Protestant Reformation Research Paper

He did this because he felt that he would never earn his eternal salvation otherwise. He didn't feel that all of the prayer, studying and sacraments were enough and felt that he would never be able to satisfy such a judgmental God. After entering the religious life he later became a monk and entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt in July of 1505. While there, Luther became a well-known theologian and Biblical scholar. Luther took his religious vocation very seriously. This led him into a severe crisis in dealing with his religion. He wondered, "is it possible to reconcile the demands of God's law with mankind's inability to live up to that law?" Luther then turned to the New Testament book of Romans for answers. He realized that everyone is burdened by sin because it happens as a result of our weaknesses. He concluded that man could never earn his salvation by leading a blameless life or by performing Holy acts. Instead, man's salvation was a divine gift from God resulting from faith in Jesus, especially the saving power of His death and resurrection. This was known as the protestant doctrine of "justification by faith alone." The fact that Luther believed this led him into his first confrontation. The leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo X, was trying to raise money in order to build St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In order to do this, the Pope offered the sale of indulgences, which were donations of money that would give

The Protestant Reformation was a pivotal time of European history that occurred during the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation was comprised of people called “reformers” that challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice (“The Reformation”). The Protestant Reformation was revolutionary due to the fact that the reformers preached against everything the Catholic Church had been teaching. Some famous reformers are John Calvin and Martin Luther. However, Martin Luther-- to some--- is named the most successful and influential reformer of the 16th century. Martin Luther was tremendously effective and influential due to how resourceful he was, and his teachings spread across Europe swiftly.

To begin, the Protestant Reformation began in reaction to the Catholic Church’s rather corrupt practices. Prior to the Reformation, the only major Christian denomination in Western Europe at the time was Catholicism, headed by the Pope in Rome. Through many acts of violence such as the formation of the Spanish Inquisition and the slaughter of the Cathars, amongst others, Europe’s Monarchs had wiped out and suppressed any form of religious competition. With the Catholic Church holding a tight stranglehold over Europe, Catholicism was the only option. This allowed

13. ‘01 Discuss the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the sixteenth century.

The Protestant Revolution was a revolution among the Christian faith. It was predominantly led by Martin Luther, a man who disagreed with some defining principles of Catholicism. There were some major factors that led to this reformation. Three of these were _____, the new school of thought known as Humanism, and the corruption among the Catholic Church during the Renaissance.

The Protestant Reformation had a huge impact on the visual arts in Northern European art. One of the major changes was that religious imagery was no longer the major feature in art. Iconoclasm took over as protestant reformers revived the removal of religious images. Many churches were no longer authorizing religious art for display because it was believed that religious imagery was distracting and could lead to worship. The supporters of the north became more interested in earthly concepts and ideas, and they also wanted their messages about morality to be portrayed in less religious ways. The Reformation led artists to seek supporters outside of the church. Several different types of subject matter were obtained after during this time. There became a high demand for small paintings, which contained earthly subject matter. Landscapes are an example of subject matter, which was requested after, this type of artwork was

The Protestant Reformation and European expansion have both left political, social and economic impacts throughout history. The Protestant Reformation which was started in the 1500’s, by a Catholic man named Martin Luther caused political instability and fragmented the Holy Roman Empire. It economically caused the church to go bankrupt and socially allowed for the rise of individualism among the people; Luther gave the people of Europe the long needed reason to break free of the church. The Protestant Reformation and the need for new converts lead to the rise of European expansion. European expansion into the west resulted in a political increase of power for Europe, the social increase in slavery, disease and racism, as well as the

The Protestant Reformation changed Europe drastically. It influenced Europe’s theology, spawned wars, changed the political landscape, and forced people to seek religious freedom in the New World. Luther, in his wildest dreams, could not have imagined that his ideas would spawn the creation of the best country the world has ever known. Because of its religious freedom, America has been able to help millions around the globe, not just through the government, but by giving freedom to the people. The Protestant Reformation has had a lasting impact on the

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract anything I have written, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” Martin Luther stated these words in 1521 when he was asked whether he still believed what his works taught. The Protestant Reformation was a movement during the 16th century, which aimed to reform some beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The reformation was led by a German monk named Martin Luther and was further modified by John Calvin, a French theologian and Henry VIII, the king of England. The ideas bought forward by these individuals started the Protestant Reformation, which triggered wars, prosecutions and the Counter-Reformation.

Martin Luther and John Calvin were both leaders in the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther was a monk, or priest, in the Augustinian friars’ order and his ideals were that Catholicism were corrupting the New Testament beliefs and people were saved by faith alone not by buying their way into heaven. John Calvin studied law “but in 1533 he experienced a religious crisis, as a result of which he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. Calvin believed that God had specifically selected him to reform the church” (McKay et al., 2015, pg. 448). “The cornerstone of Calvin’s theology was his belief in the absolute sovereignty and omnipotence of God and the total weakness of humanity” (McKay et al., 2015, pg. 448).

“At a deeper psychological level, the reformers' ideas of salvation introduced a major change in the way people saw their world. They could no longer free themselves from sin through magical rituals. Instead, they had to be active in adopting a new lifestyle, based on private prayer, worship, study, and individual ethical choice. This was difficult for many to do.” Not only was the Protestant Reformation a crucial time in the history of Europe, but also in the history of the entire world. The Protestant Reformation marked a massive alteration of religion. New religious ideas flourished during the Reformation, thus, challenging the beliefs of the Roman 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.

In the 16th-century, the Protestant Reformation, introduced by German reformer, Martin Luther, brought forth religious, cultural, and political turmoil that shattered Catholicism in Europe. This research paper is an analysis of the Protestant Reformation in its connection to being one of the most impactful moments in history that would inspire individuals to rebel against a corrupt regime. Understanding how the actions of one man, like Martin Luther, can inspire a great rebellion against a large force like the Catholic Church by questioning its ways and weakening its rule of absolute power sparked my interest. The realization of flaws within the Catholic Church by the public encouraged the Church into making their own improvements for the greater good and created a movement within England’s kingdom. The introduction of this movement to others regarding these issues also helped to pave the way for a new generation of rulers and religious ideas. With these changes being implemented into the Church due to the questioning of their authority, the series of events that followed transformed early Europe for the years to come.

Luther felt that Christian belief must be based on the word of God, tradition, and faith. He was convinced that salvation is a gift of God through faith. Luther made his point clear by challenging the church doctrine with his 95 Theses. Once the people read Luther’s document they revolted. The church was not collecting money because of the riots and this very much upset them. Without indulgences, land donations, tithes and taxations, there was be less money collected for the Roman Catholic Church. As one can imagine, this highly upset the Catholic Church and they took away his credentials.

During the Middle Ages, Europe’s religious beliefs was dominated by Catholicism, which is ……. however, Martin Luther challenged the teachings of the Catholic Church by posting his 95 theses in 1517, which were reasons on why the selling of indulgences, is immoral and misleading to people. While many people had tried to challenge the catholic church’s teachings in the past, like John Wycliffe, Jan Huss, and William of Occam, Luther’s ideas gained more of a following due to Johann Gutenberg’s printing press. Luther’s following, which was…….., broke off from Catholicism and began to developed their own beliefs and practices. While there are many differences between the Catholic and Lutheran religion, the most significant differences are their beliefs of salvation and the Bible, as well as social practices.