Religion And Indulgences During The Middle Ages

A) In 1096, as the Crusades began Pope Urban realised that people would opt out of fighting in the crusades because if you were fighting in the crusades and died, you would not be accepted into heaven, as you would not be fulfilling the sacrements. As a solution to this problem the pope states that anyone who dies fighting the crusades gets into heaven. This left people who couldn’t fight frustrated as they also wanted a shortcut heaven, as well the church needed money to fund the crusades. As a solution to these two issues the pope introduces indulgences. Indulgences as the process of giving money to the church, in exchange for getting into heaven. This marks one of many events in which the pope will use his power and influence for the benefit of the church himself, at the mercy of all his devoted followers. One of the many reasons the Pope can introduce laws so easily with minimal objection (there was some later) is because such a vast portion of the population illiterate, as the printing press was not invented until 1440. These indulgences also lead to a disproportionate amount of wealth being owned by the church. However, the indulgences, as well as the disproportionate amount of wealth owned by the church inspired some of the great thinkers of this time, such as Wycliffe, who suggested that the church goes back to what it once was, and translates the bible into English so people understand how the bible describes you get into heaven. Another notable figure inspired by

At the time of the Reformation the Papacy was very corrupt and had a lot of issues from the Middle Ages. The church did not provide spiritual comfort, leadership, or answers during the black death, which weakened the people's faith in the church. The church also could not prove its authority when the Great Schism occurred after three popes who supposedly were all the one Pope, but disposed in favor of another Pope. Moreover, Indulgences were extremely over used by those who could afford them, while the poor could only live with the burden of knowing they would suffer more in purgatory. Not only did this oppose doing good works to repay sins, most indulgences were bought in advance and the the church gained wealth from selling indulgences. Therefore,

However, the Catholic Church at the time the indulgence system was coming onto the scene, the Catholic Church was becoming a political force that needed a stream of revenue. Secondly, since the Catholic Church was the only institution that granted salvation in Western Europe, the Church acted as a monopoly which led to corruption in the central religious authority. The indulgences provided wealth to the Vatican which used it to enhance their prestige and clamped down on any pushback over the immorality of the system. The Protestant Reformation was a means of providing competition to the Catholic Church in terms of the providing of the spiritual goods demanded by the public. The indulgence system contributed as being the visible force that anger could be directed to speak against the Catholic

The religious text of almost any religion promotes peace, love and equality. Religion is meant to increase morality and righteousness, but the misinterpretations of the religious texts promotes violence and dispute. It is evident that the most influential events of history had occurred because of the blood thirst wars - provoked due to religion. The multiple components of various religions has become the primary cause for war. The mere difference of religion culminated to the Crusades, the Holocaust and gave rise to terrorist militant groups such as ISIS.

1. Who created an initial challenge (and laid an egg ...) to the Church? Historians believe that Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Christian humanist, was the first to challenge the church. He asked the church to reform itself through his book In Praise of Folly, which criticized certain abusers within the church. He paved the path for Luther to successfully prompt the church to reform.

During the time of the Middle Ages, the prime unifier of all people in western Europe was the Catholic Church, headed by the pope. Also at that time, the only people who could read and interpret the Bible were the clergy officials, because they were the ones who could read and write Latin. These two things combined gave the Church a significant amount of power over all people. As usual, the power corrupted the Church and they began to take advantage of the unknowing common people. An example of their corruption was the selling of indulgences, or the pardon of all the sins committed by the buyer and his family for a price (“The Spanish Massacre…”).

The use of these indulgences minimizes the penance required after a sin has been forgiven, moreover, it reduces the amount of time one has to spend in temporal punishment after death, commonly known as Purgatory. By the late Middle Ages, the abuse of indulgences by those in power in the Church, mainly through commercialization, had become a serious problem which the Church recognized but was unable and unwilling to restrain effectively. Those in authority took the money that was acquired from these indulgences and used them for their own personal pleasure which showed how corrupt even religious leaders could become. Corruption ran rampant in the church, consequently, causing the now inescapable Protestant Reformation. This was an example of corruption because the church greatly misused the money for themselves that they received from Christians purchase of

