybe the reason we don't learn about Zwilngli is simply because of time. Martin Luther's rebellion (if you want to call it that) left a much larger impact not just on theology, but on social issues of his day as well as changing politics as we know it. Martin Luther can communicate basically the same concepts as Zwilngli to someone who isn't all that interested in learning the history of theology, as most people assume if you are going to do your own research on the topic you will eventually come across both. I'm not sure that's why, but maybe that could be an explanation why.
ReplyDeleteIt is also about popularity and timing. There are several people in history that are celebrated in history as being the first to discover or do things when in actuality they were not the first. I`m sure everyone knows that Christopher Columbus was never the first to discover America. Really it all kind of depends on luck. You could be the first to discover or do new things, but get lost in time because your ideas were too radical or simply were not recorded. Then someone else comes along and they change history with the same ideas.
ReplyDeleteOn Calvin, I agree very much with you. It was a very cringe-worthy read to say the least. History has always shown that no one can have complete control over people. Kind of the reason free will is a thing. Human nature will not allow for total control. that is reserved only for God himself. until we meet Him, we are still imperfect and prone to choice. I think Calvin understands that, which is why he wanted to "fix" people.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing about Zwingli! I would have loved learning about him in school and I think it is sad that we aren't taught about him, but I also agree that timing and popularity may have played a part in why we don't talk about him as much.
ReplyDelete-Madison Flowers
On Zwingli, I thought about what it must've been like for someone to just come out and say, "Hey! Purgatory doesn't exist!" To me he, and Luther, are two of the bravest men in all of human history. People who stood up for truth at the cost of their life. I aspire to that level of courage.
ReplyDelete