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Reformation Spirituality Part 1 By Alister McGrath

Well, I think it's probably true to say that the word spirituality is being used a lot.

And certainly a lot of people are feeling the need to try and engage with issues of spirituality.
And that's certainly the case in the west coast of America, and it's certainly the case here.
But the problem is, of course, that not every spirituality is a Christian spirituality.
And that in many ways we're seeing an enhanced interest in the spiritual dimension of life,
which very often does not have any relation to Christianity at all.
It's very often said that Australia is a very secular culture. I'm not sure that's true.
I think it's a culture which basically is looking for something which it hasn't found,
and it has this enormous distrust of organised religion.
I had to look up the entry on computers in the yellow pages while I was here and picking up the volume.
I turned to the back and there was a list of all the special numbers that yellow pages were promoting.
And some of them were things like this, how to discover your previous existence, this kind of thing.
And a whole series of things about how to have your tarot cards read.
And then a whole series of things relating to horoscopes.
And these are not typical of a secular society.
This is a society which is actually looking for a spiritual dimension and hasn't found it.
And in other words, the point I want to try and make here is that we really do need to take spirituality seriously
and make sure that the Christian voice really is heard in this conversation.
And of course the whole theme of the lectures I'm giving is that the Reformation is a major continuing resource to us
in relation to many areas of church life.
I think we've seen that already in relation to doctrine and various aspects of church life.
And it seems to me that in many ways Reformers have much to teach us about spirituality as well.
And perhaps especially in the way in which we approach spirituality.
So let me try and make some points before I go on and look at some issues specifically relating to Reformation spirituality.
And obviously I'll be developing these further in the second of these two lectures I'm giving tomorrow.
As you all know, historians like to give names to periods in history.
And the Reformation stands at the dawn of the early modern period.
In other words, it is recognizably connected with where we are now.
And one of the great themes of the Reformation is that it addresses the issues of the marketplace.
Let me try and explain what I have in mind by this.
And scholars have, I think, helped us to see that what we call medieval Christianity was mainly monastic Christianity.
In other words, it really had very little to do with ordinary people.
And it was focused instead on the monasteries and convents of Europe.
To give you an example of a work of medieval spirituality that some of you probably have read,
Thomas Okempus' book, The Imitation of Christ. Thomas Okempus, The Imitation of Christ.
If you haven't read it, I want to say it really is worth reading.
But as you read it, you notice that Okempus is writing as a monk for other monks.
For example, even though the work is a marvellous reflection on the meaning of the cross of Christ for the Christian life.
Every now and then, there are things being said that make it perfectly clear that he is assuming that if you're reading this book, you're a monk.
And it's quite clear from that and from many other sources that in the Middle Ages, the people who really mattered were the monks.
Ordinary laity get a very raw deal indeed.
And I made the point yesterday that the word vocation, vocation in the Middle Ages means somebody's sense of calling to leave the world and go into a monastery.
At a time of reformation, we find a radical change in all of this.
For the Reformers, there was really no point in having monasteries because the place of Christians was in the cities and marketplaces of Europe.
And the laity had an especially important part to play.
You might like to think of reformation as being about an enormous change in the perception of the importance of Christianity.
It is not simply for monks who have isolated themselves from the world.
It is for ordinary Christians who are working in the world and who therefore need help in living the Christian life in that situation.
To give you an example, if Christians are called to be the salt of the earth, as we read in Matthew 5,
then there is every danger they will lose their saltiness.
And the Reformers saw spirituality as being a way of sustaining Christian distinctiveness.
So the Christians could live and work in the world and be salt and light to that culture, while at the same time maintaining their distinctive identity.
So the Reformers were interested in the whole issue of spirituality.
But nevertheless, they were not prepared to accept existing models of spirituality.
You will very often hear it say that Protestants have no spirituality.
And I can make a point that that simply is not true.
There is a wealth of spirituality there in our tradition, just waiting to be rediscovered.
And one of the things that distresses me most is that very often we who are inside that tradition are blind to what is there.
But there are great signs of recovery.
For example, in the Wesleyan tradition, both John and Charles Wesley are being rediscovered and valued.
In the Reform tradition, there is an enormous amount of interest in Jonathan Edwards, who is an enormously helpful resource in this context.
And my particular concern in this lecture is to say that the Reformation has much to offer us as well.
