Informative Essay Sample on Theology in the Reformation Period

Before the Reformation, people believed the church was everything. Churches collected money from the indulgence and used the money to build more magnificent churches. These baroque churches were filled of decorations. In addition, the cups, they used were decorated. However, the Reformation caused this to all change. As a substitute of a chalice, wooden cup was used. Reformation caused churches to be plainly designed. The features the wooden cup reflected the theology and the ideals of the Reformation.

Between the chalice and wooden cup, there were many different features. A sixteenth-century Roman catholic priest in the celebration of the Mass used the chalice. The wooden cup was created from the Reformation. It was used to celebrate the Lord’s Supper after he left the church and became a follower of Martin Luther. The chalice was more ornamental than the wooden cup. Shimmering gold was used to form the chalice. All around the chalice were nicely printed patterns. On the contrary, the wooden cup was made out of plain wood. Not a single pattern or texture was added to the cup. Obliviously, the chalice was more creatively designed and expensive than the wooden cup. The chalice and the wooden cup represented two different two periods. The chalice represented the time before the Reformation. The wooden cup represented the time of the Reformation. Before the Reformation, the churches and religious items were creatively designed. After the Reformation, religious things were more plainly made. Overall, the two cups were totally the opposite of each other.

Art portrayed the beliefs of different religious systems. The chalice represents a baroque style of art and the wooden cup represents the plain art style during the Reformation. Some people thought traditional church art and architecture and music in churches as a serious distraction from the Word of God. This cause some churches across Europe, the walls were stripped bare, and the only music heard was a congregational recitation of the Psalms. Baroque style permitted the Catholic faith to be displayed luxuriously in three-dimension artwork. The intent was to affect the worshippers’ senses and move them emotionally, leaving them filled with fear and wonder at the power and glory of the Church. In stark contrast to the baroque style, the wooden cup has no decoration. This style of art has no decoration to distract the worshipper from the Word of God. The intent was to create an atmosphere of quiet introspection and reflection on one’s own spiritual life in the presence of God’s Word. For example, in the Calvinists’ church in Lyon, the preacher is absolutely at center stag. There are no decorations, paintings, statuary, or elaborate stained glass. The chalice and the wooden cup represent two different styles of art.

Features of the wooden cup reflected the theology of the Reformation. Theology was the understanding of God. Reformed theology affirmed the freedom of the human’s will, regarding the idea that God was the author of sin as blasphemy. The Protestant Reformation was grounded on the biblical principle that the Holy Scripture was the sole authority over the human conscience. Reformation theology was that the Bible was the source of God’s word. Within the reformation theology, people believe in Eucharist. In addition, people for reformation believed that worshipping should be simplistic and with less ceremony. The wooden cup has this feature. The wooden cup is plain, which show the simplistic and less ceremony elements for the theology of reformation. Salvation was another part of the theology of reformation. The Reformers did not create a new church, but returned to the holy universal church’s creedal belief ‘in the forgiveness of sins. The wooden cup greatly reflected the theology. The cup was not decorative, but plain. The reformed theology was also plain and straight to the point. On the contrary, the chalice reflected the theology of before the Reformation. Patterns and decorations surrounded the chalice, which clearly showed people during that time love to decorate. During that period of time, people were considered about the look of the churches presented to god. However, the Reformation was the reverse, they did not care. The only thing that matter was the people’s trust with God. The wooden cup was just like Jesus’ cup. Jesus’ cup was plain and simple. The wooden cup successfully represents theology of the Reformation.

Ideals of the Reformation were to be plain, cheap, thrift, equal opportunity to access religion and simplicity. The wooden cup reflected all the ideals of the Reformation. First, the wooden cup was plain, which matched with one of the ideals of the Reformation. Plain means to have a lack of decorations, which Reformers believed it. As for cheap, the wooden cup was cheap. Wood was found everywhere, but gold was very hard to find. In other words, gold is more expensive than wood. People living during this time period have very little money. With cheap things, anyone can afford the cup. A baroque church with many decorative was more expensive than a plain church. Expensive things required more money to create them. With all the baroque churches, the priest had to collect indulgence to gather enough money. With a plain church, it was cheaper and people could afford it. Most important ideal of Reformation was simplicity. The wooden cup showed this ideal by clearly showing its use, which was a device for drinking liquid. A church was an atmosphere of quiet introspection and reflection on one’s own spiritual life in the presence of God. Decorations were not necessary for the churches. Churches could perform it job of preaching without the decorations. Another ideal of the reformation was thrift, which mean middle class. During the reformation, the ideal was for everyone to be in the middle class and then the economy would be balance equally. Equal opportunity to access religion was another ideal of reformation. Equal opportunity is closely connected with thrift. If everyone was in the middle class, everyone have the same need and have the same background. This would make everyone equal to one another. In order words, everyone gets equal opportunity to access religion. The wooden cup portrays the ideals of thief and equal opportunity because anyone in the middle class can afford the cup. Overall the wooden cup clearly showed the ideal of the Reformation.

In conclusion, the wooden cup was a great example to reflect the theology and ideals of the Reformation. Theology was the understanding of God. Reformed theology affirmed the freedom of the human’s will, regarding the idea that God was the author of sin as blasphemy. Ideals of the Reformation were to be plain, cheap, thrift, equal opportunity to access religion and simplicity. These ideals were clearly represented on the wooden cup. Another great example was mentioned that reflect the theology and ideals of the Reformation. This was the plain church. Mostly any religious item showed the theology and ideals of the Reformation.