The Catholic Church went through a change to its very core when Martin Luther voiced what was wrong, mainly how far the church had moved from the actual words in the Bible. The Christians in the Lutheran faith believed that the decline of the church is related directly to the word of God shared through man. With this relationship, the word of God can be misconstrued to feed the egos and desires of man, rather than God’s will. Martin Luther was interested in reforming the church, and in particular, man’s belief of what is true about God’s word. During this same time, the Catholic Church was moving further from the theology of the Protestants.
The main motivation for the reformation in England was Henry V111 religious convictions how far do you agree with this statement? The reformation in England was the change from Catholicism to Protestantism. Henry V111 played a huge role in the reformation for example he stopped the amount of taxes that were being payed to Rome and he later ordered the dissolution of the monasteries however there are many other reasons to why the reformation in England took place for example for many years Protestants had argued over the beliefs and laws of the catholic religion as they believed some of their beliefs were corrupt. For example the Catholics had a strong belief in purgatory this is a seen as being like a waiting room were your soul is weighed on all of the sins you have committed compared to all of the positives that you have done throughout your life. The church said that the only way you could get time out of purgatory or save a family member from purgatory was to buy indulgences this means that the monks will pray for you and your family.
Luther spoke out against clerical celibacy, papal abuses, salvation by works, and other Catholic doctrines. Luther proves to be the better reformer because of his full commitment to reformation. He did not involve himself with the teachings and rituals of the Catholics, within his writings and words he tore down what he found corrupt. Erasmus on the other hand was a Catholic priest, even though he wanted to reform, there was still a part that did not want to fight the church upfront because of his role. Erasmus tried to find a middle road approach, but this only disappointed scholars from both sides.
The Puritans were a group of people who grew dissatisfied with the Church of England and worked towards societal, moral and religious reforms. The writings and ideas of John Calvin, a leader in the Reformation, led to Protestantism and were critical to the Christian revolt. They contended that The Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of separatist who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. They broke away from the persecution of church leadership and the King to come to America.
The Lutheran Princes felt it necessary to create the Protestant Union and in retaliation the Catholics formed to Catholic League. They agreed that neither of them should make a religious or territorial move. Protestant Churches were closed my Ferdinand of Styria, which caused the first outbreak of violence in 1617. Europe began to struggle through inflation. This was because the war had been fought on German soil, causing them to lose money in agriculture; also the trade routes had shifted.
Protestant Reformation in Europe During the sixteenth century, there were quite a few people who questioned the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. This time period was called the Reformation, and during this time, the Church was criticized by the Protestants for their corruption. “The omnipotence of the church, both in the spiritual sense and in the political realm, had been called into question” (Rogers 9). The Reformation ended the period of unity created by Medieval Christianity. The two people who stand out during this time period are Martin Luther and John Calvin.
The events in Scotland began with Charles introducing the English bible into Scotland, from there a religious protest developed and ultimately the National Covenant was set up. Charles wanted to base the Scottish Church on an English model (Hughes, 1998; p35) much to their disgust, and he declared the covenanters traitors, this united the movement early on. Importantly Charles knew that while the covenant existed he had no power in Scotland (Hughes, 1998; p37). The events led to the First Bishops War, which is the reason that Charles called the Short Parliament. He believed he had the support of the English Parliament.
Bismarck did not help to make the Catholics feel welcome in the Confederation. Pope Pius IX that the Church was slowly losing its traditional power, so he announced that any statement he made was to be accepted everywhere by Catholics, therefore German bishops would have to obey. Bismarck similarly wanted his new government to be obeyed. The Centre party (Catholic party) began to win more seats in the Reichstag, causing concern for Bismarck as there loyalty may be to the Pope. Bismarck began to fight back, he banned the most active order of Catholic priests and introduced a law that the government had a right to inspect all schools, including Catholic ones.
This put the Catholic Church at odds with them over the sale of indulgences, that allowed the Church to forgive sins and promises to limit the times the person would spend in purgatory after death. Germany was known for religious reform in the fourteenth and fifteenth century, these movements made changes to how we worship today. “Luther was concerned as early as 1516 that his parishioners were induced to be complacent about true contrition for their sin if they purchased indulgences that promised forgiveness for a price. Then in 1517 the sale of a special jubilee indulgence was promoted by Pope Leo X ostensibly to pay for the building of a new St. Peter’s basilica. Behind the scenes, half of the money raised would repay the bankers of Augsburg for the
The defeat brought about English nationalism and in contrast Spain was humiliated and nearly emptied its national treasury, (Defeat of the Spanish Armada). During the first half of the sixteenth century England experienced the Protestant Reformation. In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to a church in Wittenberg, Germany. Little did he know this would start a new religion called Protestantism. King Henry VIII of England was at first opposed to Luther’s ideas, but when he broke with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530s, he supported Protestantism.