Source Of Western Modernity

Modernity is a fundamental question encountered by the western culture in the 20th century with religion and philosophy as its spiritual core and foundation. Exploration on the origin, development and generation mechanism from a historical perspective is an indispensable part of theories on modernity, while on the other hand, it is a key direction of theoretic researches on modernity. In this direction, the relationship between religion and the origin of modernity, especially that between Protestantism and modernity, is a widely discussed topic and a focus of theorists'attention. As is well known, renaissance, the religious reform and enlightenment philosophy are the spiritual and cultural source of western modernity. The difficulty of relevant research lies in reasonable and objective analysis and demonstration of the theoretic contribution, historical significance and the mutual relations between these three waves of thought. The complexity and contradiction of the religious reform per se further enhance this difficulty. Religious perspective or secular perspective alone cannot fully disclose the religious intension, cultural value and historical significance of this reform movement. Therefore, efforts have been made in this paper to explore the paradigm transition, structural reform and the innovation of conception of Lutheranism, to disclose the basic paradigm, the plurality of thoughts and the historical significance of this religious reform, and to further elucidate the significance, religious value and far-reaching effects of Lutheranism and the religious reform as the source of western modernity. Efforts have also been made in this paper to clarify the relationship between Protestantism and modernity from a historical point of view, and to respond tentatively to the dilemma of western modernity from a religious perspective.First, the traditional western culture is religious culture. Christianity predominated medieval culture in the west and was a dominating ideology. In terms of thoughts and ideas, western culture consists of two cultural genes, namely ancient Greek philosophy and Christianity. The relationship between religion and philosophy is the starting point for any thinking concerning western culture and it is also the cause of the transformations of western culture. This dualistic feature took its form in the Hellenistic period: the development process of ancient Greek philosophy from natural deity to the deity of reason constitutes the intermediate tache of the development of western culture from religious deity to the deity of reason and then back to religious deity again. The development of ancient Greek philosophy from intellectualism to mysticism and skepticism is key to the transformation of western culture from rationalism to belief and religion. On the other hand, Christianity utilized and reformed ancient Greek philosophy and thus realized the merge and unity of philosophy and religion. Rationalism and the tradition of logos in Christianity determine inherently the metaphysical feature of it. In the west, the overall paradigm of medieval Christianity is the transition from Augustan mysticism to Thomist intellectualism. The logical development of scholasticism put an end to this paradigm. The separation of philosophy and religion and the cultural separation becomes the essential characteristic of the transitional culture of modern times. The foundation of unity shrinks to church authority and the authority of revelation, and the principle of self-discipline the internal driving force in the liberation of secular field from religion. In terms of politics, the historic combination of Christian rulers and barbarian rulers retains the internal tension of the duality of religion and secularity."The revolution of the Pope"brought forth the special political structure of the duality of politics and Christianity, and a pluralistic secular pattern, in which, the Roman Church develops itself into a universal form of organization of spirit, politics and law with as its foundations the system of church rungs, the monk class and the supremacy of the Pope. In terms of the system of conception, the feudal relationship of dependence shapes a value arrangement including the ranking conception among people, the conception of the relationship between people and God and the conception of autarchy maintaining the feudal order. From the independence of economy and politics to the uprising of secular culture, the tendency of secularization at the end of the middle ages is enhanced and the sign of modernity is becoming clearer. The religious reforms points directly to the Roman Church, which is the foundation of unity. Therefore, the traditional culture and the intrinsic social structure determine the content of this reform, while at the same time, it becomes the object for reform.Second, Martin Luther realized the theological breakthrough via the doctrine breakthrough of the cross theology, the ideological shift of divinity-orientation and the paradigm shift of"justification by faith". The gospel paradigm of Protestantism takes the place of the doctrine paradigm of the traditional Catholicism. This breakthrough in theology brings with it the cultural breakthrough: from catholic unitary culture to protestant culture of separation. The theological significance of the gospel paradigm of"justification by faith"lies in the correct relationship between the way of God and the faith of Christians, and Jesus Christ becomes the sole media between God and people. Its social significance lies in that this new conception of the direct communication between God and people negates the Pope as the media between God and people. Lutheranism acquires the power of innovation from theological theory to church practice: from historic church to functional church, from seven sacraments to two sacraments, from two classes to the doctrine that"everyone can be a flamen"and from"two swords"to"two kingdoms". Therefore, Lutheranism signifies the origin of western modernity and it encompasses an overall structural reform, the replacement of the alliance between catholic theology and philosophy with the structural reform of the division between the discipline of theology and that of philosophy on a cultural level, the negation of the church power and churches deemed higher than king's power in favor of the separation between religion and politics on a social level, the depreciation of collectivism, belief and autarchy in favor of individualism, secularism and freedom of thought on an ideological level. With the gospel paradigm of Lutheranism as a basis, the basic feature of this religious reform is the unity of paradigm foundation and the multiplicity of religious directions. In the sense that Lutheranism transcends the medieval tradition, it reflects the orientation of deity, while Protestantism reflects humanism, rationalism, doctrinarianism and moralism, or radicalism and sectism in a more radical sense.Third, in essence, the religious reform is a reform of ideology, from feudalist Catholicism to capitalist Protestantism, and it therefore is the first revolution of the bourgeoisie. In the sense of an overall structural reform, this religious reform helps promote the transition from traditional culture and society to its modern state. The protestant ideology (Lutheranism and Calvinism) is the governmental basis and culture genre of a modern west. The significance and far-reaching effects of Protestantism on western modernity reveals themselves in the following aspects: from the perspective of politics, the popular sovereignty and revolutionary rebellion proposed by Calvinism laid the foundation for modern political thinking and revolutionary ideology. As an international movement, Calvinism challenges authoritarian systems in different countries and constitutes a key point in the transition from feudalism to modern democracy. From the social perspective, Lutheran conception of"divine duty"and the protestant work ethics develop into the protestant conception of ethics which emphasize secularization and mortification. It gives birth to modern capitalist spirit with a rational way of life and economy. Calvinism is a transitional cultural phase which fits in the capitalist economy. From the cultural perspective, as a culture type focused on the separation between religion and philosophy, Protestantism cultivates the generation and development of modern science and philosophy. Western culture transit from the culture of faith and belief to that of rationality and secularization. The humanitarianism of philosophy becomes the historical task of modern philosophy. The basic state of affairs of the separation between philosophy and religion is a new starting point for the cultural thinking on western modernity. Lutheranism nourishes modern Christianity and enhances the practical influence of modern Christianity in a modern society via its gospel paradigm. All in all, protestant culture gives birth to the conception of freedom, nation states, democratic politics, economic ethics, scientific spirit and rationalistic philosophy in western modernity. Therefore, as a transitional religious culture, Protestantism secures the generation of western modernity and its secularization, while at the same time, as the source of western modernity, Protestantism plays a major role in the cultural choice of unity and separation of western modernity with an active open mind and compatible methods.Last, to a certain degree, Lutheranism directly shapes the characteristics of development of German philosophy. Lutheranism initiates the German"theoretical liberation"with its nihilist foundation, deity orientation, mysticist nature and positivist attitude. It initiates the process of modernization of the school of German mysticism and the philosophical revolution. It makes it possible for Marxist philosophy to start from atheism and humanitarianism, to explain and change the world with the change of conceptions and ways of thinking, and to set as its secular and philosophical goal the realization of communism. From the perspective of Lutheranism, the real theoretic growing point and the everlasting charm of Marxist philosophy actually lie in its insistence of the atheist position.