Martin Luther And The Protestant Reformation

The underlying causes of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century were social, political, and economic in nature. Financial burdens, humanist ideas, and corrupt popes set the stage for a change which was welcomed by Europe. These changes gave power to the people. Both negative and positive consequences followed the reformation. One action was the Counter Reformation in the Catholic Church. Negatively, however, persecutions of Protestant persisted for many years causing thousands of people to flee their homelands in search of religious freedom. Overall, the Protestant Reformation opened new avenues of thought in Europe.

From 1450 to 1750 C.E., the Europeans were beginning to settle in the Western part of Europe in places such as: France, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and many more. Like many other of the surrounding countries and empires, the Europeans began to question many of the hierarchies in Europe at the time such as the Catholic Church by asking “Should we trust their process or attempt to reform?” or even “Should we ignore the intentions of the church and start something completely new that we believe is better for the people?” The development of both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment began to answer these questions and enforce their beliefs in European society. Through the inspiration of the “needed” change of tradition in European society the Protestant Reformation sought to bring back the early versions of Christianity, while the Age of Enlightenment sought to abandon Christianity and move forward. But both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment sought to focus on similar moral tenants such as the belief of individualism and the use of reason to analyze text. Overall, both the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Enlightenment in Europe desired to move away from the selfish, incompetent, and lazy Catholic Church of that time, and either move forward or reform to stabilize European thinking for centuries to come.

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.

The 16th century was when Christianity branched off into several divisions in Europe, which posed a challenge to the main religion of the world, Catholicism, as well as European politics. There are many historical figures who played a role in this transformation, but Martin Luther is one of the more significant figures. This paper is about how Martin Luther, a catholic German Monk, played a substantial role in influencing the religion of that time and initiated the Protestant Reformation.

What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on sixteenth-century society and women in particular? Look at topics such as marraige, education, women 's religious duties, and even love and sex

Martin Luther was arguably one of the most important figures in the entire history of Christianity. If the creation of the Lutheran Church was not enough of an accomplishment, he can also be credited with orchestrating the division of the Catholic and Protestant churches. Even as a young Augustinian Monk Martin Luther was convinced the Catholic Church had lost its way. He obsessed over his purity and relationship with God, and strongly believed the Catholic Church had lost its way over the selling of “Indulgences”. Essentially, how the Church misinterpreted and taught the concepts of sin relative to temporal and eternal punishment. He was destined to confront the Catholic Church which he did and ultimately led to the separation events that are still highly relevant to this day. This was the primary driver for the first phase of his rebellion. The second was his German translation of the New Testament, which he used to both teach anyone to read and learn the holy book.

            Historians can agree that Christians were growing impatient with the Roman Catholic church and wanted change from within the religion. Citizens of the time did not agree with many of the actions of the church and found them absurd. Many reformers of the time saw that priests neglected their duties of the church, and took their power to another level. Popes and members of the clergy lived very expensive life styles, and the church would have very ornate and elaborate paintings which would cost a fortune.  To pay for these fees, the church increased the prices of marriages and baptisms and promoted indulgences, which was a payment demolishing your sins granting people “Tickets to Heaven”. The official spark of the Protestant Revolution was when Martin Luther plastered his 95 Thesis on the door of the Roman

The Protestant Reformation began to stop the plight that was the Roman Catholic Church. Instead of completely wiping out the apparently sinful Church, reformers such as Martin Luther wished to correct and fix it. He knew this course of action was the only appropriate response because of his exemplary knowledge of the Bible. Him and a few other notable reformers such as John Calvin and John Wycliffe attracted large

Not everyone; however, agreed with the ways of the Roman Catholic Church. The most important man in the reformation was Martin Luther: the man who started the whole reformation. Luther was a man who studied law but left that behind to become a monk in the church. He was so obsessed with being accepted by God and finding salvation. For that reason the pope sent him to the University of Wittenberg to study theology. There he began to study the Bible and realized that the Catholic Church, who had taken over Europe, had fallen away from the real teachings of Christ. Luther recognized Saint Paul’s teachings that stated “The just shall live by faith” in other words, salvation comes through faith,

Luther also believed that an individual conscience had the right to decide what was right instead of believing everything the church said (Luther at the Diet of Worms). Before whatever the church said was absolutely true, but Protestant beliefs state otherwise. Thus, Protestant beliefs changed Europe drastically in religious aspects compared to the catholic orthodox Europe before the Reformation. Similarly, Protestants opposed authority, because Luther encouraged the idea that all are equal in God's eyes and people are a priesthood of believers, as well as the concept of only the bible was the religious truth. Therefore, since all were equally close to god the Pope and clergy could not be especially close to God and since they were human to the Church could make mistakes. Furthermore, since the bible was the only religious truth what the Church announced was not what God said. Hence, Protestants did not agree with the clergy and papacy making them opposed to

“I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth” (Luther). Martin Luther, born November 10, 1843, was a figure in changing Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church in the Protestant Reformation during the 16th century. When Martin Luther started in the Church monastery he had a rough time, but after a while a thought came to him. That there would be a revolt against the Catholic Church, and it would spark the Protestant Reformation. The one single thought that made this happen was “They just will live by faith”, and

Protest against the corruption of the Catholic church begin in Germany, the revolution started persecutions and triggered wars. The protestant reformation was a huge religious movement in 16th century european history. The protestant reformation brought about change in the Catholic church by challenging practices and beliefs (History-95). The protestant reformation quickly spread throughout Europe. The protestant were eventually forced to separate, as a result the Lutheran and presbyterian churches were created.

A German Augustinian friar, Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Luther grew up the son of a miner, but he did not maintain that lifestyle for himself. He lived in a period that had a widespread desire for reformation of the Christian church and a yearning for salvation.

One theme present during the reformation, was smaller churches breaking off from the larger church, and establishing their own forms of christianity. Many people were unhappy with the way the church was running and sought to reform these flaws by making their own forms of the church. People such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, were unhappy with how the church was being run created their own religions. Martin Luther created Lutheranism, which did not believe in the selling of indulgences and believed that salvation was granted by faith alone. Both of these ideas went against the Church at the time and his ideas were highly disputed. John calvin had created Calvinism, which believed in predestination, which meant that God had already decided who was saved, and who was damned. The idea of predestination also went against the church's idea that faith and good works lead to salvation.

Martin Luther was responsible for the start of the Reformation. He was against many of the Catholic Church’s teachings and beliefs, especially the sale of indulgences. He believed the Roman Catholic Church was corrupt and should be reformed. His beliefs were based on three principles: Sola Fide, Sola scriptura and Sola gratia. He believed that salvation should come from faith rather than from doing good deeds and that religious truth could be obtained by reading the Bible. He believed that humans are able to educate themselves and gain knowledge. At the time, the sale of indulgences was a common practice. On the 31st of October 1517, Martin Luther nailed a document,