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An essay on Protestant Reformation
The couse effect of reformation
The Protestant Reformation
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His major objection about his church are the indulgences because he knew that they were false. “Indulgences were payments to the Roman Catholic Church in return for pardons for one’s sins and grants of salvation in the afterlife.” Martin Luther stated that he didn’t approve of indulgences because they were false as well as expensive, so he didn’t want people to buy meaningless pieces of papers. Luther believed that getting rid of your sins with paper was not the right thing to be doing and that the church had been receiving money for lying. He said that the people who buy these indulgences will be “eternally damned” with those who taught them.
At the year 1524, Martin Luther, a significant figure in the Reformation and the founder of Lutheranism, had just finished hiding in Frederick the Wise’s Saxony castle after the Edict of Worms declared that he was an “outlaw” of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther’s action that led up to this event was the publication of the 95 Theses in 1517, which denounced indulgences and attacked the corruption of the papacy. Luther was able to remain hidden due to the extreme decentralization of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Charles V could not devote much of his attention to Luther, as he was controlling Spain, The Holy Roman Empire, and the New World.
He took the words of God, and made them his own, changing their meaning. After these sudden changes, Martin Luther said, “The main reason I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the head of the Church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and authority. He said, “..although Christ is the head of the Church, there must be a physical head of the Church upon earth.” (Document 5, Luther). As Luther said, this could not be tolerated.
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.
Theses, posted in 1517, criticized the sale of indulgences and called for a debate on issues of faith and authority within the Church. He emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith, rejecting the Catholic Church's teaching on the necessity of good works for salvation. Luther also advocated for the priesthood of all believers, asserting that all believers have direct access to God and the ability to interpret the Bible for
Martin Luther was a german theologian who brought on the reformation by demanding changes in the Catholic Church (“Martin Luther”). Martin grew with a father that was a miner and grew up working and being very religious (“Martin Luther”). One year later he followed out his promise by leaving everything behind and being ordained a monk (Martin Luther, World History Ancient and Medieval Eras). Many people believe Martin spoke badly about the church because he was corrupted by temptation. Martin Luther was ordained a monk in 1507 and did this hopefully find inner peace however, temptation made
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
The church promised eternal salvation to everyone who lived accordingly(Overfield). In the 1500s the Roman Catholic Church was very powerful in Western Europe. But other political forces including Italy, England France and more had increased in the previous century and many were anxious to take the opportunity offered by the Reformation to weaken the power of the papacy and increase their own power in relation to the Church in Rome and other rulers. There was also a great deal of corruption of the church thanks the the pope and his abandonment of the people. The corruption of the Church was well known, and several attempts had been made to reform the Church but none of these efforts successfully challenged Church practice until Martin Luther 's actions in the early 1500s.
Martin Luther, a German professor and monk, made a large impact on society in the fifteen hundreds. His new ideas of Christianity changed the concept of how religion was viewed and practiced in the 16th century. Within his Ninety-five Theses, he questioned the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and brought to light the corruption surrounding the church while stating how Christianity should be practiced in different ways rather than what is being taught. It is important to understand his stances on religion to explain how different groups reacted to his ideas. While some parts of Europe accepted his ideologies into practice, others reject Luther for many different reasons.
Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole
By questioning the sale of indulgences and arguing that the pope does not have complete authority over forgiveness of sins and, to a larger extent, salvation, Luther established a precedent for the word of the Church to be called into question rather than it having absolute authority. Given that Luther opens his 95 Theses with “out of love and concern for the truth,” it is clear that his intentions are not necessarily to completely undermine the authority of the Catholic Church, but rather to open a dialogue between the Catholic Church and its faithful on what is actually true in regards to God. The collective judgment of the Catholic community, particularly those who did not have positions of power in the Church, would then have a much greater effect on the direction in which the Catholic Church took than it would have before Luther’s 95 Theses.
Luther started his movement as a monk looking for answers about salvation, unlike Erasmus who started as a Christian humanist. Luther didn’t mean to reform the church at first. Luther first wanted to reform the church by getting rid of indulgences, However, Erasmus’ main target was the clergy and did not mention indulgences often. Additionally, Erasmus’ main belief was the philosophy of Christ, which means that he thought Christianity should guide one through their daily life and not be a system of doctrines. Luther most likely disagreed with this since he supported many doctrines of his time.
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.
Before Luther rebelled against Catholic practices, he has achieved many works
The problem from the Papacy’s point of view was that the Ninety-five Theses undermines the Church’s authority. The main point Luther was trying to get across is while the indulgence preachers were using bells to grab the attention of men, the church should put the focus upon the real substance that men ‘ought to place their attention – the