Lutheranism Research Paper

614 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Protestant Reformation and European Politics

Politics played a pivotal role in the establishment of Lutheranism. As Luther’s ideas were gaining popularity, the Protestant Reformation began. Luther’s ideas eventually formed a sect of Christianity known as Lutheranism. Lutheranism gained popularity amongst humanists and university students. When the Catholic Church’s power began to decline, Charles V attempted to salvage the remaining power. He wanted to preserve the church and unite the Holy Roman Empire by merging all the city-states into one big country. The different heads of state and the princes within the Holy Roman Empire disliked Charles V’s idea, because it would take power out of their hands. Thus, the princes started supporting Lutheranism because it was the only opposition to the Catholic Church and Charles V’s plan. In …show more content…

The different princes and heads of state banded together and formed the Schmalkaldic League. The Schmalkaldic League was a Lutheranism alliance between the different cities’ princes’ to work and fight together if they were ever attacked by Charles V. As an attempt to solve the conflict that arose early during the Reformation, a temporary arrangement was proposed between the different heads of state and Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. Charles V attempted to persuade the Lutherans on coming back to the Catholic Church and asked the princes if they would allow Roman Catholicism or Lutheranism to be practiced within their regions. It was a temporary settlement that led to the Schmalkaldic Wars, which lasted a year. The Schmalkaldic Wars was an ongoing clash between Charles V and the Schmalkaldic League. Despite the League’s loss in the war, Lutheranism still spread and gained more popularity. Lutheranism in German politics resulted in equal legal rights for Lutherans and Roman Catholics. German leaders also chose the religion of its land, rather than a Church imposing its rule and power over

Show More
Related

  • Calvinism Dbq

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the period between 1500 and 1700 different Protestant ideals and religions such as the views of Luther, Henry VIII, and Calvinism reflected varying degrees of closeness between church and state. Luther's views of the state being above the church represented a distance between the church and state that many other Protestant religions at the time did not have. Henry VI and Calvinism on the other hand, intertwined the church and state so that their relationship was much closer. Calvinism went much further than just intertwining church and state though; it became a complete combination: the church working as state.

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Dbq Essay

    598 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social and economic stresses of The Protestant Reformation age were just among few of the things that impacted the ordinary population of Europe. The Protestant Reformation was the 16th-century religious, political, and cultural disorder that divided Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the ordinary population. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. In 1555 The Peace of Augsburg allowed for the coexistence of Catholicism and Lutheranism in Germany; and in 1648 Treaty of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years’ War. The key ideas of the Reformation, a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, should be the sole source of spiritual authority. However, Luther and the other reformers became the first to skillfully use the power of the printing press to give their ideas a wide audience.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Women In Martin Luther's 95 Theses

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    German princes yearned for land, power, and wealth and the ideas Lutheranism contained gave them all of that. Lutherans believed that taxes should be paid to the rulers of the land, which would be the German Princes, instead of the church, like Catholics believed in. Also, if the Lutheranism was to be the true religion then the princes would own all of the church’s land. This was enough for them to support Luther. Free Cities, or imperial cities are cities that are not controlled by a prince. Merchants, lawyers, and literate folk made up the majority of these towns. Residents of

    Read More

  • Age of Doubt In Europe in the 16th Century

    887 Words  | 2 Pages

    The wars going on throughout Europe through this era were claiming territories through conquest, marriage alliances, or inheritance agreements on the basis of religious uniformity (429). In the 1540’s Germany’s Charles V set into motion attacks against the German princes who were proponents for Lutheran worship. This failed due to the financial taxing of the war Germany had going on with France as well as the fear that the oppression of the Lutheran prices would be similarly done to the Catholic princes in time. In 1955 the Peace of Augsburg was instituted, stated that where Lutherans ruled, Lutherism would be the religion, and the same for Catholic regions. This treaty, while successful in Germany, would set the standard of division of religion throughout Europe (430–431).

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Martin Luther And The Datin Church

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    Martin Luther 's, a Catholic monk, problem with the Latin Church is he believed they weren’t true Christians and were doing things unbiblical. Luther believed getting into Heaven was that the only way to get into Heaven was through to have faith and love in God. He also believed a process the Catholica would use called purchasing indulgences. Indulgences was paying a fee to get yourself or a loved one out of purgatory and into heaven but it really was basically a fundraiser. Luther believed it took money from the poor who needed it needlessly. The Church also had a high price on viewing relics again for the same power the money was to build the Catholic Church but it was taught to be to get closer to God. Luther was devoted to finding

    Read More

  • Reasons That Led Martin Luther's Protestant Reformation

    384 Words  | 1 Pages

    Born in Germany, in 1483, Martin Luther went on to become one of western history’s most significant figure. Luther spent his early life as a priest and a lawyer. He was also the professor of theology. Considering his background it was a total surprise that Luther protested and criticized the catholic church. Even more surprising since he was a priest. However, Martin Luther didn’t want to destroy the church after all he was a priest. He just wanted to reform some of the church’s perceived abuses. There are different reasons that sparked Martin Luther’s protestant reformation, namely. 1) salvation or getting to heaven, was won by faith alone, 2) the selling of indulgences, 3) the bible

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Martin Luther's Letter To The Christian Nobility Of The German Government

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    The political organization and religion aspects during the 16th century influenced Protestant Reformation to occur in Germany. Martin Luther’s writings reflect on his views and perspectives of German politics and religion at the time. Martin Luther’s ideas in the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation and The Statement of Grievances mentions Martin Luther’s thoughts about how corrupt the church is, why the corruption in the church needs to end, and what Martin Luther’s ideas are to change the way of the church.