During the time of the early middle ages, religions seemed to be at its peak. Religion was at the forefront of people’s mind and with that came arguments about which is the true religion. Once again we will conflicts and possibility war between the religions, both fighting for their beliefs. It was during the time that bishops and popes a lot of the influential power when it came to religion. The people hung on every word and are inspired by these religious leaders. The most prominent example of the demonstration of power held by religious leaders is the speech held by Pope Urban II. His speech gave rise to the first crusade and influence 7 more to follow. The following paper will support and argue His justification for these crusades was to

The Reformation in general, came about due to the growing and evident dissatisfaction with the Church could be found at all levels of European society. Many devout Christians were finding the Church's growing emphasis on rituals unhelpful in their effort to discover

The Religious Reformation was one of the most influential time periods of European history. Not only did it give way to some of the most popular religions of the present day, but it also helped many Europeans realize that the word of the Roman Catholic Church was not the end-all-be-all. Because of the Religious Reformation, new forms of thought began to emerge and many of the Roman Catholic empire’s standards were questioned and revolted upon. While there were many reasons for the Religious Reformation to occur, there are three main causes that helped proliferate it around European society. The Religious Reformation was caused by the Roman Catholic Church’s strict views on penance, the degree of control that the Roman Catholic Church deemed

All through the Middle Ages, religion was a solid, inescapable power in the public arena. Most people were more worried about God and the likelihood of existence in the wake of death than they were with current human issues, says Encylopedia Britannica. When the Renaissance happened, this social mentality was starting to change. Religion was as yet honed, yet individuals started to be more centered around mainstream or humanist esteems, instead of most profound sense of being, right now.

Humans are imbued with genetic variation ranging along the spectrum of conservatism and extremism. As long as humans exist, they will clash in values and ideologies. During the Crusades, the Catholics and the Christian engaged in mountainous episodes of bloodshed and terror. As observed, even within a religious faction, violence can erupt. However, all wars are characterized by one unifying parallel. In every instance, wars emerged from the plight of injustice, disparity, or grave violations of human rights. The United States partook in the Cold War to disseminate democratic values and to counter the growing, communist influence in Eastern Europe. In the recent Syrian Civil War, insurgency groups arose in stark defiance to decades of ethnic discrimination. More specifically, the ethnic Kurds in this region were denied equitable services, resources, and therefore, reacted violently to their perceived oppressors. During the Rwandan conflict, ethnic genocide ensued, in which one group vied for supremacy over the other. One remedial approach would be to equalize power among all groups. This is unfeasible, as some groups aspire for dominance, rather than equity. For example, two groups that have long contended for power will not likely defer to a state of equality, as this would not satisfy their mutual thirst for power. However, nations can decrease the likelihood of war by forging international networks that work interdependently to ensure human, ethnic, religious, political and social rights and equality. Unique networks can appeal to one aspect of identity of social structure, such as class, religion, etc, independent of nation or state. Therefore, to address the issue of war, one must probe its most profound underpinnings. War emerges when power, identity, or politics are threatened. Hence, a careful navigation and regulation of

The debate between whether religion cause war or not based on their impression of religion; furthermore, it is unreasonably clear about what does and does not permit like a religion. Countries such as Islam are fated while certain others, like nationalism, are subjectively ignored. Authors used different theories such as absolutist, divisive, and absurd to explain why religion is so predisposed to violence. Sometimes authors combine these arguments to make their case.

The undeniable power, force, and influence of religion stand out throughout history. However, according to J. Michael Allen and James B. Allen in World History from 1500, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, religion was exceptionally important, because it had a great influence on everything from government to social order and family relationships (16). Hundreds of years may separate these two time periods and the modern world, but the same positive effects of religion such as unity, security, and a social order are still basic ideals in today’s world. This is also true for the negative effects such as the conflicts that result in war and

Within history and the contemporary world, religion has been regarded as the causation of many conflicts. The Crusades, colonization of the “New World” and the war on terror perpetrated by terrorist organizations like ISIS, has been regarded as conflicts that arise from differentiating religious beliefs. Although, these disputes are the result of inherent human greed. The perpetrators of war and these conflicts are trying to capitalize by gaining resources, land and control over populations. Religion takes a back seat to the driving force of greed, and religion aids in implementing control rather than the main reason for carrying out with an attack or causing a conflict.