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Renaissance, Reformation, And Roman Catholic Essay Interpretations Of The Church

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Renaissance, Reformation, and Roman Catholic Essay Interpretations of the Church’s Power and Resulting Influences on Europe Caleb Holland Regent University HIST 207: Western Civilization 1 Dr. Kevin Wolfe June 23, 2024 1 The Renaissance, Reformation, and Roman Catholic views of the church reflect a complex dynamic of power and sociocultural differences. These differing views both shaped the religious landscape of the time and influenced the societal developments of Western Europe to a significant degree, all during a pivotal period of change. The Renaissance emphasized humanism and the revival of classical learning, the Reformation challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church by advertising for individual Scriptural interpretation, and the priesthood of all believers. …show more content…

aligned three reasons that Luther thought the Catholics had a need for sociopolitical power. Foremost was the obvious attempt at 4 establishing jurisdiction above secular government, “that the spiritual is above the temporal power” (Luther, 1520). Limits to which, secondly, the Church claims only the pope himself can correctly identify from Scripture. Even when public councils convene to the steeple in disagreement, the Church lastly “answer[s] with the fable” that only the pope may call a council (1520). Swift excommunication met Luther shortly after, when his sights were set on the indulgences, the purchase of penance for one’s sins. Secular governments no doubt foamed at the mouth when opportunities to perpetuate these anti-papal preachings arose. Government subversion of foreign influence over citizenship, while simultaneously promoting religious freedoms, seems to have been a celebratory cause for everyone but the Vatican and Erasmus. Had the displeasure that Luther harbored towards the Church been quelled, or absent altogether, the history of politics and religion in Western Europe would be drastically

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He therefore wants to attempt to rediscover Luther’s true history, character, and theology. He rejects the 500 years of scholarship that attempts to place Luther in narrow categories simply of “Saint” or “Social Activist”. One of the goals of Oberman is that the reader should view Luther in the lens of his medieval theology, especially pertaining to the concept of the Devil whom Luther saw as his chief adversary, affecting many areas of his life. Throughout the book, Oberman argues that if the reader views Luther’s life as a struggle against the devil, only then can Luther truly be understood. Since Luther’s life work and purpose was to teach and preach the true Gospel to lost and condemned sinners, his chief adversary was the devil who “Would not tolerate the rediscovery of the Gospel; he would rebel with all his might, and muster all his forces against it.”

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Within a period of six months Martin Luther published his famous three treatises of 1520, each one outlining his displeasure of the Renaissance papacy and his anger at the exploitation of the Germans by the Roman church. One of these treatises is an Appeal to the Ruling Class. Within this Luther expresses his main criticisms about the Roman church and how these should be changed. Luther’s aim for writing the treatise was to make a change to the Roman church in a way that he believed would be more true to the bible. He describes the ‘Romanists’ using quite vicious language to get his point across.

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In Martin Luther’s story To the Christian Nobility, Luther has two main complaints about the pope and Catholicism. Luther’s first complaint attacks the Catholic Church for, “selling “indulgences” to absolve sin.” (Martin Luther To the Christian Nobility, pg. 756) Luther believed that “humans could not reach salvation by their own acts, but only God could bestow salvation by faith.” (www.history.com/topics/martin-luther-and-the-95-theses) Luther also voices a complaint about the pope and how is merely a mortal man who is imperfect as all humans are and states, “their claim that only the pope may interpret Scripture…trying to persuade us that the pope cannot err in matters of faith…whether he is righteous or wicked,” (Martin Luther To the

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After further lecturing, Martin Luther began questioning the power of the church. There were

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THE REFORMATION The introduction during the Renaissance of the humanist idea that people should question authority led to the challenges to the Catholic Church that came about during the Reformation. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses certainly questioned the authority of the church, especially since it was Luther’s core belief that the bible, not the Pope or the church, was the real authority for Christianity. His idea of justification by faith alone and his argument against sacraments other than baptism and the Last Supper showed he was questioning authority.

