PROTESTANT REFORMATION The renaissance was not the only movement in Western Europe during this time period. The protestant reformation began as a way to protest against and reform practices of the Roman Catholic Church. Once begun, the reformation had many unintended consequences. MARTIN LUTHER AND LUTHERANISM He was a Roman Catholic monk and professor in Wittenberg, Germany. He was disturbed by certain teachings of the Catholic Church, in particular the practice of selling indulgences. An indulgence frees a person from all or part of punishment for sins. A monk in Wittenberg named Johann Tetzel was taking money in exchange for indulgence. In 1517, Luther put together a list of 95 theses against the misuse of indulgences. He nailed the list to the front door of the church in Wittenberg. This act marks the beginning of the protestant reformation. Luther´s document was printed and was distributed throughout Germany. It won many supporters. Martin Luther By 1520 Luther was calling on the German princess to break with the authority of the pope in Rome. Luther urged them to set up their own German church. This new church would be based on two teachings that Luther considered central. First, faith in god alone is all that is needed for salvation, or entrance into heaven. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that people need to believe in god and do good works. Luther rejected good works as a way to earn salvation. He preached that humans cannot earn salvation. God alone grants salvation to a person who has faith. Lathers teaching became known as justification by faith alone. Second, the bible is the only sources of god’s word and religious truth. Luther believed that the pope and other members of the church´s hierarchy, such as bishop, were unnecessary. He stressed the need for people to read the bible. This increased the demand for bibles in vernacular languages. In 1521, the ´pope excommunicated Martin Luther. He was no longer a Roman Catholic. Luther continued to spread his teachings and to attract followers. His ideas became known as Lutheranism. POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES Many German princesses cared less about Luther's religious teachings than they did about their own power. Over the centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had gained a great deal of power across Europe. The German princess saw Luther's invitation as a way to do away with the pope´s power over them. They also saw it as a way to do away with the Holy Roman emperor. For centuries, Germany had been divided into several hundred small states ruled by princes. Ruling over them was the emperor. The present emperor, Charles V, tried to force the Lutheran princes to abandon Lutheranism and became Catholics again. Charles and his allies were not strong enough to defeat the Lutheran princes. The peace treaty allowed the German princes to choose which religion they would practice . However, their subjects were not given the same choice. They had to accept whatever religion their ruler chose.
JOHN CALVIN AND CALVINISM. John Calvin was a Roman Catholic who was born and educated in France. As an intellectual, he was disturbed certain practices of the Church. In 1536, Calvin published Institutes of the Christian Religion. This work set out his ideas about Protestantism. Like Luther, Calvin believed in justification by faith alone. However, Calvin went further. John Calvin preached predestination. According to Calvin, God determines who will be saved and who will be damned to hell forever. In 1536, leaders in Geneva, Switzerland, invited Calvin to help them make their city into a model Christian community. Calvin organized a theocracy – a government runs by religious leaders. A group known as the Consistory enforced morality. Misbehavior like dancing, playing cards, and swearing resulted in punishment. Hard work, honesty, and thrift were highly valued. Over time, Calvinists came to view these virtues as the sign of being saved by God. Religious leaders from across Europe traveled to Geneva to see Calvinism in practice. They took Calvin´s ideas back to their people. Calvinism soon spread to Germany, France, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. Calvinism had greater influence in Europe than Lutheranism. Puritanism and Presbyterianism developed from Calvinism.
John Calvin
THE COUNTER REFORMATION
Council of Trent
By the 1600´s the number of people who followed the teachings of Protestantism had increased dramatically. The Roman Catholic Church did not ignore what was happening. Many Church leaders recognized the truth in some of the complaints about Church practices. The Church had clearly strayed from the simple spiritual message of Jesus. The Catholic Reformation set about renewing the spirit of the church and returning it to its mission. In 1545, Pope Paul III called the Council of Trent.
This committee of Church leaders met until 1563 and issued a number of decrees, or orders, to clarify Church teachings and reform its practices. Four of the decrees were: Luther´s doctrine of faith without good works was rejected. Calvin´s doctrine of predestination was rejected. The selling of indulgences was forbidden. The authority of the pope was reaffirmed. After the Council of Trent, popes played less of a role in political affairs. At times, earlier popes had competed with monarchs and emperors for wealth and power. Later popes focused on their role as the spiritual leaders of Catholics. Pope Paul II PERSECUTION AND INQUISITION In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had set up a tribunal called the Inquisition to find heretics. These are people who believe in religious ideas that are not approved by the Church. The goal of the Inquisition was to bring people back to Catholicism. Anyone who refused to give up his or her wrong beliefs was punished by a fine, a prison sentence, and usually the loss of his or her property. Later, torture was added to the questioning process. If a person refused to confess, he or she could be tortured. Execution became the final punishment. In the 1540s, the Inquisition was used to find Protestants in Italy. Perhaps the most brutal use of the Inquisition was in Spain. In the 700s, Muslims had conquered large parts of Spain. They allowed Jews and Catholics to practice their religions in peace. Beginning in the 800s, Spanish nobles fought the Muslims and slowly forced them out of Spain. This was known as the reconquista. By 1492, the armies of Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had defeated the last of the Muslims to convert to Catholicism or leave. Forcing everyone to practice one religion was one way to unify the nation. The monarchs set up an Inquisition to make sure that everyone obeyed; It investigated Jews and Muslims who had converted to Catholicism but were suspected of practicing their old religions in private.