Counter Reformation Impact

With the start of the 16th century, many changes have occurred. One of them being, a turning point in european history and religion, the Reformation. The Reformation was an upheaval where people began to question the authority and piety of the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions. Ignited by Martin Luther, and continued by John Calvin and other protestants this break in religion really shook the established power of the Highest Institution. By the year of 1540, Pope Paul III seen that some kind of change within must happen in order to not lose catholicism to protestantism. He decided to spark a counter-reformation, that reformed and bettered the doctrine and the grip the church had on the monarchies of the european society. The first aim the counter-reformation had

The Protestant Reformation of the Catholic Church devastated the religious unity of Christian Europe, resulting in a great deal of antagonism, which in turn led to the persecutions, denial of civil rights, expulsion, and ultimately the torture and death of many men, women and children. The ongoing conflict was not consigned to one distinct European nation, but was experienced in every European nation that the Catholic Church ruled and reigned. There was no worldview in Europe at that time that allowed for the religious differences of men to coexist peaceably.

The development of new ideas and inventions lead to a spread of ideas which resulted in the protestant reformation and in retaliation to this, the Catholic Church initiated the Counter-Reformation. The Protestant Reformation began because of rapidly changing views on how the world works and the introduction of new inventions such as the printing press. As people began to focus more on the world around them they began expand their view of things. Many scientists opposed agreed upon ideas such as the Earth being the center of the universe. The Catholic Church at the time understood this as blasphemy and excommunicated people from the church. This lead to the creation of protestant denominations.

The Protestant Reformation began during the Renaissance time period, it was the attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church. It led to the creation of Protestant churches. This reformation began after multiple church leaders started demanding individuals to supply them with such large quantities of goods, food, and money that individuals did not have much left to provide to their own family. Several believed if they did not contribute and present the church with what they asked, they would be denied entrance to heaven once they passed away. People saw how the church thrived while those who contributed were ravenous and penniless. Martin Luther, a monk, noticed several inaccuracies between what the Roman Catholic Church practiced and the Bible as he studied the Bible. He decided to speak out by creating the 95 Theses, and nailing it on the entrance of a catholic church. Protestants who had similar view as Luther’s began Luther-ism. John Calvin, had very similar views as Luther and was even inspired by him to reform the Catholic Church as well. I most admire Martin Luther because of how he spoke up and protested against the Roman Catholic church when he knew it could put him in danger, but I am most similar to John Calvin because of how he believes in predestination and how faith is revealed by living a righteous life.

In the 16th century intellectual, religious, cultural, and political views divided Catholic Europe and caused the Protestant Reformation. The way things turned out still effect and determine the structures and beliefs to this day. People like John Calvin, Henry VIII, and Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church on how it delivers Christian views. They disagreed on how the religious and political power was being distributed into the hands of the Bible. The argument began wars, persecutions and a Counter Reformation. Most historians usually believe that the start of the Protestant Reformation was around 1517 when Martin Luther published “95 Theses”. The ending is anywhere from 1555 which would allow the coexistence of Catholicism

The protestant reformation was a significant turning point during the 16th century that completely revolutionized the Roman Catholic Church. The “reformation” was launched in 1517 when a German monk by the name of Martin Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. The main ideas of this publication was that selling and buying indulgences was wrong and that the pope has no power over purgatory. These 95 revolutionary opinions formed the basis for the protestant reformation which revolutionized western civilization over the next three centuries. Although most people believe these reforms only affected religion, the reformation also impacted political life. Politics played an enormous role in the reformation due to the fact that political rulers wanted to extend their power and control using the church. Throughout the course of the protestant reformation, political authorities such as Emperor Charles V and Henry

There are approximately eight hundred million Protestant Christians currently in the world with it being the second largest Christian domination (Fairchild). However, there are over a billion followers of the Roman Catholic faith and it currently stands as the Christian domination with the most followers (Fairchild). If it were not for the German monk, Martin Luther, most Christians would have been Roman Catholic in the present. Martin Luther is famous for “95 Theses” that critiqued the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church and it was written on Halloween Day, 1517 (Ellis and Esler 423-427). Other people agreed with him and shared their perceptions, which led to the birth of the Protestant Reformation (Ellis and Esler 423-427). In the documents written by people who either supported or were against the Protestant Reformation, the main idea of them is that the Catholic Church supported the idea of paying indulgences and competing with others for power.

Protestant Reformation: (Also known as the Reformation) is when Martin Luther rebelled against the church by writing a book called “The Ninety-Five Theses.” Luther began to question and criticise the selling of indulgences, he insisted that the pope had no authority over purgatory and the Catholic doctrine of the Merits of the saints. This changed most of Western Europe.

