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> More has to stake out a position, and he has to do so “publicly” where the “public” in this case is a few thousand literate Englishmen who actually care about

> More has to stake out a position, and he has to do so “publicly” where the “public” in this case is a few thousand literate Englishmen who actually care about such things. I guess he’s saying that only a few thousand people cared about More’s position. But as an outsider what has always puzzled me is how strongly common people care about what seem to me to be hair-splitting religious arguments. Henry’s split with the catholic church touched off numerous rebellions. And ironically when some later Kings tried to become catholic again, there was even more violence. To be it’s unfathomable that people who struggle to put food on the table will take up arms in the name of quite abstruse arguments.

trhway 2y ago
> how strongly common people care about what seem to me to be hair-splitting religious arguments it wasn't hair splitting. The Reformation coincides with nation-forming (and is driven by it). So instead of loyalty to the remote Pope, you get loyalty to your nation. The Bible and service. etc in your language and so forth. Classic tribalism of "us" vs "them" which kings and others at the top happily exploited. The Reformation v0.1 - Jan Huss - was kicking out Germans and others out of Prague University on the basis of it being Bohemian (i.e. Czech) institution. >To be it’s unfathomable that people who struggle to put food on the table will take up arms in the name of quite abstruse arguments. It has been shown many times that those people are the easiest to be fired up for some ideological cause. As the bolshevicks were saying "proletariat has nothing to lose, but their chains"
xyzzyz 2y ago
Reformation was an extremely important historical event, with very high spiritual, practical and political stakes. This might seem strange to people living in today’s post-religious world, but back then, things were much different.

trhway 2y ago

> how strongly common people care about what seem to me to be hair-splitting religious arguments it wasn't hair splitting. The Reformation coincides with nation-forming (and is driven by it). So instead of loyalty to the remote Pope, you get loyalty to your nation. The Bible and service. etc in your language and so forth. Classic tribalism of "us" vs "them" which kings and others at the top happily exploited. The Reformation v0.1 - Jan Huss - was kicking out Germans and others out of Prague University on the basis of it being Bohemian (i.e. Czech) institution. >To be it’s unfathomable that people who struggle to put food on the table will take up arms in the name of quite abstruse arguments. It has been shown many times that those people are the easiest to be fired up for some ideological cause. As the bolshevicks were saying "proletariat has nothing to lose, but their chains"

xyzzyz 2y ago

Reformation was an extremely important historical event, with very high spiritual, practical and political stakes. This might seem strange to people living in today’s post-religious world, but back then, things were much different.