Church Reform in England

335 Words2 Pages
Do you agree that the Church in England needed considerable reform in 1529? The English Church in 1529 was part of the Roman Catholic Church which was strong throughout Western Europe. By being part of the Roman Catholic Church it therefore meant that the Pope was in charge of the Church in England. By examining whether the church needed to be reformed in 1529 many factors need to be looked at and taken into consideration, like the popularity of the church, corruption, protestant attacks on the church, anti papalism all need to be examined to be able to then come to a conclusion on whether a reform was Necessary . A reform would therefore mean that the Catholic Church would be replaced with the Protestant Church in England a complete overhaul. By agreeing that the Church was in need of reform would be believing that the Church was so deeply corrupt, that the only way to restore holiness and purity to the Christian faith and English Church would be to completely reform the Church. By disagreeing that the Church was in need of reform, would be believing that the extent of corruption in the church was exaggerated by some, and the churches problems could be solved without a reformation taking place. Anticlericalism was thought to have had a hand in bringing England to the brink of reform. Anticlericalism was the hostility towards the church and churchmen by laymen, triggered by reports of corruption or wrong doings in the church, it wasn’t just laymen who displayed anti clericalism more, educated members of the community such as lawyers or some people part of the clerical process (John Colet) displayed anticlericalism but criticizing the church through many ways one being sermons. The more educated members of the population at this time criticized the clergy on the factors simony, pluralism and absenteeism. The laymen with less education simply criticized the
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