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Martin Luther's Impact On The Reform Of Society

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The reformation, brought about by Martin Luther and his ninety-five theses in the early sixteenth century prove to have a holistic effect on shaping societies attitudes concerning law, order, and stability. Throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth century, Martin Luther’s ideas regarding the reformation extend past the church, and people such as John Calvin in Geneva advocate a total reformation of society in general, and this comes to define the margins and values of society. Although the reformation has a decisive impact on religion, it also proves to have universal consequences on early modern ideologies, politics, and economics. As protestantism became a threat to catholicism, governments and monarchs sought to regulate society by imposing uniformity regarding religion, and this parallels notions concerning the reorganization of the household. The church, the state, and the household became a coordinated community, all in attempt to eradicate sinfulness and unlawfulness, and those who are unable or unwilling to adopt these beliefs find themselves on the margins of society. The cooperation between these three pillars of society led to a moral policing of the masses. The poor were no longer pitied, and powerful magistrates began to draw lines connecting crime to poverty. This proves to have an impact on how crime and deviancy from social norms were perceived and how they were punished, as the state began to assume control of criminals and how they are punished.

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