Christian Classics Before 1517 for Protestants (and More)

[nodelink]

What are some Christian classics (writings, works of music, works of art) from before 1517 (and Martin Luther’s 95 Theses) that Non-Catholics (Protestants) should / could / would study along with Catholics?

 

[JonNC]

Today we sang, _Good Christian Men Rejoice _, which dates from the 1300s IIRC

 

[Mary888]

Fresques from Santa Maria Antiqua Rome 6th century AD

Santa Maria Antiqua – The Sistine Chapel of Early Medieval Era | Romecabs

 

[Limoncello4021]

The writings of the Church Fathers
The writings of the Desert Fathers
Augustine’s Confessions and City of God
Julian of Norwich’s Revelations
Dante’s Divine Comedy
The Golden Legend
The Cloud of Unknowing
About a million spiritual/religious paintings from the medieval period
Gregorian chant
The architecture of the great European cathedrals

 

[nodelink]

Thank you for responses.

Dürer’s Praying Hands from 1508 is artwork that has been appreciated by Catholics and non-Catholics. Link: Praying Hands (Dürer) - Wikipedia

 

[Kei]

Depends on the protestant.

 

[ATraveller]

Definitely the Early Church Fathers. Many still cite them.

Augustine’s Confessions and City of God

I know a few Evangelicals who have read both. Some would believe they have an aversion to ‘tradition’ and ‘old things’ based on how they look and the contemporary services they attend.

 

[Vonsalza]

The writings of the Church Fathers
The writings of the Desert Fathers
Augustine’s Confessions and City of God
Julian of Norwich’s Revelations
Dante’s Divine Comedy
The Golden Legend
The Cloud of Unknowing
About a million spiritual/religious paintings from the medieval period
Gregorian chant
The architecture of the great European cathedrals

Careful. Men that dwell for very long on that sort of content tend to cease being protestant.

 

[JonNC]

What are some Christian classics (writings, works of music, works of art) from before 1517 (and Martin Luther’s 95 Theses) that Non-Catholics (Protestants) should / could / would study along with Catholics?

The Didache.
The seven ecumenical councils

 

[mcq72]

I like Augustine’s “Confessions”

 

[mcq72]

Careful. Men that dwell for very long on that sort of content tend to cease being protestant.

Then why is it that many of the reformists were actually very learned, some even clergy?

All in the beholder. One might read fathers and switch to CC as Newman, while another sees more foundation in reformists , as C.S. Lewis.

 

[adf417]

Vonsalza:

Careful. Men that dwell for very long on that sort of content tend to cease being protestant.

Then why is it that many of the reformists were actually very learned, some even clergy?

All in the beholder. One might read fathers and switch to CC as Newman, while another sees more foundation in reformists , as C.S. Lewis.

“Very lerned” does not mean wise. You do realize many university professors do not teach the same truths about history, yes?

Peace!!!

 

[JonNC]

All in the beholder. One might read fathers and switch to CC as Newman, while another sees more foundation in reformists , as C.S. Lewis.

And still others become Orthodox like Pelikan

 

[Vonsalza]

Vonsalza:

Careful. Men that dwell for very long on that sort of content tend to cease being protestant.

Then why is it that many of the reformists were actually very learned, some even clergy?

Because there was nothing else in the west besides Catholicism, of course.

These men often had legitimate complaints. But in their errors, they founded “churches” that split the bosom of Christ. Even still, these “churches” still looked very similar to Catholicism by evangelical standards. Anglicans, Lutherans, Huguenots, High Presbyterians… these folks and their high, (near) liturgical communities nearly match the Catholics in the disdain shown by the modern, bubble-gum evangelical.

Honestly, I have to stifle laughter when I see these modern disco-churches lay some sort of public claim to the reformers. These 4th or 5th generation descendants/emulations would be firmly held as hell-bound heretics by Knox or Luther or Hus.

All in the beholder. One might read fathers and switch to CC as Newman, while another sees more foundation in reformists , as C.S. Lewis.

Like most of us, Lewis just held the faith he was born unto.

As Anglicanism was founded by a King who broke with the Catholic Church because the Pope wouldn’t let him bail on his wife, I wouldn’t label it a product of the Reformation. It’s genesis is obviously far more trivial.

 

[Vonsalza]

mcq72:

All in the beholder. One might read fathers and switch to CC as Newman, while another sees more foundation in reformists , as C.S. Lewis.

And still others become Orthodox like Pelikan

That’s a valid point. When folks become disenfranchised with vapid evangelicalism, many do turn to Orthodoxy, as Hank Hanegraaff showed.

Catholicism or Orthodoxy; it appears those two have, easily, the best claims at being the “True Church”.

---

As a related aside, I think jumping from Protestantism to Orthodoxy is easier because most protestants “know” less about it than they think they know about Catholicism - even though what most protestants “know” about Catholicism is usually flatly wrong and aggressively biased.

Easier to jump to a relative mystery like Orthodoxy than a possible truth like Catholicism that your granny told you was “the whore of Babylon” since you were an infant.

 

[JonNC]

Actually, I think from confessional Lutheranism, it is often clergy who still reject what they view as the innovation of papal supremacy. Typically, despite the polemics of some Catholic apologists, most don’t bother with the old Babylon nonsense.

 

[mcq72]

Like most of us, Lewis just held the faith he was born unto.

yet what is interesting is that it was friendship and discussions with a Catholic (Tolkien) that brought him to faith in God in Christ, after departing from protestant faith as a youth, becoming “atheist”.

 

[Vonsalza]

Actually, I think from confessional Lutheranism, it is often clergy who still reject what they view as the innovation of papal supremacy. Typically, despite the polemics of some Catholic apologists, most don’t both with the old Babylon nonsense.

That may be true for confessional Lutheran ministers (although we can easily find examples of them ‘swimming the Tiber’), but for protestants on-the-whole the anti-catholic residue is very often there. God knows I saw evidence of it extremely frequently the 30+ years I spent as a protestant. Even learnt it as a child - and those lessons are hard to forget.

But your attempt to allude to the “innovation” of ancient Petrine headship is largely irrelevant as it pertains specifically to shrinking Lutheranism. It’s not the Catholic or Orthodox Churches that are delivering the death-blow to Lutheranism. It’s the evangelicals.

But for Lutherans that go the ancient route, I bet more go Catholic than go Orthodox.
If you find clear and objective evidence otherwise, please share. I’ll swiftly recant the wager.

 

[Vonsalza]

Vonsalza:

Like most of us, Lewis just held the faith he was born unto.

yet what is interesting is that it was friendship and discussions with a Catholic (Tolkien) that brought him to faith in God in Christ, after departing from protestant faith as a youth, becoming “atheist”.

Well… He suspended his Anglicanism and then resumed it. And again, there is substantial debate (I think quite correctly) that openly questions whether that particular movement could be considered “protestant” in the same sense as the congregations founded in continental Europe [insert: and Scotland] and their descendants.

As they say, YVVM. Where’s GKC when you need him? He’s probably forgotten more about the subject that most have ever learned…

 

[DaveBj]

Careful. Men that dwell for very long on that sort of content tend to cease being protestant.

For real. Reading the writings of the earliest Church Fathers provided the first impetus of the process that eventually found me paddling my way across the Tiber.

D