Protestant Reformation

Ever since the Protestant Reformation started in sixteenth century Germany, Europe was arguably no longer the same. The revival of Biblical theology had led to Western Christendom splitting into various denominations of the Christian faith, with Protestant sects and other Orthodox Churches. Despite the Church of Rome still holding remarkable power and influence through its Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire, the Pope could no longer be considered as the sole religious authority in Europe. Contrary to popular opinion, this revolution cannot be solely credited to Martin Luther and his theological writings, but rather to a chain of events that had, was and will happen during the century. The transformations in Europe instead was key to the

Peter’s Basilica. Like his earlier peers that stood for a Church reformation, Martin Luther disagreed with the selling of indulgences and wrote the immediately popular 95 Theses, mainly attacking the misuse of German money and the Pope’s control over Purgatory. He argued that the letters Paul writes to the Greek Churches in the Book of Romans emphasised “the just shall live by faith” alone, instead of relying on financial transactions that would guarantee a person’s cleansing from sin. According to the New Testament, Jesus had came to Earth to die for all of humanity’s sins, and to put a monetary price to salvation would demean the significance and sacrifice He had done out of grace alone. Luther went on to question the Church, reasoning if Christian practices had came to be corrupted, then it was possible its teaching were as well. In 1520 he wrote three political tracts that attacked the many practices of the Church which did not correspond to the Bible; topics include transubstantiation, the 7 sacraments and iconoclasticism in On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, the right of a secular state to reform the Church (thus limit the latter’s power) in Address to the Christian Nobility, and lastly the Bible as the

The drawing away from pre-established ideas had arguably led to an emphasis being placed on mankind and rationality instead of the abstract belief of God and the Church, as the individual were encouraged to gain independence in thinking through ideas to determine the meaning of truth. Martin Luther had to believe in his own skills of interpretation through the Bible passages he read, in order to have confronted the excess and teachings of the