The saying absolute power corrupts absolutely stands the test of time. This has been shown in many writings prior to the protestant reformation. Martin Luther’s letter “To the Christian Nobility” and Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” addressed the corrupt Catholic Church. Comparable to the Catholic Church corruption, Joseph Stalin’s reign over Russia showed the attrioties that were the result of a man with absolute power. Accordingly, the negative effects of absolute power was seen in Martin Luther’s letter “To the Christian Nobility”, Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, and Joseph Stalin’s reign as Premier of Russia. Martin Luther was a German priest who opposed the Catholic Church. He felt the church was corrupt and did not uphold the values. This is seen in his letter “To the Christian Nobility” …show more content…
Joseph Stalin rose to power after the death of Vladimir Lenin and controlled the country unopposed by any other people’s influences. He was highly paranoid man who often imprisoned many without cause. Manus Midlarsky’s article “Territoriality and the Onset of Mass Violence: The Political Extremism of Joseph Stalin” described one of the results of Stalin’s paranoia when saying “Massive purges of Party members and others suspected of disloyalty again were found first in the Soviet Union in the 1930s (the Great Terror of 1937–38 yielded 681,692 deaths),38 and later in China and Cambodia”(Midlarsky 271). Stalin was able to cause those 681,692 deaths, because he had absolute power similar to the Catholic Church’s. Both had the ability to exile those of dissenting views and had unquestioned power over millions. Martin Luther saw these consequences during his life, by being excommunicated by the Catholic Church for his discrimination of the Pope. While Chaucer saw the corrupt aspect of manipulating millions into paying
Martin Luther is known to be a key initiator to the Protestant Reformation, although he had no intention of doing so. He was going to become a monk, so he read deeply into scriptures, but this only led him to discover inconsistencies between traditions and the Bible. These inconsistencies lead him to demand changes in the Catholic Church; however that did not include
Martin Luther desired to reform the Church because he believed that it was corrupt and wanted to be seen as the gateway to Heaven. In Luther’s eyes, the Roman Catholic Church was teaching the wrong things and showing bad behavior. Because of this, Martin Luther, being a conscientious friar and professor of theology, did not feel secure in the idea of salvation. The Church was teaching that salvation came through faith AND good works while Luther concluded
Originally platformed by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin took control of the communist party in 1924 when Lenin died of a stroke. Communist ideals were heavily in opposition to classical liberal values; Whereas Liberalism stressed the importance of the individual, Communism sought to better the greater good of society by stripping many of the individual rights and freedoms of citizens. Communism revoked the class structure of society and created a universal equality for all. This equality came with a price however. Any who opposed the communist rule were assassinated in order to keep order within society. Joseph Stalin took this matter to the extreme during an event known as the Great Purge. The Great Purge, also known as The Great Terror, began in 1936 and concluded in 1938. During these two years, millions of people were murdered and sent to labour camps in Siberia for opposing the Communist party and the ultimate dictator, Stalin himself. In some cases, even those who did not oppose the regime were killed. Sergey Kirov was a very popular member of the communist party and Stalin saw this as a possible threat to his ultimate power. As a result, Stalin order Kirov to be executed. Stalin furthered his violation of individual rights by introducing the NKVD who worked closely with the russian secret police force. One of the primary goals of the secret police was to search out dissidents who were not entirely faithful to the communist regime. This violation of privacy caused histeria en mass in the Soviet Union and millions were killed as a result. The Soviet union resisted liberalism to such an extreme that it resulted in the deaths of millions of people, leading to some of the darkest days in russian
...m what they lacked in the Catholic Church, the knowledge of what made them Christians. Just as the Word of God is a guide to mankind, Luther guided 16th century Germans to the true Christian path with his many revolutionary reforms.
Martin Luther’s Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation was published in 1520. In the Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, Martin Luther claims that the Catholic
The Great Terror, an outbreak of organised bloodshed that infected the Communist Party and Soviet society in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), took place in the years 1934 to 1940. The Terror was created by the hegemonic figure, Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and lethal dictators in history. His paranoia and yearning to be a complete autocrat was enforced by the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), the communist police. Stalin’s ambition saw his determination to eliminate rivals such as followers of Leon Trotsky, a political enemy. The overall concept and practices of the Terror impacted on the communist party, government officials and the peasants. The NKVD, Stalin’s instrument for carrying out the Terror, the show trials and the purges, particularly affected the intelligentsia.
