Religious Reform Dbq

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Response Paper 5: Religious Reform Since the fall of the Roman empire, the Catholic church had a reputation for being stable. This gave people a sense of security and made them believe that whatever the Catholic church did, was what God wanted done. Then, in 1378 the Catholic church had three popes, because its rulers were so despite for power, that neither one of them refused to give up the papacy. This greed slowly trickled down to every level of the Catholic church. The Catholic church became increasingly less reliable, and in the minds of many, the church was getting away from teaching the true message of Jesus. This began to change in 1517 when Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-Five Theses, starting “The Protestant Reformation”. Martin …show more content…

People were unhappy with the way the clergy were treating their people and it was clear that corruption was throughout the Catholic church. The state of the Catholic church, while significant, was simply a backdrop for Martin Luther in his early life. Ironically, he was on the side of the Catholic church in his early life; he was “a university professor of theology and a member of the Catholic clergy,” (Dutton, 390). This close integration with the church made it surprising that he was the one to lead a religious reformation. However, it was his knowledge of scripture that made his message so …show more content…

He does this because by the 1520’s, which is when this source was written, the Nighty- Five Theses were over three years old, it was time to build a core statement that his followers could get behind. In this source, Martin Luther says “for example, the commandment, you shall not covet, is a command which proves us all to be sinners, for no one can avoid coveting no matter how much he may struggle against it,” (Kishlansky, 277). Martin Luther wants to destroy the notion that the only way to be holy is by following Gods laws perfectly. Instead you must have faith that God will give you the strength to do good deeds and in return you will live a good life. He explains this concept further, saying “a man must be righteous before he does a good work,” (Kishlansky, 278). This reiterates, instead of doing good work, in the hopes that it will make you more faithful and loyal to God; Be loyal to God and through him, you will do good work. This idea was popular with the people of Europe, because they had previously been taught that the way to be saved, was by living a perfect life and loving God with everything you