Tale of the Week 267: Reformation - VOTE THREAD!
Reformation
Our TotW for the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation
You have ONE vote.
Submission 1
I have recently written a paper. I hope that scholars over the ages will be amazed at the insights that I have observed. There is a great debate about what type of economic system is the best for the most people. Best can be subjective though. Is it best in the short run or is it a better choice in the long run? It has been expressed that in the long run we are all dead. We seem to desire or at least claim we want a better world for our children's children. There is a danger of being too focused on short term gains. This may result in losing sight of the real goals. How can such conflicting goals be reconciled?
These economic debates are putting competing theologies of sorts against each other. Will Karl Marx or a follower such Vladimir Lenin be victorious? Will a Joseph Stigler perhaps a John Kenneth Galbraith prove to hold the true beliefs? Or perhaps could it be a future scholar that will in the end triumph? There are more basic economic beliefs than there are religions or gods in the world. This is a battle of theologies for profits and not for the souls.
Today the battle can rage without the aid of a monastic order quietly and painstakingly copying manuscripts for distribution. Even the printing press cannot compete with the modern technology of the internet. Today the printing, the publishing, and even the distribution is digital. A thesis or many theses no longer rely on the physical documents of older publications and distribution methods. The drama of nailing a set of theses to the doors of the very church being challenged cannot be understated though.
The internet can reach billions, but how many will read my thesis? How many will be challenged to reform their ways? How can I publish a challenge for the leaders of today to reform? Is there even the equal of a door to nail such a thesis?
Submission 2 The debate which raged furiously in her mind was not whether it should be done. That was never in question. Rather, as she approached the proud house at the city center at last, it was whether she was the one to do it.
It had seemed so simple, sitting in that secluded circular room, listening as the organization known as the Underground Scholars, gathered together in secret, had made their case, enlisting his services. Their arguments were compelling, as one would hope from those so well-learned.
The air had been thick with the eloquently flung accusations. Those who had spent their lives studying philosophy, theology, ethics all gathered in for their very lives. All adding their own voices to the din. It had felt less like a potential commission and more like a verbal assault as she had stood there, surrounded by the shouting men and women who would buy her services.
A farce of an election to start. Followed by immediate executions of many of the country’s educated inhabitants. General suppression of knowledge throughout the land to ensure absolute obedience. Just a few of the charges which were levelled in that hidden room.
Charges levelled against the man who slumbered within that grand manor ahead, currently feeling quite secure in his power; safe within his walls.
It really shouldn’t have mattered. She worked for profit, not ideals. Yet, there was something beyond that trifling sum they had offered that had prompted her to accept their terms. Now she found herself questioning that decision. This was the biggest, riskiest job she had ever taken, and she was doing it for less money than she had worked for in years.
It was just this sort situation she had hoped to avoid, all those years she spent cultivating her reputation as the very best at what she did. It was easily the worst contract she had ever accepted when risks were weighed against rewards. Once more, she weighed the small pouch of currency, all the Underground Scholars could provide, she had been assured, and winced a little. The pouch seemed lighter every time, even as the deed which it served as payment for, seemed to grow heavier.
Then her resolve steeled at last. It was what she had to do. Some things were worth more than money.
With a deep breath she took one last long, appraising look at the beautiful house of the man she intended to destroy. Then, she turned and walked back toward her home once more.
Tomorrow, the people would awake to the unthinkable news, churning off her printing press, of the true nature of their benevolent ruler. Of all the steps he had taken to get where he was. Of the steps the people needed to take to right the wrongs done.
Tomorrow, if the people would listen, the reformation would begin.
Submission 3 Legacy
A thousand years of debate cannot what is true. The truth, oh, but what is the truth? Truth is what you see as a man looks you in the eyes as you propose an idea that would change the next century. The words are an apology - sorry, it is not possible at this time He offers a shrug, a sympathetic smile, a statement that he will keep your idea in mind. The eyes tell you that it will not happen, because his interests in the old are vested too deep. The quest for profit has been too deeply ingrained into his mind; what you bring would change what he has used to make a living. Change brings uncertainty; uncertainty brings chaos; chaos brings possibility. Some may see this possibility as the chance to change. Scholars may see this as the opportunity to bring a new theology into the fold of what is accepted and what is considered true. But the man, no, the man sees otherwise. The man sees the end of a legacy. His legacy. Built from decades of what was once a small revolution in practices. His revolution. His change, and his legacy. What do you bring? You bring the opposite. You bring your own change, your own determination of what is true. One could say that you are the man’s enemy. Even now, as your words roll off your tongue as true change rolled off the printing press of old, you look into the eyes of one who stands against the change that you believe in. Just as those who used the printing press to their own ends saw when they looked at those that did not profit from the change you wanted to bring.
What is correct? What is your truth? Consider, as you face the man before you, what will happen to you in a few decades. Will you be looking into the eyes of a young upstart who wishes to change everything? Will you, in your wisdom, see that the change he brings will destroy what you have created? What you make will be irrelevant. A legacy relegated to footnotes. It will be past, and it will no longer be true. The upstart will tear down your home, brick by brick, that you had created with your brand of change and truth.
Look into my eyes, young one. What you have suggested may increase our profit. You will end the system of the old and replace it with something different, maybe even better. What you suggest will make you famous. You will be known to the crowds as a man who made a difference. Just like me. We will be partners. And then I will be too old, and you will cast me aside, just as I once did to my father.
Are you prepared to destroy me? Will you end me with your ideas? I cannot stop you from going somewhere else. I can only warn you...
Submission 4 An Evening Stroll
“Walking down the misty alleys of Wittenberg, I take notice on this crisp autumn evening that nothing seems to change, ever. I see the same group of scholars huddled together every evening in the same warm corner in Der Hahn, discussing the possible ramifications of Da Vinci’s water wheel, or the accelerated spreading of ideology via the printing press.
In contrast to this lively spectacle of jests and gestures, last week my old friend Bernhard passed away, and the city doesn’t even seem to have blinked. People pass on into the afterlife and are replaced by the next generation, and the same seems to count for trees, animals … Everything, really.
The thing is, change is exactly what has brought me out in the streets tonight. I feel that the need for evolution and reforms is high within Christendom, because everywhere I gaze I can see the tendrils of corruption beginning to spread. The time for debate is over; Acta, non verba, as our Roman brethren once said. Today, this eve, this hour, marks a turning point in contemporary theology.
I refuse to stand by and watch how my Maker and his Word are being twisted for the sole purpose of profit. Coin is not, and never will be, a surrogate for true spiritual remorse.
This perversion must stop.”
Best of luck to all of our entrants!
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