I've already done one video on Jan hoose sometimes people pronounce it John Haas or John Huss it's Yan Huss he was a Bohemian reformer burned at the stake in 1415 I'll put up a picture of him he's a personal hero of mine I really I just admire his courage in some great respects I found myself relating to him even more than the Protestant reformers a century later in this video I want to talk about the hussite movement as a whole this is a proto-protestant movement inspired by Janus in Bohemia so like modern day Czech Republic mainly a little bit to the east of Germany I'll put up a map so you can see what we're talking about now I said in the video description forgotten reformers or in the video title and it's not totally forgotten of course but this really is a neglected and fascinating time in church history part of my purpose in this video is just to generate more interest it'd be awesome if people started doing more academic work in this area for example I'll give some highlights of some maybe possible Avenues of of exploration that people could could get into there many people are unaware just how massive the Bohemian Reformation was it lasted over 200 years it gained support all throughout the entire culture you've got the Archbishop in 1421 of Prague converting to the hussite cause the University of Prague supports it it gains support at every level of the culture and it unlike many of the other proto-protestant groups it actually has military success to a degree so it survives for a while now I'm going to draw this report from Lawrence of brazova I'll put up a picture of him he was a medieval hussite historian he lived in the late 14th early 15th century I've been reading his account of the hussite wars especially the first seven years starting with huss's hooses imprisonment in 1414 up through 1421 just after the first crusade against the hussites at what happened is this after my video on the christianization of Scandinavia where I drew from Adam of Bremen a medieval historian I realized I'm not the only one who's fascinated by church history and by medieval history and I didn't expect that video to generate as much interest but a lot of people are fascinated by these things just as I am I'm not the only one I realize oh it's like oh other people find this fascinating too it's so interesting and one of the best ways to learn history is from historians from the time in question now you have to be more critically engaged with the with that kind of the historical historians but it's so much more interesting to you know it's like reading eusebius about the early church the early church historian versus just reading a contemporary book it opens up so much more there's so much uh that that is uh uncovered when you get into these historical texts and so Lawrence of brazova is that for the hussite cause uh and his Chronicle is just absolutely fascinating I'm not quite finished with it I'm just going to share this is an introductory video just making a few points generating hopefully encouraging people to research this topic for themselves and then maybe I'll have more videos on the house sites in the future but I just want to do three things in this video really mainly two things first just describe the persecution against the hussites briefly and why it's so important to know about that to talk about that not to ignore that second to identify the main point of Reform that the hussites were calling for this will be surprise you um unless you're already familiar with them it I think it will be surprising to you what they were calling for and then thirdly very briefly just a quick final note a warning to Protestants today from this episode so first let's outsign what let's outline What happened to the hussites briefly persecution can be uncomfortable to talk about for people because it especially when it sort of punctures a triumphalist narrative that many people find a sense of identity in but it's so important not to ignore deny or downplay these historical events uh that happens a lot unfortunately people kind of downplay it or or the biggest thing is probably people are just not aware and sometimes people struggle to believe that it really was as bad as we're gonna find out it was but often people will downplay it and say you know for example when I did my video on who's I talked about this how people will often say well it wasn't the Roman Catholic Church that burned hoose alive it was the secular authorities and in my video I talked about how offensive that is I'll just recount this a little bit here it you know it's imagine if you had like a great uncle who died in the Holocaust and then someone is coming along and saying ah well the Holocaust is kind of overplayed it wasn't as bad as people say and uh the reason it's offensive is not just the minimizing of sin and evil because but it's just so inaccurate it's so historically inaccurate and the thing is like to say that the to to say or imply that the Roman Catholic Church wasn't responsible for who's death it was Roman Catholic prelitz who intercepted him and put him in jail despite his being offered safe conduct to Constance by king sigismund during whose's time in jail he was not given proper food he was not given proper Medical Care he was viciously slandered throughout Constance his trial for heresy was conducted at an ecumenical council the 16th Council recognized as an economical Council by the Roman Catholic Church Council of constance after the verdict against him it was a Roman Catholic Archbishop