The first two sessions focused on establishing clear definitions of Catholic doctrine, which helped revive the fortunes of the Catholic Church as they refused to submit to the Protestant challenge of their faith and so the Church emerged confident and undefeated. The Church decreed that scripture and tradition were to of equal authority, rejecting the Protestant challenge that only the Bible was the basis of Christian belief (sola scriptura). In addition, they upheld that only the Church had the authority to interpret the Bible and not the laity, whereas Protestants believed in the 'priesthood of all believers', where every individual had the right to interpret the scripture for themselves. It was also agreed that bishops and priests were to preach regularly; however, this could not be enforced. The third meeting of Trent (1562-63) helped to revive the fortunes of the Catholic Church as it helped to reform the structure and role of the clergy.
The Gregorian Reform’s most forceful advocate, Pope Gregory VII, is known as one of the great reformer popes and was a driving force in the eleventh-century religious reform movement. He initiated a series of reforms that dealt with the independence and moral integrity of the clergy; he was the first pope in several centuries that rigorously enforced the Church's ancient policy of celibacy for the Catholic clergy, attacked the practice of simony, and defended the papal authority in the Investiture Controversy. The Gregorian Reform’s main concerns were the moral integrity and independence of the clergy but it also had a large and lasting impact on the authority of the pope in the western world. Before the Gregorian Reform there were many corruptions in the church: the most detrimental being non-celibate priests along with simony. Gregory VII saw these offenses, how they were tearing away at the church as a whole, and wanted to abolish these practices.
However, he did not just stop the persecution, but went far further and gave the Catholic Church finances it needed in order to spread around the Roman Empire. This is shown in his letter to Caecilian, bishop of Carthage in AD 313, the head of the Catholic Church in North Africa. In this letter Constantine lends money to specified ministers of the Church (presumably priests) to use to help spread Christianity throughout North Africa. Not only this, but Constantine also says that if the money he lent them was lacking, they would only need to ask for more and it would be given, also known as a blank cheque. This heavily defines his religious policy as pro-Christian, being the first Roman Emperor in history to support and even help spread Christianity.
Jeff Kaetzel Fall 2012 Alexander II and the Emancipation of the Serfs Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 1861 primarily because of his deep religious convictions. Religion played a key role in Alexander II’s decision to emancipate the serfs because it served as an avenue through which he could address the pressures he faced from both his advisors and the sociopolitical developments in Russian society. The emancipation of the serfs was not a new concept in Russia. Alexander II used the previous autocrats’ push towards emancipation as a platform to launch his own emancipation efforts. He was able to utilize the previous autocrats’ work as a springboard for his reign to complete the act of emancipating the serfs.
The Codex was an updated listing of of the Byzantine laws. The Authentic contained rulings made by courts under Justinian. These new social reforms created equality among the people under the Empire. These social reforms were one social class, intermarriage, no restriction on how many slaves can be freed, fathers were no longer allowed to sell their children as slaves, and you had to be in a will in order to inherit a family member’s land. Also, Justinian accepted the church an their teachings that was under the Roman Empire.
Feudal laws generated by kings, by popes, and by God's authority in the belief of salvation in heaven, and the balance of power that standardized heavenly and earthly kingdoms, created a wealth of common interests and ideas, and common regulations, which, in turn, inspired the consent of the governed. Barbaric tribal European chaos faded away as early Christian medieval empire slowly transitioned into order and a more structured feudal government of kings. When this new and more structured government and authority of regional kings generated the common law, citizens loyal to the king were agreeable to abide by the king's law. Feudal dominions’ kings granted land to regional lords, who supplied freemen for the king’s military, and taxes from their serfs’ production from the land. As serf population grew, society was fed and protected by wealth from the land they harvested: “Here is subscribed the inquisition of lands as the barons of the king .
Other areas of education began to expand as well such as gymnasiums in Germany and grammar schools in England. Combined with the growth of the printed word and the expansion of curriculum, education began to reform as well. One of the earliest reformers was Martin Luther, who proposed home, state, and church responsibility for education as well as the extension of elementary education to young girls. Another reformer, John Calvin, developed Latin preparatory high schools that featured a modified system of gymnasiums. Calvin also built a university in Geneva in 1559 that prepared young scholars for the ministry or civil service.
The Bible could be interpreted in a way which supported the dissolution of the monasteries and the royal supremacy, representing a clear transition of religious power to Henry and the monarchy from the papacy. It is clear that Cromwell laid the foundations of a nation state. By nullifying the function of the pope and the monasteries which served him, Cromwell ensured that the laity was subject to no foreign influence. Furthermore, the transfer of this influence to Henry meant that the beginnings of a Crown-controlled Church, national rather than international in ideologies, were created by
In Return, due to having driven out the Moors, the Pope granted the Spanish Crown authority over the Church within its spheres, efficiently making it an arm of the state. Therefore, for Castillo, the Americas invasion was more than just the desire for territory together with the material riches. His other mission was also to pursue the souls for salvation. Though their main aim was to perform the sacraments and also introduce the Indians to the basics of the Christian principle, in various instances, the missionary friars laid their base for the blending of the Spanish as well as Mexican cultures. Through this, they were able to win the trust of many native populations through protecting them from the extremes upon which quite a number of the Spanish civilians were leaning toward.
Mary’s chief advisor, Gardiner, supported this policy. He was politically aware of the need for uniformity and was able to drive through these religious changes by virtue of his membership of parliament as he sat in the House of Lords. Mary wished to establish a uniform Catholic religion throughout the realm, in this aim, she had the support from most of the leading landowners and members of parliament. The restoration of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales was part of the Europe-wide Catholic Counter-Reformation, so it wasn’t just Britain being