Reformation Dbq Essay

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Reformation DBQ Throughout the history of Europe, people’s lives revolved around the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church taught its beliefs through the clergy and exercised its authority. In 1517, corruption, false teachings, and the challenging of Martin Luther led to a split that created the Protestant Church. During the Reformation, the Protestant belief in “sola scriptura” and “sola fides” was a major source of conflict with the Catholic teachings of a Church authority and salvation through good works. Protestants believed in “sola scriptura”, which is Latin for “scripture alone” and says that the scripture is the only source for knowledge on salvation and holiness. A German woodcut from the 16th century portrays the Protestant emphasis on the scripture in one of his works (Doc 3). His work advocates Protestant beliefs by showing a young preacher in the Protestant woodcut and a fat monk in the Catholic woodcut. In the Protestant woodcut, the preacher is holding a Bible, as is everyone else. This shows the importance of the Bible to Protestants compared to the Catholic woodcut in which there is no importance placed on the scripture. In the Catholic woodcut, is it very ornamental and the monk who is preaching does not have a Bible to read off of. This shows the contrast between Protestant and Catholic beliefs in doctrine. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Luther responds to Eck saying that he will not recant his teachings unless he is “convinced by Scripture and plain reason” (Doc 5). During his speech, Luther advocates his belief in sola scriptura. Then, in 1525, when Zwiglian Protestants publish the Twelve Articles, they give an explanation of the scripture which displays sola scriptura (Doc 6). Catholics believed in salvation through good works. Thomas Kempis, a Catholic, defines the importance of good works in his book The Imitation of Christ (Doc 1). He
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