Reformation flashcards

Reformation

The action or process of reforming an institution or practice.

Corruption

The abuse of entrusted power for private gain, involving dishonest or illegal acts.

Indulgences

Something you pay to get rid of your sins to go to heaven faster.

Thirty Years’ War

A war caused by complex mix of religious tensions between Catholics and protestants. It was resolved with the Peace of Westphalia, where the Prince can decide of there kingdom will be protestant or catholic.

Tithe

A tax that the church requires (church tax).

Sacraments 

Significate Christian rites.

Usury

“Stealing money”

Salvation

The act of being saved from harm, sin, suffering.

Martin Luther 

Famous for initiating the Protestant Reformation. He posted his “Ninety-five Theses”, where he listed the issues of the Catholic Church.

Predestination

Idea that at the beginning of time, when God created the world and everything in it, God had already decided everyone who would ever be born and each person’s destiny.

Jesuits

The religious order of men in the Roman Catholic Church.

Henry VIII 

King of England (1509-1547) who is know for his six marriages. He wanted to divorce his first wife because he didn’t have a baby boy, but the pope refused. Called himself the “Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England.” and since many people were starting to break away from the Catholic Church because of Luther’s teachings, many agreed with King Henry. In 1534, Kink Henry established the Church of England, which later became known as the Anglican Church.

Missionaries 

A person sent on a religious mission, especially one sent to promote Christianity in a foreign country.

Huguenots 

French Calvinists Protestants.

Holy relics 

Special objects from saints kept by the RCC as holy reminders.

John Calvin 

A french religious lead who helped start Protestant Christianity. He started Calvinism.

Protestant 

A christian who emerged from the Protestant Reformation as a protest against Catholic Church practices.

Edict of Nantes  

Was a law by French King Henry IV that let Protestants (Huguenots) practice their faith safely in Catholic France.

Printing press

A machine invented around 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg in Germany that used moveable metal type to print books quickly and cheaply.

Pope/papacy 

The pope is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Papacy refers to his office.

Protestant reformation

A movement that split Western Christianity, challenging Church power and creating Protestant branches (the different groups that formed during the Reformation, all rejecting full Catholic authority).

Counter Reformation

The Catholic Church’s pushback against the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s and 1600s. In other words, it was the Catholic Church strong fight back against the Protestant Reformation to stop losing power and members. It fixed church problems like corruption.

Johannes Gutenberg

German inventor who created the moveable—type printing press. This was huge because it made books cheap and fast, letting regular people to read the Bible.

Protestantism

A new Christian movement born from the 1500s Reformation that broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. It rejected the pope’s supreme authority, saying that salvation comes by faith, not church rituals or money. Spread starting with Luther’s protests, which then leaded to branches like Anglicans and Calvinists across Europe.

Simony

The sin of buying or selling spiritual things, like church jobs or sacraments, for money.

95 Theses

A list of 95 arguments written by Martin Luther against the Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences.

Edict of Worms

Was an order by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V that declared Martin Luther an outlaw for his Reformation ideas.

REFORMATION

A big 1500s fight against Catholic Church problems that split Christianity into Catholics and Protestants.

Imperial Diet of Worms

A meeting in Worms Germany in 1521 called by Emperor Charles V where Martin Luther was ordered too explain or take back his reformation ideas.

Jan Hus

A priest and reformer who criticized the Catholic Church corruption years before Luther.

Charles V

Holy Roman Emperor and a king of Spain

Holy Roman Empire

Was a loose collection of mostly German states and kingdoms in central Europe.

Vernacular

Everyday local languages spoken by regular people, like French or German, instead of Latin.

John Wycliffe

An English theologian and priest called “Morning Star of the Reformation for calling out the Catholic Church abuses over 100 years before Luther.