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Causes and impacts of the Protestant Reformation
Rise of the protestant reformation
Causes and impacts of the Protestant Reformation
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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. In 1541, John Calvin was invited to Geneva to put his reformed doctrine into practice. Calvin’s Geneva became a centrum for Protestant exiles, and his doctrines rapidly spread to Scotland, France, Transylvania and the low Countries. Dutch Calvinism became a religious and economic force for the next 400 years. In 1559 Elizabeth I took the …show more content…
The period 1550 to 1660 was a period of extreme dislocation and major change, within which saw periods boom and bust in various regions across Europe. This was followed by a much quieter period in the later 17th century that most economic historians would call recessionary. Along with the religious consequences of the Reformation and Counter Reformation came deep and lasting political changes. Northern Europe’s new religious and political freedoms came at a great cost, with decades of rebellions, wars and bloody
John Calvin produced the first defined the presentation on Protestantism, which was titled 'Institutes of the Christian Religion'. Sometime in 1522-1534, John had what he called a 'sudden conversion' and accepted Protestantism. The Town Council also accepted Calvin's Ecclesiastical Ordinances, which set up a theocracy in Geneva; a government based on Church rule. Calvin mainly believed in the absolute sovereignty of God, and the person's complete inability to contribute anything towards their own salvation. That second point is known as pre-destination.
The Reformation was a really important era in history and it came right after the Renaissance. The Renaissance was seen as a period where it was a time of religion, and art flourished. The Renaissance and the Reformation can be compared and contrasted because the Renaissance was a time of rebirth, and so was the Reformation, however the rebirth brought forth different ideas. Since during the Renaissance there was such a bond between religion and government it triggered the rebellion of many people within the countries. During the Renaissance when questions were raised that went against what the Church thought, The Catholic church pushed the idea that salvation could only be found in the church. However, a Christian monk from Eisleben in the Holy Roman Empire(Martin Luther, CCEL) named Martin Luther interpreted a bible passage stating "just shall live by his faith" to mean that faith alone would save their souls he began to challenge the church. This started the Reformation.
The protestant reformation of 16th century had both: immediate and long term effects. Thus, we can see that it was a revolution of understanding the essence of religion, and of what God is. The protestant reformation is said to a religious movement. However, it also influenced the economical, political and social life of people. The most global, short term effect of the reformation was the reevaluation of beliefs, and, as a result, the loss of authority of the Holy Roman Empire. The long term effects were: the emergence of new heretical movements, the declining of papacy, thus the reevaluation of people’s view on the church and life values.
From this, he derived the doctrine of Sola Scriptura, by which he judged all other doctrinal claims. The more notable Swiss movement during the reformation, however, was the Calvinist reformation in Geneva which was led by John Calvin, a French theologian born in 1509.19 Calvin wrote a well known work on Christian doctrine called the Institutes of the Christian Religion where he systematically laid out his doctrinal positions. Some of the unique distinctives of Calvinist thought included the denial of free will, affirmation of predestination, a unique view of the relation between church and state, and sola scriptura.20 In regard to free will, Calvin stated in his Institutes that “man is said to have free will, not because he has a free choice of good and evil, but because he acts voluntarily, and not by compulsion.”21 This is to say that although man does not have free will in the
Throughout the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries a movement called the Reformation took place in Europe. But merely being more than just another religious movement, the Reformation was the moment in history in which God showed His great power and Salvation to the world through the lives of men like John Wycliffe, John Huss, William Tyndale, Martin Luther and John Calvinmen which were determined to die if it was necessary for the Lord's causea moment in which two distinct forcesthe desire of learning and the rebirth of the Word of Godmade it possible for people to believe in the Bible as the only absolute source of wisdom and truth, putting it as the final authority over man and church. As stated in World History and Cultures by George Thompson and Jerry Combee, the story of how the Protestant Reformation began is a story of how brave men in a world dominated by the Holy Roman Empire "desperately searched for the truth about salvation and found it in the Bible and how they were willing to step out on the sole authority of God's Word, even if it meant to stand alone for what is right"(246). I think that Martin Luther clearly expressed this thought when he said,
The problems the church contributed to the Protestant Reformation were the selling of indulgences and abuse of the church and clergy. The sale of indulgences particularly were attacked by communities and rulers, especially when the sale of indulgences were for the benefits of the church, such as raising money to build a new St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. This financial abuse of the church brought about protests from many communities around Europe. Martin Luther’s famous Ninety-Five Theses was an argument against the sale of indulgences. Church law granted the clergy immunity from taxes, civic duty, and jurisdiction of civil courts. Simony, the buying of ecclesiastical privileges, was another abuse of clerical powers. As quoted in the textbook, “Rare was the late medieval German town that did not have complaints about the maladministration,
