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Quote by Jaroslav Pelikan

“In principle, to be sure, the Reformation idea of the universal priesthood of all believers meant that not only the clergy but also the laity, not only the theologian but also the magistrate, had the capacity to read, understand, and apply the teachings of the Bible. Yet one of the contributions of the sacred philology of the biblical humanists to the Reformation was an insistence that, in practice, often contradicted the notion of the universal priesthood: the Bible had to be understood on the basis of the authentic original text, written in Hebrew and Greek which, most of the time, only clergy and theologians could comprehend properly. Thus the scholarly authority of the Reformation clergy replaced the priestly authority of the medieval clergy.”

Book:Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture

Work

Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture

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Author

Jaroslav Pelikan

Jaroslav Pelikan was a renowned American historian and theologian, known for his research on the history of Christianity. His works covered the development of Christianity from ancient times to the modern era, with a particular focus on the Reformation and Christian theology. more

“From the outset, Protestantism rejected the critical medieval distinction between the 'sacred' and 'secular' orders. While this position can easily be interpreted as a claim for the desacralization of the sacred, it can equally well be understood as a claim for the sacralization of the secular. As early as 1520, Luther had laid the fundamental conceptual foundations for created sacred space within the secular. His doctrine of the 'priesthood of all believers' asserted that there is no genuine difference of status between the 'spiritual' and the 'temporal' order. All Christians are called to be priests - and can exercise that calling within the everyday world. The idea of 'calling' was fundamentally redefined: no longer was it about being called to serve God by leaving the world; it was now about serving God in the world.”

Work Christianity Sacred Catholicism Secular Vocation Martin Luther Protestantism Priesthood Of All Believers

Book:Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution: A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First

Source: Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution: A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First

“Nineteenth-century print culture shared with the Protestantism that sparked it a democratizing impulse rooted in the ideology of the priesthood of all believers. In the vastly expanded world of print this impulse led to what one might call a priesthood of all readers, a situation ripe for religious turmoil rooted in interpretive chaos.”

Protestantism Priesthood Of All Believers Book Culture

Book:The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture and American Spirituality in the Twentieth Century

Source: The Rise of Liberal Religion: Book Culture and American Spirituality in the Twentieth Century

“The tension between autonomy and expertise had been, at a basic level, fundamental to the Protestant experience itself from the Reformation forward, as the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, increasing literacy, and vernacular translations of the Bible undermined the clerical caste's monopoly on spiritual authority. In the twentieth-century United States, professional specialization, the Progressive emphasis on technical expertise, and simply the ever more complex nature of modern urban life pulled readers toward greater reliance on literary guidance, while the logic of consumerism, rooted in the all-powerful choice to buy or not to buy, further reinforced the notion of reader autonomy.”

Christianity Protestantism The Bible Priesthood Of All Believers The Reformation Clerical Authority

Author:Matthew Hedstrom

“Embracing a healing presence requires you to just be in the moment together.”