Martin Luther Influence On Religion In The 1800's

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The time period between the 1500’s and the 1800’s saw many changes in Europe. Monarchs came and went and with each new successor to the throne, changes in policy and sometimes religion came with them. With the advent of new techniques in navigation, Europe was inspired to explore the world beyond what they knew. The Roman Catholic Church had become dissolute and corrupt and somebody finally took a stand and called them out for their bad behavior. That Person was Martin Luther. Luther’s stand against the greedy practices of the Church snowballed into an entirely new set of beliefs about Christianity and everyday man’s place within the religion. Luther inspired others and one voice added to many others became a call to action that led to the …show more content…

Martin Luther was a monk who was not very pleased with the amount of corruption that had infiltrated the Roman Catholic Church. Luther was greatly upset with the Catholic Church for selling “indulgences”. Indulgences were payments that the people could pay to the Church in return for lessening their time in Purgatory for committing the sin. Martin Luther did not agree with this and wanted to see changes made in the Church to steer it back to the righteous course of serving God instead of greed. This desire to see the Church reform led Luther to write a list of grievances he felt the Church needed to address. He titled this list, “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” also known as “The 95 Theses,” a list of questions and propositions for debate” …show more content…

When Puritan reformists kept pushing for stricter church reform James thought to pacify them for a while by having the Bible translated into a more readable version for the time. That Bible is the King James translation. The Puritan reformists were not happy with that because they had hoped for a more sweeping reform. James I and his son and successor, Charles I were neither one much inclined to provide the changes that the Puritan’s were demanding. Both kings shifted the Church of England further away from Puritanism. During Charles’ time on the throne, however, there happened to be a strong pro-Puritan parliament in power. In a very bold (and unwise) move, Charles I dissolved Parliament in 1629 and began to aggressively seek out and punish dissenters. Puritan reformists decided at that point that the wisest course of action for them to pursue was to leave England and relocate somewhere new that they could safely institute the reforms for the Anglican Church that they felt it needed without actually having to split from the church

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