Was Protestantism a reactionary movement?

[Tripledoc]

Take three leading protestants of the time of Reformation. Luther, Calvin and Cromwell. It seems to me that they were quite harsh.
Cromwell imposed a cruel dictatorship. Calvin took his guilt-trip to excessive ends leading to mass hangings of 'sinners'. Luther of course was an ardent nationalist. Especially the publication of a Bible written in German lead to other nations following suit.
They all wanted to return to a supposedly purer form of Christianity.
It can also be said that Protestantism was an important factor in the development of Capitalism, which it has turned out was simply a shortlived inter-regnum between feudalism and Communism.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

yes. im a rebel through and through.

[BeBMan]

Re: Was Protestantism a reactionary movement?

Originally posted by Tripledoc
Luther of course was an ardent nationalist.

Wait - not a fascist? I'm disappointed.

[Tripledoc]

Well, he did have some interesting views on Jews and Turks. And of course he condemned the peasant uprisings.

[BeBMan]

And that was something special at his time?

[Vince278]

Was Protestantism a reactionary movement?

At the time, yes. Not so much anymore.

[BeBMan]

I thought it is the other way around

[Tripledoc]

It was hardly progressive. I would also say that at the time it seemed as if the worst excesses of Catholicism in Europe and the Middle East had subsided.
The catholics later continued in Amercia, but that is another issue.
Protestantism lead to wars and anarchy, and a suspicious religious doctrine.
It is hardly a co-incidence that the Renaissance had a bigger impact in Catholic countries.

[Tripledoc]

Originally posted by BeBro
I thought it is the other way around

Yes, it seems that protestantism is THE reactionary movement right now, in the Western World. I am wondering if has always been reactionary - I guess it has.

[Harovan]

How comes, that the inhabitants of Bavaria (my neighbors of choice) are both arch-reactionary and catholic then?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Protestantism was not reactionary -- quite the opposite. It argued against the dominant power of its day, it argued for the importance of individuals over institutions, and it paved the way for democracy by insisting that individuals could find their own way to truth.

Ironically, Protestantism's elevation of the individual paved the way for Western Modernity, from which Red-State Protestants now recoil in reactionary horror.

[JohnT]

Re: Was Protestantism a reactionary movement?

Originally posted by Tripledoc
Take three leading protestants of the time of Reformation. Luther, Calvin and Cromwell. It seems to me that they were quite harsh.
Cromwell imposed a cruel dictatorship. Calvin took his guilt-trip to excessive ends leading to mass hangings of 'sinners'. Luther of course was an ardent nationalist. Especially the publication of a Bible written in German lead to other nations following suit.
They all wanted to return to a supposedly purer form of Christianity.
It can also be said that Protestantism was an important factor in the development of Capitalism, which it has turned out was simply a shortlived inter-regnum between feudalism and Communism.

To answer your question: yes.

It can also be said that Protestantism was an important factor in the development of Capitalism, which it has turned out was simply a shortlived inter-regnum between feudalism and Communism.

[Ramo]

Certainly not. It's interesting that peasants used Protestant theology as a vehicle for economic resistance, often in defiance of the Protestant theologians (see English peasants running with Wyclif's ideas, or German peasants running with Luther's ideas). The Church was typically a more abusive landlord than lay aristocrats, and dispossessing Church lands easily changed into the idea of a more general land reform. The idea that the RCC wasn't the ultimate religious authority paved the way for not only secularism, but individual initiative in other realms of society - politics (leading to democracy), the economy (leading to socialism), etc.,

[JohnT]

Well, my answer was based more upon what Luther, etc. was trying to do rather than how it turned out. Since Protestantism was a reaction to the "worldliness" of the RCC, since it was an attempt to get back to a more pure form of Christianity, it was reactionary.

However, that did go a little bit awry. Oh well... the best intentions of mice and men and all that...

I wonder if, if they could see the West today, if Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin would recoil in horror and realize that to prevent this, they'd better STFU.

[Kuciwalker]

Re: Was Protestantism a reactionary movement?

Duh.

EDIT: They were trying to return to a literal (or at least more literal) interpretation of the Bible, feeling that the RCC's sacrements etc. that were not in the bible had messed up the faith. Of course it's reactionary.