Protestant Reformation (redone)

Context

• The Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century was an internal ethical, continued existence and theological challenge to the Catholic Christian Tradition, in which the Augustinian Monk Martin Luther introduced the heretical ideas of ‘Sola Gratia’ (grace alone) ‘Sola Fide’ (faith alone) and ‘Sola Scriptura’ (scripture alone) as published within his ‘95 Theses’ (31st October, 1517). 

• Specifically, The Black Plague (1347-1351) led to the death of ‘42-45% of priests’ (John Kelly), which, out of necessity for replacements, eventually led to "self seeking and spiritually unqualified" (Claveau) Clergy, causing a rise in nepotism and fueling Luther’s ambition for reform in the Church.

• While originally a small movement, the creation of the printing press in 1440 by Johann Gutenberg allowed for ideas such as Luther's 95 theses to become “widely circulated” (Duignan)  throughout Germany and abandonment of Christianity such that it “was a disaster zone, perhaps 80% protestant” (Marshall)

• Furthermore renaissance thinking would also contribute as humanism which was the idea that “man can make whatever he likes of himself” (Alberti), resulted in academics embracing Luther’s ideas and spreading them

Aspects involved

• Provoked by the unjust selling of indulgences by the Church;  “Remissions of sin for those alive or dead” (CCC 1471) and the rise of simony,  Luther's 95 theses served as a critique to this notion.

• he challenged the belief in justification, contending that “by God’s grace alone” (Comby), humanity can enter the “kingdom of God” (CCC 1) as human life is ultimately predestined by God;  denying the belief in free will and that we are made “in the image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:27).

• Equally Luther contradicted various facets of the Church and its teachings under his heresies, such as his idea of ‘Sola Fide’, that faith alone brings salvation, which contradicts the Church’s ethic that “faith without works is also dead” (James 2:26).

• His idea of Sola Scriptura (scripture alone) damaged the reputation of the church by rejecting the role of the social structure of the Pope and “challenged the unity of Christendom” (Armenio) claiming the papacy to be "antichrist" and denying the magisterium in interpreting and commuting sacred texts (humanist views)

• Luther challenged the aspect of rituals, particularly the seven sacraments, as Luther “denies seven, opting for only two” (Ellingsen), these being Baptism and the Eucharist holding that the Eucharist is not transubstantiation as dictated by Catholic Doctrine, but instead consubstantiation, the wine and bread being Jesus’ body while still being wine and bread. 

Impact on wider society

• Adherents of the CCT were killed during the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) subsequently caused after the reformation, where the “impassioned debate of theological precepts but also murderous violence” (University of Arizona) created a bloody image of religion that undermined its role as a foundation for social unity and peace, leading to secularisation and abandonment

• The challenge resulted in the splitting of the Church with Luther and his followers forming new Protestant churches that still exist today, demonstrating the widescale scope of the challenge exemplified by Germany which “was a disaster zone, perhaps 80% protestant” (Marshall) that contributed to the “500 year poisoned relationship, Catholics and Protestants”

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