Luther and Calvin in particular were enormously aware of the need to give Christians a sense of confidence and well-being and identity in the world,
and address this issue time and time again.
So if I may, I'm going to begin by trying to identify the leading features of Reformation spirituality.
In other words, what I'm going to do here is pick up some of the major themes that you see there in Reformation
and allow them to guide us and inform us as we think about this subject.
And the first major point I want to make is this.
The Reformation insists that spirituality is grounded in Scripture.
It's a very distinctive insight that Scripture is the basis of the Christian life,
and therefore spirituality needs to be centred on the Christian Scriptures.
It might just be helpful to draw a contrast here between Buddhism and Christianity, just to make this point clear.
Buddhists will argue that when you are meditating, what you need to do is clear your mind of every thought altogether and make it empty.
And there is a sense in which the Reformers are saying we should do that,
but only in order to get rid of every distracting thought and then allow our minds to focus on Jesus Christ as he's revealed through Scripture.
There's this real sense of allowing the mind to feast upon Jesus Christ.
Luther's theology of the cross, as I mentioned in an earlier lecture,
is very much about a sustained contemplation of the dying Jesus Christ
and reflection on his meaning for every aspect of the Christian life.
There's this real focus on Jesus Christ as we see him through Scripture.
So I think there is a real need for us to insist that it is Scripture and not anything else that is the centre of Christian spirituality.
I stress this point because all of us know that there are all kinds of people who are trying to make something or someone else the object of spiritual contemplation.
I can remember some years ago being forced to go to a conference which is all about spiritual things
and we were made to contemplate a brick, a brick.
We were told we had to focus on this brick for about ten minutes and then reflect on its spiritual importance.
And I can tell you that one person made the comment that really his chief thought on looking at this brick
was a desire to bring it into contact with the head of the person who'd made him do it.
Because he found the entire exercise to be a complete waste of time.
But really I think that there are other more sinister things that are there.
That very often we are being asked as Christians to displace Christ or Scripture from the centre of our thinking
and make something else the centre. It may be creation, it may be something else.
And the Reformatist is saying to us, keep Christ, keep Scripture central.
You may remember Martin Luther's very famous saying by which he said that everything was to be judged
by whether it incocates, incocates Christ or not. And I think it is a very, very helpful criterion to use.
So the first point then is that spirituality centres on Scripture.
And I mentioned when talking about Calvin a number of study aids that Reform was made available.
Calvin's Institutes itself, biblical commentaries, expository sermons, which are designed to enable us
to get the most out of Scripture.
Now the point I want to make is that there are all kinds of ways in which you can read Scripture.
One way is to gain an enhanced understanding of the text.
And certainly in the Reform tradition that is important.
That to understand is a way of deepening the foundations of your faith, increasing its strength and resilience.
And that unquestionably is important.
But Jonathan Edwards is one of a number of writers who makes the point that there is more to the Christian life
than simply understanding. And Edwards, you probably know, talks a lot about the Christian emotions.
In other words, about allowing ourselves to be challenged at the emotional level as well.
I think that is one area where perhaps we need to rediscover something of Scripture.
Reading it and allowing ourselves to be deeply moved by what we read there.
And to me one of the greatest tragedies is that, if you look at the early Reformation example of the writings of Martin Luther
you find a particular way of reading Scripture which is then hijacked by somebody else.
And because it was hijacked by somebody else, Protestants have stopped using it.
Let me describe what I mean and then you'll see the point.
Luther encourages us to use our imaginations in reading Scripture.
In other words, I've got to be careful what I say here. When I say use our imaginations it does not mean make things up.
He means read a biblical passage and allow it to build up a mental picture in our minds
as we begin to construct a picture of the biblical passage in question.
For example, if you read Luther's commentary on John's Gospel, you'll see the way in which he says now
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Imagine a road. Imagine that it is leading us somewhere.
That kind of thing. In other words, let it impact on you.
And of course that technique is taken and developed further by Ignatius Loyola.
It really is what Ignatian spirituality is all about.
The imaginative reading of Scripture, for example, in other words, you don't just read a passage that says
Jesus was walking on the road to Jerusalem.
You actually imagine what it looks like and enter into the biblical passage.
Now the reason I'm making this point is that to fully appreciate the amazing impact of the cross
on Christian spirituality, you need to be affected at the emotional level as well.
