Professional paper

Church Movements and Reforms in the Past

Slavko Slišković ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The divine and human dimension in the Church are uncombined and undivided yet are inseparably connected to each other. Even though the former is unchangeable, its understanding advances. The timely dimension is shaped according to it and each change led it to a better understanding of the former and led to a new way of thinking of external Church manifestations. In history this led to various movements and numerous renewals.
The Scriptures testify that Christ's disciples were members of several Jewish movements and the first Church was faced with the challenge of universality in contrast to Jewish particularity. Christians who emerged from paganism found it difficult to accept that Israel remained the chosen people whereas Christians were divided depending on the person who baptised them or the approach to embodiment.
The attitude towards the state will leave an inerasable trace on Christianity: renouncing the faith, martyrdom, division, elitism, putting the Church in the service of the government and government in the service of the Church, administrative structure, Roman centralism as well as deepening the differences between the Eastern and Western Churches. The history of Christianity was particularly marked when it tied itself to the Roman Empire and enemies of Rome often became enemies of Christianity whereas the necessity to distance itself from the Empire first led to the founding of national and then later, heretic Churches. As the carrier of the faith, ancient civilisation and the idea of the Empire, the Church laid the foundation for the modern West and encounters with other cultures was not always simple. The Gospel moulded into one civilisation was not accepted that well by the remainder of the world.
Christianities ability to significantly advance is evident with the emergence of monasticism. For the majority of the people monks were the first proclaimers of faith and they greatly influenced the western clergy until the religious took over the question of Church discipline and social order.
The Church did not escape the trap of feudalism. Not only was society divided but bipolarisation occurred within the Church dividing the laity and the clergy and so the position of the laity in the Church became a constant challenge and even more so the topic of lay thinking. We must not avoid those periods when the Church determined not only what we should believe but also what we are not allowed to think about. Faced with various attempts of absolutisms, the Church more often shaped political absolutism in pontifical ecclesiology rather than being theologically motivated.
Many self explanatory realities throughout history are today being questioned which define them more clearly. »Deserves« belong to those who ended up outside the Church's unity because they were most often the initiators of debates. This brief review facilitates a simpler understanding of the current situation and avoids the traps of idolatry divisional existing structures. They emerged as a result of varying historical circumstances and will surely change with them which will definitely involve already existing movements as well as those that are yet to emerge.

Keywords

Church; movements; reforms; the state; divisions; centralisation

Hrčak ID:

28227

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/28227

Publication date:

12.8.2008.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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