Martin Luther started out becoming a lawyer, but then an accident happened. Long story short, he became a monk. When a friar named John Tetzel came into Wittenberg, he was selling indulgences (indulgences means a donation to the church that came with a promise from the Pope to reduce a sinner’s time in the purgatory). Martin Luther felt that was not right. Martin Luther felt that the indulgences were meaningless and was not right. So in response Martin Luther wrote Ninety-Five Theses against the indulgences and everything that was wrong with the Roman Catholic Church. The Theses led to a series of debates with other men of the church. One of the Ninety-Five Theses states that Christians were saved only through the Grace of God and he also stated that the church’s rituals did not have any power to save souls. Martin Luther also said, “The church and the Pope made errors all the time.” The argument between the church and Martin Luther became heated when Luther denied that the officers of the church and the church itself had any spiritual powers. Martin Luther said, “Christians do not even have to hear the priests to receive the Grace of God.” That is when the Ninety-Five Theses created a
At the beginning of the sixteenth century church theologian, Martin Luther, wrote the 95 Theses questioning the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. In this essay I will discuss: the practices of the Roman Catholic Church Martin Luther wanted to reform, what Martin’s specific criticism of the pope was, and the current practices Pope Francis I is interested in refining in the Roman Catholic Church today.
As human beings we often crave power and the thrilling sense we get when in control. The responsibility of power can quickly transform someone’s personality and change the way he acts towards others. When power is in the hands of one individual, and the repercussions can ruin a society. Power can lead to an inequality between the people of a country and its leaders and it can often . Throughout societies in the past, there has been this frequent concept of whether it is better to be feared than loved as a ruler. The idea that someone could retaliate and overthrow power and authority could threaten a leader and push them towards abuse of power. Society’s fear could seem more reliable and allow manipulation than a caring relationship between a society and its leader. For example, in the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin assumed power and took total control over the Russian society. He used violence and manipulation to persuade victims and preserve his position in power. Leon Trotsky was one of the many victims of Stalin’s m...
In 1922 Stalin was appointed general secretary of the communist party. With Stalin gaining power in the newly founded Soviet Union, Lenin, the ruler of the Soviet Union knew that Stalin was trying to take his place. Only two years later in 1924, Lenin died and Stalin set out to take total control. To gain more power, Stalin removed anyone who dared stand in his way. He created a vast rain of terror that will never be forgotten. Stalin had potential rivals arrested and executed in public claiming that they were enemies of the people. It is estimated that Stalin killed up to 49 million at that
"Anderson Crispim « “Power Tends to Corrupt, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”." Anderson Crispim « ::: Dispatches from My World :::. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2011. .
Thesis statement: Martin Luther was responsible for the break-up of the Catholic Church Martin Luther was a representative during the 16th century of a desire widespread of the renewal and reform of the Catholic Church. He launched the Protestant reform a continuation of the medieval religious search. From the Middle ages, the church faced many problems such as the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism that hurt the prestige of the church. Most of the clergy lived in great luxury while most people were poor and they set an immoral example. The clergy had low education and many of them didn’t attend their offices.
Religion is the most important aspect of many people’s lives, serving as a roadmap to live a virtuous life while promising eternal life and salvation. In his work On Christian Liberty, Martin Luther writes on what it means to truly be Christian and how to achieve salvation. Luther discusses many aspects of Christian faith, including the difference between the inner man and outer man, the effect of works on salvation, the marriage with Jesus as a result of faith, how individuals should act towards others, and the important notion of Christian liberty that arises because of one’s faith. Luther’s ideas were highly controversial at the time as many of them opposed the thinking of the Catholic Church, one of the most powerful institutions in the world. The Catholic Church adamantly disagrees with many of the ideas expressed by Luther, including the value that works, the church, and humility has in salvation.
Alongside money, Macbeth and Stalin showed the world that a root of all evil is power and authority. Both men serve to show and remind us that even throughout history, there are power seekers who will go against morality to gain the upper hand. Although Macbeth and Stalin led different childhoods, both men rose to power by killing innocent people. A tragic hero such as Macbeth or a brutal man such as Stalin fell due to their few strengths, excessive ambition and over confidence. The power hungry Macbeth is ultimately overthrown by his internal conflict, guilt, while Stalin fell due to his paranoia and death. Both Macbeth and Stalin’s actions serve to us as reminders that authority and power is a privilege and shouldn’t be taken for granted, because it could be taken away as easily as it was obtained or
Works Cited Lord Acton Quote http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/absolute-power-corrupts-absolutely.html. Shakespeare, William, and Aaron Durband. Macbeth. Shakespeare Made Easy. Hauppage, NY: Barron, 2004.