And thus, for example, Luther has a series of meditations on thinking of the cross.
And his technique is simply imagine Christ dying on the cross.
In other words, build up a mental picture of Jesus dying on the cross and just see its various aspects.
See him bleeding. See him dying. See him in pain.
And really build up a very powerful picture.
And then allow yourself to be moved by that as you think, he did that for me. He did that for me.
Because very often there is a danger that, especially in the Reformed tradition,
you come across simply as being very cerebral, very dry, very arid.
And of course there is nothing arid about the first disciples' response to Christ.
They knew what he'd been through and in a certain sense we need to recover that in our own thinking about this.
So what I'm saying is, Scripture is at the centre of our spirituality.
That I regard as being self-evidently true in many ways.
But we need to read Scripture for all it is worth.
And I think that one of the things we're discovering, and I think Bruce pointed this out yesterday in his lecture,
that people need a lot of help with Scripture these days, far more than they may have done in the past.
And it's just no good saying to new Christians, go away and read Scripture, it'll be good for you.
They need all the help they can get to get the most out of Scripture.
And that means that in your church situation, the little Bible study group could be of enormous importance
as you enable people to get the most out of Scripture, to read it and benefit from it at its most.
One of the things that does worry me about contemporary evangelical spirituality is the quiet time.
Because an awful lot of younger Christians are being told that the quiet time is the way to read Scripture.
Go away for half an hour and read Scripture. But they are not given help in doing it.
And the result is, quite simply, they begin to give up on Scripture,
and shortly afterwards they probably give up on the faith as well.
And what I'm trying to say is that we just need to work on the assumption that people need help
as they begin to read Scripture as new Christians, and maybe also as older Christians as well.
I think there's also one other thing I'd like to say about Scripture, and that is that very often
we are told by people that the characteristically evangelical or Reformed emphasis on Scripture
is actually profoundly oppressive. In other words, that we really need to be liberated from Scripture.
And that certainly is a kind of theme that you find in the writings of John Shelby Spong,
I think particularly of his earlier book, Rescuing the Bible to Fundamentalism.
I think I need to say this very, very clearly. When someone says, free yourself from Scripture,
it usually means, and start obeying me instead.
One of the great things about biblical authority is that it is liberating,
because it means that we do not need to be obeisant, to be under obedience to somebody else.
The great thing about Scripture is that it liberates us from the authority of self-styled
religious teachers who demand that we obey them.
It's no accident that Luther insists that Christians substitute the authority of Scripture
for the authority of a pope. And inevitably, even in Reformed circles, you will find individuals
who rise up and say, obey me, I will tell you what Scripture means.
I think there's a need for us to be critical of that, and really say we want to go to Scripture
and remain faithful to that.
The next point I want to make, there's a second point, is that Reformation spirituality
is enormously critical of any approach to spirituality, which is simply about enhancing our religious feelings.
There is a strongly objective dimension to Reformation spirituality.
In other words, the point I'm trying to make here is that it's helpful to think of there being objective
and subjective dimensions of spirituality. In other words, that Christian faith really affects the way we feel
and there is something outside us as well.
And Reformation makes the point that it's very easy for us to lose sight of this objective dimension,
yet it remains of enormous importance.
And I hinted this quote from Calvin yesterday, let me give it to you in full now.
Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom,
consists of two parts, the knowledge of God and of ourselves.
And although they are closely connected, it is difficult to say which comes first.
Knowledge of ourselves not only stimulates us to seek God, but as it were, also leads us by the hand to find Him.
We shall never achieve a clear knowledge of ourselves until we have first looked upon God's face
and then descend from contemplating Him to examine ourselves.
And I think is an almost important point, let me read you that critical sentence once more.
We never achieve a clear knowledge of ourselves until we have first looked upon God's face
and then descend from contemplating Him to examine ourselves.
In other words, that we really begin by learning about God.
That it is God who draws us to Him, that it is this objective knowledge of God which is of central importance.
And then once we have achieved that, once we know who God is, we are able to begin to discover who we are.
Because you can never separate who we are from who God is.
The Christian doctrines of creation and redemption ensure that,
that there is a closer connection between who God is and who we are,
because the God who we know is the God who has created and redeemed us.
And that gives us the clue to our distinctive identity.
