Martin Luther Dbq

Prompt: Compare and contrast the motives and actions of Martin Luther in the German states and King Henry VIII in England in bringing about religious change during the Reformation.

During the 16th century as renaissance inspired changes in education and art ,humanist ideas also impacted religion. Major dissatisfaction with the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions made it easier for people to trigger a movement to reform the church and its teachings. There were two reformers Martin Luther, a german theology professor, who came to realise a new comprehension of Christianity, and King Henry VIII, who desired divorce which he could not get because of the disapproval of the Catholic Church. While the motives of their strong persuasion of

Martin Luther believed that salvation wasn’t reached by the traditions that Church taught to follow but by “Faith alone,grace alone, Scripture alone” a saying that is used to summarize his ideal. What triggered his will to speak out about his new understanding was when Pope Leo X authorized the selling of indulgences, a document that if purchased will shorten the amount of time one spends in the purgatory. Other factors of anticlericalism were also important in the start of his protest against the Catholic Church, but the sale of indulgences that was even conducted in his hometown made it clear to him that Church does not care about the poor or the people in general but rather wants to advance its grip in power. For the above reasons, Luther believed that a change in the customs of the Catholic Church must take place. However English monarch Henry VIII had individual reasons for such an inspired fight for the separation from the church. He had long set eyes upon Anne Boleyn, a maid of honor to his current wife Catherine of Aragon, and tried to seduce her into becoming his mistress despite her restraining from that. He decided to annul his marriage to Catherine but Pope Clement VII declined his request due to Henry VIII being already granted a right to marry Catherine of Aragon, the wife of his dead sibling. Henry VIII could not

Martin Luther created a whole new branch and the first one out of many that differed from catholicism greatly. Soon after the creation of protestantism, also known as lutheranism, many other branches broke off from Catholicism like calvinists, anabaptists, methodists, and many more. He also was the reason that the Catholic church got together to create the Holy Office and initiate the Catholic Reformation, otherwise known as the counter-reformation. He also was a factor in many peasant revolts like the German Peasant revolts. Likewise, King Henry VIII triggered the new branch from lutheranism called anglican, and the church called The Anglican Church which still lives to this day. He also paved way to a new reformed branch called the puritans, which were concerned of purifying the english church of any catholic influence left. This also resulted in many succession issues as the successors to the throne were catholic and protestants. Also many wars between the branches sprung from there. Whilst they had different initial reasons and they had carried out different actions in order to reform Christianity, they had come to create different branches and set into action the forever going changes in that