Background Information Of The Reformation And Definition

In the 16th century intellectual, religious, cultural, and political views divided Catholic Europe and caused the Protestant Reformation. The way things turned out still effect and determine the structures and beliefs to this day. People like John Calvin, Henry VIII, and Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church on how it delivers Christian views. They disagreed on how the religious and political power was being distributed into the hands of the Bible. The argument began wars, persecutions and a Counter Reformation. Most historians usually believe that the start of the Protestant Reformation was around 1517 when Martin Luther published “95 Theses”. The ending is anywhere from 1555 which would allow the coexistence of Catholicism

A major 16th century movement initially aimed at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation was begun by a German monk named Martin Luther who challenge the Catholic Church’s doctrine by posting his 95 Theses on a church door. He did this because he was appalled that the church was selling indulgences, which were written letters that assured people’s salvation, in order to build a new Basilica in Rome under Pope Leo X. Martin Luther argued that the Bible, not the pope, was the central means to discern God’s word and was the only thing capable of giving salvation.

There are approximately eight hundred million Protestant Christians currently in the world with it being the second largest Christian domination (Fairchild). However, there are over a billion followers of the Roman Catholic faith and it currently stands as the Christian domination with the most followers (Fairchild). If it were not for the German monk, Martin Luther, most Christians would have been Roman Catholic in the present. Martin Luther is famous for “95 Theses” that critiqued the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church and it was written on Halloween Day, 1517 (Ellis and Esler 423-427). Other people agreed with him and shared their perceptions, which led to the birth of the Protestant Reformation (Ellis and Esler 423-427). In the documents written by people who either supported or were against the Protestant Reformation, the main idea of them is that the Catholic Church supported the idea of paying indulgences and competing with others for power.

INTRODUCTION The Reformation is a significant development within a religious tradition. During the 16th century, many changes occurred in European society as well as the Church. These were mainly due to the Protestant Reformation, English Reformation and Catholic Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was initiated by Martin Luther around 1517, in Germany.

The protestant reformation had originated in Germany with Martin Luther being one of the key contributors to this movement. Although originating in Germany the Protestant reformation had quickly spread throughout Europe. In the beginning Luther only wanted to have his many questions concerning the Roman Catholic churches divine authority answer but, when he did not get them he tried to make the church change and when the church would not change he left is behind and demanded religious change for all(BishopPg.3) or (Barick Ayil pg 13)As stated in “The Reformation and Society In sixteenth-Century Europe” "anticlericalism and antipapalism were nevertheless bound to flourish in a society which endowed churchmen with excessive power and wealth.”

The Protestant Reformation is one of the most extensive and widespread phenomenons in the sixteenth century. It started as a motion by Martin Luther in the sixteenth century to rectify, correct, and amend the injustices and unfairness of the Catholic Church. This was at least Martin Luther’s plan and intentions. Little did he know, he caused a huge break and split to occur in the church. It also decreased and diminished the powers of the Catholic Church in the Western Europe and completely changed the area socially, politically, and economically. The Protestant Reformation was an important illustration of an exceptional reform, the causes and effects displays their importance in areas of political, social, economical, and religious elements.

In the early 1500s , approximately around the year 1517, the Protestant Reformation began . The Protestant Reformation was a huge deal in Europe, which resulted in a revolt against abuses and totalitarian control of the Roman Catholic Church . Political powers wanted to reform the churches by extending their control at the churches extents . There were three major principle figures in the Reformation; Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli . Although they were three different men, they all fought for the same cause: reformation .

The reformation was a religious and political movement that took place in the year 1517. This movement was spread by the Cristian humanist Martin Luther, when he posted his “Ninety Five Theses”. The reformation itself is one of those things everybody has heard about but no one quite understands, even nowadays, 500 years after this movement occurred.

The protestant reformation was a significant turning point during the 16th century that completely revolutionized the Roman Catholic Church. The “reformation” was launched in 1517 when a German monk by the name of Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. The main ideas of this publication was that selling and buying indulgences was wrong and that the pope has no power over purgatory. These 95 revolutionary opinions formed the basis for the protestant reformation which revolutionized western civilization over the next three centuries. Although most people believe these reforms only affected religion, the reformation also impacted political life. Politics played an enormous role in the reformation due to the fact that political rulers wanted to extend their power and control using the church. Throughout the course of the protestant reformation, political authorities such as Emperor Charles V and Henry

The Protestant Reformation is a religious, political, intellectual and cultural movement that occurred during the 16th-century in Europe. This movement was provoked by Martin Luther because his religious beliefs forced him to travel to Rome and Italy in order to witness the abuses and totalitarian control. This movement questioned the Catholic Church's right to define both practice and worship. Therefore, Martin Luther’s purpose was to initially reform the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. To do that, Luther created 95 theses, which is A list describing church-related issues that Martin Luther felt were in need of reform.

The Reformation had an impact on Europe by allowing its citizens to have the ability to learn the Bible on their own, as well as, enabling government to free itself from Catholic rule. The Protestant Reformation was a movement against the unruly ways of the Catholic Church and the ways that they were abusing the people under their influence. According to Luther, he wanted the Catholic Church to change their ways and freeze all actions that obtained money for abolishment of sins (Luther, 2011). Martin Luther also saw, after a visit to Rome, that the clergy had too much power and should relinquish some of that power to help the people.

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

The 16th century was an exciting time of economic and political growth and exploration. The Renaissance, which sparked Humanism, prompted intellectual growth, which stimulated critical questions on topics such as the church fathers, and scripture that gave a completely new approach to looking at the Bible. The birth of the European Reformation (or Protestantism) is often marked by Martin Luther’s posting of The Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517 protesting the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences. Luther’s initial intent was not to separate and divide the Holy Mother Church, but to reform ill practices and corruption. However, his good intention grew into a great schism in the Church as doctrinal and canonical differences were

The Reformation was a time of religious reform and development in Europe, which began with Martin Luther in 1517 and continued through the next hundred years into the seventeenth century. Various branches of Protestantism emerged during this time period, including Anabaptism, Anglicanism, and Calvinism, all of which differed in their views and influence upon Reformed Europe. Although Anabaptism, Anglicanism, and Calvinism all had an effect on Europe during the Reformation, Calvinism proved to be the most dynamic of these three movements because of its radical changes to the Christian doctrine which resulted the birth of the capitalist spirit, coupled with the development of a society which maintained a balance of church and state.

This year is a special year in particular as of the year 2017 on October 31st celebrates the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. It started in Germany but then spread all across Europe. The Reformation was needed to help modernize Christianity but it also created divides in the Protestant Movement. What is interesting is that there were other movements within the Catholic Church that predated 1517, so what made Martin Luther so special. This paper will go in depth on the accounts of the reformation and how it shaped our western world. Some theorists just look at when the Lutheran Augsburg Confession was printed or even the Treaty of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years War or even in the long run until the 18th century with all the options of a person to pick from for their religion from just being a catholic to now a Lutheran, Calvinist, or Anabaptist or be a member of the church of England. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and King Henry VIII all contested the authority of the catholic church and split up Europe.