As I began teaching through this book, I realized something I didn't catch the last time through. A significant portion of Wilson and Jones's argument is that the Reformation cut the medieval conversation short. However, what I did not pick up on before is the suggestion that we normalized the way of life dictated by reacting to and living through the Reformation.
Think with me, if you will, of the other end of the medieval period, say, the Edict of Milan. There were essentially two reactions to the Edict of Milan. Monasticism was one reaction. Some Christians said to themselves, "It is not living for Christ if I cannot be killed for being a follower of Christ anymore, so I'll go off into the desert and live a hermit's life and deprive myself of all worldly fellowship and community." The other response was to emerge from the catacombs and instead of remaking Christian culture in the image of the catacombs, taking the best of the culture around them and putting it to good use. Churches and cathedrals were soon built, massive structures given over to the worship of the triune God.
Wilson and Jones are, to some extent, arguing that we descendants of the Reformation have been living in the desert. We decided to normalize the experience of the Reformation and reject anything, ANYTHING, that looked at all like it could have been used by Roman Catholicism. Thus we have protestants who reject infant baptism, vestments, ornate buildings, music in worship, wine in communion, a clear liturgy, and all sorts of other things that have little to nothing to do with the errors of Roman Catholic theology.
What we should have done, I guess, is correct the theology of the Roman Catholic Church and examine with a clear mind whether the rest of it was a abuse of corrupted theological thinking, or simply the conquest of culture that the church is called to.
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