Howard was a convert in 1984, before the rest of the “Catholic Convert” industry happened. He writes now:
Several years ago I came across the then Lutheran theologian Jaroslav Pelikan’s notion that the Reformation is best remembered as a “tragic necessity.” Pelikan elaborated:
The tragedy of the Reformation consists in the loss by both sides of the some of the very things each claimed to be defending against the other; its final outcome was not what Rome or the reformers had wanted. Yet the necessity of the Reformation consists in the loyalty of the reformers to the best and highest in Roman Catholic Christianity and their obligation to summon Rome back to it. Partisans on both sides have difficulty acknowledging the Reformation was indeed a tragic necessity. Roman Catholics agree that it was tragic, because it separated many millions from the true church; but they cannot see that it was really necessary. Protestants agree that it was necessary, because the Roman church was so corrupt; but they cannot see that it was such a tragedy after all. . . . [Whatever the case] an honest assessment of the Reformation belongs to any . . . effort at meeting the present situation between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.
Let me suggest that, as the Reformation quincentennial approaches, Catholics ought to try to think about why so many, then and now, felt the necessity of the Reformation. Conversely, Protestants ought to consider why Catholics, then and now, have perceived it as tragic. That might not answer all questions, mend all divisions. But it might not be a bad place to start.
My response:
We should remember that if the Reformation was a “tragic” necessity, the tragedy was caused by Rome. That’s the first thing that needs to be recognized. There was tragedy before the first Protestant. Centuries-worth of tragedy.
In that vein, the Reformation was, as Philip Schaff said, “the turning point of modern history”.
Schaff said: http://bit.ly/13gbCgP
The Reformation of the sixteenth century is, next to the introduction of Christianity, the greatest event in history. It marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. Starting from religion, it gave, directly or indirectly, a mighty impulse to every forward movement, and made Protestantism the chief propelling force in the history of modern civilization.
I think we ought to begin by considering whether Schaff or Pelikan was more correct.
http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2012/10/reformation-season.html
Schaff, Schaff, a thousand times, Schaff. Characterizing the recovery of the biblical gospel and the unleashing of the word of God as a "tragic necessity" is only tragic from the perspective of those who obscured and obfuscated and denied for so long. Like any phenomenon that involves sinful human beings the Reformation was flawed and incomplete and "the best of men are men at best" so we should not expect perfection. Even so, there can be no doubt that this was one of the mightiest Spirit-directed and -empowered revivals in the history of the church and the springboard for many subsequent revivals.
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