who preached the sermon on Romans 6 that their body of sin must be put to death again this is the thing we can't downplay about history we want to acknowledge what really happened this was the thinking of the day the extermination of Heretics this did happen a lot it was the same Archbishop who put the paper miter on his head the tall hat covered with demons part as a part of his ceremony of ministerial degradation you know it's just brutal I've been reading lots of these uh eyewitness accounts of this as they're represented in the modern day scholarship and it's absolutely gripping um I'm I'm writing a book right now called why Protestant doesn't make sense by the way thanks for praying about that book it got accepted at the publisher I was hoping zondra been reflective it will come out and uh here's the tough thing August of 2024. so I'm going to write it over this school year turn it in and it's like a year to come out so sorry to make you wait that long but I hope it will be worth your while I talk about who's a bit in one of the chapters of this book so I'm researching getting into the literature on this a lot and you just read these accounts and it what is so brutalizing about it it wasn't just that they put him to death it was the elaborate um process and sort of formal ceremony by which they broke him down or tried to he was he was forgiving his enemies to the end singing Psalms to the end reciting something similar to the Jesus prayer while getting burned alive so they didn't break him down but they tried to and there are points where he was weeping during his uh trial and verdict and it was brutal I mean they you know they they give him the chalice and tear it out of his hands they give him the moniker Judas they tear off his Priestly vestments one at a time curses are entoned against him it really happened like that's the thing is people downplay this they act like this oh it wasn't that bad yeah it was it was that bad and then immediately as a result of the guilty verdict he's LED outside books are being burned right outside the cathedral he's let outside the city gates in Constance in Thomas fudge's book he's got a map of the city you can see exactly where he would have walked and then he was burned alive right outside the city and even just that process is just oh it's like I've never had my adrenaline going so much and reading a historical narrative this is why I don't know these people like hoose and the waldensians and others they're like in my in my mind I I relate to these people as uh spiritual and Theological ancestors that's why it hurts so much when people downplay it um the only discussion in the academic literature is whether the trial was legal who's his trial was legal by the standards of the day because a lot of people point to bribery and false testimony and then canonical irregularities to say that it was basically judicial murder but the debate is whether it was despite those irregularities legal by the standards of the day but nobody thinks it was moral you know and so John Paul II apologized and praised in 1999 and praised huss's moral courage and so and yet people still downplay this today despite the acknowledgment of Catholic historians and the apologies of Catholic Popes people still downplay this as though you know another thing people will say is oh well it was just a rare event or oh well yeah you know everybody's sort of persecuted everybody back then so this is sort of all sort of cancels out and equals out in the end and it's like no it that's not right it doesn't all cancel out that'd be like saying well Texas is a big state but Rhode Island is a big state too and you're like no they're not to scale they're not the same and it wasn't rare you know um I I did a video on the waldensians and you can just Google it's not in dispute that these horrific events in which women and children were not spared happened you can Google the 1487 Massacre where Pope Innocent VII offered a plenary Indulgence to all who go in a crusade against the waldensians and so people do and there's no mercy shown or you can just Google 16 5 16 55 Piedmont Massacre and you can do your own research about these horrific events uh and the same with the hussites there were five Crusades against the hussites now uh in a little under two decades fascinating military back and forths we often think of Crusades as against the Muslims but they were also conducted against these separatist groups albigensians were another one and uh this began in 1420 about five years five years after hoos's death when in March of that year a papal bull was issued and it referred to the quote lethal virus end quote of hasitism and promised a plenary Indulgence to all who engaged in a crusade against the hussites and so this massive Army assembles and by the late spring is outside Prague and then you're off to the races there's this back and forth fascinating military history for uh a long period of time that would I've often thought that this episode in history would make for a fascinating movie there's a lot of drama that you could you know make stories out of but um and I'm sorry to say the thing is this wasn't rare like if you think that the promise of indulgences to motivate military Crusades was rare in the Medieval Era I am sorry to inform you it was not rare and the reason I'm so passionate about this is I just think we need to know this we can't ignore and and uh downplay and minimize the stories of these Martyrs let me just tell you about one of them Jerome of Prague