A religious reform (from Latin ''re-'': "back, again", and ''formare'': "to form"; i.e. put together: "to restore, reconstruct, rebuild") aims at the reform of religious teachings. It is not to be confused with an organizational reform of a religious community, though mostly this is a consequence of a reform of religious teachings.
Definition
Religious reforms are performed when a religious community reaches the conclusion that it deviated from its - assumed - true faith. Mostly religious reforms are started by parts of a religious community and meet resistance in other parts of the same religious community. Religious reforms usually lead to a reformulation of the religious teachings held for true, and to the condemnation resp. rejection of teachings held for wrong.
Mostly the deviation from the assumed true faith which gives reason for a religious reform crept in over a longer period of time, sometimes over centuries. A religious reform is always a reorientation at the historical beginnings of a religion (therefore: ''re-formare'', reconstruct) under the perspective of the present time and with the knowledge of the present time. A typical example for deviations from an assumed true faith are social changes within society which lead a loss purpose for
ethical prescriptions, so they have to be replaced by other ethical prescriptions in order to protect the underlying, unchanged value for the future. Another typical example is the factual
falsification of traditional views, e.g. by better insights into historical events or into natural science, by which the traditional views are falsified.
The eternally continuing change of society and the progress of human knowledge are the reasons why a "final" reform of religious teachings is not possible. Religious teachings have to be reformed again and again. This realization was formulated in a concise
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
sentence, allegedly deriving from a saying of
St. Augustine, and popularized by the
Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth in 1947: ''
Ecclesia semper reformanda est'', which means "the Church must always be reformed".
Religious reforms do not aim at an adjustment to the spirit of the time in the first place, yet they naturally bring about certain adjustments to the present time, since the religious tradition is reconsidered and reformed under the perspective of the present time and with the knowledge of the present time. A full adjustment of a religious teaching to the spirit of the present time cannot be expected from a credible religious reform. Religious reforms which do not aim at the reestablishment of an assumed true faith in the first place, yet at a mere adjustment of religious teaching to the spirit of the time without respect to an assumed true faith are no religious reforms, strictly speaking. Their purpose is questionable since those reforms are not based on the faith of the believers. Reforms of this nature are often based on compulsion and are usually not long-lasting but are reversed in the next generations. An example is the attempt of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate to
restore paganism as state religion.
The opponents of justified religious reforms are called traditionalists, their ideology is traditionalism. The adherents of reforms to adjust to the spirit of the time in the first place without respect for an assumed true faith are called modernists, their ideology is
modernism
Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
. Both concepts were coined by Christian-Catholic historical developments, yet today they are applied to all religions.
[Cf. e.g. title of: J. Schacht]
Modernism and Traditionalism in a History of Islamic Law
in: Middle Eastern Studies Vol. 1, No. 4 (Jul., 1965), pp. 388-400
Famous examples of religious reforms
* The
Buddhist councils (from the 5th century BCE onwards), for the clarification on the fundamental teachings of
Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...
among the
early Buddhist schools.
* The
First Council of Nicaea (325 CE), for the clarification on the doctrine of the
Trinity among the
early Christian theologians.
* The
Muʿtazila school of
Islamic theology, which existed between the 8th and 10th centuries.
* The
Protestant Reformation led by
Martin Luther,
John Calvin, and other
Protestant Reformers between the 16th and 17th centuries.
*
Religious liberalism
**
Liberal Christianity
***
Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy
*** The introduction of the
historical-critical method in
Biblical scholarship in the 19th and 20th centuries.
**
Liberalism and progressivism within Islam
***
Islamic modernism
**
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish religious movements, Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its Jewish ethics, ethical aspects to its ceremo ...
, otherwise referred to as Liberal Judaism.
* The
Second Vatican Council of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
(1962–1965).
See also
*
Aggiornamento
*
Bid'ah
*
Criticism of Christianity
*
Criticism of Islam
*
Criticism of Judaism
*
Continuous revelation
**
Personal revelation in the
Latter Day Saint movement
**
Progressive revelation in the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
*
Gamaliel's principle
*
Heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
*
Religious studies
*
Sociology of religion
References
{{reflist
Bibliography
* Ronald L. Johnstone
Religion in Society: A Sociology of Religion Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006.
* Armin W. Geertz, Jeppe Sinding Jensen
Religion, Tradition, and Renewal Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 1991.
* Michael Molloy, Richard C. Trussell
Experiencing the World's Religions: Tradition, Challenge and Change McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 1998.
* John P. Bradbury
Perpetually Reforming: A Theology of Church Reform and Renewal 2013.
External links
''Religious Reforms'' General thoughts on reform on Almuslih.org.
Reform
Religion