Changing Policy on Medieval Heresy Essay

Among the many religious changes that occurred throughout Europe in the sixteenth century, few were as widely influential as the Reformation. There were three streams of the Reformation: the common class, the educated middle class, and the monarchs and princes. All three streams wanted the church to be fixed and hoped it could combine old ideas and new ones. The Reformation was influenced by many different people, yet the most important was John Wyclif, who stated that the church did not need possession in order to be powerful. Different ideologies came from the influences of Wyclif, and many others. Lutheranism began in the mid 1500’s by Martin Luther, and he developed a doctrine of Justification by Faith where he wrote of how people stay in the church and get to heaven from faith

During the 16th century, Protestantism emerged as a new sect of Christianity. This process was not calm or peaceful in the slightest. Protestant leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin fiercely attacked and denied traditional Catholic beliefs, causing much controversy and debate upon religion. Many regions of Europe as a whole were converted to Protestantism, and many more Protestants emerged in areas where Catholicism remained the state religion. The Catholic faith became less and less appealing to people as the abuses of the clergy were now publicly addressed by reformers and a new, personal approach to religion was offered in Protestantism. In addition, rulers favored Protestantism as a state religion because it meant that no power

Their presence was followed by an increase of moral deterioration in the church that forced "puritanical souls to revolt. This deterioration is thought to have started in the upper classes of Roman society, which caused many to shift away into the early form of Monasticism.

During the Medieval period, avid church goers and clergymen had many fears regarding heresy, one of which was the spread of doubt within the faith. In a time when only churchmen could read and write, it was their teachings of the

During the Protestant Reformation in Germany around the 16th century chaos ensued. This was lead by Martin Luther, who brought the churches lie out in the open for all to see. He told the people of the corruption within the Vatican, and how they shouldn’t have to pay indulgences. Secularism spread throughout the lands, people began turning on the church. This all went on while the Renaissance was still affecting the European nations.

Gnosticism was one of the movements that grew out of Christianity. It would challenge the beliefs of the church in a way that would put the two at odds. This case study will discuss the beliefs of Gnosticism and the Church’s response to it using research from scholarly printed text and on-line resources.

iii) On biblical grounds the Church is a community of both saints & sinners. Separation only comes at final judgement. Therefore ‘two’ churches: the essential/invisible church contained within the outward empirical church. (To what extent did this distinction allow for the development of corruption within the empirical church?)

Religion has had a severe influence on society and by looking at the diverse attitudes that Christians employed regarding their religion through time one is likely to observe that many individuals who interpret religion erroneously are likely to put across hostile behavior toward innocent individuals. History has seen several Christians who stood up to mainstream religious thinking and who lobbied in regard to alternative methods of being religious. The cases of Margery Kempe and Martin Luther are two of the most notable examples of Christians who dared to put across their personal beliefs during a time when the Church harshly criticized and oppressed individuals like them.

We excommunicate and anathematize [pronounce as a thing devoted to evil] every heresy that contradicts this holy, orthodox, catholic faith, and condemn all heretics, no matter what they may call themselves ... Those who are accused of heresy, must

Millenarians, radicals, mystics, heretics, and all other groups with their own opinions regarding the teachings of the organized church have always existed. In certain points in history, current events have caused spikes in these groups’ abundance. One example of such time periods is the twelfth through fourteenth century. This point in time saw a particular rise for these groups due to the social, political, and religious climate of the preceding centuries.

When religious persecution began to be quieted and the time of martyrdom ended, the monastic movement became popular as an example of self-denial and stringent discipline. Asceticism somewhat replaced, in my opinion, the

The Church creates woe for citizens by acknowledging and advertising that earthly suffering is permissible because heaven grants rewards to faithful followers who do not complain (2). Since the Church bears so much influence and power, citizens feel they have no other choice but to follow the advice given to them. Many are probably so miserable that their only hope of

By the late 1500s, Christian denominations had been popping up all over Europe. This was in response to the reports of indulgences (selling of freedom from purgatory), clerical immorality, abuse of money, along with many other bad actions that were rampant among the Church. It was these problems that Luther and others rebelled and created their own religions. With the rising of these Reformation movements, the Church needed to make some reforms itself. These reforms took the form of educating the clergy, opening monasteries, the Inquisition, and the organizing of councils. In fact, even though Protestant attacks brought these reforms, many of these reforms were needed anyway. The problems in the Church were so bad that the Church would not

Catholicism was a prominent religion for over 1,000 years. Before the Reformation of the 1500s, anyone who was Christian belonged to the Catholic Church— any other form of Christianity was considered a denomination. To eliminate denominations, the Church turned to inquisition. The Papal Inquisition began in the late 12th century, when Pope Innocent III sent cardinals to Southern France, where heresy was popularizing. However, the official inauguration is considered 1231, when Pope Gregory IX sent Dominicans to Southern France, Germany, Austria, Lombardy, and Aragon to convict heretics. Heretics were granted the chance to admit their deceit and return to the Roman Catholic Church. If their heresy was sustained,

The rise of literacy towards the end of the Middle Ages brought with it a torrent of individuals ready to think fro themselves and formulate their own theories and ideas regarding God and the Christian faith. For a long time, the church held a near monopoly on literacy and used this to maintain control over people’s lives and beliefs. While some of these new intellectuals created ideas that would forever change the way people envision themselves and their relation to God and the universe, some simply patched together tidbits of ideas that were not born out of deep philosophical inquiry, but had more of an instinctive type of logical grounding. This was the line of thinking that made up Domenico