he's what I've been reading about recently he's often so this is an early hussite leader kind of an intellectual philosopher type very influenced by Wycliffe uh fascinating person um so Jerome he's Often overshadowed by hoose but he himself was a very brilliant thinker and right about one after one year after hoos's burning Jerome was burned a very similar thing he had a demo he had the Demonic miter put on his head the the mockery all of that uh uh let me read to you from Lawrence's account um he now he was in prison for a long period of time he almost died the first 11 days he's hung from his hands in prison and he's horribly sick and he's not given proper food and then his feet are in stocks and so he gets to the point where he's almost dead and then he's given more lenient prison but he's held in prison for a long period of time he actually recants and denounces who's at one point Under Pressure that happened several times to various people throughout church history but then they come back and they regret that and they uh you know stay faithful to the end stay firm to the end um let me read Lawrence's account uh he was killed on June 1st of the following year 1416. here's what Lauren said says he was brought to a public session of the council at the ca at the Cathedral through a great crowd of armed men and there his verdict was pronounced and he was condemned to death they put a tall paper crown with Red Devils painted on it on his head and took him out of town but he marching out of the Town saying I believe in one God and you are happy Virgin Mary as he was led to his death and spoke to the people in the German language saying dear children my faith is just as I have sung however I am going to die because I did not want to give in to the council and to agree with them in saying that Master hoose was condemned righteously and justly for I knew him well and I know that he was a holy man and a faithful preacher of Christ teachings he was a personal friend of whose which I know he was grieved that that he denounced him at that one point this is oftentimes what it's similar to today the most controversial things are not the theology but it's whether you support so and so whose but before that which Cliff if you support Wycliffe that gets you into trouble more than anything you know and the thing is these these early sights especially not always the later hussites were very traditionalists they didn't like you see him singing about Mary there we call the hussites Proto reformers but or excuse me fertile Protestants but they would have been on the traditional side of the the in terms of protestant belief they they weren't that far off theologically I'll talk about what their concerns were in a moment here's how uh Lawrence finishes his Chronicle when he Jerome had reached the place of punishment in the same place where Master yonus had been wrongfully executed he was stripped of all his clothes and tied with ropes and chains to a pole in the shape of a thick plank driven into the ground and pieces of wood were put around him joyfully singing be greeted festive day and into your hands like oh Lord I commend my spirit he was consumed in a whirlwind of Fire there's a great book by fudge Thomas fudge may be the greatest living expert in my opinion on uh who's Jerome and the early hussite movement he's written almost a dozen books in this field and just it's so awesome when you find a scholar out there who's unearthing stuff that no one else is doing it's like that's what scholarship is for a lot of books are just kind of repeating a lot of books are just I don't know they're not that unique they're repeating things but when you find someone who's truly penetrating into new territory it's uh it's awesome and I just wrote him fudge an email the other day to say thanks for his work uh it's he's doing a lot of great stuff um so this so now there's a hussite slogan truth prevails this would be featured in later sermons and in art and this can be traced back to who's himself this is my favorite quote of who's who said truth conquers all there's a similar claim made by Jerome he said the truth has never given way and will not yield for a lie because truth triumphs over everything that slogan this idea that the truth will win in the end truth prevails truth is what will be the the Victor in the end is a good way to sum up why I am so moved by the hussites why I am so especially the early traditionalist hussites why I am so um just Afflicted with a sense of uh uh honor and uh just that uh you know their story needs to be told that's how I could sort of sum up my feeling about them is because uh hoose and Jerome they their life is a story of this idea that the truth wins in the end it's what they were facing I mean if somebody once said to me but you seem awfully indignant about what happened to John Huss and I remember thinking well duh if a Godly Pious man who's recognized by Godly Empires by pretty much everybody around I mean that you know sometimes history is really complicated and there's not really good guys or bad guys it's just it's just really messy but other times it's historically inaccurate to just flatten everything out because there is more of a good side and a bad side and I'm persuaded 100 percent that the opponents the Bishops opposing who's were treacherous and dishonest and corrupt and basically bullies and I know you a lot of us have been through those experiences where we've seen what that feels like to be on the receiving end and to me who's and Jerome it's