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Indulgences: The Principle Causes Of The Reformation

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The principle causes of the Reformation were the collapse of the church’s bureaucracy and the widespread criticism of the church’s practices, specifically the sale of indulgences. During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the church became increasingly more bureaucratic, including the creation of papal courts, legislation, and organization of power, however as the internal church structure was beginning to break down, many of the hypocrisies and problems of the church were exposed. The issues started with complaints about Bishops and clergy members. Due to the long entrenched benefice system, clergy positions were sold to highest bidder, leading to spiritually ill equipped and corrupt clergy members. Moreover, many of the clergy didn’t live in …show more content…

Furthermore, parishioners complaints included reports of the clergy’s corrupt administrations, concubinage and financial greed. In addition to the problems of the institutional bureaucracy, there were also theological criticisms of the church surrounding the sale of indulgences. Indulgences were seen as an example of greed and materialism within the church. Martin Luther’s 95 theses would later accuse the church of using Indulgences to sell salvation to its followers. Some of the most outspoken critics of indulgences were the Germans who called for a shift back to religious piety and purity. Many of these critiques would become disciples of early church critics such as the Waldensians, Beguines, Lollards, Hussites created precedent for questioning the sale of Indulgences, which would become a springboard for reformation …show more content…

The success of the Counter-Reformation can be seen by the Council of Trent and the Jesuits. The Council of Trent was a council called by Pope Paul III, who, attempting to stabilize the religious and political turmoil, called together the general church council. Pope Paul III appointed the liberal theologian, Caspar Contarini, reform chairman. Despite the many suggestions and criticisms addressed in the report compiled by Contarini, the Council of Trent made mostly cosmetic institutional reforms. The Council agreed to curb the sale of church offices and other religious goods, force bishops to leave Rome and live in the dioceses over which they presided, create new rules for clergy and bishops about being highly visible and conducting more masses, required that bishops make annual visits to their parishes and called for seminaries in each diocese. These new reforms strengthened bishops control over religious practices in their dioceses. The Council did not, however, make any theological concessions to the Protestants. In addition to the Council of Trent, the Counter-Reformation was also aided by the founding of the Jesuits. After recovering from an injury sustained in battle, Ignatius of Loyola created Spiritual Exercises, a devotional guide which included mental and emotional exercises

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The Protestant Reformation was important in European History because with it came a Counter-Reformation. The Reformation revealed corruption in the Church, such as buying and selling salvation—indulgences—for profit, simony, and the overall battles for power and wealth (within the Church). Martin Luther and John Calvin were crusaders for the reformation and were able to share their ideas and beliefs effectively; they were then accepted/recognized by the people—the educated and uneducated, the middle class and nobility. Luther and Calvin’s beliefs allowed for other people to find a sense of freedom and individualism in religion.

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Martin Luther was a Catholic monk at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. Luther was unhappy with the practice of selling indulgences (a pardon releasing a sinner from performing a penalty in exchange for money), so, on October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. These Theses were intended to encourage discussion about indulgences, but, with the help of the printing press, Luther’s 95 Theses gave rise to the Protestant Reformation (Document B).

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The sale of indulgences was the Church saying that if the people paid the Church the pope and God would forgive their sins and they would be able to go to heaven. John Tetzel was the main man who was in charge of the sales. In document 2 Excerpt from Sermon, John Tetzel said that people are sinners and the only way they could get into heaven was if they bought these indulgences and salvation. This was an investment for the Church and used as persuasion to get the people to pay them more money. Martin Luther on the other hand did not agree with the sale of indulgences, so he protested the Church and spread his ideas of what the Church should be.

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Because one of the great grievances of the Church was the corruption of the hierarchy in the form of nepotism, many Protestants were not open to yet another hierarchical-based religious leadership structure. The Protestant Reformation spurned such an arrangement in favor of a more decentralized use of “pastors.” These, Luther once argued, were to be shepherds of men but not kings among them. This opposite organization of leadership was one of the fundamental traits that set many Protestant churches apart from their Catholic

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During this time, European Monarchs became immensely jealous of the Church’s wealth. From their position of power, the Monarchs were pitching their jealousy as an opportunity to expose Church and yield it from venturing outside of their religious borders. (This is, of course, the church becoming a force in the European world through prosperity). Monarchs introduced the idea of corruptness in the Church because their jealousy also led to questioning as to how the Church obtained such money. Unfortunately for the people, it was them.

