What was the Protestant Reformation?
The majority of people from the United States mainly follow the Baptist but dozens of reforms are still followed in the USA. This Protestant reform movement was started in the early 16th century. Initially, there was only one church in western Europe, which was later called the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church was under the leadership of the Pope in Rome. Later, this church was divided into many other types like Baptist, Methodist, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anglican. This article will provide a complete explanation of the protestant reformation, violence, and reformers.
The Church and The State
Before 1500 years, the Church in Western Europe was very powerful both politically and religiously. They also ruled the significant territory in Italy called the Papal States. There were other political forces too, such as the Holy Roman Empire in the Italian city-states, like England, Spain, and France. Since the power of the rulers from these areas was eager to take an opportunity of Protestant reformation, they weakened the power of the papacy and increased their own power, and built relationships with the Church in Rome and other rulers.
During this time, many churches faced internal power struggles. At that time, spiritual leaders like Popes and Cardinals led their lives like kings. They have political alliances and enemies, commanded armies, and were even involved in waged wars. Even at that time, Simony and Nepotism were famous. But the Pope was not concentrated on all these corruptions, which facilitated a way to reform the Church. This great reformation started in the hands of Martin Luther.
Protestant Founder Martin Luther
A German monk and the Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg Martin Luther sparked the great reformation in 1517. He posted "95 Theses", which shows at least traditions on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In that book, Martin Luther was deeply concerned about the Church of doctrine. He took efforts at first to protest against the practice Catholic Church and initiated reforms in the Church.
Indulgences
The indulgences are the way to reduce one’s punishments, who did various sins in their lifetime. In the church, they started practicing the sale of indulgences and the church acknowledged a donation or other charitable work with a piece of paper. People believe that this practice will reduce all their sins and quickly reduce the time to enter into heaven after one’s death.
Pope Leo X has allowed the churches to raise money through indulgences for reconstructing the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. But, many monks already sold their indulgences for money. So, Martin Luther connected this and raised disagreement with the institution of the Church. Later, this became a great conflict among catholic and protestant.
Article Faith Alone
Martin Luther has many spiritual beliefs and devotion to god. So he tried to stay away from sin and found the sinful thoughts in his mind. He felt fearful in his mind that he could not earn enough blessing to enter into the place of heaven. He also tried to explain that human beings cannot escape from their sins. After studying the book "The just shall live by faith", which was written by St. Paul, Luther understood that the only way for reaching heaven is faith alone - not by having good practice. On the other hand, Catholic Church preached the practice of good works and was also involved in their salvation.
Luther’s Reform in Bible
Luther believed that the changes among people can be brought only through the Bible. Initially, the Bible was available only in the Latin language, which was the ancient language of the Roman people, especially for clergy. So, In the 15th century, he invented a printing press for translating the Bible into vernacular languages like English, French, German, Italian,..etc. So that, people from various countries can directly learn the Bible without having a priest or any other church officials. Initially, he made a handmade bible, which was extremely expensive. But the introduction of the printed bible reduced the cost of the bible and made it available outside the church. This action of Luther Matin increased the direct relationship with God and reduced the intermediaries of the Catholic Churches. Luther Martin and many other reformers had a look at the words of the bible. They followed many new practices and teachings of the churches, which were not in Christ's teaching.
The Counter-Reformation
Initially, the Churches ignored Martin's activity and ideas, but it quickly reached many European countries. Many monks in churches also forced Martin to rewrite his writings at the Diet of Worms, but he refused. So, Martin got dismissed from the church. This response of the Church towards the action of Luther was named as counter-reformation.
The Council of Trent
To deal with the issue raised by Martin Luther, the Church opened the Council of Trent in 1545. All the high officials of the Church were taking part in the Council of Trent. They were assembled in the Northern Italian town of Trent for 25 sessions.
Outcomes of The Council of Trent
All the council members stood against the idea of Lutheran about his justification on faith alone. They also mentioned that the Doctrine of Merit will allow human beings to look after the good works and sacraments. They also declared that the existence of Purgatory and uses of prayer and indulgences will help people to stay away from involving unnecessary activities.
They also explained the belief in transubstantiation, the importance of all seven sacraments, and the truth behind the teaching of traditions in the Churches. So, they all forced the necessity and correctness of religious arts. The Council of Trent also describes the importance and usefulness of the Church. But the people who belong to Catholic Christianity carefully promoted the correct use of images and guard against the possibility of idolatry.
Violence During Protestant Reformation
The actions of the protestant founder created huge violence in European countries. Even family members had a pit and stood for the wars of religion. Catholics and Protestants stood against each other and started describing the right side and the devil’s work. The artists namely, Titian in Venice, Michelangelo in Rome, Cranach in Saxony, Durer in Nuremberg were taking part in changing the Church, which is the single largest patron for artists. All those artists have changed the entire view of the church in a new way. In that, art communicated the entire story of the bible in an effective way. On the other hand, Protestants destroyed the patronage of the Church and religious images like stained glass windows, paintings, sculptures..etc in iconoclastic riots.
Other Changes at The End of Reformation
During the Protestant reformation period, People gained many scientific revolutions and had new observations on the natural world replacing the religious doctrine to know about the universe. Nicolaus Copernicus, the great mathematician, found and explained the truth behind the ancient Greek model of the heavens. That is the sun was at the center of the solar system and planets are orbiting around it. Meanwhile, people came to know about the colonization and Christianization of Europe and called it the "new world".
Conclusion
This article explained, what was the protestant reformation? how the Martin Luther protestant reformation carried over this process. Also given the challenges faced during the reformation and a list of changes made at the end of reformation are given in detail.
FAQs on The Protestant Reformation: History and Reformers
1. What was the Protestant Reformation?
Many events for the Protestant reformation started during the 16th century. Abuse of the clergy criticized the people who belonged to the Catholic Church. The selfishness and disgraceful lives of the clergy had created a partition among the peasants. This partition created two sets of beliefs among the groups as the result of the Protestant Reformation.
2. What was a major reason for the Reformation?
The political, social, economic, and religious backgrounds are the major causes for the protestant reformation. The religious causes also created problems among the church authority and clergymen who looked after the church.
3. How was the Catholic Church affected by the Protestant Reformation?
The protestant reformation created religious, social, and political effects on the catholic church. The unity among European Christians was broken and created cultural diversity. But the roman catholic church remains the same at the end of reforms such as the Council of Trent.