like the ultimate example of Truth versus Power they had no power none literally they're chained but they had the truth and I think their lives are a testimony to this wonderful slogan that in the end the truth always wins and my burden and my passion to talk about these things is not to cause anyone pain or discomfort but because even if it is a little bit uncomfortable we need to know their history and we need to not to stop downplaying it minimizing it acting like it wasn't as bad as it was it was as bad as it was if you imagine what it's like to be burned alive all you have to do is imagine that for 20 seconds and you will uh understand why it's why why it's right to be indignant about it happening especially to a good Pious person who has totally reasonable concerns and so it's important to not minimize the story it's important for the story to be known and when people act like sometimes people will try to make it sound like well the Roman Catholic church had reasonable concerns they were just trying to protect the good interests of the laity they were trying to keep things in good order and so forth and you find this for the Crusades people minimize some of these Crusades and act like they had a good ulterior motive or when the prohibition of the Bible being translated into the vernacular people try to say act like there was good there was a good intention with that or when Heretics are burned to death people will try to you know and it's it comes across like when somebody beats you up and steals your lunch money and leaves you bleeding there and then says oh but but I was just doing this for your own good to build your character and to teach you wisdom and so forth and you're like yeah I don't buy it uh some things are just wrong you know sometimes it's sometimes a historical episode really is fairly clear what you are to take away from it and a Pious person being burned alive by malicious bullies is just wrong and that's clear and it's wrong to act like it's not clear so I'm very passionate that these um that these stories be known and not spun okay so that's the first thing I want to say and I want to encourage other people to look into this for themselves I'm often amazed even though I uh my scholarly work is not in general questioned or badly reviewed it's positively reviewed but I'm amazed at the way people who don't have scholarly credentials often uh you know it claimed that my scholarly work is or what that I'm spinning thing around not being honest and accurate and so forth so my what I would just say is look into this for yourself it's not in dispute nobody's denying that you know house well look into John Paul II's apology in 1999 just see what he said for example okay so that's the first thing I want to say to encourage people to know about these stories and to encourage people to study them more it'd be awesome if there was a new wave of scholarship about the hussite reforms reform efforts and history okay let's go into the specifics why this is the second major part of this video why did the hussites protest against Rome what was their beef what were they trying to accomplish what was their theology as I mentioned in the mainstream and early iterations of hussitism it was a conservative reform effort later on there's a kind of smaller side group to the South that becomes very kind of apocalyptic and and even communistic and very radical but that was not the mainstream there were a couple of points of emphasis in hussite Theology and practice one interestingly was a more egalitarian view of gender they were more whose himself as well was this would be a fascinating area for someone to research something like hasitism and proto-feminism or something like that um who's was very much in favor of women participating in the worship even participating in battle so that's kind of a fascinating thing that you know we let's keep talking about that maybe in other videos as I keep reading through Lawrence I'll talk more about that a big point of emphasis also was preaching the Bible in the vernacular a lot of times people think of it as like well preaching was big and some of the church fathers like John chrysostom but preaching kind of fell away in the Medieval Era but not totally um preaching the Bible in the vernacular in Prague there was a massive tradition of preaching they were good preachers not just starting like with in the 15th century going back into the 14th century and earlier another point of emphasis in Hussain theology was criticism of the elaborate wealth and Corruption within the Roman Catholic hierarchy they opposed simony misuse other forms of financial practice buying and selling uh clerical offices and things like this and just basic morality you know there was a lot of sexual immorality uh in the late medieval West I was just reading elsewhere in Spain a little later this whole episode where basically uh the majority of the clergy are living in open concubinage so most of them just openly have concubines it's not that clerical celibacy was officially denied it's just people just don't do it it just wasn't practiced and then I was reading about this the scandal of this because basically if if that if there was an attempt to enforce clerical celibacy there would be an open Revolt from the Bishops you know so that kind of stuff now that's a little later and then Spain but that kind of stuff is floating around that's going on not everywhere and always but there's a lot of corruption the hussites were opposed to that and there was a there