How did the Protestant Reformation shape society in 16th century Western Europe? When looking back at the Protestant Reformation, what caused society to struggle in 16th century Western Europe? The Protestent Reformation changed how people saw religion from the words of the Pope and Council, but also showed how the printing press spread the word of the Bible. The lower levels of hierarchy and the towns outside reach of the Bible were given the word of God and this shaped what is now known as Christianity. From the words of Martin Luther, a German priest, the Pope and Council altered God’s words, but how did this cycle back into the hardships the people faced in these times? Martin Luther, a German priest, author, and professor, brought up a valuable question. Was the Pope misusing the words of God? Luther wrote up his recent discoveries and opinions into a total of 95 thesis statements. Luther stated in one of his many statements, “I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other.” (Document 1, Luther) He clearly argues that he can no longer submit his faith to the Pope and Councils because their words were simply contradicting each other's claims. Luther began to praise God on his own, vetoing the words of the Pope and Council and following the words …show more content…
He took the words of God, and made them his own, changing their meaning. After these sudden changes, Martin Luther said, “The main reason I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the head of the Church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and authority. He said, “..although Christ is the head of the Church, there must be a physical head of the Church upon earth.” (Document 5, Luther). As Luther said, this could not be tolerated. The Pope was taking the role of God and giving himself the
Luther challenges the Catholic Church in 1517 and 1535 because they abuse their power by stealing money from the Catholics with indulgences and increasing papal power over the whole world. Luther wanted to let people know that the Church was taking advantage of them at the time and that they do not deserve that. Luther says he “grieves over the wholly false impressions which the people have conceived from them,” meaning that the Church has told them lies about the indulgences by making them believe they should give all their money to get into heaven (Document A). Luther was trying to let people know they shouldn’t be treated like this because this is the religion they have chosen to believe. In 1535, Luther says that “the pope may well be,
Theses are statements that Martin Luther made himself to criticize the church for their wrongdoings. He made the situation go public by posted the statements on the front door of the German Church.
As Luther is fighting the corrupt Papacy he writes this, “Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it.” Luther writes this to show what true religion is, to show what a truly faithful person should do, believe in their God and give him every bit of faith from someone's person. The Papacy hates Luther not because he is wrong, but because he is right, which means if Luther was right and the masses believed him all the power that was held by the church would crumble into nothing; most importantly though the Papacy members personal power would crumble into nothing. During the early phases of the Reformation, Luther wrote the 95 Theses, which described everything he found wrong with the church at this time. The Theses was the catalyst, which set off the ticking time bomb of corruption and irreverence.
Luther thought that the Catholic’s had too many rules. Another, main person was King Henry VIII which he made the Church of England. The people that went to the Church of England were called Protestants, also called Anglicans. Henry defied the authority of the pope. His actions angered English catholics.
Luther also disagreed with the fact the Roman catholic Church worship “ higher authority” instead of God. Two of his beliefs were sola Fide and Sola Scripture. These two beliefs stated
Luther's impact can be seen here, as well, since he told people to read the bible for themselves, which was exactly what the church didn't want. The Church feared any sort of threat that could rise against them. As Document 4 states, “I recognize the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church as the Mother and mistress of all churches; and I vow and swear true obedience to the Roman
Martin Luther was Augustin monk who was sent to Rome as a reward for all his hard work and dictation to his faith. When he arrived in Rome notice all the corruption of the Catholic Church by selling Indulgence (Remission before God of a temporal punishment due to one’s own sins, but they are already forgiven) this was not the primary issue Luther had with the Church. Desiderius Erasmus one of Europe most famous and influential scholar agrees with Martin Luther in some of his arguments. They agree upon that “no one has enough merits to save themselves” anyone who donated to the Catholic Church in either their time or money would receive a reduced sentence in purgatory after they die for the sins they committed. The Church was drawing from the
Martin Luther was able to break christianity into two denominations, Catholic and Protestant. “Background: The Reformation” states that Martin Luther, worked under the Pope as a young naive monk. The church sold indulgences. Indulgences are a guaranteed ticket into heaven that is extremely expensive. Martin knew this was wrong, and cautiously explained to the Pope how indulgences go against Christianity's beliefs.
Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole
In 1518, “...the pope condemned Luther’s writings as conflicting with the teachings of the Church” and some called it heretical (History.com Staff). The pope told him to renounce his belief, to which Martin Luther refused. In response, “Luther said he would not recant unless scriptures proved him wrong” (Martin Luther Biography). He also made comments about how he believed the higher powers in the church didn’t have the power or knowledge to interpret scripture. By doing this he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.
In these vows, he pledged "obedience to God, to Mary, and to the prior general of the Order." Nowhere in these vows did he pledge to obey the Pope or the papacy. He went on to challenge the power held by the Pope and faced all of the difficulties that come with challenging the known authority. By 1517, Luther penned a document calling out the Catholic Church for its corruption through indulgences. His "Ninety-Five Theses" proposed two ideas: that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans can only reach salvation through faith, not deeds.
Luther believed that faith alone was enough for a person to be saved, or justification by faith. This was the beginning of Luther's revolution in the Church, which would later become known as the Protestant Reformation. In his 95 Theses, Martin Luther urged the Archbishop of Mainz to investigate what was going on in the Church and specifically argued against the practice of self-indulgence. As it turns out, these statements angered Pope Leo, who asked Luther to abandon his 95 Theses, which he refused to do. He spoke very simply, but he made sure he was prioritizing the authority and knowledge of the bishop over himself.
Before Martin Luther got known as an important figure in the German country, mostly everyone believed that God was number one and God will be right all the time. However with the idea that Martin Luther came up, everyone started to follow the idea of Luther knowing that God isn’t number one. There is no need to go to the Catholic Church and if you want to speak to God, you will not have to go to the Priest and talk with him. He believed that you are able to communicate with God in person. In Source 1, it talks about how Martin Luther was thinking about the difference between “justice of God” and “the just shall live by faith”.
People soon began to side along with Luther. The Catholic exiled him, but Luther did not stop there. He translated the Bible into
Luther started his movement as a monk looking for answers about salvation, unlike Erasmus who started as a Christian humanist. Luther didn’t mean to reform the church at first. Luther first wanted to reform the church by getting rid of indulgences, However, Erasmus’ main target was the clergy and did not mention indulgences often. Additionally, Erasmus’ main belief was the philosophy of Christ, which means that he thought Christianity should guide one through their daily life and not be a system of doctrines. Luther most likely disagreed with this since he supported many doctrines of his time.