How Did The Reformation Create A Religious Revolution

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Reform is the name designated to the religious movement initiated by Martin Luther, which lead to Protestantism. The religious division of the European continent of the time, which led to the Reformation, began in 1520, when the German monk Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X for Luther’s fierce criticism of the religious policies of the Popes and some members of the Church, who, for Luther, became merchants of Heaven and Salvation at a good price. Three years before, Luther himself had hung his diatribe, the famous ninety five theses, on the doors of the church of Wittenberg. This seemingly banal event was the trigger if the long process, which ended up in the division of the Church. A few months later, at the Diet of Worms (1521), …show more content…

It is because the Reformation was not a transition or a series of scheduled changes, but a true religious revolution with political aspects and effects; the Reformation broke the unity of the Western Church, produced new ecclesiastical forms and inaugurated a new era in the history of Christian spirituality. However, the word Reformation corresponds to the idea that its promoters were not the founders of a new religion, but an ideological intention to go back to the ancient Christianity, at a time when all the seeds of modernism were present. While it is the result of trends and personal aspirations and impatience widespread in Europe in the early sixteenth century, the Reformation receives an unmistakable effect on the personality, and therefore on his theology, of …show more content…

What makes Lutheran thought revolutionary is his radical formulation and coherence of its development. This leads to a systematic denial of the fundamental Catholic teachings and the Church itself as an institution under the name of God. Indeed, if only justifies, all priestly ministry is unnecessary, with exclusive powers to administer the sacraments, and to be an intermediary between God and man. Luther accepted as truly instituted by Jesus Christ only the sacraments of baptism and Eucharist. The revelation was contained only in the Bible and all Christians enlightened by the Holy Spirit were able to interpret it freely. This idea, which expressly rejected the tradition of the Church, caused the publication of numerous Bibles with no comments. The doctrines of the Reformation were synthesized in the slogan of Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, and Sola Scriptura – faith, grace and scripture

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