was a lot of even just in the populace there's a lot of sexual immorality in constants some of the historians I've been reading estimate there were about 1500 prostitutes in Constance at the time of the Council of constance and that's a ton of people for that time and you can even read in the records of who was attending the council there was a lot of prostitutes among those people who were there in the populace I'm not saying that reflects upon the council I'm just saying that's out there in the culture a lot so the hussites were posing that they're emphasizing piety personal relationship with God it was a reform effort in that way but here's the surprising thing the central emphasis of hasai Theology and practice was the Eucharist okay when you've got sigismund's armies swarming around progress to attack and then you've got these uh hasai peasant peasants uh you know forming their army uh the uh signs armies have the cross on their Flags the hussites have the Chalice okay I'll say more about this but let me introduce it by saying this is why I think it's unhelpful when people like Francis Chan say this I didn't know that for the first 1500 years of church history everyone saw it as the literal body and blood of Christ and it was until 500 years ago that someone popularized a thought that it's just a symbol and nothing more I didn't know that wow well that's something to consider um and and while it won't make a strong statement I will make a statement about this it was at that same time that for the first time someone put a Pulpit in the front of the Gathering because before that it was always the body and blood of Christ that was Central to their gatherings for 1500 years it was never one guy and his Pulpit being the center of the church it was the body and blood of Christ and even the leaders just saw themselves as partakers now I love Francis Chan so much I know he is a good man seeking God with all of his heart uh so bless him I don't mean to attack him in any way but I just think I I hope he will consider the impact of those words I hope he watches this and and considers the hussites and the reformers and the historical context of the late medieval West and what they were opposing to because I think what he's doing is repeating kind of standard anti-protestant slogans that are so misleading and in in some respects are almost the opposite of the actual truth um there's so much we could talk about here in terms of number one the importance of the pulpit earlier uh preaching was not a new thing being introduced number two it the the turbulence and change and development in Eucharistic theology early on leading up into the Reformation especially early medieval nobody can say people you peel people say this all the time that everybody believed in real presence up until the Protestant Reformation is like that's just wrong we need to just stop with the inaccurate statements for example there's a great debate in the 9th century between red burtis pescasius redbirdis and a monk named retromness or tromness was advocating for a view of the Eucharist very similar to zingling okay you can say bertramus was wrong but you can't say he didn't exist and at that time it wasn't controversial to the point where retromness is kicked out of the church or something like that later on when barangar two centuries later is advocating for that then it's controversial but you do have more variation now most people believed in real presence the real sticking point is transubstantiation is the mechanism for real presence that's what's really coming in throughout the Medieval Era but this is a simplistic narrative this idea that there was this Unity elsewhere in that video Francis talks about how there was only one church for the first Millennium it's like no there wasn't there was lots of splits splits didn't start with the Protestants um or with the 1054 split the 5th Century for example you've got the Oriental Orthodox the Syrian Church of the East today that split off at that point and a lot of us would say those are Christians they're in the church that's so anyway it's another thing but the main thing here is this and oh another thing is um we could talk about how the division so what Francis Chan was kind of making it sound like in his comments they're like all the Protestants came in and and kind of disrupted this Unity that used to be there but and as though like everyone used to be gathering around the Lord's Supper but there was a massive wall of division between clergy and laity that the Reformation reduced okay but here's the main thing and this is what people today need to understand and why I'm eager to make these videos to help on historical accuracy medieval western Christians let's say late medieval western Christians were being starved of the Eucharist it was given only in one kind that is only in bread not the wine typically to the laity often only given once per year there were all kinds of fasting regulations attending it there were all kinds of superstitious beliefs going on that the reformers were trying to oppose often it was being adored and venerated rather than actually imbibed eaten and drunk and so forth and so the Protestant Reformation was as much as it was anything else an attempt to re-centralize the Eucharist and say we need it frequently not just once a year we need it in both kinds both Bread and Wine and we need to actually eat and drink not just spectate and adore and this is why the modern Protestant um neglect of Eucharistic theology is so tragic