The Reformation was a religious movement that divided the church between the Catholics and Protestants. The Counter-Reformation was a reaction movement that followed this originally crusade, and was lead by the Catholics as a response to the wide spread of Protestantism. The purpose of the Counter-Reformation was to spawn internal reforms. This movement was focused on the renewal of the church in the form of the use of images, focus on the church as the house of God, and the veneration of the Virgin Mary and Saints. The Counter-Reformation was responsible for the start of major change in the Catholic Church and with regard to the role of art; the importance of art was heightened and the movement sought out to restore Catholicism and make is more attractive, thus emerged the Baroque style.

The Counter Reformation was a goal that helped “worshippers achieve the emo- tional state of religious ecstasy” (Stockstad & Cothren, p. 725). Pope Sixtus V had then made it his goal was to make proper embellishments for churches and the settings of the churches. The Counter Reformation was also made in response to the Protestant Reformation that was lead by Martin Luther. The Catholic church had then wanted to reestablish Rome and make it the cultural center of the Western world. Later on, Roman popes became patrons of architecture to defends Rome’s domination, that had continued for 100 years, and Rome’s prestige.

The protestant reformation happened at the moment that it did because the Catholic Church was very a powerful force in Europe. It controlled people lives both spiritually and temporally. The church had so much power that it maintained political control over a large portion of Italy. The fact that the church held so much control over countries and governments became a point of contention among European countries such as the Holy Roman Empire, Italian city-states outside of Rome, England, France and Spain. The power of the rulers of these areas had greatly increased in the 14th century and they were eager to take the chances offered by a Reformation to weaken the grip of the Catholic Church in Europe and also to develop their own powers across the European continent. For quite some time the Catholic Church had been an institution rampant with internal struggles. Such as the Avignon Papacy from 1309 to 1377 when seven popes opted to live in Avignon, France and not reside in Rome which was and is the traditional home of the Papacy. The Pope and other high ranking church officials often lived opulent lifestyles rather than a more austere lifestyle that should befit a spiritual leader. Many church leaders and Popes maintained political powers. They led armies, waged wars and made many political decisions. Church offices were sold, and many Popes and bishops practiced nepotism to fill church offices. With all of these worldly issues for the Pope

A large majority of Christians would tell you that the Reformation was one of the major events to occur in shaping our belief system as Protestants. Martin Luther and his God given revelation of justification through faith is the bedrock of twenty first century Christian though. It is impossible to believe that for hundreds of years Christianity was dominated by a political and ecclesiastical dominance, to the extent that even the basics of our faith, such as salvation, was twisted and skewed into a bargaining tool for financial gain or power. However, God in his grace, revealed himself to a humble monk in Germany, who was hungry for revelation. By the voice and boldness of Martin Luther, we now have a basis for our salvation. Luther took us back to the original teachings of Jesus, back to salvation.

Long before the reformation period,people within the church, both clergy and lay were keen for the church to eliminate all corrupt practices and for a reform,which would bring everyone closer to God. Those high up in church authority had ignored the concerns made by these reformers because they were personally gaining from practices like indulgences. However the sixteenth century split of protestant from the Catholic church became obvious and brought about bad publicity towards the church as the loss of members was a large concern, putting them under pressure to reform itself properly. The church responded in a very serious matter which resulted in the church starting

What happens when people start to break away from the entity that bound an entire civilization together for over a thousand years? How does one go from unparalleled devotion to God to the exploration of what man could do? From absolute acceptance to intense scrutiny? Sheeple to independent thinkers? Like all revolutions preceding it, the Protestant Reformation did not happen overnight. Catholics had begun to lose faith in the once infallible Church ever since the Great Schism, when there were two popes, each declaring that the other was the antichrist. Two things in particular can be identified as the final catalyst: a new philosophy and simple disgust. The expanding influence of humanism and the corruption of the Catholic Church

The attendant effects of Martin Luther’s reformation in the early period of the sixteenth century occasioned by his posting of the 95 theses that raised objections to some of the then prevalent practices of the Roman Catholic Church eventually led to a significant breakaway from the church of a relatively more liberal Christian sect known as the “Protestant”. It is worthy of note however that the Roman Catholic Church tried albeit unsuccessfully to placate the breakaway by instituting a “counter-Reformation” but this only achieved a cleansing of the church internally without achieving much in its most important mandate to prevent the protestant breakaway. Consequently, Europe was enmeshed in bloody religious war largely between forces loyal to the papacy in Rome and those who sympathized with the runaway protestant movement. As a result, the Roman Catholic Church invariably began to lose its pole position in the scheme of things in an already divided Europe.