Luther argued that faith in Jesus Christ was the only necessary condition for salvation. Luther's ideas quickly gained popularity among the German people, who were dissatisfied with the Church's wealth and corruption. German princes and nobles, seeking to assert their independence from the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Emperor, supported the spread of Lutheranism. His teachings led to the formation of Lutheranism, a new branch of Christianity that emphasized scripture over tradition, faith over works, and the priesthood of all believers. The Reformation spread beyond Germany into other parts of Europe, with Protestant movements like Calvinism emerging in Switzerland and
The period of the Protestant Reformation was a troubling time for the Catholic Church. During this time the church was one of the most formidable organization throughout the land. The church had power, land, and was aligned with several influential people and governments. Any type of major change was difficult for the church to embrace. This is one reason why much of the doctrine and formalities remained the same for many years (west civ book). However, there were several men that had tried to change some of the principles throughout the church. The Reformation was not the work of a single person, but the work of many who over time disagreed with certain ideas that were either doctrine or beliefs that the church held. This made the Catholic church
The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation were major motivating factors in early modern Europe leading to exploration of new lands. This began with Martin Luther’s break from Catholic doctrine in 1519. By the time the Reformation came onto the European stage, Spain had already discovered the New World and started settling there. One of their goals was to establish colonies and convert the Natives to Catholicism, so that religion gained an early foothold in the New World. The Protestant Reformation taking place in England was driven by the Christian Church to return to the “purity of early Christianity.” This group was tired of the worldliness of the Roman Catholic Church that came about during the Renaissance age. Another major change was the printing press, which allowed quick access to Luther’s ideas. According to the text, “the printed word and the ability to read it were to become revolutionary weapons.” Out of Luther’s concepts came John Calvin who created Calvinism, which further refined Luther’s ideas. Both Calvinism and Lutheranism appealed to the common man.
The Thirty Years war (1618-1648) was a devastating one to be fought on the German soil before World War II. The Reformation that was started a century before had shattered the unity of Catholic Christendom. The Protestant church was divided into Lutheranism and Calvinism due to Reformation. The governing class of German states stood for Lutheranism. Martin Luther was the founder of Lutheranism. His teachings freed them from the interference of foreign Pope Sweden and Denmark –that were the countries that followed Lutheranism. John Calvin was the founder of Calvinism. The countries which followed Calvinism are Germany, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, and Austria. These two groups became a threat to Catholicism which led to Counter-Reformation. The Jesuits were most influential in Spain and Austria. The Thirty Years war took place in the name of God. But it’s only aim is to dominate, capture and suppress the opponent. There are also some other factors which led to the Thirty Years war. In 1618, the Habsburg dynasty was the major power in Europe. It ruled most part of Central Europe including Kings in Portugal and Spain. The elder most in the hierarchy of power is king and the youngest is in the House of Austria. Spain and France had political rivalry for past three centuries. The royal dynasty Bourbon belonged to France. The antagonism between Habsburg and Bourbon remained the most important
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
Prior to the 16th century, England was a country based around Catholicism. During the reign of King Henry VIII (1509-1547) England experienced a drastic religious change. The English Reformation of the Church used Protestant ideas that began to gain momentum throughout England in which Henry VIII was able to used these new radical ideas to benefit his own personal agenda. Henry worked to decrease the Church’s power, beginning with the realization that his wife, Catherine of Aragon, was unable to bare a son, in which he worked to demand that the Pope, who had to sign off on their marriage originally, annul his marriage to Catherine. As Henry’s push to reform the Church continued, citizens began to support his new ideas which resembled the Lutheran
The Catholic Counter Reformation, also known as the Catholic Revival, was an effort taken by the Roman Catholic Church to counteract the effects of the Protestant Reformation and keep it from spreading. The reformation begun by the Protestants aimed to change the inner workings of the Catholic Church, while the Counter Reformation aimed to keep practices and procedures the same. The Counter Reformation took place between the 16th and 17th centuries and began shortly after the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Context The reformation was a time of triumph, chaos and conflict. During the early part of the 16th century, Martin Luther turned the world upside down, catapulting it into a bitter war between Catholicism and Protestantism. The reformers wanted change, they were tired of the corruption and abuses of the church and by the mid-16th century, Europe was engulfed in struggle and conflict.
- How did the Protestant maintain almost a century of peace in Ireland during the Protestant Ascendancy?