The Divide between the Catholic Church and the Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

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.

The Catholic Reformation was the response of the Protestant movement in the sixteenth century. By the sixteenth century, many people lost the trust for the Catholic Church because it was corrupt. Popes and Cardinals became involved in politics and were more like kings than spiritual leaders and Nepotism was rampant. This loss of trust led people to moved on into other branches of Christianity which includes, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Anabaptism. Catholic Church’s realized it needed to re-establish itself, thus beginning the Catholic Reformation. The Catholic Reformation was successful because it triggered the start of The Society of Jesus and The Council of Trent which helped resolve the church’s corruption through education,

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

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.

In 1527, King Henry VIII of England filed for divorce from his wife, Catherine. As insignificant as this event may seem, it actually marked the beginning of a religious and political reform from the corrupted Roman Catholic Church: the English Reformation. The English Reformation wasn’t the only movement that led to the separation from the Catholic Church, though. The Protestant Reformation, starting only ten years before the English Reformation did, first recognized the corruption of the Catholic Church. The English Reformation noticed the corruptions of the Catholic Church, but was more focused on creating new political and religious authority. Both of these reformations relate to one another greatly, but are still considered to be individual movements. Papal authority was stripped during these reformations, and all of Europe lived differently afterwards. While Catholicism still existed after the reformations and is still practiced today, many new religions exist today as an effect of the reformations. The political power that the Church held diminished and was replaced by the English state. Both the Protestant Reformation and English Reformation impacted the political power and religion of the Catholic Church and all of Europe. Without these movements, Christian religion would not be what it is today.

The protestant reformation happened around the 16th century where there was an abundant change was occurring in europe. Many religions began to sprang throughout the world in which would rival the Catholic church and this created a problematic task for them to overcome. Many people started to doubt the way that the church was portraying their teachings and this would would ultimately lead the path to the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. Many people stopped viewing the pope as God’s right hand man, but instead began to see him as more of a religious money hungry individual that doesn't even care for his follower’s spiritual needs. This inspire people to believe they can construct a relationship with God through personal worship. Worshiping at home allowed the people feel less attached to the church due to the flaws of the church was portraying at the time. The catholic church was challenged by a few individuals who spoke out about these problems, this allowed the church to modify its ways and revive the people and their faith in the church. Martin Luther and John Calvin were the two major factor in reviving christianity from damnation by speaking out against the Roman Catholic Church.

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.

Although the Protestant Reformers (i.e., Luther, and Zwingli) challenged the Roman Catholic Church to return to Scripture as the primary source of Christian theology, members of other groups believed Luther and Zwingli failed to include the New Testament teachings on the difference between the church and society. As a result, a group of Protestant radicals led by Georg Blaurock and Conrad Grebel founded a new congregation that became known as the Anabaptist. The split occurred when the radicals could not convince Zwingli to agree with their views on the connection between the civic community and the religious community. Consequently, the Anabaptist and later the Mennonites expanded on the Protestant Reformation. In

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

The counter –reformation was the period of catholic resurgence initiated in response to the protestant reformation, beginning with the council of Trent and ending at the close of the thirty years war. The counter- reformation was composed of four major elements. The ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration, religious orders, spiritual movements, and political dimensions. The impact of the counter-reformation may be seen as continuing in the Catholic Church right up to the second Vatican council of bishops in 1962.

The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread

The Baroque period was a time of conflicting religions, and is one of the major movements in art since the renaissance era. Beginning in 17th century Italy and later spreading into Northern Europe, the Baroque era was one that had a mission and an objective in mind: to restore faith back into the Catholic Church and to counter the growing conversion of protestants. Having already launched the counter-reformation in the 16th century, it did not fare well against Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation and his 95 thesis of debating points in 1917. Protestant believers argued that faith was the one and only way to earn salvation and god’s grace. Luther accused the church of nepotism and was able to announce protestant as new branch of

Originating in Rome during the sixteenth century, Baroque art emerged during the Protestant Reformation. With the creation of Lutherism and Calvinism Europe was politically and religiously re-shaped. With the influence of new religions dominating various European nations, the Catholic Reformation was created as a response to the outburst of Luther’s actions. The Council of Trent in 1545-63 was a part in the rise of Baroque artistry in Europe. The Catholic Church created the Counter Reformation as means to reinstate their influence as well as persuade people to support the church. In Spain and Italy Baroque artists adapted the religious topics derived from the Catholic Reformation. With characteristics such as contrasting light and dark shades

The Counter-Reformation started at the Council of Trent in 1545, which was a gathering of Church leaders with the aim to unite Catholicism. The Council was designed to solve the issue of many Christians leaving the Church. Old issues that had plagued the Churches past, such as abuse and rejection were reaffirmed by Pope Paul III. The Council eventually ended after twenty years of debates and was somewhat successful in changing the Church. New laws designed to please unhappy Catholics were implemented, such as the “Index of Forbidden Books”. The book contained a long list of approximately 583 texts, which were considered inappropriate towards the Catholic faith. (Public Broadcasting Service, 2016) An image of such texts (see appendix C) was designed to help unite Christians as