The Protestant Reformation And The Reformation

While these were the main causes of Reformation in continental Europe, in England, King Henry VIII initiated the Reformation. Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, after she had failed to produce a male heir to the throne. However, a divorce was not a simple issue. Henry VIII was a Roman Catholic and the Roman Catholic faith believed in marriage for life. It did not recognise, let alone support, divorce. He also wanted to prevent the interference of foreign powers in the national and international affairs of the country.

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 Protestant Reformation was a pivotal time of European history that occurred during the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation was comprised of people called “reformers” that challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice (“The Reformation”). The Protestant Reformation was revolutionary due to the fact that the reformers preached against everything the Catholic Church had been teaching. Some famous reformers are John Calvin and Martin Luther. However, Martin Luther-- to some--- is named the most successful and influential reformer of the 16th century. Martin Luther was tremendously effective and influential due to how resourceful he was, and his teachings spread across Europe swiftly.

The Catholic Reformation was the response of the Protestant movement in the sixteenth century. By the sixteenth century, many people lost the trust for the Catholic Church because it was corrupt. Popes and Cardinals became involved in politics and were more like kings than spiritual leaders and Nepotism was rampant. This loss of trust led people to moved on into other branches of Christianity which includes, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism. Catholic Church’s realized it needed to re-establish itself, thus beginning the Catholic Reformation. The Catholic Reformation was successful because it triggered the start of The Society of Jesus and The Council of Trent which helped resolve the church’s corruption through education,

The Protestant Reformation began during the Renaissance time period, it was the attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church. It led to the creation of Protestant churches. This reformation began after multiple church leaders started demanding individuals to supply them with such large quantities of goods, food, and money that individuals did not have much left to provide to their own family. Several believed if they did not contribute and present the church with what they asked, they would be denied entrance to heaven once they passed away. People saw how the church thrived while those who contributed were ravenous and penniless. Martin Luther, a monk, noticed several inaccuracies between what the Roman Catholic Church practiced and the Bible as he studied the Bible. He decided to speak out by creating the 95 Theses, and nailing it on the entrance of a catholic church. Protestants who had similar view as Luther’s began Luther-ism. John Calvin, had very similar views as Luther and was even inspired by him to reform the Catholic Church as well. I most admire Martin Luther because of how he spoke up and protested against the Roman Catholic church when he knew it could put him in danger, but I am most similar to John Calvin because of how he believes in predestination and how faith is revealed by living a righteous life.

To begin, the Protestant Reformation began in reaction to the Catholic Church’s rather corrupt practices. Prior to the Reformation, the only major Christian denomination in Western Europe at the time was Catholicism, headed by the Pope in Rome. Through many acts of violence such as the formation of the Spanish Inquisition and the slaughter of the Cathars, amongst others, Europe’s Monarchs had wiped out and suppressed any form of religious competition. With the Catholic Church holding a tight stranglehold over Europe, Catholicism was the only option. This allowed

The Reformation was a religious movement when many people broke away from the Catholic Church and joined Protestant churches changing Europe. In between the 1500s and 1600s, many new Protestant churches were established. The weakening of the Catholic Church, call to reform and Martin Luther’s actions led to the many changes in Europe.

The Catholic Church had an extremely amount of power that it had become very wealthy and very corrupt. Which leads the revolt of Martin Luther in 1517 against his authorities significant in this time period. Luther’s ideas on the church would spread quickly throughout Europe fueling the flames of Protestantism. Leaders such as Henry VIII took these ideas and used them to break free from the Catholic

The protestant reformation happened around the 16th century where there was an abundant change was occurring in europe. Many religions began to sprang throughout the world in which would rival the Catholic church and this created a problematic task for them to overcome. Many people started to doubt the way that the church was portraying their teachings and this would would ultimately lead the path to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Many people stopped viewing the pope as God’s right hand man, but instead began to see him as more of a religious money hungry individual that doesn't even care for his follower’s spiritual needs. This inspire people to believe they can construct a relationship with God through personal worship. Worshiping at home allowed the people feel less attached to the church due to the flaws of the church was portraying at the time. The catholic church was challenged by a few individuals who spoke out about these problems, this allowed the church to modify its ways and revive the people and their faith in the church. Martin Luther and John Calvin were the two major factor in reviving christianity from damnation by speaking out against the Roman Catholic Church.