So the obvious point I'm making here is that there is a distinctive doctrinal foundation to reformation spirituality.
It's not simply about some kind of subjective feel-good business.
It's saying once you have understood who God is, what God intends for you, who you are,
then that will allow you to begin to develop the experiential sides of things
which otherwise could lead you so seriously astray.
Now of course Calvin makes the point, and he has a very important point,
that doctrine is not simply objective.
Rightly understood, doctrine has a strongly experiential dimension as well.
Here's what he says in the 1539 edition of the Institutes of Christian Religion.
Doctrine is not a matter of the tongue, but of life.
It is not apprehended only by the intellect and memory,
but is received only when it possesses the whole soul.
We assign priority to doctrine in which our religion is contained,
since by it our salvation begins, but it must be transfused into our hearts
and pass into our conduct and thus transform us.
The gospel ought to penetrate the innermost feelings of the heart,
fix its seat in the soul, and pervade the entire person.
So you can see that Calvin is saying, yes, the Christian gospel, Christian doctrine,
is about right understanding, about right knowledge of God.
But Calvin is quite clear that this knowledge is transformative,
that if we really have experienced God, if we really know God,
then that is going to change us completely.
And again it's very interesting just to notice how that phrase, knowing God,
knowing God, must never be reduced to simply knowing about God.
It's a very, very strongly personal thing.
To know somebody is to relate to somebody and potentially to be transformed by them.
So it seems to me that there's a really important connection there between doctrine and spirituality.
Let me, if I may, amplify this by looking at a lecture given in 1989 by James I. Packer.
And many of you will know James Packer in many ways is one of the most significant contemporary exponents of Reformed theology.
And the point I want to make is that in 1989 Packer gave a lecture with the following title,
An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality.
An Introduction to Systematic Spirituality.
And the lecture is remarkable because in it Packer brings out the close connection between good theology and good spirituality.
Theology becomes bad theology when it ceases to have any spiritual relevance.
And spirituality becomes bad spirituality when it ceases to have a doctrinal basis.
So in many ways Packer is arguing that there is this close interconnection between doctrine and spirituality.
And let me read you some pieces from this lecture to let you experience what Packer is saying on this point.
We cannot function well as counsellors, spiritual directors and guides to birth, growth and maturity in Christ
unless we are clear as to what constitutes spiritual well-being as opposed to spiritual latitude or exhaustion
and to stunted and deformed spiritual development.
It thus appears that the study of spirituality is just as necessary for us to hope to minister in the Gospel
as is the study of physiology for the medical trainee.
It's something that we cannot really manage without.
So he's making the point that spirituality actually is of major importance.
But then he goes on from there and begins to explore the way in which theology and spirituality interact.
And here's what he says.
I question the adequacy of conceptualizing the subject matter of systematic theology as simply revealed truths about God.
And I challenge the assumption that has usually accompanied this form of statement
that the material, like other scientific data, is best studied in cool and clinical detachment.
Detachment from what, you ask?
Why, from the relational activity of trusting, loving, worshipping, obeying, serving and glorifying God.
The activity that results from realizing that one is actually in God's presence,
actually being addressed by him every time one opens the Bible or reflects on any divine truth whatsoever.
This proceeds as if doctrinal study would only be muddled by introducing devotional concerns.
It drives a wedge between knowing true notions about God and knowing the true God himself.
Let me just pick up a few of those phrases again, because I think they are very helpful.
He begins by questioning, I quote,
the adequacy of conceptualizing the subject matter of systematic theology as simply revealed truths about God.
Now isn't that an important point?
Because for so many people the word theology means studying theologians.
But you see Packer's point is no, no, no. Theology is about studying God.
And to study God is potentially to be completely transformed.
I mean I think all of us know that in many ways the form of Christian faith that's kept this vision going most strongly is Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodoxy.
And you may know the famous quote of Evagrius, one of the early Orthodox theologians who simply wrote,
theology is about prayer.
And I think it's something that Packer is helping us to recover here.
Then he goes on, and just hear this.
He talks about driving a wedge between knowing true notions about God and knowing the true God himself.
Now see that again to me is very, very important.
Why are so many people in the Reformed tradition yearning for spirituality?
I make no criticism of the Reformed tradition at all.
I think it is a very honourable and important tradition.
