Religious Reformation Dbq

737 Words3 Pages

In the sixteenth century of Europe, religious reform and changes led people away from the Catholic Church. From Martin Luther’s exposition of the church’s corruption to King Henry VIII’s Act of Supremacy, these two religious figures broke away from the Catholic Church in favor of alternative religions. Their lives were heavily involved in their personal and political motives to change the church’s religious practices and beliefs. In the German states, Martin Luther realized that the priests were often unqualified, immoral, and corrupted. At first, he lack an assurance of religious salvation. Although he prayed and confessed his sins for hours, he realized that his afterlife was by justification by faith. This meant that our religious faith …show more content…

Since Pope Leo X created indulgence system to finance the new St. Peter’s Basilica and Johann Tetzel collected the indulgences, he wrote the 95 Theses to indicate the pope’s abuses of power. He nailed this document to the church’s door in Wittenburg, Germany and expressed his opposition to the sale of indulgences. As Luther’s first public resistance to the papacy, this document argued that indulgences were sinful and did not grant salvation. The invention of the printing press spread his works and idea throughout Europe. Eventually, his beliefs led to the creation of Lutheranism. Initially, Henry VIII was against reformation. He wrote the Defense of the Seven Sacraments in response to Luther’s actions against the church beliefs. Henry VIII’s beliefs changed after his first …show more content…

However, Henry VIII’s motive to break away from the church stemmed from his desire for a son and Luther’s motive stemmed from the church’s corruption. Although both their methods to bring about change during the reformation succeeded, their beliefs had consequences. Luther unintentionally spurred the ideas of the Peasant Wars, where the lower class wanted to dissolve the social hierarchy and hoped that he would support their actions. However, Luther refused to be associated with their rebellion and asked the princes to crush them. His actions led to the fragmentation of Germany and his support from the German princes. However, Henry VIII’s actions led to his three heirs, who helped transform the church; Edward VI wrote the first Book of Common Prayer that became the order for all services in the church of England, Mary Tudor decided to bring the nation back to Catholicism, and Elizabeth I inaugurated the beginning of religious stability in the Anglican Church. Although King Henry VIII changed the legality of the Church, he did not bring about revolutionary religious change in comparison to Martin Luther. Martin Luther’s writings caused the Protestant Reformation. His main ideas of the Bible being the primary source of religious authority and his justification through faith, shaped