The protestant reformation happened at the moment that it did because the Catholic Church was very a powerful force in Europe. It controlled people lives both spiritually and temporally. The church had so much power that it maintained political control over a large portion of Italy. The fact that the church held so much control over countries and governments became a point of contention among European countries such as the Holy Roman Empire, Italian city-states outside of Rome, England, France and Spain. The power of the rulers of these areas had greatly increased in the 14th century and they were eager to take the chances offered by a Reformation to weaken the grip of the Catholic Church in Europe and also to develop their own powers across the European continent. For quite some time the Catholic Church had been an institution rampant with internal struggles. Such as the Avignon Papacy from 1309 to 1377 when seven popes opted to live in Avignon, France and not reside in Rome which was and is the traditional home of the Papacy. The Pope and other high ranking church officials often lived opulent lifestyles rather than a more austere lifestyle that should befit a spiritual leader. Many church leaders and Popes maintained political powers. They led armies, waged wars and made many political decisions. Church offices were sold, and many Popes and bishops practiced nepotism to fill church offices. With all of these worldly issues for the Pope

One of the first major problems that the church faced was the Great Schism. From 1387 to 1417, three men were considered to be the pope, which had never happened in Catholic history before. In 1305, the papacy was moved to Avignon, France and began taxing bishops and cardinals, and the bishops and cardinals taxed the priests, who in turn demanded money from churchgoers. The reason why they were being taxed was because the papacy was no longer center in Rome. The Avignon papacy developed a reputation for corruption and greed, which caused for there to be a need for the Pope

The Protestant Reformation opened the door for discussing and change with the inner workings of the Catholic Church. The Reformation occurred towards the end of the Catholic Church’s political stronghold on the Holy Empire’s region in the 16th and 17th centuries, periods known as the Middle Ages. The Church’s actions gave protesters legitimate arguments against the papacy. Leadership in the Church, particularly from Pope Leo X who deemed the selling of indulgences was necessary, and Pope Clement VII, who was unconcerned about the protests cemented Protestant frustrations across Europe, particularly in Germany. This led to violent protests from a Counter-Reformation within the Church and ultimately led to reform and the creation of new monasteries around the world, such as the Society of Jesus.

Both the Protestant Reformation as well as the Inquisition made immense impacts on the religious society of western civilizations in Europe during 16th century. Both of the very important movements changed the regular Roman Catholic churches forever.  The Protestant Reformation was a movement when groups of people left the Roman Catholic church in hope for a change. This schism was run by Martin Luther and other protestant reformers during the 1500’s and 1600’s. Another movement that changed the Catholic church forever is the Inquisition, which lasted roughly 700 years. The Inquisition was a time of punishing heretics, or people who were guilty of heresy.

What happens when people start to break away from the entity that bound an entire civilization together for over a thousand years? How does one go from unparalleled devotion to God to the exploration of what man could do? From absolute acceptance to intense scrutiny? Sheeple to independent thinkers? Like all revolutions preceding it, the Protestant Reformation did not happen overnight. Catholics had begun to lose faith in the once infallible Church ever since the Great Schism, when there were two popes, each declaring that the other was the antichrist. Two things in particular can be identified as the final catalyst: a new philosophy and simple disgust. The expanding influence of humanism and the corruption of the Catholic Church

The intent of this paper is to evaluate the distinct character and quality of the expressions of the Protestant Reformation. This paper will discuss Lutheran Reformation, The Anabaptist, and The English Puritans as well as the Catholic Reformation also known as the Counter Reformation. It is the hope that after the reader has had the opportunity to view each of the characteristics and the expressions of each of the reformation the reader will have a better understanding of each and will be able to articulate the differences of each.