During the sixteenth century, in what is now modern day Germany, people began to challenge the Holy Roman Catholic Church and its practices. The period in time was called the Reformation and over time had spread over Europe. This period was brought on due to the extravagance, immoral happenings of the clergy, and greed of the church. Before the Reformation in the 1500’s, criticism of the church was already in motion. One of the most notable being The Praise of Folly, written by Christian Humanist Erasmus, who was disillusioned with the church and the pope at the time, where he ridiculed the extravagance of the Roman Catholic Church. In the play he also had written about Pope Julius II and how when he died he would not be accepted into heaven. One of the more noticeable jabs at the pope is seen when the spirit mentions that perhaps Julius had …show more content…
brought the wrong key, the one that went to his money-box, instead of the key of knowledge.
While this piece was written for Erasmus’s friend Thomas More, The Praise of Folly had been put into mass circulation with the help of the printing press. This had led Northern Europe into a more conscious awareness of the church. Then in 1515, the church began to sell indulgences, pieces of paper sanctioned by the church that claimed to expunge sins from a person’s immortal soul and lessen their time in purgatory and save them from Hell. The profits earned by the indulgences went to the funds for St. Peter’s Basilica, which Pope Leo X hoped to reconstruct. The church’s main seller was John Tetzel, a Dominican Friar. In one of his sermons from 1515, he spoke of how hard it was to attain salvation without divine aid. This aid, he claimed, came in the form of indulgences that
could liberate their souls from the hands of evil, but this of course came with a price. He did say however that if people are willing to pay for their funds to be intact when they travel to Rome, should you not be willing to pay only a fourth of a florin for your immortal soul safe and sound in Heaven. He said this not for the actually preservation of a person’s soul but so he could continue to sell and profit from indulgences. This abuse by the church and other instances, such as clerical immorality (infidelity), led to Martin Luther, who was against the sale of indulgences and the practices of the church, to post his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg. These theses stated the displeasure Martin Luther had against indulgences and the church. He said that indulgences could not free one’s soul from their sins and instead would actually damn themselves and the sellers. He also stated that Christians should help those in need, such as the poor, and that would help them better than the pardons. These theses were printed, without his knowledge, and spread throughout Germany. This led people to question the church and brought upon more supporters of the Reformation. For example another supporter for the Reformation was German Nobleman Ulrich von Hutten, who was angry with church and how they continued to take Germany’s wealth for their own wants. Von Hutten said that despite that Germany had no gold and little silver that did not stop the Catholic Church with their schemes to take the money from the Germans for the most selfish reasons. Such as Leo the Tenth giving the money to his relatives, cardinals, and to promote pluralism (holding multiple offices) and simony (buying into offices). To fix this he said that if they were driven out of Germany, they should again have their wealth and the ability to keep it. Like the Reformation in Germany and the surround areas (such as Switzerland and France), the English Reformation ended with a new denomination such as: Lutheranism and Calvinism for the former and the Church of England for the latter. This change was brought upon the fact the pope refused to grant King Henry VIII an annulment from his first wife Catherine of Aragon. In retaliation to the denial of his divorce Henry had passed the Act in Restraint of Appeals (1533) which made him the supreme head of England, the Act of Submission of the Clergy (1534) that stated the clergy must submit to the monarch, and finally the Supremacy Act (1534) that made the king head of the Church of England. Finally, the Reformation brought the flaws of the Roman Catholic Church into light. These flaws, such as the greed and immoral practices of the clergy, led to the church losing some of their overall power in Europe, especially in places such as England and Germany.
...ding himself, then someone else is. Those who hold a higher rank to him and have more power in the world can easily manipulate an unguided man. If Erasmus had not saved the Europeans from the corruption of the Church, there would be no telling how today’s Europe would be characterized as. He defined what it meant to be a true follower of God.
The practice of selling indulgences became under attack from a monk named Martin Luther in the early 1500’s. Indulgences were used as a means by many church officials to add to their wealth and prestige. By buying an indulgence, one was released for all sin and acceptance into Heaven guaranteed. Luther argued that no one needed to buy admission into Heaven. He believed that people could obtain salvation thru their faith and actions alone. The authority of the Pope was also challenged by Luther believing that religious matters needed to be resolved through the words of the Bible and not an individual’s decision. All of this was set down in Luther’s 95 Thesis that he posted on the Church door in Wittenberg, Germany ("The Reformation Video").
