Protestant Reformation Research Paper

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To what extent was the protestant reformation a theological issue? After years of corruption within the Catholic Church, individuals of society took it upon themselves to reconstruct and reevaluate the power of the Roman Catholic authority. Beginning with Huss, Wycliffe and Erasmus, these radicals recognized the incongruities existent in society and claimed the abuses of the church. Although their attempts were not entirely successful, their devotion drove following individuals to dig deeper and find a means to expose the Catholic Church and reevaluate overall supremacy. For centuries the Roman Catholic Church dominantly lead societal, political and religious norms, but after losing members from the deadly plague and leaving the papal authority…show more content…
Simony drove the primary corruptions of the Church, and expressed the fact that the church was no longer living up to mantra of Catholicism. This idea drove powerful intellect, Thomas Moore, to publish Utopia and ultimately expose the corruptions before the notable Martin Luther blasted the church completely. In fact, Thomas Moore actually encouraged Martin Luther to congregate and expose his Ninety- Five Theses. The Ninety -Five Theses benefitted from the mobility of the printing press to spread the abuses and new ideals of Protestantism in order to seek political independence. With the conception that the church was the supreme authority of all of society, each leader with an ultimate desire of dominate power of their personal and “proper” ideals, used the corruptions of the Catholic Church as a means to support their newly constructed principles and assert their expertise to gain total political superiority and surpass the authorities of the church. In a sense, the reformers brilliantly…show more content…
With the Calvinist belief of predestination, you were only good if you were elect. Here embodied an extent to keep the state and church entirely separate. However, conflicts arose from Calvinist followers within France. These monarchs resisted the spread of Protestantism. People like Catherine De Medici, looked for ways to solve religious division becoming “politiques.” Similarly, Luther’s ideals were essentially a justification for social and political upheaval. With the peasant charges, it was proposed there was a violation of loyalty oaths, gods name of blasphemy and crime against the faith. Essentially this document depicted how the authorities were appointed by god and not to be

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