The Reformation Prior to the Reformation, the Catholic Church stretched its power religiously, socially and politically. Politics were heavily influenced by the Catholic Church and their officials. The rise of religion was one of the most prodigious revolutions in the 16thcentury and is known as the Reformation. Peasants in Germany had carefully organized revolts plans in order to spread social reforms. Protestants broke off from the Catholic Church and became independent during the Reformation. This ushered in the Modern Age since the unity of people’s religion was separated. People became interested in religious beliefs that suited them best. Since there was diversity in these interests, it caused for new political, social, and economic …show more content…
Luther’s revolt influenced many people and especially those in Germany. His main purpose of the revolt was to gain independence from the Catholic Church. Luther stated that the Church at the time was selling indulgences to its followers and with this he used it as an excuse to attempt to gain independence from the Church. This quickly brought up heated trouble and caused him to be excommunicated from the Church by Pope Leo X. Directly after his excommunication from the church, King Charles V declared Luther to be an enemy. Luther then fled to his mainland after being named an enemy. With this, Luther attracted to himself powerful followers and supporters as well as powerful enemies. When the Pope noticed the attention Luther was gaining, he wanted Charles V off the imperial throne and to maintain unity in Germany. Luther gained more followers each day by his writings and teachings. Luther wrote the Admonition to Peace which appealed to the poor classes and peasants . The Admonition of Peace consists of a series of articles that encourage the readers to detach themselves from the Catholic Church and to be free. Luther is idolized by the poor because he stands up for them while he promotes his own ideologies for independence. This brought the support from German princes and cities. Many of the German princes were convicted by Luther’s teachings and converted to …show more content…
Previously, the Church was dominant and the Pope’s power stretched throughout Europe. When Luther catalyzed the division between the Church, two different ideologies were formed that could not coexist under one church. The Pope lost control over all that denied being Catholic and could no longer tax them. Powerful princes and monarchs stepped in to replace the empty seats for power that Protestants and Catholics were fighting for. Protestants and Catholics could not unify which caused for the separation of church and state. Without a set moral standard that the church could legislate over everyone, monarchs came to power to create their own for their states. Monarchies rose as the unification of the Church fell due to the Protestant’s intolerance of
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,
Consequently, his Ninety-Five Theses sparked the Protestant Reformation, which challenged the church monarchy and helped split Christianity in two: Catholic and Protestant. As a result, a domino effect, which surpassed religion, led to change within European polities that facilitated a “divided Christian Europe” (Lecture 7, January
It is rather strange that Luther was so against the peasant revolts, especially because he was considered radical for the time. Luther had challenged the authority of the Pope and was even ultimately excommunicated, much like the peasants had challenged the authority of the lords. His unusual conservative views towards the revolts did not agree with the views of Thomas Müntzer, who was a religious figure himself. Mützer held a positive response towards the revolts. His purpose was even to encourage the acts of the peasants in document 4.
The influence of religion during the Reformation was a manifestation of the conflict of criticism toward the Catholic Church that shaped the events of the age. Although the peasants were primarily motivated towards economic and political justice, the Reformation introduced the German peasants to independent ideas and generated a movement against the nobility, as well as tying into the countermovement of the German peasant revolts of 1524 and 1525. Instead of seeking refuge in feudal authority, the peasants of Germany reflected religious ideas in their revolution by appealing to God’s authority. As the hold of the church's influence over society declined from the conflict of the Reformation, the leaders of the revolts optimized the growing animosity to generate support for the revolts. Correspondingly, religion expressed the
The cause of the Reformations was more theological than secular. Problems within the church were growing larger and larger. Many people did not agree with all of the churches practices, but there was nothing the could do about it. There are several major theological differences between Protestants and Catholics. Protestants believe that the bible is the source of Gods revolution to mankind.
1. The Reformation was a period where men like Martin Luther challenged the teachings and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. However, before the Reformation, the Church had to deal with problems such as the Sack of Rome. In 1527, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, had his own troops come against the city of Rome, take the city over, and imprison Pope Clement VII. While the Church was trying to deal with outer conflicts, there was a problem that was rising from within.
