I am not sure I get where you are going with this idea of an ahistorical theory.
What I think of immediately as applicable is the history of Israel in the Old Testament. God's Chosen made mistakes, real mistakes, and had to go through real needed corrections. Even to the place of displacement of the twelve tribes for a form involving mainly Judah.
How does this jive with your view on the Reformation and the Catholic continuity?
Things are different under the new testament, as I'm sure you know. We are no longer forced to search using only our own abilities. There is the Spirit now, released on Pentecost, which Catholics consider to be the birthday of the Church. For all of the political and adminstrative foibles it has, we still hold that on "matters of faith and morals" the vicar of Christ will not be permitted to err. And it is the longest lasting human institution on the planet, it spite of it's troubles. That's a history of Christ's presence in a unique way and we can learn from it. Absent that history Christ as a person is in danger of being seen only in the moment, or only in one life and thereby being less a person and more of an abstraction. Why? Persons ACT in time.
Protestants, too, consider Pentecost as the official beginning- it is included in their confession as "the holy catholic church" meaning the spiritual and universal unity of faith in Christ- rather than denominational idea.
I see now what you mean in terms of extending the person of Christ throughout His Body in the earth. This is something both streams share...of course there is a major difference on the doctrine of papel infallibility, but that does not interfere with the understanding of the major point.
You might find it interesting to read some of Parablemans stuff -on the topic of God's Sovreignty. I tend to differ on points that God controls all the events and choices. I'm a little rusty on this, but I seem to remember having trouble accepting events such as the Holocaust as being directly in God's Plan. I balance as well I can between the Calvinist and Arminian views.
In this I would say that the Reformation was not some kind of mistaken notion, but necessary to break the Church out of the morass that it found itself within. Believing that the Holy Spirit moves through any instrument of His choosing... even when it defies the papel authority.
That is what makes me protestant by definition rather than heredity. In this modern age Catholics do not face a crisis in following that authority.
But-truthfully- I have looked questioningly into the entire concept of revolution in light of God's Sovereignty and in view of how one deals with authority, when that authority goes bad.
You realize what this would necessarily do to the view of the American Revolution, though, right? although oopsie, I am talking to a Canadian
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