Luther and Columbus

What does the Protestant Reformation have to do with the exploration of the New World? Today, Dr. Stephen Nichols discusses the overlap between these two pivotal moments in history and the impact that they had on the church.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, let’s start with a pop quiz. Do you know the year in which Columbus sailed to the New World? You might have learned that little rhyme. In blank year, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. What year was it? If you said 1492, you were right. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Well, here’s another question for you. How old was Martin Luther when Columbus set sail? Well, to help you with this, I’ve written my own rhyme. Might not be as catchy as that one, but here it goes. When Columbus sailed the ocean wide, Martin Luther was only nine. Now, songwriters call that an approximate rhyme, but we’ll just move on. The issue here is that we think of these two significant times in history, the Age of the Reformation and the Age of Exploration, as two separate movements or two separate entities when the reality is the two came along at the exact same time.

In one sense, they sort of grew up together, the Reformation and the Age of Exploration. Here’s another sort of two dates that come together to show how this works. Of course, we know Luther stood behind the Diet of Worms in 1521. There he was in front of Charles V, the young Holy Roman emperor, and he was on trial for his life, and he made his courageous “Here I Stand” speech. Well, two years later, 1523, that same Holy Roman emperor, Charles V, declared that Spain is exploring the New World with the singular purpose to convert the Native Americans, or the Indians as they called them, that were there in the New World. So again, the Age of Reformation and the Age of Exploration came right alongside each other. And as we see what happened in the Age of Exploration, we see the impact on the church and on the Reformation.

The world was in a struggle to see who would remain or would emerge as the dominant power. It was a struggle between Spain and France and England, and all of them were intent on finding those ways into the Far East and new trade routes. There were also many, many stories of natural resources in this New World that was off the Western horizon. Three things that are important for us as we understand the Reformation set against the backdrop of this Age of Exploration. The first is that the New World would be a reflection of the Reformation movements and the Counter-Reformation movements. So where Spain landed in the New World would come the Catholic Church. Where the French Catholics landed in the New World would come the Catholic Church of France. Where the Huguenots landed in the New World would come the Huguenot Church. Where the English landed in the New World would first come Anglicanism, and then secondly, would come Puritanism. Where the Dutch landed in the New World would come the Dutch Reformed Church. So what we see in the New World is a reflection of those movements and the Reformation.

The second thing we see is how God uses means in the furtherance of His kingdom. We see this in the first century with the Romans building this road system, and so we have the spread of the church and the gospel in the first century. We see Romans making advances in the technology of sailing, and so we see Paul sailing in his missionary journeys, and so it is with this era of settlement and exploration and using these means of these ships crisscrossing the Atlantic and taking people with them. Finally, as we look at church history or biblical history for that matter, we are reminded that this occurs in space and in time. God is demonstrating His faithfulness to His people in space, in time, as these world events are unfolding around us. Well, one of those American Puritans, Cotton Mather, wrote Magnalia Christi Americana. So, as we look on this, we can say, “Indeed, this was a great work of Christ in America” as we think about Luther and Columbus, and the Age of Exploration and the Reformation. I’m Stephen Nichols. Thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.