But like every tradition it runs a danger.
And that is that you concentrate on the external doctrinal norms.
And in the end people could perhaps recite the entire Westminster Confession.
But somehow miss what Westminster Confession is pointing to.
And Packer's point really is that we need to not simply know how to think about God, but know God as well.
Those who have read Packer's book Knowing God will know how rich a theme that is.
And one of the reasons why so many mainline people are engaged in spirituality
is they feel that they are being taught ideas about God in one part of the curriculum
and yet they are not anywhere being taught about the whole business of relating to God in prayer and worship and adoration.
So a little challenge there to us just to try and make sure heart and mind come together at this particular point.
Packer himself writes like this.
As I want to see theological study done as an aspect and means of our relating to God
so I want to see spirituality studied within an evaluative theological framework.
That is why I want to arrange a marriage with explicit exchange of vows and mutual commitments
between spirituality and theology.
In other words, these two things naturally come together. Let's let it happen.
Because the real target of what I'm criticizing here is simply the kinds of spirituality
which draw on secular psychology and leave God out of the picture altogether.
That's why I've stressed Calvin's point that you've got to bring God into the picture.
That for a Christian, no form of spirituality is adequate unless God is firmly placed at the center of the picture.
Calvin is saying there are two things here. Knowing God, knowing ourselves.
And a secular spirituality may help us to know something about ourselves.
But if God is not brought into the picture, then quite simply, half the story
and probably the more important half of the story isn't being told.
And certainly in North America, as you will all know, there is a real danger
that modern American Evangelicalism is simply becoming the victim of a therapeutic culture
which gains its norms from psychology and psychotherapy.
And I think what Calvin is saying to us is simply, let's keep God in the picture for all Christian believers.
Now again I've touched on this point at least twice in my lectures thus far.
Now I want to really begin to bring out its importance.
Let me begin by stating the principle of the priesthood of all believers.
Here is Luther writing in 1520.
All Christians are truly of the spiritual estate.
And there is no difference among them except that of function.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 that we are all one body
with every member having its own function by which it serves the others.
This is because we have one baptism, one gospel and one faith
and are all Christians, just the same as each other.
For baptism, gospel and faith alone make us spiritual and a Christian people.
And so it follows that there is no fundamental difference between laypersons and priests,
between princes and bishops, between those living in monasteries and those living in the world.
The only difference has not been with the function and work which they perform.
Now you see there Luther is simply bringing out the point that spirituality is not simply there for priests
but it's something that's there for Christians as a whole.
Now let me go back if I may to the book I mentioned by Thomas Atempas, The Imitation of Christ.
In fact how many of you have read this book or come across it? Quite a few, yep, quite a few.
It's a good book and let me encourage all of you to read it.
One of the central themes of the book however is quite difficult for us to read
and one of the themes is this. Aren't you glad you left the world behind and entered the monastery?
Aren't you glad that you spend every day inside this tiny little cell? Isn't it great?
And you see one of the points I want to make here is that supposing you have decided to leave the world behind
and spend the rest of your life living inside a rather cold, damp, dark room.
You are going to need all the spiritual nourishment and support you can get if you want to keep going in that situation.
And it's a real sense in which monastic spirituality was geared towards keeping the faith of monks going in very adverse circumstances.
Luther is saying it's not just monks who need encouragement and nourishment, it's the entire people of God.
And I think it is a very important point that it's not just good enough for those of us who are pastors
to encourage our people to do great things for God and the world.
We've got to actually provide the resources to keep them going.
In an awful lot of professions the phenomenon of burnout is a real problem
because people begin to find that after a certain amount of time they just get worn out
and find it enormously difficult to keep going.
And that's a problem for Christians as for everyone else.
And in many ways what the Reformation is saying is there's a need to refresh and renew the people of God
if they are to be kept going in the world.
It's hard being in the world, it wears you down.
And the need for all of us in the position of Christian leadership to encourage and support and sustain
the ordinary people of God as they're there in the world.
One of the themes of Reformation spirituality which I'll touch on very briefly towards the end of this lecture
is that it's actually very world affirming. It's saying get into the world.
But I mentioned earlier the image of salt.
Let me just add to that Matthew 5 which I think bring out the point that we need to address.
There's a sermon on the month of Matthew chapter 5 and I'm looking at verse 13.
Matthew 5 13.
