Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Protestant Reformation
There were several problems within the Christian church which led to 16th-century religious revolution called the Protestant Reformation and ended the supremacy of the pope in Western Christendom. The Medieval Christian Church had developed as an institutionalized intermediary between man and God. As individualism gained ground in the Middle Ages, and God began to be perceived as an unknowable absolute ruler, the rigid institutions of the church meant to provide a channel for man to do good works could no more cater for the changing spiritual requirements of many people. Moreover, since the 13th century a.D., the greed, immorality, and ignorance among the officials of the papacy had become widespread. The Church had acquired vast tax-free possessions all over Europe, constituting as much as one-fifth to one-third of the lands of Europe, which incited the envy and resentment of the land-poor peasantry. The last straw proved to be the sale of indulgences when in 1517 Pope Leo X offered their sale for those who gave alms for the construction of St. Peter's Bascilia in Rome. The sale provoked Martin Luther to write his famous 95 theses that signaled the start of the Protestant Reformation. ("Protestantism" 2006; "The Reformation" 2004)
Even before the 16th century reform movement, several attempts had been made to challenge the authority of the Church but the dissent was successfully suppressed. However, by the 16th century, a number of political and social factors made the conditions in Europe ripe for the success of the reformation movement launched by Martin Luther. By then, both the Holy Roman Empire and the pope were declining in power and were faced with potent threat from the Ottoman Empire; the invention of the printing press in the 15th century made rapid distribution of dissenting opinion possible; and finally, the rise of secular learning and nationalism in Europe had made the population receptive to the ideas of Protestantism. ("Protestantism" 2006)
Reference
Protestantism." (2006). Article in Encyclopedia Encarta Online. Retrieved on October 17, 2006 at http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761555703
The Reformation." (2004). Le Poulet Gauch. Retrieved on October 17, 2006 at http://www.lepg.org/religion.htm
Reformation Protestant Reformation For most of the 1000 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Catholic Church was the only centralized authority in Western Europe. While kingdoms rose and fell, the Church remained and was the only religious authority in Europe. But beginning in the 15th century, people began to question the authority of the Catholic Church and specifically the Pope. What followed was a turning point in the
In terms of politics, the Catholic Church was both a political and religious institution. As a political institution, it was imperative for the Church to maintain its number of devotees. Hence, while the philosophy of humanism inspired many reformation attempts, these were also driven by the need for more Catholic worshipers, and hence for more political power. When politicians turned away from Catholicism, however, this became a problem. Probably the most
However, certain elements of traditional Christian theology are centered on Mary, and the degree of emphasis that those elements receive can be very telling about Mary's actual role in the religion. For example, the connection between female chastity and religious observance seems to have been established by God's choice of a Virgin to carry his son. God did not have to choose a virgin to bear his child, but
They felt that they Church was getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. And as a result, there were no great protests when the King broke away from the Church, because many felt that Henry would ease up on taking money from them. Henry knew of the Catholic Church's unpopularity and used this to his advantage (Truman, 2009). Christian Humanism played a large role in the development of the
Bernini's David The Baroque was a dramatic period in Europe: the religious unity the continent had enjoyed for centuries had come to a crashing halt with the Protestant Reformation. King was turned against King, prince against pontiff. Persecution and war were dominant themes, especially following the excommunication of Henry VIII from the Church. Bernini's David, sculpted between 1623 and 1624, represents the swirling, dramatic, grim activity of the times (Avery). It
Any one who tried to gain enough power and wealth would be considered a threat to the power of the church and was therefore quickly deposed of their wealth. Weber proposed that even though Catholics tolerated a greater display of outward wealth, Protestant doctrines asked the followers to concentrate on mundane pursuits. It also asks its followers to accept a lower station in life without a hierarchical structure to force