The Catholic Church has a magisterium - its teachings have a God-given authority that is equal to the authority of scripture. The Pope has even got the power to make infallible statements - statements that cannot be questioned. Within Protestant churches, the church has an advisory role. It can recommend one action over another, it can condemn certain actions entirely - you can even be kicked out of the church for certain actions. However, the individual is still left to decide where to stand in relation to church teaching.
The monies from these sales financed wars and expensive lifestyles of the popes, archbishops and bishops. Some one thousand years earlier, Augustine had similar reservations about the Catholic Church as Luther. He felt the Bible must stand as the ultimate religious authority, not the church officials. Augustine also believed salvation could be reached only by God’s divine grace; it could not be achieved through good works. Luther later formed Protestantism on these two central beliefs.
Luther and Henry VIII’s motives for reform sprung from entirely different sources. Luther disagreed with the Catholic church over the doctrine that allowed the selling of indulgences to lay people. After study of the Scriptures, Luther decided that salvation was achieved not by indulgences or even good works, but only by faith alone. Henry VIII’s reasons for his break with the church came from his desire to divorce his wife at the time, Catherine, and marry Anne Boleyn. He asked Pope Clement VII to announce that the king’s previous marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid.
Popes were competing with Italian princes for political power and fought wars, and many clergy led lavish lifestyles. John Wycliffe An early English reformer, using sermons and writing to call for changes, but was removed from his teaching position. Jan Hus An early reformer, preaching against the immorality and worldliness of the Church, excommunicated by the Pope, and later burned at the stake after being arrested and tried. What was the "last straw" for Luther? In 1517, he saw Johannes Tetzel selling indulgences in Wittenberg, Germany.
During the early 1500s there were many things that brought about religious change in Eastern Europe because of Martin Luther in Germany and King Henry VIII in England. The motives and the actions of the two were different in that Martin Luther had an intention of bringing about religious change where as King Henry VIII didn’t, having defended the church’s original catholic faith with no tolerance of opposition to it, having caused a reform because of a personal matter. Martin Luther was a German Augustinian friar who questioned not only the practices of the church, but he condemned it for teaching wrongly which ultimately lead to questioning the entire sacramental system of Catholicism in relation to salvation. He wrote and published many pamphlets that elaborated his ideas and denounced what he considered to be false teachings with motives of changing the beliefs of many into what he saw to be the proper things that should be taught and preached by the church. The publication of Luther’s German translation of the New Testament in 1523 democratized religion.
Technically, discussions of worldviews will fall into 1 of 6 categories – theism, deism, pantheism, naturalism, and polytheism – but in the real world, peoples belief are not always that easily categorized. Mormons claim to be monotheistic (theism), but are essentially polytheistic, as the teaching of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, stated: "I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a spirit; and these three constitute three distinct personages and three distinct gods". Additional data supporting the position that Mormons truly are polytheists is their belief and worship in both God the Father (Doctrine and Covenants 18:40) and Jesus Christ (3 Nephi 11:17; 2 Nephi 25:29), as well as their view of God the Father and Jesus as two separate gods. One of the more interesting aspects of Mormonism is its reliance and use of the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon. While many reason the Book of Mormon is their criterion for the Mormon worldview and practice of the church, the reality is that there is not a single unique doctrine of Mormonism imparted within its pages.
The pope lead the church and decided a person gets into heaven, but William Tyndale believes that if you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savoir then you’ll get into heaven, and I believe the same things as Tyndale, you shouldn’t have to prove yourself to the pope that you deserve to go to heaven and the pope shouldn’t get to decide. The Catholic Church had problems but some important people took charge and reformed the Catholic Church. Works Cited “History of Catholic Church”. “History of Catholic Church – Renaissance and Reformation”. 2010.
Protestants do not recognize the power of the Pope, refuse many customs and values of the Catholic Church, put emphasis on the importance of understanding the Bible and embrace the doctrine of deliverance by faith alone. Protestantism includes abundant denominational groups, as well as Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Pentecostals and Evangelicals. Christian practices differ by denomination, but general essentials include a Sunday worship service, confidential and shared prayer, study and understanding of the Scriptures, and contribution in such rites as baptism and communion. Distinguishing Catholic practices consist of acknowledgment of seven overall sacraments, Sunday mass, dedication to the Virgin Mary and the saints, and admiration of relics and places connected with holy figures. Eastern Orthodoxy holds a lot of practices in relation with Catholicism, but is particularly distinguished by the vital role of icons: metaphorical images of Christ and the saints alleged to have provided a relationship to the spiritual world.
Martin Luther was responsible for igniting reformation. When Martin Luther came back from Germany to Rome in 1510, he emerged as a critic of the catholic papacy. He believed that the Catholic Church was wrong in teaching that salvation could be earned by doing good deeds and buy indulgencies. Martin Luther’s beliefs were fundamentally made up of three principles, Sola Fide “by faith alone”, sola scriptura “by scriptura alone”, and sola gratia “by grace alone”. Luther believed that the religious truth can be reach by reading the bible.
“The Reformation was the rejection of the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance” Defend or refute this stamen using specific examples from 16th century Europe. Thesis: The reformation rejected the secular spirit of the Renaissance by shifting the focus of society from humanism back to God. This change was greatly helped by emergence of the Protestant Church and its beliefs. The Italian Renaissance, which occurred from about, the 13th to 16th century promoted secular spirit largely due to the idea of humanism. Humanism in the Italian Renaissance concentrated on the individual and the individual’s wants and interests.