Another point that I am interested to interact is the Jesuits. They are the central figures in the Counter-Reformation especially in the theological and academic area. They are actually very infamous for their tight control of theological issues. In fact, besides theological and academic circle, they also have great influence in church government and so in politics. One interesting thing that the author points out is that because of their ‘control freak’ image, the Jesuits are criticized everywhere by both the political and religious parties.

In chapter three, Jones talks about the failure of the Catholic’s initial failure in its movement against Luther. One of the reasons is actually related to the spiritual condition of the late medieval church. The quest of the public for the assurance of salvation actually motivates people to seek another solution with creativity. And that is exactly what Luther did. He offered the solution ‘Justification by faith’, which will liberate people from their anxiety and also challenge that whole sacramental system. However, while the public starts to embrace the reformation movement because of the theological solution, the Catholic authority sees this problem from a totally different perspective. The authority sees it as primarily a problem of law and order, which should not be confronted by theological debate. This failure to recognize the spiritual hunger of the public and the intent to solve this problem through political and law enforcement has resulted in the initial loss of the Catholic’s movement against Luther.

Another fear for the council comes from the rise of conciliarism, which is to suggest a model of the church government in which the Pope will loss his sovereignty and subject to the regular council. Another chain effect will be the secular sovereignty over religious affairs because the Pope, in fear of the council, will often grant power to the secular ruler in order to neutralize the threat. So when I used to look back into history, I always think that Martin Luther and the rise of Protestantism should be the greatest threat to the Catholic. What I usuall

Some topics in this essay:
Interaction Christians, Counter Reformation, Catholic Reformation, Scholars Catholic, Spanish Inquisition, Protestantism Leo, Martin Luther, Nowadays Christians, Popes Kings, Reformation’ Summary, counter reformation, catholic reformation, medieval church, stop spread protestantism, initial failure, theological academic, belief considered, one’s sin, failure catholic, late medieval, late medieval church, foundation catholic reformation, understanding counter reformation, church government,