I'm taking a history of Christianity class with an excellent professor. One of the things she makes us do again and again is to get out of our skin and try to look at the primary sources (like the writings of Luther or Erasmus, of the Spanish mystics, of Calvin, of the translators of the King James Bible, of the many Anabaptist groups) and really make out what exactly they were trying to say during the Reformation.
It's amazing how similar some of the writings of the Catholic reformers (especially in Spain) were to those of Luther and Calvin--so much so, that they were sometimes indistinguishable. However, one group stayed in the C.C. and the others led the Reformation. This class has really made me reconsider my gut reactions to other Christian denominations, although not necessarily my beliefs.
Have you ever had a moment when you realized that your understanding of other denominations was prejudiced? Was it through a personal encounter or through an intellectual discussion?
