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Religious Authority and Beliefs. In the Eighteenth Century By Nic Blommel and Nathan Sippel. Some Background stuff. Rural areas Most remained committed Christians Local traditions In the cities Tensions between authorities and the people
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Religious Authority and Beliefs In the Eighteenth Century By NicBlommel and Nathan Sippel
Some Background stuff • Rural areas • Most remained committed Christians • Local traditions • In the cities • Tensions between authorities and the people • Criticism of popular religious practices by elites
Church Hierarchy • Parish church • Community records, charity, and orphan care • Education • Christian Monarchs • Spain- deeply Catholic • Austria-more practical clerical contribution to society • France-Jesuits became to powerful, Louis XIV forced them out 1763
Protestant Revival • Medieval practices abolished • Idolatry • Saint worship • Pageantry • Pietism • Warm, emotional religion • Enthusiasm in prayer, worship, and preaching • Priesthood of all believers • Power of christian rebirth
Revival cont. • Methodists • Protestant revival movement • John Wesley • Wesley • Started Methodists • Intensely troubled about his own salvation • Preacher • 40,000 sermons between 1750 and 1790 • Rejected Calvinist predestination • Message=hope and joy, free will and universal salvation
Catholic Piety • More than 95% of population attended Easter mass • Church had integral role in daily life • Saints days, processions, pilgrimages, and Palm Sunday • Largely eliminated in reformed areas
Catholics cont. • Jansenism • Cornelius Jansen • Bishop of Ypres • Emphasized original sin • Accepted predestination • Followers particularly among the French
Marginal Beliefs and Practices • Peasants continue to hold obscure faiths • Ordinary person combines Christianity with superstition • Catholics believe Saints’ relics would bring luck and fortune • French priests particularly denounce paganism • During lent peasants would jump over fires to bring good harvests
Practices cont. • Peasants saw attacks on their non-Christian beliefs as incomprehensible • Intellectual era saw an end to witches • Common people still feared witches, but upper-class refused to prosecute them • Last witch executed 1682