Church of Christ

The Protestant Reformation was the 16th century schism from the Catholic Church in Europe sparked by early Protestant Reformers like Martin Luther and Huldrych Zwingli. The political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation during the first half of the 16th century benefitted and harmed Europe. Monarchial power expanded and rose throughout all of Europe while the church did just the opposite. Boys, girls, men and women each took on new roles in their social lives and political lives…

The Canterbury tales clearly illustrates that the institutional church was still a very prominent and established symbol of importance in England around the 1400’s. However, a more prominent theme in the Canterbury Tales is that the Church was in a corrupt state. The Institutional church is well represented in the Canterbury tales. The book, in its entirety, is based around religion because the book is a tale of 29 pilgrims, and the stories they tell to entertain one another on their journey to…

(Whitford). This acceptance is based on who the sinner is, rather than the works the sinner does. “Justification is bestowed rather than achieved. Justification is not based on human righteousness, but on God’s righteousness – revealed and confirmed in Christ” (Whitford). Therefore, Luther’s belief of God and the Bible was that salvation is gifted by God, rather than…

For my pastoral interview, I choose to interview the Senior Pastor of Huntington Central Church (Disciples of Christ) Rev. Jacque Parlato. I started the interview by asking Pastor Jacque to describe her call to ministry. More precisely I asked her to describe her calling from the time she first received it up until now. During this question Pastor Jacque began by telling me about her background and early life. She informed me that she was born and raised in Santiago California, to parents that…

Vatican council (ecumenical council) of the Roman Catholic Church on January 25, 1959, as a chance for the church to take part in a renewal. Pope John XXII called the Council shortly after he was elected. He noticed that the Church needed to make the message of faith relevant to people in the twentieth century. Ecumenical councils had been called before, but usually during times of great crisis for the church. To most Catholics in 1959, the church didn’t seem to be struggling and most Catholics…

The Dangerous or Revolutionary Potential of Religion When I was a child, I was forced to go to church. I use the word “force” because, I didn’t understand the purpose of church. It seemed like something I had to do in order to avoid going to hell rather than something I wanted to do. In my mind, church was a requirement much like school. Like school, I tried to find joy in it where I could: I made friends; I sang; I entertained myself; and I slept, when I was young enough to get away…

I’ll become a monk!”. Suddenly the storm disappeared and he was saved. During the first few years of being a monk, his life was difficult. A mentor approached him and told him to focus his life fully on Christ, and later on in life he would be provided with the guidance that he sought from Christ. Later on at the age of 27 Martin Luther was given the opportunity to be a…

tradition of repeating Christ's actions on the night of the last supper as that new rite, replacing the old one. Passed down by holy custom, the tradition of the Church preserving the institution of Christ, bread and wine are consecrated as a sacrificial offering. This consecration serves as a remembrance, which takes meditating upon the life of Christ and enacts it through physical imitation of His actions. This been said, His memory becomes present in a true and physical way through the…

speaking against the Catholic Church. He was arrested and was interrogated by Church officials. Unlike most common people during this time Menocchio was creative and self-taught. He could, read write and he had free time on his hand to question religion and the Catholic Church teaching. In Early modern Europe religion was very important to people; the church was the only way people could go to heaven. However, Menocchio doubted this and did not believe everything the church told him. In this…

Mark Tranvik does an amazing job in translating Martin Luther's treatise: The Freedom of a Christian, where Luther contrasts countless religious components - the body (the inner person) and soul (the other person), and faith and works, - these subjects Luther's uses as an attempt to strengthen and return the Christian faith to its true origin. He argues that works have no effect in obtaining righteousness or salvation, instead it is a natural product of humanity. Instead, acknowledging that…