We had a Reformation Era Church Council in HIST 308-Age of Renaissance and Reformation on November 5. Undergraduate students–many of them in costumes–portrayed many of the great figures of the Reformation: Martin Luther, Teresa of Avila, John Calvin, Elizabeth I, and more. A graduate student portrayed Emperor Charles V, who called the council to decide which among six competing faiths of the Reformation Era he would choose as the one faith for his extensive domains in the Americas and in Europe. Guards barred the doors as Charles V began calling witnesses to help him sort through three key issues hotly debated among different churches–what happens at the Eucharist; baptism; and the role of clergy and clerical celibacy–to help him make his decision. 
Accompanying the fiery outbursts of John Knox and the more reserved reflections of Margaret Fell, council highlights included Charles V ordering the guards to eject Anabaptist leader Thomas Muntzer from the council for his unwillingness to accept secular authority; Pope Paul III excommunicating Elizabeth I as a heretic; and Quaker leader James Naylor providing his testimony in difficult-to-understand speech because his tongue had been bored through for blasphemy.