Martin Luther And The Protestant Reformation

All of Europe used to be united under one religion, Catholicism. Europe started inching away from Catholicism during the 13th - 15th centuries. The church leaders started to only think about money and the power they held, instead of the real reason they were supposed to be there, God. This caused an uprising of people who no longer wanted to be a part of the Catholic church, nicknamed Protestants because they protested the ways of the catholic church. The Protestant Reformation was caused by corruption in the church, Martin Luther and John Calvin’s ideas, and the clergy and their preachings. Corruption in the church was a huge reason why people left Catholicism, they did not want to be involved in an organization that allowed such awful things

In these Thesis’ Luther basically criticized the church’s wrongful practices and exposed the church’s corruption in order to bring about change in the church. Luther is quoted in Document 3 from his 95 thesis’ “Christian’s should be taught that he who gives to a poor man, or lends to a needy man, does better if he bought pardons.” Luther believed that actions, such as helping others did way more toward saving a person’s soul than buying a pardon did. He saw through the idea that one could by their way into heaven. He brought about new ideas such as God’s grace is the only way into heaven, not buying indulgences, or simply participating in church activities. His ideas eventually spread out all over Europe and his followers formed a group calling themselves Lutherans. This eventually became a protestant denomination, where Luther preached ideas, and his version of christianity. Also other reformist such as John Calvin had their own ideas, like predestination, and that everyone was full of sin until they were saved by christ. “We must resist the lust of the flesh, which, unless kept in order, overflows without measure.” (Document 6) Calvin believed that everyone was filled with this sinful “lust” that could not be kept in order without the power of christ. Calvin also started a sect of christianity nicknamed Calvinist after their leader. Both Luther and Calvin inspired others such as George Fox, who created quakerism, and Ulrich Zwingli who started anabaptism. Overall a huge force that drove the Protestant Reformation was reformers such as Martin Luther and John