Protestant Reformation

Causes of the Reformation

  • 100 Years War and Black Death

  • Clergy was uneducated

  • Busy with worldly affairs – not doing spiritual work

  • Scientific Advances which contradicted the Catholic Church

  • Indulgences – paying $$ for a pardon of sins or reward for good behavior

Early Calls for Church Reform

  • John Wycliffe of England: translates the Bible into English

  • Jan Huss of Bohemia: Church services in the vernacular

  • Both taught that the Bible had more authority than church leaders

  • Huss was burned at the stake, Wycliffe was given a posthumous “execution”

Renaissance Ideas

  • secularism 

  • Individualism  

  • Christian humanists

  • Printing press to spread ideas

What was the Protestant Reformation?

  • Protestant = someone who protested against the Catholic Church

  • Reformation = when people demand changes

  • Established the idea that all free men  had a right to protection of the law. 


Martin Luther

  • German Monk who was dissatisfied with the church and believed:

    • Faith saves people, not good works 

    • Ultimate authority for Christians is the Bible

    • No one is more important in God’s eyes; all humans are equal before God

Luther’s Issues With the Church

  • Tetzel (a friar) was selling indulgences: certificates that take away sins

  • Merchants want usury (lending $ and charging interest – Catholic Church says usury is wrong) 

  • Absolute power of & wealth of the Church

  • Domination of Church by Italians (angered Germans and English)

Luther’s 95 Theses

  • A list of things he thought were wrong with the Catholic Church

  • Luther criticized:

    • The pope’s  power

    • The church’s extreme wealth 

  • indulgences

  • Posted on Church doors in Wittenberg Germany (1517)

  • Gutenberg’s Printing Press spread it quickly

  • Gained support from people and criticism from Church

Martin Luther’s Main Teachings

  • Salvation by faith alone

  • Teaching based on the Bible

  • All people are equal before God

Pope Leo X Medici

  • Pope during the height of church corruption

  • 1520 Pope Leo X ordered Luther to give up his beliefs

  • Luther burned the order and was excommunicated



The Holy Roman Emperor

  • Charles V summoned Luther to trial in the town of Worms

  • Created the Edict of Worms Luther declared an outlaw and heretic

  • New religious group formed- Lutherans

Protestant Reaction

  • Peasants want an end to serfdom and revolt in 1524

  • Luther does not support the revolt and the princes of Germany massacre 100,000 people

Lutherans and Catholics at War

  • Northern German princes supported Luther

  • Other princes agree to join forces against them

  • Charles V declared war against Protestants 

  • 1555- Peace of Augsburg - religion of each German state would be decided by its ruler

King Henry VIII

  • Began reign as a devout Catholic

  • He and his wife (Catherine of Aragon) had a daughter Mary, but no male heir

  • Convinced that Catherine could no longer have children, Henry wanted a divorce

  • The Pope could annul (set aside) a marriage, but refused 

  • Henry called on Parlament to pass laws ending Pope’s power in England and legalize his divorce

  • In 1534, Henry breaks from the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the Church Of England

Queen Elizabeth I 

  • Daughter of Henry VII and Anne Boleyn

  • Combined Catholic styles w/Protestant teaching to please both religions 

  • Elizabeth I makes the Anglican Church the official church of all of Great Britain

John Calvin

  • His ideas hit the Church with a: POW

  • Predestination -God chooses who goes to heaven, you don’t get there by good works

  • Our moral lives will reveal if we’re chosen by God to go to heaven or hell

  • Work ethic, righteous life that honors God

Predestination

  • Calvin believed in:

  • Salvation through predestination

  • At birth it is decided if you will go to heaven or hell

Calvinism

  • Started in Switzerland

  • Calvin went to Geneva, Switzerland and led the city

  • He believed the ideal government was a theocracy (government controlled by religious leaders)

John Knox

  • He visited Calvin in Geneva and liked his teachings

  •  He returned to his native Scotland and his followers were called Presbyterians

The Anabaptists

  • Another Christian group to split off

  • Anabaptist = “baptize again”

  • Believed only people who were old enough to decide to be Christian should be baptized

  • Persecuted across Europe