Question 1
Evaluate the interpretations in both of the two passages and explain which you think is more convincing as an explanation of the debate and argument at the sessions of the Council of Trent.
Passage A
Pope Paul III and Charles V, united in wanting a council, were divided over its agenda. Trent finally opened on 13 December 1545. European power-politics interrupted and shaped its work as much as they had delayed its meeting. The possibility that Trent would be terminated in 1547 or 1552 with its work woefully incomplete was very real. Even in 1560, many a reformer could doubt if Catholic reform would ever come to anything. The Council opened with a mere 29 bishops present. Of those attending at any point during its meetings, three quarters were Italian and one tenth Spanish. Until a significant French contingent arrived in 1562, almost none had any first-hand experience of the Reformation crisis. Therein lies the key to understanding Trent’s theological approach. Inadequate in representation and ignorant of Reformation realities, it never tried to comprehend the heretics. Trent took on the role of defender of the faith as it built a theological dividing wall. Salvation theology and authority in the Church were its primary concerns, for Protestant attack had made their resolution urgent. Trent only ever discussed theological issues disputed by the Protestants, refuting their teachings and reaffirming the Catholic beliefs under attack.
Adapted from: M. D. W. Jones, The Counter-Reformation, Religion and Society in Early Modern Europe, published in 1995.
Passage B Adapted from A G Dickens, 'The Age of Humanism and Reformation - Europe in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries', pp188-190, Prentice-Hall, 1977. Item rmeoved due to third party copyright restrictions.
Adapted from: A. G. Dickens, The Age of Humanism and Reformation, Europe in the Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, published in 1977.
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Answer
