In this 2006 Deep in History lecture, Marcus Grodi looks at how for so many of us in the United States, our understanding of the Reformation is colored by the fact that our nation started out as a British colony, and our shared narrative leads many of us to believe that Martin Luther and Renaissance thinkers freed humanity from a dark, ignorant, and uncivilized oppression by the Catholic Church. Marcus invites us to reexamine that view of history, to look at the data and the lives of Christians who lived during those centuries, and to get a more accurate picture of the role of the Catholic Church in society leading up to the 16th century.
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Study Questions:
-Did you identify with Marcus Grodi’s personal education in Church history?
-Why do you think the Coming Home Network chose to use Cardinal Newman’s famous quote — “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant” — as the theme for the Deep in History conferences?
-Psalm 11:3 reads: “If the foundations are destroyed, what are the faithful to do?” What are the foundations? Are they destroyed? Who are the righteous? What ought they do?
-Grodi discusses the Ten Foundation Stones of Christianity. Which surprised you the most and
why?
Ten Foundation Stones
1. A presumption that Jesus intended for there to be one church
2. The authority of Peter as Christ’s vicar on earth
3. Underneath that authority of Peter, there were bishops
4. Under those bishops, there were priests, who carried out the responsibilities of the bishop
5. A set of doctrines (creeds) that were to be believed that had been established by this
hierarchy
6. Those in the position of authority were to be servants
7. These leaders were called to be holy, to be “perfect as your heavenly father is perfect”
8. An expectation within the Church leadership of poverty, chastity, and obedience
9. Each Christian should undergo an internal conversion to God
10. The reality of blessings and curses
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