The Unquenchable Flame -
Discovering the Heart of the
Reformation.
Michael Reeves (2016)
Inter-Varsity Press, London.
192 pages,
£9.99. ISBN: 978 1 78359 529 7
Why Read
This Book?
2017 is the year we should all learn something more about the
Reformation. Why? Because it's the 500th anniversary
of Martin Luther famously nailing his 95 theses to the door of the
Wittenberg Castle church. So? Because the Reformation
changed our world by ushering in a return to profound but simple
gospel truths as placarded in the Bible. They are neatly
summed up by the five Solas – Sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone),
Sola Christus (by Christ alone), Sola Gratia (by grace alone),
Sola Fide (by faith alone) and Sola Deo Gloria (glory to God
alone). They are the skeleton of Protestantism. In
this book Michael Reeves outlines these bones and shows their
origin, meaning and importance. His is a gigantic task for
less than 200 pages.
The book is undiluted history. It is my worse subject.
At my first secondary school I learned about the Egyptians and the
Greeks. Then the family moved and my new school taught me
that chunk of history from the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act until
the First World War of 1914. It is fair to say I have a
large historical hole in my brain. I have tried some
self-education but, at best, I am still a crippled
historian. I therefore welcomed the tutelage of this book.
The Pre-Reformation
Helpfully Reeves begins where all good Reformation books begin –
at the medieval church. Otherwise how can you understand the
murky mire from which the Church was about to be rescued?
There it was, the Roman Catholic Church, immoral, papal and
sacramental, where an ‘implicit’ rather than an ‘explicit’ faith
was sufficient. And where transubstantiation was doctrinally
central, confession was functionally central and purgatory was
cerebrally central. It was all ‘show up and do’ rather than
understand and believe. The fundamental issue should have
centred on knowing God’s grace. The fundamental question
should have been, do I struggle to earn it, or does Jesus Christ
freely give it? The Reformation answered unequivocally, the
latter.
Reeves points out that ‘Christianity on the eve of the Reformation
was undoubtedly popular and lively, but that does not mean it was
healthy or biblical.’ Unrest in Rome was already
evident. He cites 1305, when the Archbishop of Bordeaux was
elected pope, and made his HQ not in Rome but in Avignon, as one
of the earliest portents. Then followed, in 1378, the
election of two concurrent popes and two Mother Churches.
The ecclesiastical rot was becoming more obvious.
Enter that Yorkshire man, John Wycliffe, born around 1330 on a
sheep farm, but destined to become Oxford’s leading
theologian. He dissed the papacy as a mere human construct
and instead regarded the Bible as the supreme source of spiritual
authority. With Wycliffe’s Bible in English and his
Bible-reading Lollards the pre-Reformation was emerging.
Then it was Jan Hus, Wycliffe’s bulldog in Prague, Erasmus and his
New Testament in Rotterdam followed a century later by Luther, the
swan. In other words, the Reformation did not start with
Luther and his 95 theses. Nor was it instantaneous. It
was a slow burner and these men were still often sounding and
writing like Roman Catholics. One more name is necessary to
understand the times – Johannes Guttenberg. He developed the
first printing press, which by the 1480s allowed more books to be
produced faster. The first volume published was Guttenberg’s
Latin Bible. The Reformation scene was set.
Luther and others
On 10 November 1483, Martin Luder was born. He later adopted
the posher surname ‘Luther’. At 21, and caught in a storm, a
lightning bolt knocked him to the ground and he vowed, ‘Saint
Anne, help me! I shall become a monk!’ And a
Franciscan friar he became much to the chagrin of his father who
wished for a lawyer son. Then, one day in 1519, while in his
monastery tower, he discovered the true meaning of Romans 1:17,
‘For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a
righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is
written: “The righteous will live by faith.”’ The rest is
history, which is ably recorded by Reeves.
Of course, the acts of the famous players such as, Luther,
Erasmus, Zwingli and Calvin are chronicled. And there are
notes on the lesser known participants such as, Frederick the
Wise, Thomas Müntzer, Conrad Grebel and Caspar Schwenckfeld.
The Reformation was certainly not just about Luther. Indeed,
he had little idea what he was starting and where it would
lead. Reeves explains the providences of these major and
minor men with considerable skill and verve.
The Style and Content of
the Book
There are some valuable summaries for the history-blind reader,
like me. For example, the gist of the Henry-Mary-Elizabeth
saga is neatly told in just two paragraphs (p. 134).
‘Henry’s younger daughter Elizabeth was very much a chip off the
old block. Imperious and energetic … and everyone knew she
would reintroduce Protestantism … her mother was Anne Boleyn, the
cause of Henry’s split with Rome … Rome saw Elizabeth as
illegitimate, meaning she couldn’t be queen. Elizabeth had
no choice but to be Protestant … within a year of becoming queen,
Mary’s religious reforms were undone, a new Act of Supremacy
proclaimed Elizabeth to be the “supreme governor” of the church of
England (Henry had been “supreme head” … this new title was
intended to be less irritating to Catholic ears and to those
Protestants who did not believe that a woman could ever be
“head”). Once more, the monarch and not the pope, was in
control.’
Or again, a discussion of the different driving forces of the
Reformation, two neat paragraphs (p. 142-3) display helpful
concision. ‘For the kings and queens of England, politics
was central to their thinking that just was not the case for
Luther, Zwingli and Calvin.’ And ‘…in England, the
Reformation was very much a top-down affair, driven by the
monarchs. …in Scotland, it was more bottom-up, demanded by
the people despite the monarch. The difference between
Martin Luther and Henry VIII says it all.’
And In Conclusion
Overall, for me, the book was an education. It was not
always easy reading, but who wants childish stuff? On the
other hand, there were times when a little more information would
have been advantageous. But cramming a few hundred years in
less than 200 pages, get over it!
The final chapter, ‘Is the Reformation over’, was the most
disappointing, or at least, the most fallow. True, it
stresses correctly (p. 171), ‘… that God’s righteousness is an
entirely unmerited gift, justification was the matter of the
Reformation.’ And ‘Justification was what made the Reformation the
Reformation.’ Yet here was the opportunity to instruct the
reader about how to preserve and promote the spirit of the
Reformation these 500 years on. Rather it centres on the
past and present Roman Catholic vs. Protestant doctrinal
divide. What would have been additionally apposite is what
must twenty-first century Protestant Christians/churches do to
hold fast to the five Solas. The Reformation is still a work
in progress. It is still a question of truth, Bible
truth. And Bible truth is always for head-heart-hand living.