Going through everything that we have read in this course, I stumbled upon the sermon that had to be read in England once a month, every month during the sixteenth century. For a little recap on what it was about: the sermon was composed of twelve different parts; one for each month of the year essentially. These sermons highly emphasized the divine authority given to the monarchs of England. This caused uprisings from the Catholics, and England continually swayed between Catholicism and Protestantism with the rise and fall of different monarchs.
That being said, analyzing the first Homily that was provided for us on blackboard, I am astonished that people would have to listen to this once a month. The consistency of the sermon probably played the role of "brain-washing" to the British people. It speaks about obedience above all other virtues and specifically obedience to the monarch of England. Listening to this would be tough once Gutenberg invented the printing press and people started reading the Bible for themselves. Some Bible verses that oppose what the homily says are:
Proverbs 29:2, "When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan." (New Living Translation)
Acts 5:29b, "We must obey God rather than any human authority." (New Living Translation).
These words oppose much of what the homily says, yet there are also verses that support the homily as well...
Romans 13:1-2, "Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished." (New Living Translation)
This verse takes the homily and pretty much summarizes it into two sentences. So it is good that the homily has Biblical verses to back up what it is saying, but it does not take into consideration everything the Bible has to say about authority, and more specifically God's authority.
In addition, the homily is written in lofty, "chuch-y" words that make people think that what is being said really is truth. People did not talk that sophisticated then, and we still do not achieve that extent of loftiness in today's society either. The language itself makes it hard to dispute, but surely there were people who analyzed the sermons for what they really were.
If this were to be preached in today's society, I highly doubt the pastor would be able to make it through the first page without people walking out of the door or standing up to protest. Christianity in general has changed drastically, and one of the biggest differences has been the fact that people can read the Bible for themselves. This keeps pastors and priests accountable for their sermons, and monarchs cannot persuade churches as much nowadays as they did in the sixteenth century.
It is crazy how much society has changed, and I have truly enjoyed looking at the progress of British society in this class through a literary standpoint.
Blog challenge: 6 of 5... say wha'?? :)
People who were deliberately kept uneducated would certainly have been easy to control through nothing but a bunch of pretty, elevated language to give them that crutch to stand on. Honestly, the fact that some of that can exist even today is more than a little unsettling to think about.
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