As the Renaissance and Reformation went on, people began to think that the Church just wanted money and power. It is somewhat true, though, because they were trying to stay in power with all of the people questioning if the Church was actually good. (Document 5) Through the Reformation came the increased power of lower level rulers--kings and queens--which also meant their kingdoms or states became more powerful than the Roman Church and the Roman Empire began to weaken and Europe fell into political
IV The Protestant Reformation A. Causes of the Reformation Rulers began to compete against the Church 's political power. Judges of the Church demanded that the leaders were dishonest about their money. John Wycliffe and Jan Hus recommended Church reform.
The opposition Luther took against the Church soon had an instant impact on peasants. Individuals began to form opinions on both political and religious fields, but they had failed to interpret the beliefs of Luther correctly.
Martin Luther believed, like all Christians, that Jesus Christ lived and died for all of our sins, and that the way of salvation is through belief and repentance, but he felt that the Bible should be interpreted in a very different way, and that the current Catholic Church had poisoned the word of God with their display of religion. This difference in opinion sparked a revolution within Christianity, and Protestantism was born. While this was
Martin Luther was a German monk who devoted his life to Christ after a near-death experience. After studying and analyzing the bible Luther soon realized that the teachings of the Catholic Church were deceptive and were only taught to financially benefit the church. In response, Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church in an effort to address the wrongfulness of the pope and the corrupt church officials. Luther’s theses helped create a positive impact by exposing the dishonesty of the Catholic Church and their indulgences, helping to create different branches of Christianity, and allowed people to think for themselves instead of relying on the Church. Martin Luther opposed indulgences because he believed people could get to Heaven through faith and not by paying money to the Catholic Church.
Essentially, the top positions of the church fooled people into debt, making them believe they would have salvation when, in actuality, they were being robbed for no apparent reason. Luther wanted to stop corruption in church and wrong judgment and beliefs in this system. When people suddenly became aware of these wrongdoings through Luther, the peasants in Germany gathered a strong hatred towards the high class. As peasants struggled through hardships, they were being placed into an undesirable state of serfdom unless they paid to their “lords” (Doc 5). With the realization of this oppression placed upon them by the rich class and nobility, the peasants felt that a revolt was necessary to turn around an unjust behavior and to stop the influx of folk to the serfdom; the peasantry revolted against the unfair nature of the lords, who forced them to execute “more services and other dues…without compensation”.
The nobility were given land in exchange for the protestant faith. Another conflict was wars between the Protestants and Catholics began, and many were getting killed. Pope Paul III was the head of the church from 1534 to 1549, and Spain helped him kill Protestants. However, France believed they wee the ones that should’ve helped the pope not Spain. A war between Spain and France began.
Analysis of Protestant Reformation Reasons What were the religious, social, economic, political and cultural reasons of the Reformation? To explain why did the Reformation happen, historians usually start with the impact of Martin Luther’s religious ideas and his effect on the society. However Reformation is something which has to be covered from various aspects, for instance, it can be seen as an economic protest against the Church’s eager to fleece its religious folk, or as a political uprising of the German princes to confine the authority of the Church in their country, as it was regarded as a foreigner institution which was based in Rome. The Reformation was also closely related to cultural reasons such as the notion of nationalism.
Martin believed that the long tradition of papal and ecclesiastical authority was unfounded in the Christian Scripture, and was thus immoral to exercise over the laity. It was the long standing belief in the Catholic Church that the Christian population was led by the pope, who was the direct connection between God the earthly world; this philosophy was known as the Gregorian “Two Sword Theory.” According this theory, spirituality and secular life were two edges of the same sword, a sword wielded by the pope; in this sense, the pope was not only the final say in matters of salvation, but also in matters of society and legality. Luther’s true goal was to replace this shameless and dishonest hierarchy within the Church with his “Two Kingdom Theory.” According to the turbulent monk, the Kingdom of Heaven was distinct from the secular world of earth.