it's just a betrayal of our own Roots however the reformers were not the first to call for reform in this area this was the central emphasis of hussite theology Lawrence at the very beginning of his book calls the hussites quote supporters of Master yonus and promoters of the lay chalice what's the lay chalice what's the idea there the has I believe is something called utrechaism I'll put that word up so people can see it there's three points of emphasis the laity should receive the Eucharist number one frequently number two in both kinds or under both kinds that means both Bread and Wine and it's for children and for women as well but children they so they believed in Plato communion everybody who's baptized if you're baptized you get the Lord's supper if you get this Sacrament you get that Sacrament but the main point of emphasis was communion of both kinds and they also opposed some of the fasting requirements before the Eucharist um so uh all of this doesn't start by the way with who so it goes back in Prague in the 1370s there's when there starts to be an emphasis upon more frequent participation in the Lord's supper and then in 1414 Jacob of me's began to administer the Chalice to the laity and this practice then spread so that the layer laity are now receiving the wine as well and this became a central pillar of Hussain theology maybe the main point of emphasis there's uh the four articles of Prague summarizing Theology and this is one of those along with preaching opposition to church wealth and Punishment of serious sin what they were saying is it's wrong to withhold the laity uh the wine from the laity because that's not how it was done in scripture that's not how Jesus Christ instituted this sack increment and that's not how it was done in the early church this is a medieval Innovation that needs to be reformed unfortunately the Council of constance rejected this reform effort and the theology that is being espoused in it and it threatened those who held it with the same fate as hoose and Jerome okay it also at the Council of constants also reiterated the fasting regulations as opposed to like taking the Lord's Supper after a meal for example and this didn't change the the communion in two kinds issue didn't change in the Roman Catholic Church until the 20th century so this lasted for a long time let me now Pete begin because people just unfairly dismiss what I'm saying as though oh that he's he's being fast and loose or something like this let me just read from the 13th century of the Council of constance it's a long quote but I think it's important for you to know how the Roman Catholic Church responded to this theology among the hussites quote certain people in some parts of the world have rationally dared to assert that the Christian people ought to receive the holy sacrament of the Eucharist under the forms of both Bread and Wine they communicate the laity everywhere not only under the form of bread but also under that of wine and they stubbornly assert that they should communicate even after a meal or else without the need of a fast contrary to the church's custom which has been laudably and sensibly approved from the church's head downwards but which they damnably try to reputable repudiate as sacrilegious therefore this present general counsel of constance legitimately assembled in the Holy Spirit wishing to provide for the safety of the faithful against this error after long deliberation by many persons learned in Divine and human law declares decrees and defines that although Christ instituted this venerable Sacrament after a meal and ministered it to his Apostles under the forms of both Bread and Wine nevertheless and notwithstanding this the praiseworthy authority of the Sacred canons and the approved custom of the church have and do retain that this Sacrament ought not to be celebrated after a meal nor received by the faithful without fasting except in cases of sickness or some other necessity is permitted by law or by the church moreover just as this custom was sensibly introduced in order to avoid dangers and Scandals so with similar or even greater reason was it possible to introduce and sensibly observe the custom that although this Sacrament was received by the faithful under both kinds in the early church nevertheless later it was received under both kinds only by those confecting it and by the laity only under the form of bread for it should be very firmly believed and in no way doubted that the whole body and blood of Christ are truly contained under both the form of the bread and the 4 form of the wine therefore since the custom was introduced for Good Reasons by the church and holy fathers and has been observed for a very long time it should be held as a law which nobody May repudiate or alter at will without the church's permission to say that the observance of this customer law is sacrilegious or illicit must be regarded as erroneous those who stubbornly assert the opposite of the offer said are to be confined as Heretics and severely punished by the local Bishops or their officials or the inquisitors of heresy that's the Inquisition in the kingdoms or provinces in which anything is attempted or presumed against this decree according to the canonical and legitimate sanctions that have been wisely established in favor of the Catholic faith against Heretics and their supporters and then proceeds to threaten excommunication to anyone who opposes this and States about Bishops and church leaders quote they are to repress as Heretics