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Protestant Reformation And The Reformation

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HI 101
Essay 3
Zhenli Xu Protestant Reformation Protestant Reformation is admittedly one of the most important schisms in the history of Christianity. It started with Martin Luther nailing the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Catholic Church in Germany in 1517, and ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The Reformation was a religious movement triggered by the rise of humanism during the Renaissance and the general corruption of the Roman Catholic Church that eventually led to the break out of wars of religions all over the Europe. Among all the causes of the Protestant Reformation during 16th and 17th century, Renaissance played a very important role of sparking questions and challenges against the Catholic Church. Renaissance humanism was the study of classic Latin and Greek literatures and philosophies, attempting to restore ancient morals and that emphasized the value of human beings. Similarly, Martin Luther sought to restore Christianity back to as it was in the apostolic church in which he believed that everything God required of us laid in the Scripture. Also, the strike of the Black Death during the 14th century had made people grow suspicious of the divine salvation as it killed millions of innocent. Because of the Black Death, there was a severe shortage of clergies in Europe and many of them were poorly trained. Consequently, church and church teachings became less relevant to people’s daily lives that people switched their focus onto the simple

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