Transcript Slide 1

The Reformation
• By the 10th century, the church
in Rome had come to dominate
religious life in northern &
western Europe
• However, the Roman Catholic
Church had not won universal
approval
• Over the centuries, rulers,
scholars, & members of the
clergy (church personnel)
criticized church practices
• Even though church leaders
made several important reforms
during the Middle Ages…
• The problems lingered
Renaissance Influence on Religion
• By 1500, additional forces weakened the
Church
• The Renaissance emphasized the secular
(non-religious/ worldly) values
• It also stressed the power of the individual
• The printing press spread these secular
ideas
• In addition, rulers resented the popes’
attempts to control them
• Pope = Head of Catholic Church
• Northern merchants resented paying
church taxes to Rome
• Rome = Headquarters of Church
• Spurred by political & social forces, a new
movement for religious reform (change)
began in Germany
• It then swept through the rest of Europe
Corruption in Catholic Church
• Critics of the Church said leaders were
corrupt
• The popes who ruled during the
Renaissance patronized the arts, spent
extravagantly on personal pleasure & fought
wars
• Pope Alexander VI even admitted to having
children (not allowed for clergy)
• These popes were too busy pursuing worldly
affairs to have much time for spiritual duties
• The lower level clergy had problems as well
• Many priests & monks were poorly educated
• They could barely read, thus couldn’t teach
• Others broke their priestly vows by marrying,
gambling, & drinking to excess
Renaissance Creates Atmosphere for Change
• Influenced by reformers, people had
come to expect high standards of
conduct for church leaders
• Renaissance writers like Erasmus &
More wrote about popes having too
much power
• Renaissance thinkers argued that the
Bible was more important than church
leadership
• Although some reformers died for their
beliefs, their calls for change lived on
• In addition, many Europeans were
reading religious works for themselves
• They formed their own opinions about
the Church
• The atmosphere in Europe was ripe for
reform by the early 1500s
• Reform = Change
Indulgences
• The son of a German miner, Martin
Luther became a monk in 1505
• All he wanted was to be a good
Christian, not lead a religious
revolution
• In 1517 Luther decided to take a
public stand against the actions of
a friar named Johann Tetzel
• Tetzel was raising money to rebuild
St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome
• He did this by selling indulgences
• Indulgence = Pardon
• It released a sinner from penalty
• Indulgences weren’t supposed to
affect God’s right to judge
• However, Tetzel gave people the
impression that buying indulgences
could buy their way into heaven
Martin Luther Leads Change
• Luther was troubled by Tetzel’s tactics
• He wrote 95 Theses attacking the
“pardon merchants”
• Theses = formal statements
• On October 31, 1517 he posted his
theses on the door of the castle church
in Wittenberg, Germany
• Someone copied Luther’s works & took
them to the printer
• Luther’s name became known
throughout Germany
• His actions started the REFORMATION
• Reformation = movement for religious
reform
• It led to the founding of Christian
churches that did NOT accept the
pope’s authority
Luther’s Teachings
• Soon Luther went beyond
criticizing indulgences
• He wanted a full reform of the
Catholic Church
• His teachings rested on three
main ideas:
• 1. People could win salvation
(heaven) only through faith in
God’s forgiveness
– The Catholic Church taught that
faith & GOOD WORKS were needed
for salvation
• 2. All Church teachings should be
based on word in the Bible
– The pope & church traditions weren’t
religious authorities (God & Bible
were)
• 3. All people with faith were equal
– Therefore, people didn’t need to
priests to interpret the Bible for them
Church’s Reaction
• Luther was surprised at how rapidly
his ideas spread & attracted
followers
• Many rulers & merchants were
unhappy with the Church for
economic & political reasons
• They saw Luther’s protests as an
excuse to get rid of Church control
• Initially, the Church viewed Luther
as a simple rebellious monk who
needed punishment
• However, as Luther’s ideas became
increasingly radical,
• The pope realized he was a serious
threat
• In one angry reply, Luther actually
suggested that Christians drive the
pope from the Church by force
Luther’s Excommunication
• In 1520, Pope Leo X issued a decree
threatening Luther with excommunication
unless he took back his statements
• Excommunicate = kicking a person out of the
Church, thus denying him/her salvation
• Luther burned the pope’s decree @ a bonfire
• Pope Leo excommunicated Luther
• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (huge
empire, including Germany), disagreed with
Luther
• He summoned Luther to Worms in 1521 to
stand trial. Told to recant (take back) his
statements, Luther refused
• Charles issued the Edict of Worms declaring
Luther an outlaw & heretic
• No one was allowed to give Luther food or
shelter & all of his books were to be burned
New Religious Group Emerges
• Prince Frederick the Wise refused to obey
the order & let Luther live in his castle
• While there, Luther translated the New
Testament into German
• When Luther returned to Wittenberg in
1522 he saw many of his ideas in practice
• Popes dressed in ordinary clothing &
called themselves ministers
• They led services in German instead of
Latin
• Some ministers had married, because
Luther taught that Clergy were allowed
• Instead of continuing to seek reforms from
the Catholic Church…
• Luther’s followers became a separate
religious group, called Lutherans
Peasants Revolt
• Some began to apply Luther’s
ideas to society
• In 1524, German peasants
demanded an end to serfdom
• Serf = peasant attached to the land
owned by a lord & required to
perform labor in return for rights
• Bands of angry peasants went
around raiding monasteries,
pillaging & burning
• The revolt horrified Luther
• He wrote a pamphlet telling
German princes to show peasants
no mercy (thousands were killed)
• Many peasants felt betrayed, but
Luther remained influential until his
death
Protestants
• In contrast to bitter peasants, many northern
German princes supported Lutheranism
• Some princes supported Luther’s beliefs,
others just saw it as a good excuse to seize
Church property & assert independence from
Charles V
• In 1529, those princes who still supported the
pope agreed to join forces
• Princes supporting Luther signed a protest
against the agreement & became known as
Protestants
• Eventually term Protestant applied to
Christians who belonged to non-Catholic
churches
• Charles V launched a war against Protestants,
but couldn’t force them back to the Church
• Peace of Augsburg = famous religious
agreement in Augsburg that said the religion of
each state would be determined by its ruler