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The effects of the Protestant Reformation
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The effects of the Protestant Reformation
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Anna Dereje
Ms. Melanson
CP Modern European History
22 March 2016
Religious Motivation of the Spanish Inquisition
Introduction:
Since the dawn of time people have always believed in something higher than themselves. Whether it’s simply a belief or tradition, society as shown to put their politics aside and come to worship together. Today all around the world we have many different religions and under the First Amendment, United States citizens are able to freely worship their belief without the interference of the government. But that was not the case in Europe 1478. During this European Renaissance time, religion was a very important matter. There were many new religions starting and countries wanted to just have a dominant religion. The
The Church in England's Need for Considerable Reform in 1529 Many historians argue, that it is not true to say, that before the Reformation England was a land shrouded in the mists of ignorance; that there were no schools or colleges for imparting secular education till the days of Edward VI.; that there was no real religion among the masses, apart from practices such as pilgrimages, indulgences, and invocation of the saints; that the people were up in arms against the exactions and privileges of the clergy, and that all parties only awaited the advent of a strong leader to throw off the yoke of Rome. But there were a number of problems, which need to be considered. Many historians have argued that the people of the early 16th century agreed with Henry in his decision, to break with Rome because the church in England was a deeply unpopular institution. Anti-clericalism according to this line of argument was widespread.
The Act of Supremacy 1559 arguably was a key turning point in the relationship between Church and State in the 16th century because most of the changes it introduced were permanent. However, it could be said that it was not the only factor which contributed to the changing relations as the Act of Supremacy 1534, the role of key individuals and the changes under Edwards reigns played a significant role. This implies that the changing relationship between the Church and state in the 16th century was not a consequence of Act of Supremacy 1559 but all of them together.
In the 16th Century, Europeans had their faith shattered and were forced to realize that there was doubt in what they believed in. From the countless wars being fought in the name of religion, to the once great and wealthy countries that needed to reaffirm their place in the world, ‘all that they had once taken for granted was suddenly cast into doubt’ (446). Europeans were desperately searching for new foundations to put their faith in ‘in the face of intellectual, religious, and political challenges’ (446). This period is an example of the expression “Age of Doubt, Age of Uncertainty”.
The church’s robust grip on religious expression shattered as medieval society transitioned into a period known as the Reformation. Characterized by the rejection of common ideology, the Reformation sparked religious curiosity. Reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther offered interpretations of the Bible in direct opposition to the Catholic Church’s teachings, forcing Europeans to examine and formulate their own beliefs. This style of thinking was foreign to European society because up to this point in history Europeans were passive absorbers of Catholic Church ideology. Hence, it was natural that an era considered the Age of Enlightenment followed the period of rejection and questioning known as the Reformation.
In the Middle Ages, the Christian community 's hatred towards the Jews still remained as the Spanish inquisition had approached. The Jewish community was expelled from Spain because the church authorities had figured out that the Marranos, who were converted Jews, still practiced Judaism in secrecy. This is what the Christians took extreme offence to, and believed that the Jews were deliberately going against the church. The purpose of the inquisition was for the Catholic authorities to root out, suppress, and punish the Jewish heretics. The Christian community believed that the Jewish heretics were corrupting their society and wanted them removed. The inquisition was operated by the enraged Christian population themselves, as they drove the
The Inquisition, though it did not become the true instrument of torture and oppression popularized in movies and books until after the Reformation, began during the Middle Ages, in response to the unorthodox religious practices of a variety of different groups throughout Europe. The most threatening of these sects were the Cathars, who lived in what is now southern France. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what frightened the Church fathers most about this group, especially as those people who condemned the Cathars wrote the only surviving records and it was popular at the time to vilify anyone who held radically different religious views. As a result, all manner of horrible rituals and beliefs were associated with the Cathars, the milder of which included, as mentioned in a thirteenth-century chronicle, such apocrypha as “they said also, in their secret doctrine, (in secreto suo) that that Christ who was born in the visible, and terrestrial Bethlehem, and crucified in Jerusalem, was a bad man, and that Mary Magdalene was his concubine.”[1] In addition, they were accused of eating children and participating in orgies. But it is important to remember that during the Middle Ages, people often framed social problems in religious terms. The surviving confessions of Cathars charged with religious heresy reveal the religious establishment attempting not only to quell resistance to its authority, but also to prevent the breakdown of society as the Church perceived it to exist, whether the danger lay in loose sexual mores, a refusal to swear an oath, or less than orthodox religious views. At stake were a social hierarchy and a system of control that regulated everyday life and power r...
