Reformation and Ritual

Question: What attitude or attitudes did the Reformations take towards popular religious forms? And how did the Reformations themselves come to embody ritual elements?

The Reformation was a period of much social unrest. Whilst there existed a physical struggle evident upon the surface, underneath lie an intense philosophical and religious debate that served to test and question the values of Catholicism and the reasons for the need for change argued by the Protestant. The Reformation movement challenged the Catholic belief system. It argued against the praising and worshipping of icons and other such relics and argued that all praise and worship should be reserved for the Word of God and God alone. However, there is evidence to suggest that early Protestants felt a need for the reassurance offered by such icons and further, it has been argued, that the Protestant Reformers, in attempting to destroy ritual, actually served to strengthen Catholic belief in same. The irony is, in that attempting to destroy such rituals, the movement actually served to embody ritual elements. The methods by which it attempted to destroy ritual, can actually be interpreted as being ritualistic in and of themselves.

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For the Reformist Baptism had little to do with blessed water and much more to do with God's Word. Interpreting the Last Supper as above mentioned served to rid the event and strip the event of much of its spiritual and miraculous character, thus rationalising the Last Supper and shifting its significance from being a miracle, to being simply symbolic. As such, the carnivalesque atmosphere was the perfect opportunity for the Reformer to denounce Catholic teaching, de-sacrilize holy objects, and question the Catholic hierarchy34. Karlstadt questioned: how is it that a child has the need to be baptized when the same child has no ability to comprehend sin nor is that child able to formulate the mal-intent necessary to perform a sinful act? Further the radical Reformists again relied upon the words of the Bible and argued that nowhere in the Bible was it specified that children should be baptized. Any sense of the magical or belief in miracles performed other than by God, were attacked.

The difference between Catholic and Protestant ritual is one of degree and not kind. It is believed that the sacrament of baptism serves to incorporate the newly born child into the community and church and further to redeem the child from original sin, that is, his/her conception8. As Martin Luther writes in his 'The Small Catechism of Martin Luther', "Of course, eating and drinking do not do these things. As Martin Luther articulates it; "Water doesn't make these things happen, of course. Taught when to kneel and when to stand and what to say without actually understanding same. However, negative magic was that practised by the devil and resulted in much devastation22.

Within the Catholic faith there was much reliance placed upon the 'magic' contained in sacraments and sacramentals and the miracles performed by Saints.

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