The Reformation occurred all over Western Europe. It was mostly set in Germany where various parts of corruption in the Church happened. Martin Luther started the process of the Reformation, he was German so he understood how the Catholic Church took advantage and didn't think this was fair. The Catholic Reformation took place between 1450-1650 which was the biggest revolution in Germany, although the understanding of Luther's actions weren't taken notice of until he put the 95 Theses on the Church's door. Luther felt that Bishops and Priests didn't understand the bible correctly. Luther wanted the Reformation to help fix this by helping the uneducated and powerless. Some of the movement of this was
The Protestant Reformation was a period of time (1500-1700) where there became a change in Western Christendom. This reformation was caused by the resentment from the people because the Catholic Church abusing their powers for political and economic advances. In this time the church was selling pardons for sin and indulgences to forgive sins, decrease days spent in purgatory and save the dead from damnation. The reformation was when people became more aware with the back hand dealings with the church and men like Martin Luther and John Calvin created their own churches to what they believed was not corrupt unlike the church. Unfortunately there many consequences as far at the Roman Catholic church attempting to bring people back to the church,
He was the man that formed the base of the Protestant Reformation. Luther knew he had to take action on this convictions immediately. So on behalf of the rebellion against indulgences and other Catholic doctrine, Luther created a “ Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences” or more commonly known as “The 95 Theses.” The 95 Theses were a list of topics to discuss and propose the idea of indulgences. Or as some people would say to protest the sale of the indulgences of the Roman Catholic Church. The main seller of these indulgences was a man named John Tetzel who had promised the Christians that by paying they were “instantly” saved from sin. Legend says that on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses were nailed onto the doors of the Wittenberg Castle Church. Luther knew that this revolt was not violent, but was only intended to educate
Originally meant for private circulation, the Praise of Folly, by Desiderius Erasmus, scourges the abuses and follies of the various classes of society, especially the church. It is a cold-blooded, deliberate attempt to discredit the church, and its satire and stinging comment on ecclesiastical conditions are not intended as a healing medicine but a deadly poison.
The reformation is generally associated with the publication of Martin Luther ninety five theses. It was his way to show the protest against the “business” made on religious people: the Holy Roman Empire was earning money on selling people indulgences. Martin Luther got the support of German princes, who were on the same side, but with different motives (they wanted to get autonomy). Luther was the great part of reformation, his influence was immediate, and people listened to him. One of the immediate effects of reformation can be observed in the development of that times writers. For example, Francois Rabelais satirized church, writing about their “business” in humorous way. The other writers, like Erasmus wrote more specifically about the pappy and their role in the lives of ordinary Christians. The major short term of reformation was about the informational acknowledgement, Luther told people the truth about the papacy and their actions, and the reaction of people was immediate: the loss of respect to church, papacy. These results were really strong, because people felt that, all the dogmas...
To construct Saint Peters Basilica, Archbishop Albert borrowed money from the Fuggers (wealthy banking family). To pay for this loan Pope Leo X gave permission to Archbishop Albert to sell indulgences in Germany. An indulgence is a way to reconcile with God, by confessing your sins to a priest and perform a penance. By the later Middle Ages people believed that indulgence removed all their sins and ensured entry to heaven. The selling of indulgence troubled Luther, he thought people were ignorant to believe that they didn’t have to repent after they bought an indulgence.
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.
On November 24, 1694, Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet to an upper middle-class family in Paris, France. Throughout his life, Voltaire wrote numerous philosophical works including poems, plays, and books. Next to Montesquieu, Locke, Rousseau and others, Voltaire is known as one of the greatest French Enlightenment writers. His works, and the works of other Enlightenment writers, influenced both the French and the American revolutions.
In 1517, when reformist Martin Luther wrote an indictment of the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church called the 95 Theses, he appealed to many people across Europe. In his indictment he greatly criticized and addressed the selling of indulgences above all. At first, a person would have to do “work of satisfaction” like fasting, prayer, almsgiving, retreats and pilgrimages in return for an indulgence. But when the empire was in need of money to fight off the Ottoman Empire and rebuild St. Peter’s in Rome, the pope allowed indulgences to be sold for money where he would receive half the proceeds and the other half would go to funding. This is when Luther was even more angered by the selling of indulgences since he already believed that salvation could not be obtained by man’s own effort, but more the fact that man would be saved only if God willed it. It was that event that prompted the German monk to post his ideas and beliefs as the 95 Theses and address the abuse of selling indulgences in it.
15 Cassirer, 15. 16 Cassirer, 171. 17 Cassirer, 136. 18 Cassirer, 164. 19. Cragg, Gerald R. The Church and the Age of Reason, 1648-1789.
In Praise of Folly – This is, to put it mildly, a satirical work from 1509 that has Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam as its author. To give a general overview of this excerpt, it is a humorous attack on various groups such as the clergy, the monastics, and the theologians of the medieval period and into the beginning years of the Reformation. Erasmus is a member of the Church of Rome, although his attitude in this piece suggests that he is ashamed to be so.
Erasmus believed that no other institution could replace the Roman faith, and instead “...the Catholic infrastructure could be set aright if he brought his wisdom to bear on its flaws”(183). Erasmus believed that his wisdom could reform the Church’s flaws and there was only madness in the civil war that was approaching. Erasmus continued to publish works that expressed that the Church needed to be reformed until his death, afterwards he was labeled as a
Think of a person, any person. It could be a close associate or simply a fond acquaintance. Now think of every adjective that could possibly be used to describe that individual. Did the word “perfect” happen to be one of those descriptions? Odds are that it was not. If it was then a reevaluation might be in order because that analysis contradicts with the self-evident truth found in the person’s humanity, the individual's predisposition to faults. Nonetheless, we tend to overlook the faults in people in order to maintain a happy relationship with them. Erasmus addresses this phenomenon in his work titled Praise of Folly. In this satirical piece, Erasmus utilizes the narrator Folly in order to address societal issues in an ironic fashion. One of the social deceptions Folly speaks of lies within the confines of relationships as it specifically relates to friendship, marriage, and family.