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored?
It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
And the point that I think is being made there is that salt is different.
It stands out, but it can lose that distinctiveness and get lost.
And really I think there's an important point being made there.
Christians are meant to be salt in that world.
But it's a world which sucks you dry, which leeches you
and is going to erode your faith and erode your distinctiveness.
And maybe this distinctively Reformation theme of the priesthood of all believers
is actually giving us an insight into one of the roles of the church.
And that is to see the church as an oasis.
The church as a centre of spiritual refreshment and renewal
which will allow us to go out into the world and actually recover that strong sense of faith.
Now I have somewhere in my notes a Calvin on the nature of the church
and what I'm just trying to do is rush through my notes very very quickly
to find a quote from Calvin which brings out the importance of a church in this respect.
And there'll just be a sort of rustling of paper while I try to find this quote.
And I have a problem here.
But let me say that in many ways what Calvin is saying in Book 4 Chapter 1 of the Institutes
is simply that the church is there because it's meant to be there.
And Calvin's one of the Reformers who says you cannot have God as your father
unless you have a church as your mother.
And he tries to bring out the point that the church is there to nourish and support and sustain believers.
And it seems to me that there really is an important point to be made there.
The Reformation is about a rediscovery of the laity.
Now I know that many of you here today are professional ministers.
And I want to stress the point that in no way am I in any way calling into question what you're doing.
You have a vitally important role to play.
That must be said, and I want to make a point that I am saying that.
I'm also saying that one of your roles is to encourage and refresh and equip the laity.
Because in many ways they are the people who are able to get to places where you can't get.
And by nourishing and sustaining them you are doing an enormous amount to further the work of God's kingdom in the world.
You can't do everything.
But by God's grace you can encourage and support others who can do the things that you can't do.
It seems to me that in many ways it's helpful to look at one book that appeared at the time of the Reformation which had a major impact.
This is a book which appeared in 1503.
It's by Erasmus and it's called The Handbook of the Christian Soldier.
The Handbook of the Christian Soldier.
And its major theme is really rather simple.
The future of the Church lies with the laity.
Sure the clergy have a role to play in equipping the laity.
But the laity holds the key to the future.
Now the reason I'm singling this book out is quite simply because of its sales.
The book became one of the religious bestsellers of its time.
And it wasn't the clergy who were reading it.
We had a time in history where the laity were beginning to feel much more confident about themselves.
And they felt that Erasmus was valuing them where the clergy weren't.
The clergy were saying there are things you can do.
The clergy were saying well you can support us.
And that's about as far as it goes.
And I think there is a very important lesson there.
Historians obviously have looked at the background of the Reformation and they've asked the question
why did the Reformation happen?
And there are many reasons you could give.
Corruption in the Church, feeling of lostness, a whole series of things.
But there's one reason that's there that is important.
There was a laity there who felt they were being undervalued by the clergy
and not being allowed to be part of the service of the Gospel.
And the doctrine of the tradition of all believers in many ways was liberating to them
because they felt at last we are being acknowledged as having a role to play.
Now the simple point I want to make in today's situation is this.
Today, if anything, the laity are even more articulate and more prone to agitate.
And if you don't try to equip them, they may simply walk out on you and equip themselves.
So there's a very pragmatic dimension to this.
That in many ways the Reformation has unleashed an expectation as to what the laity can do and it's irreversible.
And what I'm trying to say is I believe it's a God-given development that we value and honour the laity.
And certainly there is a real question mark about what will happen unless we really entrust the laity
with more and more in relation to the role of the Church.
And the Reformers were adamant that just as monastic spirituality was there to build up
and sustain the faith of monks under duress.
So we have a role of building up and nourishing the faith of ordinary Christians
who might find their faith comes under duress in the world.
Which brings me to my fourth and my final point which is simply that Reformation spirituality
explicitly assumes that the proper place of Christians is in the world.
That just really glimpses the point I made earlier.
You don't need to be a monk, you go into the world.
Now I must make it clear, the Reformers were not saying that monasteries are totally useless.
And in fact in certainly the position of at least one or two Reformers
there is the recognition that monasteries may be helpful on a short-term basis
in that they allow you to retreat from the world and regain your confidence
before you go back into the world.
So the idea of temporary withdrawal from the world is seen as being important
because it can allow you to recharge your spiritual batteries.
