Friday, October 31, 2008

95 Theses

I came across this totally cool rap called "95 Theses" (HT: Jason Hood).



Happy Reformation Day. Long live the Reformation!!
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5 comments:

Bryan L said...

You probably wouldn't think it was that cool if you were familiar with the Jay Z song it is parodying "99 Problems" (which is actually cool). I couldn't even finish it because it was so corny. It just made me cringe. ; )

Bryan L

5:51 PM
andrewbourne said...

Why Long Live the Reformation the biggest mistake ever in Christianity?

1:38 AM
Brant Pitre said...

Dear Michael,
I'm hoping there was some tongue in your cheek when you called this rap "totally cool." I haven't seen such ignorant anti-Catholic garbage in a very, very long time.

I don' t mean to be uncharitable, but has the ignoramus who composed this song ever actually READ the 95 theses? (Incidentally, I would be curious to know, how many Protestants have actually read them? I'm honestly asking.)

For if he had read the 95 theses, the ignoramus--and I mean that it the strict sense of the word--would know that, to the contrary of his chorus, "He got 95 theses, and the Pope IS one of them." In fact, the Pope is mentioned multiple times in many of the theses, in ways no Protestant I know today would affirm.

Try thesis 26 on for size:

"The pope does very well when he grants remission [of sin] to souls in Purgatory, not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession for them." (Martin Luther, Thesis 26)

So Thesis 26 says the Pope does well when he grants remission of sin by interceding for the souls in Purgatory. I must have missed this part of the rap.

Or how about Thesis 41?

"Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love." (Martin Luther, Thesis 41).

Here Luther does not reject indulgences; even papal ones, but only exhorts that they be "preached with caution."

Finally, there is good ole Thesis 38:

"Nevertheless, Papal remission and blessing are by no means to be disregarded, for they are, as I have said, the proclamation of divine remission [of sin]." (Martin Luther, Thesis 25)

Fascinating: when the Pope grants remission and blessing, he proclaims the divine remission. (Sounds like Matthew 16, "Whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven...")

Long live the Reformation?
I prefer the prayer "Ut unum sint" (John 17:11).

See you at SBL!

8:26 PM
Michael F. Bird said...

Dear Brant,

The song is "cool" in the sense of clever and witty. It's historical accuracy leaves much to be desired since Luther's wife wasn't martyred and Guttenberg died 15 years before Luther was born. But these guys are muscians not history majors and the inaccuracies are listed on their official web site.

You should know that I'm not given to cultural Catholic bashing, but I cannot help but think that the medieval Catholic church was theologically and morally corrupt. Tetzel was a proto-televangelist and the pope who called Trent had two illegitimate children. The reformation had to happen dude!!

As for the high priestly prayer "Ut unum sint," amen friend. At the same time let us confess, "unus enim Deus unus et mediator Dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus".

I will see you at SBL.

4:16 AM
David R Kirk said...

This video clearly misrepresents my friend Zwingli - I'm afraid that just won't do!

4:23 AM

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