Causes of the Reformation

 Workshop 7-1: The Reformation and Counter Reformation (download if you want this info in .doc format)

THE REFORMATION (XVI century)

Over the past centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had become an enormous institution (by some estimates, the Church owned from 20% to 35% of all the lands in Europe) that had come to dominate religious and social life in Northern and Western Europe. However, the Church had not won universal approval. Over the centuries, many people criticized its practices. They felt that Church leaders were too interested in material pursuits, such as gaining wealth and political power. Even though the Church made some reforms during the Middle Ages, people continued to criticize it. Prompted by the actions of one man, Martin Luther, that criticism would lead to rebellion.

CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION

By 1500, additional forces weakened the Church. The Renaissance emphasis on the secular (worldly things or things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred) and the individual challenged Church authority. The printing press spread these secular ideas. In addition, some rulers began to challenge the Church’s political power. Finally, northern merchants resented paying church taxes to Rome. Spurred by these social, political and economic forces, a new movement for religious reform began in Germany. It then spread throughout Europe.

Criticism of the Catholic Church. Critics of the Church claimed that its leaders were corrupt. During the Renaissance, many popes were accused of being more interested about what happened on earth than on heaven: most of them spent large sums of money supporting the arts and for their own personal pleasure. Some of those popes were even accused of starting wars between countries. Pope Alexander VI, for example, admitted that he had fathered several children.

The lower clergy had problems as well. Many priests and monks were so poorly educated that could scarcely read, let alone teach people. Others broke their priestly vows by marrying, and some drank to excess and gambled.

The printing press was mostly responsible for the rapid spread of the Reformation’s ideas

Early calls for reform. During the 14^th and 15^th centuries, a number of important reformers spoke out against Church practices. In England, a philosopher and priest named John Wycliffe (c. 1330- 1384) called for Church reform. He questioned the pope’s right to levy (to impose) taxes and to appoint Church officials without the king’s approval.In the 1500´s, Christian humanists like Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More added to the chore of criticism. In addition, thanks to the printing press many Europeans were reading religious works and forming their own opinions about the Church. The atmosphere in Europe was ripe for reform by the early 1500´s.

Question 1. Why did some people begin to question some Church practices?

Question 2. What sort of reforms did critics of the Church demand from the 1300´s through the 1500´s?

LUTHER CHALLENGES THE CHURCH

Early Church reformers wanted to improve the Church. They thought that the Church was basically a good institution that just needed some improvement. Later reformers, however, saw the Church as a corruption of the original Christian faith. The ideas of one man came to represent this new reform movement. His name was Martin Luther.

Martin Luther.

Luther’s 95 theses. Luther’s ideas led to conflict with the Catholic Church. The conflict began in 1517 in Wittenberg, Germany. Johann Tetzel was a German friar (member of the Dominican religious order) who, at the time, was raising money to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. He did this by selling indulgences. An indulgence was a pardon. It released the sinner from performing the penalty that a priest imposed for sins. Unfortunately, Tetzel gave people the impression that by buying indulgences, they could buy their way to heaven.Angry by Tetzel’s tactics, Luther wrote the “95 theses” (or formal statements) attacking the “pardon- merchants”. On October 31, 1517, he posted these statements at the door of the castle church in Wittenberg and invited other scholars to debate him. Someone copied Luther’s words and took them to a printer. Quickly, Luther’s name became well known all over Germany. His action began the Reformation, a movement for religious reform. It led to the founding of churches who did not accept the pope’s authority.

Luther posts the 95 theses at the door of the
Church of Wittenberg.

Luther’s teachings. Soon Luther went beyond criticizing indulgences. He wanted full reform of the Church. His teachings rested o three main ideas:

• People could win salvation only by faith in God’s forgiveness. The Church taught that faith and “good works” were needed for salvation.
• All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the Bible for them.
• All Church teaching should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. Both the pope and Church traditions were false authorities.

Question 3. What is the Reformation?

Question 4. Who is credited with beginning the Reformation? What were his most important ideas?

Question 5. Why did Luther write the “95 theses”?

THE REFORMATION GROWS

Luther believed that the Bible was the only source of religious truth. What he didn’t take into account was that people read the Bible in different ways. This led to many interpretations.

Calvinism. John Calvin was a French reformer. His interpretation of the Bible resulted in a type of Protestantism called Calvinism. Calvin argued that Christians could do nothing to earn salvation – God had chosen people for salvation even before they were born. This idea is called predestination. According to predestination, if individual were condemned there was nothing they could do about it.

