<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hillside O’Malley SDA Church

David Shin

How Education Leads to Revolution

Father in heaven, we thank you for this beautiful Sabbath that you've given to us.

This reminder of creation and redemption.

And as we pause for a few moments of reflection on Christian history and education, we pray that You would bless us.

This is the 500th year since the Protestant Reformation, 2017.

Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis on the door of the Wittenberg Chapel, and it sparked not just a reformation, but really it was a revolution.

I have a quotation from a historian just marveling at the events that transpired after that document was nailed to the Wittenberg Chapel.

How a revolution erupts from a commonplace event, a tidal wave from a ripple is caused for endless astonishment.

The Reformation caused for, and I quote, transfer of power and property in the name of an idea.

So the Protestant Reformation was not just about theology.

There was a dramatic power shift that took place in Western Europe.

The Scandinavian countries became Protestant.

And we are living in Protestant America today.

Here we are, 500 years after the Reformation.

And I read a fascinating piece in the Catholic Herald reflecting on the Protestant Reformation, and I quote, "'Somewhere in Pope Francis's office is a document "'that could alter the course of Christian history.

"'It declares an end to hostilities "'between Catholics and evangelicals, "'and says the 2 traditions are now united in mission because we are declaring the same gospel.

The Holy Father is thinking of signing the text in 2017, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, alongside evangelical leaders representing roughly 1 in 4 Christians in the world today, and the article goes on.

Francis is convinced that the Reformation is already over.

He believes it ended in 1999, the year the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation issued a joint declaration on justification, the doctrine at the heart of Luther's protest.

There's a lot that we can go and grapple with about the statement that is made here in the Catholic Herald.

I agree with this assessment, by the way.

Here we are, 500 years after the Reformation, and I agree with this assessment.

The Reformation, in a sense, in mainline Protestant circles, is over.

This is a correct assessment by Pope Francis.

Now to be clear from the very beginning, this presentation today is not about theology, about the rightness or wrongness of Protestants versus Catholics, nor is this to talk about who is saved or who is not saved.

And by the way, I believe that there are going to be Protestants and Catholics in heaven, amen, People that are not associated with denomination, so That's not what this is about at all.

What I wanna do today is just for a little bit, reflect on history and ask the question, why and how this was made possible.

After 1517, the Protestant Revolution is declared over 500 years later.

And this is a lesson from history that we as Seventh-day Adventists can learn and apply, believe it or not.

You actually have to go to the year 1540, September 27, not too far away from the nailing of the 95 Thesis there in Wittenberg, Pope Paul III was sitting forlornly in his private reception hall, waiting to meet a small band of priests that filed in.

He had a prominent nose, balding, walked with a noticeable limp that he earned as a soldier in Spain.

And I have a quotation here on the screen from the Catholic author Malachi Martin.

In his book, he paraphrased what Loyola said to the Pope, and here it is.

Holy Father, the papacy, and the Roman Catholic Church are in mortal trouble.

Needed is a modern weapon to fight this totally new warfare.

Give us a new charter like no other, give us a new charter like no other, we will go anywhere at any time, at any cost to life and comfort in order to do anything.

See, you can just grasp the gravity of what is taking place here.

Pope Paul III recognizes that there is a transfer of power taking place in Western Europe.

Protestantism is spreading like wildfire.

Leola walks in and says, look, we need to do something about the Protestant Reformation.

And the secular historian put it this way, The Protestant Reformation being a revolution, it would seem logical that the Catholic Counter-Reformation devised at the Council of Trent in 1545 and went on to 1553 should be called a Counter-Revolution.

The order founded by Leola as the Society of Jesus was to reconquer the countries lost to Protestantism.

So there was a concerted effort in the Protestant Reformation, or the counter-Protestant Reformation, to bring Protestantism back to Bridge the chasm as it were and it's ironic that in 2017 the first Jesuit Pope would declare that it has been completed.

We are living in a historical time when you look at it, not in terms of decades, but in terms of centuries.

There's a lot of conspiracy theories out there about Jesuits, but it's no secret how this took place.

The way that the Jesuits and the Society of Jesus were successful in bringing Protestantism back was through education.

Let me read you a quotation from the historian.

This order established by Ignatius Loyola found its special mission in combating the Reformation as the most effective means of arresting the progress of Protestantism.

More than any other agency, it stayed the progress of the Reformation and it even succeeded in winning back territory already conquered by Protestantism.

Although employing the pulpit and the confessional, it worked chiefly through its schools of which established and controlled large numbers.

It goes on, the Jesuit system of education was intended to meet the active influence of Protestantism in education.

It was remarkably successful and for a century following 1584, nearly all the foremost men of Christendom came from Jesuit schools.

In 1710, they had 612 colleges, 157 normal schools, 24 universities, and an immense number of lower schools.

I Know what you're thinking, but David come on This is just Protestant revisionist history I have a book in my library.

This is 1 of my most provocative books I have in my library.

It is From Dawn to Decadence, 500 Years of Western Cultural Life.

500 years of history in this book, it's over 800 pages.

This man sat down to write this book when he was 84.

He had written like 40 books before that.

And just in case You think that this was a senile old man just thinking and documenting.

The critics went wild when this book hit the press.

And by the way, this man is a secular historian.

1 of the critics said that this book showed the erudition and the brilliance of a man that could not have written this book when he was 50.

From dawn to decadence, in short, is peerless.

This astonishing and monumental work may fairly take its place alongside Gibbon, Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, a timeless classic.

This book, I don't get any royalties from anything, but this book is phenomenal.

He starts chapter 1 with the Protestant revolution and the Reformation.

And I about fell out of my chair when he ended chapter 1 with this quote.

I have it here on the screen You can look up the quote afterwards so you know I'm not making things up here for your reference here It is from dawn to decadence from the brilliant historian jock Barzun Ends chapter 1 on the Reformation with this quote, meanwhile by care and thought and continual revised methods, the Jesuits shone as schoolmasters, unsurpassed in history, unsurpassed in the history of education.

Their success was due to the most efficient form of teacher training ever seen.

They knew that born teachers are scarce as true poets and that the next best cannot be made casually out of indifferent materials.

So they devised a preparation that included exhaustive learning and a severe winnowing of the unfit from every phase of long apprenticeship." In other words, they were serious about education.

So serious that if you were a half-baked teacher, you were cut.

The Jesuits set up schools by the scores in the mid 17th century Europe There were more schools than pupils than in the mid 19th century Indeed there soon was complaint of too many schools for the population all likely use rich and poor were given means to attend and the merit of the system were shortly seen in the galaxy of brilliant minds they produced, from Descartes to Voltaire and beyond.

And a good many philosophers and scientists were educated by the Jesuits.

Back to Menu

How Education Leads to Revolution

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

His Way is in the Sanctuary

24. A Monumental Conversion Experience

57m

Being Adventist

Born Adventist or Born Again?

1h 2m

Morning Devotional

Family & Relationship- Part 5

31m

Love Is...

44m

Plenary Sessions

To a Land I Will Show You

1h 36m

What to Wear Oh What to Wear

46m

Jesus on Prophecy

21 Jesus on Living Free and Forgiven

43m

Following in Their Footsteps

46m

Martin Luther’s Views on the Antichrist

32m

Jeff Horn Weekend

01 Cause for Confusion

51m

Harnessing the Health Professionals in Your Church

9m

Plenary Meetings

Humble and Proud Of It

1h 17m

Sound Doctrine