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The European Protestant Reformation, led by Martin Luther and John Calvin in the 16th century, guided a seismic shift in the relationship between religion, God, and politics. Their theological writings as well as their social and political activism was able to lay the groundwork for great transformations across Europe. They systemically challenged the existing power structures and reshaped the conversation on temporal authority. By exploring the main ideas of Luther and Calvin, we can compare their theories and understand their views on their core assumptions, core arguments, protests, and the ideas of relations between religion/God and the politics of their times. At the center of Martin Luther’s theology, there is the principle of justification

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Only those who disagreed with the Catholic Church followed Luther’s practice. Upon further analysis of the sermon, the main message proved to be that one can have faith without following the Pope. If you have faith in God, that is all you need for your soul to be saved. “…we should not build upon human law or works, but rather have true faith in the one who is

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Martin Luther had a major impact on Church life in Europe in the Sixteenth Century. Martin had a problem with the Roman Catholic Church. He questioned the Catholic Church’s right to sell people on the idea that indulgences should be bought and sold. He ceased the seemingly endless power of the Catholic Church. He touched the lives of many individuals throughout his sixty-two year life.

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Martin Luther was a German monk who devoted his life to Christ after a near-death experience. After studying and analyzing the bible Luther soon realized that the teachings of the Catholic Church were deceptive and were only taught to financially benefit the church. In response, Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the church in an effort to address the wrongfulness of the pope and the corrupt church officials. Luther’s theses helped create a positive impact by exposing the dishonesty of the Catholic Church and their indulgences, helping to create different branches of Christianity, and allowed people to think for themselves instead of relying on the Church. Martin Luther opposed indulgences because he believed people could get to Heaven through faith and not by paying money to the Catholic Church.

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The Reformation in its successive stages, reproduced a massive doctrinal and jurisdictional shift. Puritans advocated for the “abolition of prayer for souls in purgatory, changes in church services and the abolition of pilgrimages, processions, and the veneration of saints” (Ingram, 1995). Anti-Catholic rhetoric was encouraged by the Puritans, and there was an increase in stress upon the personal responsibility of the individual in religious faith and observance. Anti-Catholicism, which developed into a characteristic facet of English culture, unexpectedly united Puritans. The papacy identified with the Antichrist, and “Catholicism was remotely linked with tyranny, oppression, disloyalty, and persecution” (Ingram, 1995).

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The Catholic church has been highly respected for centuries throughout the world. But during the 16th century, a German monk named Martin Luther challenged the Catholic church of their holiness and revealed to the world the real truth behind their saintliness. He wanted to let the world know that the so-called righteous were not really as they seemed; they were as identical as the fraudsters we have today. Martin Luther made a clear assertion in his text “The Freedom of a Christian” alleging that the ones who were seen as the godliest, were actually the deceivers. Just because they wore the sacred robes and dwelt in sacred places performing the necessary religious duties didn’t mean that they were the holiest among the holies.

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Luther says in The Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms right hand kingdom, the church, shouldn’t be involved in government. The Left hand kingdom, the government, are the ones to punish and to have

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Luanda Silva Mrs. Kuhnast/Mrs. Fadlalla/Mr. Davis English 9 March 16, 2015 The Reformation The Reformation is the religious derivation of the Renaissance, instead of being focused on art and literature, the Reformation focused on the important parts of the Church and rebuilding the population’s religious views. It focused on the individual and the movement began when humanist thoughts and the desire for change in the Church emerged. (“Renaissance Background”)

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As nation-states began to grow and strengthen secular rulers protected the Protestant Reformers against the Pope, because they too began to criticize the Pope’s authority (11). These movements, along with the organized teachings of Lutheranism, allowed for the spreading of multiple devotions within different churches for Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Protestantism

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Martin believed that the long tradition of papal and ecclesiastical authority was unfounded in the Christian Scripture, and was thus immoral to exercise over the laity. It was the long standing belief in the Catholic Church that the Christian population was led by the pope, who was the direct connection between God the earthly world; this philosophy was known as the Gregorian “Two Sword Theory.” According this theory, spirituality and secular life were two edges of the same sword, a sword wielded by the pope; in this sense, the pope was not only the final say in matters of salvation, but also in matters of society and legality. Luther’s true goal was to replace this shameless and dishonest hierarchy within the Church with his “Two Kingdom Theory.” According to the turbulent monk, the Kingdom of Heaven was distinct from the secular world of earth.

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