How Did Roman Catholic Church Contribute To The Protestant Reformation Movement

Aiming to reform the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church was born the Protestant Reformation movement. The Reformation ended the unity of the Catholic Church. The Reformations theology differed from the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of three fundamental principles: the basis of sole authority of scripture, justification by faith alone, and priesthood of the believer. Founded by Martin Luther who was said to be the father of Protestant Reformation, caused a major uproar that would cause for his excommunication by the pope (Oxtoby 191). The Reformation was developed from Luther's struggle of salvation and what it really was. The text states, "in the course of his struggles, however, he had a sudden revelation, known as his tower experience," which convinced him the "essence of the gospel: that humans are justified (set right with God) only by faith, which itself is a gift of God's grace, there are no "words" we an do to earn that justification" (Oxtoby 191). Now arises a problem because within the Roman Catholic church it was through monetary offerings would one be forgiven. Also, the belief of scriptures instead of clergy. In that time the ownership of bibles was not allowed. The fall and separation took place in 1517 when Martin Luther posted a list of "95 Theses." This challenged most of the Roman Catholic doctrines and practices which lead to the split of the Church.

This split allowed for the development of a group named after Luther, his core doctrine was, "justification by faith alone, through grace alone: the idea that salvation is a gift of grace that ca be received only through faith, and there is nothing the sinner can do to earn it" (Oxtoby