The Impact Of The Reformation Of Europe

Reformation of Europe can be regarded as one of the largest religious movement in history. This time of turmoil caused Europe to re-evaluated the catholic church and to determine if the catholic church was corrupt. Truly a time of religious conflict, Europe was split between a myriad of religious beliefs varying from calvinism to catholicism. Before the sixteenth century, catholicism was the popular religion in Europe. Yet the Reformation changed the way people looked at religion as well as reshaped the religious duties of the common man. As Steven Ozment argues in his book, When Fathers Ruled, that the Reformation of the catholic church also changed the way that the modern family was perceived. Additionally, the Reformation changed how women

Marriage in Europe during the sixteenth century was very confusing because some people viewed it as nonessential while other thought it to be necessary. The view of marriage shifted tremendously in the direction of it being necessary for any religious person. However, the bigger issue was determining whether marriage was controlled by the church or the government. Catholics saw marriage as an authority of the church while protestants viewed marriage to be maintained by government. It was determined that the government had entire control over the institution of marriage because it was not considered a sacrament. This created the Zurich Courts which was for marriage and divorce petitions. Divorce was another topic of concern because it was extremely controversial in the sixteenth century. It was mostly controversial because it was unclear what was considered grounds for a divorce. Many questions whether adultery and desertion were the only grounds for divorce or was there other reasons for a divorce. Additionally, remarriage raised the vexed question: should a divorced couple be allowed to remarry. under the protestant church, a couple was permitted to remarry after six months of divorce or

The sixteenth century is confusing because the way of life changes because of the Reformation. One example is how women were viewed and treated. Ozment does a very good job of clearing the confusion regarding life in Reformation Europe. He does this by explaining the parts of life that the Reformation changed like marriage and gender roles. This book also contributes valuable knowledge about Reformation Europe by using a lot of primary sources. This field is popular because it is one of the largest religious movements in history. There are many other authors, like Steven Ozment, who write about Reformation Europe. This makes it hard to contribute something because there is already a lot contributed to the field. However, Ozment contributes very thorough analysis about family life which is what is unique about When Fathers