Martin Luther and John Calvin's ideas had a significant influence on Europe's religious and cultural environment in the 16th century and beyond. In this essay, I will summarize their main new ideas and discuss a significant way in which they have affected human life and culture, citing past historical events and present-day consequences to support the claims.
One of the central figures of the Protestant Reformation was the German monk and theologian Martin Luther. Luther started to challenge Catholic Church policies, especially the practice of selling indulgences, which were thought to shorten a person's purgatory sentence. The Reformation was sparked when he infamously nailed his Ninety-Five Theses—a collection of complaints of the church—to
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For example, Luther believed that all believers were priests and rejected the idea of the sacraments. Although he may have believed that this is all he was doing, his beliefs had long lasting effects, including the growth of religious conflict. He was in fact, denying the existence of spiritual power. In doing this he, “asserted that the only human power was the temporal power – the power of the sword, the law, which became the universal power… (Jones 145).” This was a significant attack on the power of the Church and spiritual authority. Rejecting the sacraments causes a loss of ritual and tradition, which is essential to a strong foundation of faith. This also has devastating effects on the community. Rejecting the sacraments, an essential component of the faith, lead to the fragmentation of the religious community into separate Catholic and Protestant factions. This division was often accompanied by religious wars and acts of violence. For example, in 1524, peasants wanted to apply Luther’s abolishment of hierarchy to temporal power as well and attempted to revolt. Luther did not give his support and encouraged the princes to kill the peasants. The princes end up “killing over one hundred thousand peasants as they put down the rebellion (Jones 151).” The violence and conflict associated with the Protestant Reformation had a lasting impact on the religious and cultural landscape of Europe and set a precedent for future religious wars and acts of