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Many of these people sought salvation through the veneration of relics (bones and objects associated with saints), many of these relics were attached to indulgences, which was a form veneration. Indulgences were said to reduce a person’s time in purgatory after death from punishment due to sin by nearly two million years. Johann Tetzel was a monk who was great selling of indulgences with the slogan “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs” meaning that as soon as someone pays, and the coin is in the money box the person or their loved ones would be saved from purgatory. This led to a lowly monk named Martin Luther who lectured the Bible to take action on behalf of the people, he was very upset with the selling of indulgences because he believed salvation was not obtained through good works but by grace and faith alone, (Justification by faith). This became the main doctrine for the Protestant Reformation.

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1. The Reformation was a period where men like Martin Luther challenged the teachings and authority of the Roman Catholic Church. However, before the Reformation, the Church had to deal with problems such as the Sack of Rome. In 1527, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, had his own troops come against the city of Rome, take the city over, and imprison Pope Clement VII. While the Church was trying to deal with outer conflicts, there was a problem that was rising from within.

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This means that when people buy these indulgences, they believe that it would grant full or partial remission of their sins. During the Protestant Reformation. People like Martin Luther, and John Calvin were against the Catholic church. Martin Luthor believed that the Catholic Church was abusing its power and wrote his Ninety-five Theses in which he wrote, “Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of souls rather than money, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons granted heretofore, since these have equal efficacy?"(Mark).

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The Reformation is an era that is widely acknowledged as a major turning point marked by substantial change politically and religiously in Western Europe and the world. This change is primarily due to the influence of Martin Luther, a man who played a pivotal role through his writings. There were many reasons for the push for the Reformation, but the main causes were political and religious. The Church was a powerhouse because the clergy comprised the majority of those who could read, the majority of Europe and most of the world believed in Christianity, and the Pope was a figurehead who had the power of excommunication. Eventually, this power would start to afflict the Church, on the outside, the Church preached its teaching, thought to be

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However, the Council taught that truth also came from the Church. The Council of Trent was not the only force behind the Counter Reformation, there were many more like the Jesuits. The Jesuits were formed in the early 1530’s by Ignatius of Loyola. In some ways the Jesuits were more alike to a military than a religious order because they had a strong central authority that commanded the order. Something important about the Jesuits was that they learned obedience and discipline.

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The selling of indulgences were banned and the buying of indulgences were outlawed, however you could still earn them through good works. Before the council of trent, The Bishops were allowed control of more than one Diocese, and they did not have to be in charge of the diocese in their area. This is called pluralism. Along with that was Absenteeism, Which meant if the bishop left their diocese to visit another district, and something negative happened at his diocese, They would have to wait until the bishop came back in order to resolve the issue. This was a problem, as in the sixteenth hundred it could take weeks and weeks to travel to a certain destination.

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In response to the Protestant Reformation, between the years of 1545-1563, the people of Trent constructed a council known as the Council of Trent. The main, intended purpose of the Council of Trent was to influence Protestants to return to the Catholic Church. The Catholics were determined to redefine the concepts of Catholicism in order to make them clearer than before, in hopes that this would make the Catholic Church more appealing. These actions created another movement that occurred during a similar time, known as the Counter Reformation. The Council of Trent was built in response to the Protestant Reformation; and because of this, it is known for being one of the most significant movements of the Counter Reformation.

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The Council of Trent was an important ecumenical council during 1545 to 1563 that had played a significant role in the Counter-Reformation of the Church. Together, the council had reinforced the Catholic view by examining and clarifying the beliefs and practises of the Catholic Church, stopped the spread of Protestantism and to reform the Catholic Church. The main purpose of the Council of Trent was to disapprove and belittle the Protestant beliefs that had been opposing the Roman Catholic beliefs. During this time, there were many faults and issues affiliated within the churches.

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This sparked a series of reforms designed to reform the Church. The Division of Augsburg, signed in 1530 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the Lutheran princes of the Empire, marked a major reorganization of the Holy Roman Empire. The treaty ended the long-running conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Empire and introduced the principle of cuius regio, eius religio (“whose realm, his religion”), which allowed each prince to determine the religion in their own state. This division of Augsburg was a step towards reconciling the differences between the two religious groups.

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Unquestionably, the most prevalent causes of the Reformation were indulgences, the changing values of the Renaissance, and, above all, corruption within the church. Indulgences involved the selling of soul blessings to go straight to heaven rather than to purgatory, and individuals could buy them for themselves or family members. The selling of indulgences generated dispute and disagreement between the people and the clergy. Martin Luther and many other people who were opposed to the selling of indulgences claimed that because indulgences were not mentioned in the Bible, they were considered invalid.

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