The First Reformation

"No man is an island."...And no reformer is a juggernaut.

Martin Luther was an intelligent guy. For many Protestants, he was a hero. He had the courage to stand up to an institution that was more focused on money and power than on God and Gospels. His protest for reform became a Reformation; his followers became fellow Protestants.
But was Luther the only leader of the Reformation? What about Huldrych Zwingli, the Swiss chaplain who cared passionately for his people, following them into his death in battle? What about the Roman Curia that fought the system from within? What about Jan Hus, The First Luther?

Jan Hus is a hero, admired for both his stance against the Catholic Church and his effect on Czech nationalism. Even before he was born in 1372, Czech national identity was developing and a host of scholars were beginning to protest the immorality of the clergy and excesses of the Church. In 1402, Hus began preaching in Prague's Bethlehem Chapel. Hundreds of people came each week to hear his ideas about things like God's grace, indulgences, and sacraments, in their own language. Not since the split between the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church had any sort of liturgy been delivered in the language of the people, rather than Latin, the language of the Church.


The ideas Jus propagated were too radical to afford him a long lifespan. Hus soon lost the support of the king, who had a financial stake in the sale of indulgences. Hus was given the "opportunity" to defend his beliefs at the Council of Konstanz in 1414. The safe passage promised to him by the Holy Roman Emperor was a deception; Hus's refusal to recant at the Council was his death sentence.

The execution of Jan Hus at the stake sparked twenty years of violent conflict between Hussite and Catholic forces in the Czech lands. Although the Czech lands were eventually overtaken by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Hussite rebellion secured 200 years of religious freedom for these proto-Protestants.

Jan Hus may not have sparked the Reformation that engulfed Europe, but he did inspire a revolution, the first of its kind in Europe.

*Ideas drawn from Hans Kung and Dr. Phyllis RodgersonPleasants