The Historical Context Of Voltaire's Candide

In 1517, indulgence salesman Johan Tetzel came to a town near Wittenberg. Luther wrote a letter of protest to Archbishop Albrecht von Brandenburg; he included 95 theses that criticized papal abuses and indulgence sales. His theses were printed and circulated in Germany. His opinions preceded what would later become the Protestant Reformation, which had a lasting impact on the Catholic Church. Luther felt strongly about many aspects of the Church and made his opinions known during his lifetime.

In response to the Protestant Reformation, between the years of 1545-1563, the people of Trent constructed a council known as the Council of Trent. The main, intended purpose of the Council of Trent was to influence Protestants to return to the Catholic Church. The Catholics were determined to redefine the concepts of Catholicism in order to make them clearer than before, in hopes that this would make the Catholic Church more appealing. These actions created another movement that occurred during a similar time, known as the Counter Reformation. The Council of Trent was built in response to the Protestant Reformation; and because of this, it is known for being one of the most significant movements of the Counter Reformation.

An example of disobedience is the reforms of the church made in the 1000’s and 1100’s. Many people including Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Hus, Pope Gregory VII, and John Wycliffe tried to end the corruption in the Catholic Church. The Papacy had begun residing in Avignon, France, instead of Rome, Italy where the Vatican is. They were also they were known for simony in this time period. Simony is the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, for example, pardons or benefices, also known as the selling of indulgences.

With those reformers and wars, it changed Europe forever. Martin Luther was a Protestant reformer who criticized the Church’s ideas of selling indulgences in 1517 (Textbook). Luther believed that people could only be saved through faith in God. Protestantism encouraged people to choose their own religious beliefs, that led to the formation of Calvinist, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches alongside the Lutheran church, which had already existed. Luther nailed his

Luther publicly criticized the Catholic Church and its authority. His teachings at the University of Wittenberg showed the sinful ways of Christens. In a time when salvation was for sale to build extravagance, Luther preached that salvation only came by faith. While at the University

Catholic Reformation The Catholic Reformation which is also known as Counter Reformation or Catholic Revival was the time of Catholic resurrection which began in response to Protestant Reformation, initiated with Council of Trent (1545–1563) and summing up at the close of the Thirty Year’s War (1648) Started to safe the power, impact and material wealth enjoyed by the Catholic Church and to present a theological and material challenge to Reformation. Reformation The Reformation, spoken of as to the Protestant Reformation, was a split in Western Christianity started by Martin Luther and followed by John Calvin and early Protestant Reformers in 16th-century Europe. It is mostly thought to have started with the publication of the Ninety Five Theses by Martin Luther in 1517. Martin Luther Martin Luther was a professor of theology, composer priest and a monk. He used to oppose many teachings and sayings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Prior to the events of The Enlightenment, The Scientific Revolution occured. This is a time in which the authority of the church is challenged and long and old traditional ideas about god are challenged by science. This led into the French Revolution because if you can challenge god you are able to challenge monarchs. The French took away power from the monarchs and put more power into the people. However this

Socrates, A great philosopher of the ancient era, gave explanation to life through the use of questioning, some of which ironic, contradicting what he had previously learned so that he could further develop the truth. This function of irony to develop thought is not used solely in the philosophical world, but also in the world of literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of these authors to do so. In his novel The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne utilizes irony to build up to and to explain the truths of the intertwining mysteries of his tale. The act of explaining truth in literature can be a challenging one, and there is many variations as to how to meet this confrontation, whence we see the use of irony in Hawthorne’s text.

“The Enlightenment is the period in the history of western thought and culture… characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and politics; these revolutions swept away the medieval world-view and ushered in our modern western world” (Bristow). The Enlightenment is also referred to as The Age of Reason because its philosophies were mostly based on logic and reason. One important figure who introduced the Enlightenment to America was Benjamin Franklin. “Many of Franklin’s satires work through logic of inversion, taking an established idea and exposing the assumptions that implicitly frame it by demonstrating how it might appear from a reverse perspective” (Giles 48-49). A simpler way of stating how Franklin uses satire is as placing “the

The Age of Enlightenment was a period of time when a movement of intellectuals strove to create tolerance of religion, separation of state and church, as well as removing complete power of the monarch. The Glorious Revolution of 1688, followed many Enlightenment principles. The cause of this revolution was the people’s displeasure with the Catholic king, James II, in hopes of turning the country to Protestantism, William of Orange, the king of Holland, and his wife Mary II, James oldest child. This quick and almost bloodless revolution put William of Orange of the English throne, gaining Protestants religious freedom, but suppressed the freedoms of Catholics. Although the Glorious Revolution was fueled in part by religious intolerance, ultimately the Glorious Revolution was a direct outcome of the Age of Enlightenment.