In present times there are laws about religion being separate from government. In medieval and renaissance times things were not the same. Religion played a big part in everyday life and also in huge government decisions. At the start of these religiously ruled times the only source of religious guidance was the Roman Catholic Church. Therefore the Roman Catholic Church was the leading power of the medieval times. There were some in the common crowd who decided that the Roman Catholic Church was wrong for wanting all the power and started fighting back. The names of a few of these people are Martin Luther, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Galileo Galilei. They were some of the famous theologists and scientist of their times and because of their research they were the most capable of fighting against the church. Martin Luther was the first of the three mentioned to start fighting the church, and it was Galileo Galilei who was at the tail end of them with Copernicus in the middle. The three of them, with a few of their colleagues, were able to steal the power of the church and give it to the people lower down the ladder through what the church called heretical and pernicious doctrine. With that doctrine and persistence the “thinkers” of the Middle Ages took power from the church and brought it to more deserving people and they were completely correct in doing so. This was the start of a religious revolution and also separation of church and state.
Religious reformation in Germany, France, and England transformed religious liberty at the cost of Western Christian unity. Leading up to this point, there is a build up of resentment against Catholic taxation and obedience to officials of the foreign papacy in other countries of Europe. As a result of this religious strife, an increasing amount of European political warfare occurs for over 100 years. Furthermore, as faith is being questioned against the ruling monarchs, no longer is politics the only party involved in war. Subsequently, a sense of humanistic revival is found in the 15th century, laying down the path for reform among religious authority in Germany, France, and England in the 16th century.
The 1500’s were a time of reformation and also a time of corruption in the church. The pope, Pope Leo X was one of the most corrupt popes because of his greed for money. The church was very wealthy during the protestant reformation promoting false beliefs to many people, but one man named Martin Luther changed that with his 95 theses because of his dislike for the wrongdoings from the Catholic church.
Proving to be the paramount of the conflict between faith and reason, the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century challenged each of the traditional values of that age. Europeans were changing, but Europe’s institutions were not keeping pace with that change.1 Throughout that time period, the most influential and conservative institution of Europe, the Roman Catholic Church, was forced into direct confrontation with these changing ideals. The Church continued to insist that it was the only source of truth and that all who lived beyond its bounds were damned; it was painfully apparent to any reasonably educated person, however, that the majority of the world’s population were not Christians.2 In the wake of witch hunts, imperial conquest, and an intellectual revolution, the Roman Catholic Church found itself threatened by change on all fronts.3 The significant role that the Church played during the Enlightenment was ultimately challenged by the populace’s refusal to abide by religious intolerance, the power of the aristocracy and Absolutism, and the rising popularity of champions of reform and print culture, the philosophes, who shared a general opposition to the Roman Catholic Church.
Before the 16th century Protestant Reformation, Christianity it Europe was in a questionable and somewhat corrupt state. During the mid 15th century central and western Europe was set up in the form of a hierarchy, which was headed by the pope. At this period in time the pope claimed all spiritual authority over Christians, as well as political authority over all inhabitants of the Papal States. In addition to the claims the pope made, the church also owned close to one-fourth of the land in Europe that lead to a strong centralization of papal authority. Close to all of the Europeans at this time were Christian and would pay taxes directly to the church as a result of this ownership. European Christians were taught in their upbringing that without the guidance and rituals of the priests and the church, there would be no path for them to salvation. Despite the church attempting to teach morality among members, the clergy started to become greedy and full of corruption that fueled their desire for ...
Essay: Analysis of Inquisitorial Trials As demonstrated by scholars such as Kagan and Dyer, Homza, and Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition was a highly organized and secretive institution used to police religious and social order. The trials of María Gonzalez and Pedro de Villegas demonstrate the dedication with which Inquisitors sought to persecute those who were outsiders in society and manipulate them into confessing their religious offenses. However, they also show that the Inquisition was not completely unmerciful- it operated with a legal process that afforded the accused an opportunity to provide evidence that would prove they were not guilty. Using these two cases, I will demonstrate these polarities and argue that the Spanish Inquisition
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.
Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834): In the late 1400s, Catholic Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand wanted to establish Spain as a Catholic country. They wanted everyone in their kingdom to be Catholic. The Spanish Inquisition was the Roman Catholic court to find the Muslims and Jews practicing their own religion against Christianity. In the year of 1492 the last Muslim country Granada fell to Spanish rule, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had completed the Reconquista and the Inquisition that affected many Jews, Muslims and Christians started taking serious effects.
Religious obedience is submitting to God through professing the vow of obedience, and the religious freely make his/her promises in front of their superior and the Christian faithful to be guided to live the life of perfection according to the constitution of the order. Psychologist defines obedience as a form of social influence executing an action demanded by the authority. The religious obeying their superiors see God in the superior. Therefore, God is the authority the religious is obeying, following, in the footsteps of Christ who obeyed the Father even unto death as Paul writes to the Phi: 2:8. If Christ obeys His Father to the point of death, it implies that obedience to the rightful authority is far deeper in meaning than the human mind could grasps.