    Read More

  • The Thirty Year's War: The Adbalance Of The Thirty Years War

    1374 Words  | 3 Pages

    The war started out as a dispute over a declaration by Duke Ferdinand and escalated to a large-scale war between Catholic versus Protestant, Calvinist, and Lutheran religions. While the war began due to religious motivation, the war ultimately ended up being a political tool used to limit the Hapsburg power in Spain. France, a Catholic power, and other anti-Catholic entities throwing their support behind Gustavus Adolphus, who was a deeply religious Protestant fighting the largely Catholic Spain. This led to a division of the Holy Roman Empire and left Germany divided as Sweden, France, and the Catholic Church carved out their territories through political means to increase their own party’s

    Read More

  • Martin Luther's Impact on Germany

    1453 Words  | 3 Pages

    d to complain of the oppression. They were being heavily taxed for the war with the Ottoman Empire, leaving them little more but serfs. Princes were spurred by the opportunities of more money and land. Greed adopted the Lutheran cause. As the movement increased, during the 1530s the movement became more and more in the Princes hands, making it a much more political cause.

    Read More

  • Martin Luther And The Protestant Reformation

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    All of Europe used to be united under one religion, Catholicism. Europe started inching away from Catholicism during the 13th - 15th centuries. The church leaders started to only think about money and the power they held, instead of the real reason they were supposed to be there, God. This caused an uprising of people who no longer wanted to be a part of the Catholic church, nicknamed Protestants because they protested the ways of the catholic church. The Protestant Reformation was caused by corruption in the church, Martin Luther and John Calvin’s ideas, and the clergy and their preachings.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Effects Of The Protestant Reformation

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are so many causes from the Protestant Reformation. In the Protestant, there was three different sections that got affected more the the others. When the Protestant Reformation happened it affected the Sociality, Political, and Economic the most.

    Read More

  • Protestant Reformation Argumentative Essay

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Protestant Reformation succeeded in changing the religious and social development throughout Europe in the six-tenth century. However, changing the religious and social developments was not Martin Luther’s main goal. His goal was to only reform the Catholic Church. Even though there are competing views, the Reformation succeeded because it changed the Catholic Church is run. The Reformation also led to the birth of new religions. Another reason the Protestant Reformation changed social developments was because it opened the doors for the lower class people.

    Read More

  • The Reformation

    1917 Words  | 4 Pages

    Luther decided to act upon the reformation due to his theological issue with the church; the church was not selling indulgences. During his time with the reformation, Luther created Lutheranism; a practice based on his own beliefs. Luther’s reformation was a great success and many reformers were to follow his footsteps. Many years later, a reformer known as John Calvin, born in 1509 in France, intended to be a priest until he heard of Luther’s ideas while in France. Calvin agreed with some of Luther’s ideas and disagreed with others, which is why he... ...

    Read More

  • The Decline of the Holy Roman Empire

    3130 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Holy Roman Empire was an empire in central Europe consisting of many territories and ethnicities. Once very powerful, the empire’s authority slowly decreased over centuries and by the Middle Ages the emperor was little more than a figurehead, allowing princes to govern smaller sections of the empire. Though the various ruling princes owed loyalty to the emperor, they were also granted a degree of independence and privileges. The emperor, an elected monarch, needed the allegiance of the princes and other aristocracy to support him, in turn giving them power or money. This tenuous allegiance between powers was greatly strained in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as religious reform dominated Europe and religious tensions divided the empire. Beginning in the sixteenth century, the empire’s power significantly declined because of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation split the empire’s states into Protestant and Catholic divisions, straining the peace between territories. Though the relationship between the princes and the emperor had already been tenuous, the princes, seeing the religious divisions, sensed weakness in the empire and further challenged imperial authority. The Holy Roman emperors battled Protestant princes in Germany into the seventeenth century, where tensions were still high from the Reformation and wars of religion – initially contained to the German territories – began to include other territories and states. As more European states joined the conflict, the Holy Roman Empire continued to deteriorate. From the early sixteenth to the mid seventeenth century, the Holy Roman Empire’s power declined greatly because of its internal religious rifts, conflicts (in particular the Thirty Years War, whic...

    Read More

  • How Did Lutheranism Grow During The Protestant Reformation

    623 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion has been one of the most influential parts of history throughout the world, and one of the most worshipped and followed religions in the world Is Christianity. However, even large religions such as Christianity have faced divisions and reforms based on different beliefs. Each branch believes in God and the main Christian ideals, but each branch has a slightly different take on the religion based on what they think the religion should be like. Lutheranism is one of the many branches of Christianity that was established during the Protestant Reformation, and this particular branch has proven to be significant throughout world history.

    Read More

More about Lutheranism Research Paper

Open Document