But the main assumption quite simply is that Christians need to be there in the world.
And that means that there are several things that immediately become important for the Reformers.
The first one is the work ethic.
And I've touched on this briefly already but I think I will just bring this point out one more time.
The Christian in the Reform tradition is encouraged to see work as a means of both praise and witness.
A means by which the distinctiveness of the Christian will stand out
and the motivation for work is seen as glorifying God.
Here's a line from George Herbert's poem which you'll probably recognise.
A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine,
who sweeps a room as for thy laws makes that and the action fine.
I'll read it one more time.
A servant with this clause makes drudgery divine,
who sweeps a room as for thy laws makes that and the action fine.
And what's being said here is that doing things for the sake of God,
whether it's a simple thing like cleaning a room
or something more powerful like preaching the gospel,
is serving God in the world.
So there's this real motivation to actually go and praise God like that.
For the Reformers, work does not equal paid employment.
It's simply things that you do.
But secondly, the other point I want to make here is that the Reformers are quite clear
that a real distinction needs to be drawn between God and the world.
In other words, that there is no way that you confuse the creation and the creator.
There's a real distinction between God and his world
and that you never make the world into God.
That you are serving God in the world because you are serving God.
If God wants you to be in the world, it's not the world you're serving, it's God.
And one of the things that Luther makes, the point that Luther makes in particular,
is that if God wants to do something, we do it.
It's not the world that we're serving, rather it's God.
Our commitment to the world is a result of our commitment to God.
And Luther has a quotation here which I'm sure many of you will know
and I assure you it is very helpful.
Where your heart is, there is your God.
Where your heart is, there is your God.
And I think it is a very helpful quotation to allow you to begin to establish your own priorities.
Because at the end of a very busy day, you're to go home and write down the things that were at the top of your heart.
I'm sure God will be there somewhere.
But the chances are there will be an awful lot of things that actually will creep up on the list higher than that.
And Luther's question I think is a real challenge to us.
We are being called to serve God in the world, but the world mustn't be allowed to dominate us.
And again it's this whole tension of remaining salt in the culture.
And Luther's question, you know, where is your heart?
I think it's very helpful as we begin to think through the question of whether we're keeping our priorities in the right place.
Now this morning what I've been doing is talking in very general terms about some of the principles that lie behind Reformation spirituality.
And what I'd like to do in my next lecture on this theme is actually look at some of the major themes.
We look at the principles, we're going to put them into effect in the next time I look.
So I'm going to end there for the day and give you a chance to ask any questions you'd like.
But in terms of practical application, I'm going to leave that until the next lecture.
Any questions you'd like to ask? Over here, please.
Do you feel that the one step is to get the one-stop kind of faith in the principles of spirituality?
I think in many ways it does have this emphasis on spirituality or on the experiential level.
And I think it is having a very, very big impact where others have not had an impact.
Certainly in England and in Latin America. I think one of the reasons is this.
If you were to go into a typical English church, okay, as you walk through the door you get about six different books stuck in your hand.
And for the service, you have to have a sheet of paper, you have to have a book, you have to have another book, and it's all very, very wordy.
And that's very bad news for somebody who has difficulty reading.
Whereas charismatic-type churches in effect are saying you can have an experience of God.
It's direct, it's immediate, it's real. And that actually breaks through the literacy barrier in a very, very big way.
And I've got a feeling that that actually is an important factor in understanding the spread of Pentecostalism.
Certainly it gets to working-class parts of England where normal evangelicalism doesn't.
Certainly it's taking over in Latin America in a very big way, and again the same kind of thing seems to be involved.
So certainly I think it's not simply an emphasis on spirituality, it's an emphasis on this direct experience of God.
Now of course you and I would say, well, there's a danger here. I mean, what about Christian doctrine or about the word of God?
There's a real danger that we're talking about an experience of God which has no connection with scripture at all.
And that I think is a danger, and it's always going to be a problem, but certainly for a lot of people it's this experience of God
which is what in the end really, really matters. I'm uneasy about that for a whole range of reasons,
but I'd have to admit that this kind of thing really is happening on the ground.
Yes, please.
I think what you're thinking in a temporary tension in the Pentecostalism,
I think it's falling into the form of a personal program, which is my only problem,
but I'd like to find that in a temporary tension in the Pentecostalism,
and if this is true, then that's not really the point.
