The Church: Rent and Distressed

[guanophore]

The reason I called it “the one great crack in Christendom” is because of its effects on the philosophy of schism. The Great Schism was large-scale and earlier, but it took 500 years for another split. After Lutheranism, it became rapid-fire.

I think this can be boiled down to the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. This was not embraced during any of the prior schisms, but it paved the way for the tens of thousands of denominations we see today. Even Calvin and Luther decried the faithful interpreting the Scriptures apart from the teachings of their pastors. It was just that they thought they ought to be the rule of faith instead of the Catholic Church.