Protestant Reformation
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Describe Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. What did he mean by justification by faith alone? What was he protesting? What did he do? What were his philosophies? How did the Catholic Church react to this? What are some of the key differences between Protestants and Catholics?
Protestant Reformation
Many changes took place during the next few hundred years. Several historical events influenced the rise of the Protestant Reformation, including the Black Plague (which killed 1/3 of Europe), numerous wars of the 14th century, and the Renaissance or Rebirth during the 15th and 16th centuries which not only changed art and architecture through greats like Da Vinci and Michelangelo, but an entire worldview.
During the black plague, many lost faith in the Catholic church when priests abandoned the sick to flee for their own safety. During the Renaissance, new artists and thinkers questioned medieval church values and gave a fresh new (and radical) worldview.
Also during this time, an invention called the Printing Press allowed for mass circulation of literature. How could this be a threat to the Catholic Church? Within the church, which has grown very wealthy and powerful, there were numerous examples of corruption, abuse, and scandals. Combine that with political and religious divisions and dissent and you've got yourself a stage for destruction. Above all, the printing press allowed for individual interpretation and perception of the scriptures, which was a direct threat to the authority of the Catholic Church.
All of these historical events bring us to this central issue you've seen building in your previous lessons -- authority. The long standing authority of the church was being questioned. During this time, the selling ofindulgences also becomes popular. The church was rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica and it was believed that whoever donated money to this project would be able to buy their loved ones' souls out of purgatory .
Martin Luther of Saxony (1483-1546)
Martin Luther was a German Catholic Monk (from the Augustinian branch) who was unhappy with all this corruption, abuse and especially, the selling of indulgences. He decided to reform the church and proclaimed our Justification through Faith.
He nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittgenstein in 1517. This theses outlined all of the things he felt were wrong with the Catholic Church. There were many things he had issues with.
First, he defied Pope Authority, saying that there is a Universal Priesthood where we all can be preachers and should marry and have children. (This is something Luther did himself right away after years of being a celibate monk, taking a fellow nun as his wife and having multitudes of children. Just call them the "Jon and Kate Plus 8" of the 16th century.)
He rejected most of the 7 sacraments, including confession, anointing, and ordination. He rejected many of long held Catholic doctrine/rituals such as the veneration of Mary, the saints, and the rosary.
He proclaimed " Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Sola Scriptura" which means "faith alone, grace alone, scripture alone." According to Luther, that's all you need, not the clergy or the sacraments. And finally, to top it all off, he declared that the Pope was the Antichrist!
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I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore, I am convinced by the testimony of Scripture, I cannot and will not retract. Here I stand, I can do no other. So help me God, Amen. - Martin Luther |
As you can imagine, Luther wasn't too popular with the Catholic Church due to these actions. He was declared a heretic by the Papal Bull in 1520 and excommunicated in 1521.
At the Council/Diet of Worms (pronounced "Varm"), Luther refused to recant - he would not take back his criticisms of the church.
Luther would have probably met the same brutal fate as other heretics like William Tyndale and Joan of Arc if he had not had the luxury of being heavily protectedby German princes (even back then, it was all about "who you know.")
Soon after Luther's protest, a reformation happened (giving the "Protestant Reformation" its name) involving hundreds of people that followed in Luther's path. They translated the Bible into German in 1534, which greatly upset the Catholic Church.
Soon after, the Bible was translated into English by William Tyndale, who was burned at the stake for this act (he, unlike Luther, did not have German prince protection). After this, the protestant movement did not stay unified, but split into several different sections or denominations.
Today, there are several thousand Protestant denominations. Just a few examples are Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, Calvinist, Presbyterian, Nazarene, Mormon, United Church of Christ, Church of Christ, Pentecostal, etc.
The Catholics had a Counter Reformation in response. During the Council of Trent (1545-63), they reaffirmed Catholic doctrine, practice, the authority of Pope, built more impressive architecture, and commissioned an extremely high volume of art pieces (the majority of both the Vatican's and Dayton Art Institute's Renaissance pieces are a result of this counter reformation) to confirm and display both the majesty and ultimate authority of the Catholic church.
