The Reformation and the Fracturing of Christianity (^) ‹ 71
building schools and universities throughout Europe. The Jesuits also served as missionar-
ies, and they were often among the first Europeans to visit the new worlds that the Age of
Exploration was opening up, thereby establishing a beachhead for Catholicism. Internally,
they preached a new piety and pushed the Church to curb its worldly practices and to serve
as a model for a selfless, holy life that could lead to salvation.
The Catholic reform movement reached its peak with the Council of Trent, which
began its deliberations in 1545. Over many years, the Council passed reforms abolishing
the worst of the abuses that had led to Protestant discontent. However, the Council of
Trent also symbolized a defeat for Protestants who hoped for reconciliation, as the Council
refused to compromise on any of the key theological issues and continued to insist that the
Catholic Church was the final arbiter in all matters of faith.
At the heart of the Catholic Church’s efforts to defeat Protestantism was the office
known as the Inquisition. An old institution within the Church that investigated charges
of heresy, its duties were revived and expanded to combat all perceived threats to orthodoxy
and the Church’s authority. Those who ran afoul of the Inquisition ran the risk of imprison-
ment, torture, and execution. The Church’s other main weapon in its aggressive response to
the Reformation was censorship. Books that were considered unorthodox or at odds with
the Church’s teachings were placed on the Index of Banned Books.
Review Questions
Multiple Choice
Questions 1–3 refer to the following passage:
The covenant of life not being equally preached to all, and among those to whom it is
preached not always finding the same reception, this diversity discovers the wonderful depth
of the Divine judgment. Nor is it to be doubted that this variety also follows, subject to the
decision of God’s eternal election. If it be evidently the result of the Divine will, that salva-
tion is freely offered to some, and others are prevented from attaining it—this immediately
gives rise to important and difficult questions, which are incapable of any other explication,
than by the establishment of pious minds in what ought to be received concerning election
and predestination... that... some should be predestinated to salvation, and others to
destruction.... His eternal election, which illustrates the grace of God by this comparison,
that He adopts not all promiscuously to the hope of salvation, but gives to some what He
refuses to others....
We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns the elect, is founded on his gratuitous
mercy, totally irrespective of human merit; but that to those whom he devotes to condemna-
tion, the gate of life is closed by a just and irreprehensible, but incomprehensible, judgment.
In the elect, we consider calling as an evidence of election, and justification as another token
of its manifestation, till they arrive in glory, which constitutes its completion. As God seals
his elect by vocation and justification, so by excluding the reprobate from the knowledge
of his name and the sanctification of his Spirit, he affords an indication of the judgment
that awaits them.John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536- From the passage, one may infer that Calvin asserted as true which of the following?
A. God does not offer salvation to everyone.
B. Man is incapable of understanding salvation.
C. One can “elect” to be saved or refuse to be saved.
D. Only Protestants are saved.
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