Jeramie Jones
Dr. Hermann
History 101
Right before the 16th century, there were huge changes in the way people started to think. One major movement that influenced this was the wave of humanist thought, which understood the importance of the study of classical text to emphasize a larger value of the individual, to which the Protestant Reformation owed a lot to. This basis of thought is a huge reason people began to critique the teachings of, and even question the theological foundation of the Catholic Church. The main reason for which religion was so divisive in the 16th century was that people finally began to think for themselves. Despite Roman Catholicism being the dominant in Europe all before the 16th century, a new wave of Protestantism
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A large portion of this pertained to the Catholic church selling indulgences which were, as described by the Church, a full or partial pardoning of sin that could be used to free anyone of transgression, especially late friends and family. One reading explains that a huge problem in Luther’s eyes was that people no longer felt that they had to go any further for forgiveness once an indulgence was purchased because they saw it as a “catch-all” system. People could pay for salvation instead of relying on faith. Luther believed sola fida, that Christ’s salvation should be achieved through faith alone, and not by giving the church money (moodle reading April …show more content…
A benefit of was that Bibles no longer had to be exclusive to the Latin language. Illiteracy was common, and not many people could read Latin so it was relied on the Church to translate the holy word, which allowed the Church to declare anything they wanted to have come from the book, allowing them to manipulate Christians even further to get indulgences. The printing press allowed Bibles to be printed in the vernacular, or the common language, which allowed everyone to have a Bible in their native language. Alongside to printing bibles, was the ability to produce Protestant broadsides, which were frequently used as political cartoons that did not require literacy to understand. These pictures described the church or the Pope in a negative light, some referencing indulgences and giant demon birds (Dr. Hermann April 18). The purpose of these was to inform the illiterate population of Europe that the Church is