Anglicanism or the Church of England. The Reformation in England was different than in the rest of Europe. It started when King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, but the pope would not permit it. As a result, Henry refused to recognize the Catholic Church. Henry founded the Church of England – also called Anglican Church – which kept most Catholic beliefs but rejected the power of the pope.

RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES IN THE 16^TH CENTURY

 

	Roman Catholicism	Lutheranism	Calvinism	Anglicanism
Who was leader?	Pope is the head of the Church	Ministers lead congregations	Minister of Elders	English monarch
How did people obtain salvation?	Through salvation and good works	Through faith alone	God has predetermined who will be saved	Through faith alone
What/ Who holds the truth?	Church and Bible	Only the Bible	Only the Bible	Only the Bible
How do people worship God?	Through Church rituals	Through rituals and preaching	Through preaching	Through rituals and preaching
Who should interpret the Bible?	Priests should interpret Bible and Church teachings for believers	Believers interpret the Bible for themselves	Believers interpret the Bible for themselves	Believers interpret the Bible using tradition and reason

 Question 6. Use the chart above to explain how does Lutheranism, Anglicanism and Calvinism differ from Roman Catholicism.

THE COUNTER REFORMATION

The Catholic Church began new policies to stop the spread of Protestantism. This is sometimes called the Counter Reformation.

The Council of Trent. In 1545 the Pope called the Church leaders to Trent, in Northern Italy, to deal with the problems facing the Church. The Council of Trent (154- 1563) did not change basic teachings.
Catholics were to accept the principles that:

1. Only the Church could explain the Bible.
2. Both good works and faith were necessary for salvation.
3. The Pope was the highest and final authority in the Church.
4. Church ritual was to remain the same.
5. Clergy are not allowed to marry.

The Council of Trent did, however, recommend important reforms:

1. It banned the sale of indulgences and tightened the
discipline for the clergy.
2. It insisted that only worthy people should enter the clergy.
3. ordered the establishments of seminaries to train the clergy.
4. It also encouraged reform of convents and monasteries.

Other important reforms. The Church took additional steps as part of the Counter Reformation. In Catholic countries, the Inquisition – a Church court that searched for heretics and put them on trial, began again its activities, threatening Protestants with imprisonment or death (most of them were burned at the stake).
The Church also drew up a list of books, called “the Index”, that Catholics were forbidden to read, own or sell. In this way, the Church hoped to prevent the spread of ideas it regarded as heresy.

New religious orders were set up to serve the Church and spread Catholic teachings. The most important of them was “The Society of Jesus”, commonly known as the Jesuits. The society was started by a young Spanish nobleman named Ignatius Loyola and approved by the Pope in 1540.
The Jesuits tried to keep Catholics from leaving the Church, to persuade Protestants to return to the Church, and win new converts. To achieve these aims, the Jesuits established colleges and seminaries and sent missionaries to many distant lands. One of the most famous of these missionaries was Francis Xavier, who brought Roman Catholicism to Japan.

Question 7. What was the Counter Reformation?
Question 8. Why did the Pope call the Council of Trent?
Question 9. What were the reforms made by the Catholic Church to stop the spread of Protestantism?
Question 10. What didn’t change in the Catholic church?

Effects of the Reformation

The Reformation had a profound influence on later history:

1. The religious unity that had characterized Western and Central Europe in the Middle Ages vanished as Christians were divided into Catholics and Protestants. Protestants themselves were divided into a number of different groups. These divisions remain in place today, with Southern Europe mostly Catholic and northern Europe mostly Protestant.

2. In both Catholic and Protestant countries, the Reformation strengthened the state at the expense of the churches. Protestant rulers rejected the authority of the Pope, while Catholic rulers allowed the Church fewer privileges and less influence in political matters.

3. The Reformation and Counter Reformation both encouraged the spread of education. The Protestants´ call for people to read the Bible themselves made literacy more important. As part of the Counter Reformation, the Jesuits played an important role in education by starting Catholic schools and universities.

4. The Reformation strengthened the Middle class. Protestantism emphasized many of the same virtues – responsibility, hard work and upright living – that Middle class townspeople were already practicing. In countries where Protestantism became the official religion, the entire population was taught that these qualities pleased God.

5. The Reformation’s questioning of beliefs and authority also laid the basis for the Enlightenment. As you will see much later, this intellectual movement would have great influence in the 18th century. It led some to reject all religions and others to call for the overthrow of existing governments.
Question 11. Summarize, in your own words, what were the effects of the Reformation.

~ by HistoryRocks.com on October 15, 2007.