John Cranach As A Satire Of The Papacy

The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle

The paper serves as a critical analysis of Thomas F. Mathews’ “The Mistake of the Emperor Mystique” chapter in his book The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art. The scope of the analysis extends only to the chapter, the works included in the chapter and some supplemental sources by other art historians. It examines Mathews’ central argument and auxiliary claims, paying attention to his use of sources. Additionally it probes the validity of his assertions, drawing comparisons to other works or historians.

The impact of the Protestant Reformation changed the Northern European art in 1517 – 1648. The Protestants depicted narrative imageries from the bible that did not stray

A long history of corruption caused people to view the Catholic Church as a for-profit organization rather than God’s voice on Earth. By the Renaissance, the Catholic Church had already lost much of its power over secular rulers but still held leverage over the masses. This authority naturally paved the way for corruption. The most outrageous form of corruption practiced by the Church was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment still due for a sin that has been sacramentally absolved. One of the ways the Church would generate income was by selling them. The notion started off innocently enough; it stemmed from the idea that punishment for crimes could be converted to payments of money, in essence, a fine (Simon 35). However, it soon spiraled out of control as the Church used indulgences simply to gain money, as when Pope Leo X needed money for the construction of St. Peter’s basilica (Duiker and Spielvogel 429). People began to view salvation as something that could be bought; they could go out and sin on Saturday night, then simply pay for it monetarily Sunday morning. To encourage people to buy more indulgences, the Church even claimed that indulgences could be bought on behalf of those already dead and in purgatory (Sporre 378). This blatant victimization was what spurred Martin Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses,

Voltaire’s sarcastic satire “Candide” criticizes many different controversial topics from the 17th and 18th century, but the theme that stood out the most in this novella is the hypocrisy of religion. Known by his nom de plume Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet was a prominent French writer in the Age of Enlightenment that criticized many firm believes of the people in this time period. The greatest victim of his humorous criticism turned out to be the Catholic Church. Due to his strong critique towards the church, the Vatican even placed him and his books on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Expatica, Retrieved May 9, 2015), a list of forbidden books published by the Vatican to prevent the spreading of ideas and theories that did not comply with

A perfect example of the counter reformation put on by the church. During the Baroque era there was much turmoil within the church paving the way for a significant split to be driven within the church community causing some to rebel against the church and form protestant. while those that remained with the church along with the council of Trent Counter reformed with songs, paintings and various other methods to scare or persuade others to stay or join the church.

Religious tolerance of the Roman Catholic Church was swaying as a boat would in a storm as wild as the controversies of the Church. With Government being choked by the roots of the Church many Theologians, people who study the concepts of God wanted to reform their fate to where it was maintaining a true faith in God. With Religion being the center of Government, people tried to come up with ideas to keep God in charge. Martin Luther religious a German friar already chipped at the corruptions of the Church. Reject several teachings and practices such as calming that redemption from sin shouldn’t be paid with coin, created the start of new ways of thinking. With the new philosophy of rationalism being born in the 17th-18th century, the religion of reason became a center of thinking for philosophers, expose all myths, superstitions and traditions During the age of Enlightenment, John Locke an English

Throughout our readings so far this quarter we embrace the ideas that religion wasn’t always just and fair to its believers. Dante, Luther, and Calvin all speak about how the Church was led by some of the least just and most corrupt people who treated their devout followers with tyranny and injustice. This corruption is what sparked the passions of Dante, Luther, and Calvin to bring their revelations to the public and show everyone what being a just and fair Church meant.

Praise of Folly, Erasmus’s seminal pre-Reformation essay examines aspects of Church teaching as well as aspects of worship which Erasmus deems worthy of the biting satire he utilises

In seventeenth century literature, religion was a prominent topic among writers who sought to work out various problems or questions regarding an individual and their relationship with God. In John Donne’s Satire III, he explores the predicament of an individual choosing a particular church to follow; this was particularly important during Donne’s time, when there was religious unrest due to the monarch determining the country’s religion. In the text, Donne compares religion to a mistress that one’s soul should be devoted to. Donne manipulates various images to contrast the different branches of Christianity and emphasizes that the ultimate goal is that individuals find the

Troubles of the Medieval Church: Disorder in the Catholic Church made people begin to question and lose faith in its teachings.

Towards the end of the Middle Ages and into the duration of the Renaissance, the Medieval Church’s social and political power dwindled. Centuries prior the Catholic Church gained a surplus of control, largely due to the stability it maintained during the chaotic breakdown of the Western Roman Empire . Yet toward the end of the Middle Ages the Church set in motion factors that would ultimately lead to its downfall as the definitive figure of authority. However, despite political and social controversy surrounding the church, the institutions it established cleared a path for a new way of thinking, shaping society in an enduring way.

Baroque style was adopted and used from roughly 1600 - 1750. Baroque artist broke from traditional styles and techniques largely as a result of the Protestant Reformation and its effects, including that of the Council of Trent, which greatly influenced Western art. Martin Luther sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517 when he posted his 95 theses on the front door of Castle church. With the intent for an academic debate, Luther criticized the corruption and faults within the Catholic Church, including that of selling indulgences. However with the development of the printing press, his theses spread and led to the Protestant religion. Many people were exchanging their Catholic beliefs for Protestantism and that sent the Catholic Church into frenzy to stop the movement of people away from the traditional Catholicism to Protestant religion. In response to people abandoning their Catholic beliefs, the Catholic Church leaders met to reform the church by addressing and correcting the criticisms made by Martin Luther in his 95 theses. The church leader also sought to clearly define the Catholic Church’s convictions. The Church leader wanted to affirm their doctrines to the people through education by facilitating their understanding of faith, but this posed difficulty because most people were uneducated and illiterate. The church clergy decided art would easily convey the faith of the church because of the art is a visual concept that did not require a formal education. To do

Neo-classical works such as Ingres' “Pope Pius VII in the Sistine Chapel” also show similar themes. We again see precise work, the use of perspective, and thorough detailing of both the central subject and the background. Religious themes are obviously there, however they still bow to the idea of

“Good day, to his Most Catholic Majesty and other people present here. I nearly was killed by a lightning strike on my way back from university. I prayed to the Virgin Mary to save my life for I will become a monk. The path that I had chosen for myself required commitment, devotion, hours of prayers, fasting, and continual confessions. I quit law school by my own will and against my father’s to join the Augustinian Friars. A trip to Rome with my fellow friars was the cause of me questioning myself about certain Catholic practices. What I saw in Rome disillusioned me. I began to experience my doubts and unpleasant thoughts about the teachings of the Catholic Church as I watched inept, facetious, and cynical clergy perform their duties. I had