however by means of the church's centers and even if necessary by calling in the help of the secular arm those of them whose Hearts have been hardened and who are unwilling to return to penance now we've seen what that calling on the help of the secular arm means and this again is the theology at the time the extermination of Heretics the church claimed the power of the temporal sword if you don't believe me look into this you will not be underwhelmed by what you discover and so the point is this it's important to see that the hussite movement gathered its main energy around an emphasis upon the Eucharist and that is partly why they were persecuted all right a final comment as is a warning for Protestants as much as this video amounts to a criticism of Roman Catholic medieval practice which I regard as an innovation contrary to patristic practice and biblical precedent and as much as I am indignant at what happened to people like whose Jerome and many others for its inhuman cruelty there is also in all this episode a cautionary tale for contemporary Protestants the hussite movement split basically you've got a traditionalist group in Prague and then you've got a more radical group in Tabor down to the South this is the group that becomes more communistic apocalyptic Etc and as The Story Goes forward the division among hasites undoes them as much as any persecution in fact on the first page of Lawrence's history he frames the entire narrative as both a Chronicle about external persecution as well as internal division so he's going on about how King sigismund is this terrible snake who's been snuffing out our civilization and destroying us and wreaking havoc and then he says well the same with the taborites you know there also so he sees both as sort of equal threats to the Hussain cause and the hussites ended up divided against themselves as much as they were opposed to Rome this is a sad reality that we see over and over and over throughout human history it's easier to oppose a common enemy than it is to unite around a positive movement once the enemy is gone you see this in American history for example there's a lot more Unity among the states in the 1760s than in the 1790s when you're against King George things are a little easier to get along than when you're trying to build your own nation and this is why there is no room for triumphalism of any kind including among Protestants or proto-protestants because we've contributed our own flaws we've contributed our own problems to the church that's what I talked about a lot of my video on Phillips shaft and you see it in protestantism today this uh significant Trend towards splitting and splitting and splitting and splitting and this is why I'm going to talk about this at a conference I'm speaking out in a few weeks the need when we're talking about reconstructing evangelicalism uh that's the conference theme the need for our criticisms of the church no matter how justified in this case criticizing evangelicalism but whether it be the Catholic medieval practice or whatever to be tempered with a sense of even-handedness and carefulness and even love um and that's why I focus on my channel and I renicism I believe that's needed in our day I believe it's needed within protestantism and I believe that it is not compromise to look at something and try to be careful even-handed and try to look for whatever good you can in the situation as well and and then acknowledging the errors of your own side and contemporary Protestants no matter how Justified our criticisms of the non-protestant Traditions that we differ from are we've got to look in the mirror because we've gotta we have contributed our own faults to the broader state of Christendom that we may be perhaps in a better position to try to heal because we because we have contributed them so we may be best positioned to try to bring repentance in that area so in all of that I think a study of the hussites is in order I think we can learn a lot from the 15th century scene in Bohemia I think there's lessons and lessons I think I think everything I've said in this video is just scratching the surface of just a wealth of help and information I hope this video will inspire somebody out there to do a PhD dissertation on the hussites maybe on whatever I don't know the an aspect of the Eucharistic theology their emphasis on women their emphasis on preaching something there's a lot more to be uncovered there it's a fascinating as with history it always is but this EP this chapter in the Christian story is especially fascinating so if this video does nothing else I just hope it generates some interest about this let me know what you think about the hussites about this video about the appeals that I've made as you can tell I feel so strongly that we need to know about these stories and not downplay them and it's helpful to understand the Eucharistic theology that was generating their reform efforts because I think it will undermine some of the more simplistic narratives that we sometimes hear about how the Protestant Reformation came along and sort of decentralized the Eucharist or something like that when as we've seen that's nearly the opposite of the case so thanks for watching this video everybody hope you enjoyed this let me know what you think in the comments and let's and I'll hopefully have more videos on the hussites to come but also hopefully others will be diving into this area as well God bless everybody foreign 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