Yes, again it's a very interesting question. I'd have to think about that one.
That thought hasn't really occurred to me, but you're quite right, that in many ways,
if we're going to take Luther's Catechism, it's me, I think this, I believe this,
and it really is bringing home that there's a need for a personally assimilated faith.
But certainly with some of the 17th century documents, the implication is I'm studying somebody else's faith.
I'm trying to work out how important the distinction is, and I think it might be important,
because it really is about a sense of expectation.
And certainly one of the big issues of spirituality is simply the interiorization of the Christian faith.
That it is perfectly possible to have a very good head knowledge of what the Christian faith is,
but it hasn't kind of percolated down from the mind to the heart.
And certainly in the case of Luther's Short Catechism, there's a very real directness to it
that I find missing in some of the later documents, and you may want a very important point there.
Yes, please.
Would you have to compare Luther's Catechism with, say, the Westminster Short Catechism?
It's not appropriate to compare Luther's Catechism, say, with the Westminster Catechism.
Yeah, I think there are different animals. There are different animals, aren't there?
And certainly I can see that point, but even if you look at the, say, the shorter Westminster Catechism,
you know, even there it tends to be, what is the answer to this question?
And the eye doesn't really come into it, just giving answers.
Having said that, the Westminster Short Catechism is, I think, wonderful.
And I think if I may just pick up one of its points, the very first question, you know,
what is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
That is wonderful. That is really bringing up the fact that there is this experiential dimension to the Christian faith,
actually enjoying the privilege of being a Christian. Thank you.
In regards to the Christian faith, we're talking about the Christian writing of the Christian.
How is the fact that, rather than trying to find the function,
if it was worked out in a practical way, how is that new discovery demonstrated?
Is this a worship history, rather? And what was your overall attitude when you were talking to the Lord and I?
Well, I think very often you find that a very radical idea appears, and everyone says, oh, this is great,
and then gradually it becomes less and less radical as time goes on.
And certainly, as I, I guess I'll focus on Luther, I think it's probably clearest in his case,
and Luther does seem to be saying, quite clearly, all men and women are priests, and therefore all can do this, that and the other.
And that's very, very radical. But if you then say, well, how does this actually show itself in real life?
I have to be very honest with you and say, it doesn't really.
Because Luther is quite clear that there's a continuing need for a professional ordained ministry,
and certainly he does enable that ministry to be seen in a different light, because he's quite clearly saying,
you know, they're not above you, they are drawn from amongst you, and they are yours, and you could be doing this, that kind of thing.
So it's helping the laity to see the clergy in a proper perspective, and the clergy, of course, see the laity in a proper perspective.
But in practical terms, actually, things continue more or less as before.
I think the major difference is that there are fewer clergy at the Reformation than before,
because the function of the clergy is much better understood and much more delimited,
and of course there's a much greater role being assigned to the laity.
For example, in the Reformation tradition, the role of the deacons is very important.
But you've probably heard the old saying, you know, old priest, new presbyter.
You know, I mean, they're pretty much, in pragmatic terms, they're pretty much doing the same thing.
And really, what was radical turned out to be more the idea than its actualisation in history.
Let's take one more, and then we'll break. One more, please. Yes?
Any suggestions on how we avoid, I don't think we'll constantly avoid our study, actually, at all times?
Well, I think one way might be to say, towards what end am I studying?
In other words, am I reading this book to deepen my understanding, or to get away from my congregation, or what?
Or am I reading this book because my congregation regards me as a resource person,
and they're asking me to give them all the help possible in deepening their faith and leading more effective Christian lives?
Actually, one of the things I could say to all of your pastors is that your people probably do see you as a resource person,
someone who can give them ideas and guidance about how to deepen their faith, how to lead better and more effective Christian lives,
perhaps by recommending books, perhaps by explaining ideas.
And in many ways, if you see yourself in that light, that will actually help guide your reading, give you a motivation for reading, and so on.
But certainly, I mean, a lot of clergy do find that their studies actually become monk's cell, in the sense of a retreat from the world,
because they do genuinely find it quite difficult to cope with their people.
And, you know, I can emphasize that very, very easily, but I think we need to say quite clearly that it's a temporary retreat,
that actually you have to get back into the world in due course.