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The reformations effects
How did the protestant reformation impact europe
The reformations effects
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As western civilization evolved, change has influenced the landscape of many civilizations. The German Reformation of the early 16th century, inspired great amounts of change throughout parts of Europe. In Michel Baylor’s book, “The German Reformation and the Peasants’ War,” Baylor focuses on the roles of rebellion, violence, Christianity, and most importantly, the misinterpretation of reformation teachings during the Peasants’ War. The change caused by the Reformation and the Peasants’ War led to a decrease in religious practices and a violent rebellion. Christianity characterized the Peasants’ War among the people. In addition to Christianity, a rebellion fueled by the differences among these people, and violence against people who supported …show more content…
The violence demonstrated by the peasants was not only directed toward the people. Objects and religious institutions were also targeted. Baylor states, “One was violent anticlericalism and iconoclasm-the deliberate destruction of religious icons and images” (Baylor). The violence started off directed at objects and symbols of clergy, until it reached new heights. However, the economic pressure put on peasants by the nobility caused large amounts of resentment against nobility. Results of violence during the Peasants’ War were ways that peasants expressed their feelings about nobility during that time. The violence had to be justified by the religion in order to make things …show more content…
In modern Christianity, violence is not well known of in people’s minds. Modern Christians view violence as an event that only occurs during a time of war. The similarities between a reformation Christian’s idea of violence and when it should occur are not much different from today’s understandings. The Peasants’ War originated from the abuse against Peasants by the noble ones. Even though the times are different, many changes have occurred from the reformation to the modern day. However, many minds and hearts of the people stay the same. During the Peasants’ War religion was used as justification and in modern day Christianity
Religion is rarely used as justification. The similarities along with the differences are very obvious between early protestant Christianity and modern day Christianity. The Reformation and the Peasants’ War made a distinct change in the western civilization. The war saw the killing of thousands of peasants and a decrease in demographic Santo 4 numbers. The reformation started the breaking of tradition of Christian religion and the onset of the formation of new religious views. The misinterpretation of the reformers constructed a change throughout western
Believers of the Old and New Testaments claim that violence is a sin and can only lead to more brutality and death; poet Tony Barnstone firmly agrees. In his poem “Parable in Praise of Violence” Barnstone lambastes the American obsession with violence-- that it is often triggered by inevitable events which could be handled in different manners. The speaker in “Parable in Praise of Violence” reflects on all parts of his “sinful” culture and comes to the realization that people often use violence as a way to deal with emotions of grief and anger caused by events and concepts they cannot explain.
Luther’s On Christian Liberty expressed concepts that were appealing to peasants such as salvation being achieved by faith alone. However, the major concept that appealed to peasants the most was Luther’s principle that “a Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none” (Mckay 396). This quote from Luther was highly manipulated by the peasants and encouraged them to become released from serfdom, no matter the extremity. The peasants’ manipulated version of Lutheran principles caused them to start the revolts that would later be stopped by authorities.
The period 1550 to 1660 was a period of extreme dislocation and major change, within which saw periods boom and bust in various regions across Europe. This was followed by a much quieter period in the later 17th century that most economic historians would call recessionary. Along with the religious consequences of the Reformation and Counter Reformation came deep and lasting political changes. Northern Europe’s new religious and political freedoms came at a great cost, with decades of rebellions, wars and bloody
...tin Luther, who castigated the peasants (Doc 7). He saw the revolt as little use and recommended to the peasants that they quit revolting, and instead begin obeying their authoritative leaders. In addition, the Holy Roman Empire’s diet in 1526 gave lords and noblemen the right to restore their estate to the environment from before the revolts. This including restoring their serfs and do with them what they, the rich, wished. This uncooperative and hostile reaction by many to the German peasant revolts from 1524-1526 was a common occurrence and reaction many individuals of the time showed.
“Under the outward appearance of the gospel, they honor and serve the devil, thus deserving death in body and soul ten times over.” Luther’s brutal words against the rebelling peasants of Germany in 1525 reveal the complex reality of the Reformation. Suppression of the rebellion by the German aristocracy was swift and violent, leaving over 70,000 German peasants dead. The rebellion targeted the social and political oppression of the peasantry in the early 16th century. The peasants found new justification for revolt in the promising words of Martin Luther. Luther proclaimed a new kind of freedom for the Christian soul and the peasants applied his idea to their own circumstances. However a dichotomy emerged between spiritual freedom and worldly freedom. Luther argued that good Christians were spiritually free but still subject to temporal laws. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of man were separate spheres. Luther rejected attempts to integrate spiritual freedom into the temporal sphere [Luther turned against the peasants’ revolt of 1525 because the demands of the peasants went against his doctrine of Christian freedom, which stressed the spiritual freedom of Christians and concordant obedience to temporal authority. By using scripture as a justification for rebellion, the peasants not only blasphemed God’s name but also acted against the natural order mandated by God.
The religious wars of the 16th Century caused intense strife throughout Europe, economic hardships, personal and emotional questioning of belief. Through the pain of many rose rays of hope from artists and intellectuals to help guide them through their uncertainty (455).
Throughout the seventeenth century, Europe was in a state of crisis. In many countries, violent revolts and riots were not out of the ordinary. In most of these cases of violence, human behaviors and actions of the controlling governments and royalty authorities were the underlying factors that set the stage for the chaotic state. However, in all of the instances of revolt and anarchy seen throughout Europe, religious behaviors and influences were the most prominent and contributing cause that sparked the most violence in the general crisis during the 1600’s.
In the early 16th century, the church was the most powerful institution in Europe, even stronger than government; however, in 1517, Martin Luther, a professor in Northern Germany, posted criticisms of the church on a chapel door which would cause profound reformation of the religious system in Europe. When the dissent spread out to the world, the Catholic religion was shattered and many people of high social rank, such as king and princes, either defended or opposed Luther’s argument. Also, most people left the Catholic Church and became Protestants. What made everything turn to chaos after Luther published his thesis and what happened after this?
Throughout the ten-century, particularly in France, the world had become an extremely violent place. Feudal Knights were often quarreling over land possession, looting, and looking to lay people to provide them with sustenance . Likewise, the power of these knights and the extent of violence flourished due to the increasingly lacking power and authority of the kings . The Church, in an attempt to halt the violence and anarchy attempted to take control and issued such concepts as “the Peace of God” . Similarly, at this time other movements for peace by the Church were underway, and one of the commonly held ideas was the need to transform the world to more “monkish ideals”. From these ideals also sprouted the concept of the laity having “God-given functions to perform, functions that could include fighting to protect the Church”. Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) is an example of this idea; he often used militia to fight against his opponents. In the early eleventh century, there came a pivotal figure in the ideas of Church sanctioned war, Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085). Pope Gregory was involved in the Investiture Contest, and soon turned to scholars to seek out “justification for his conviction that violence could be used in defense of the Church and could be authorized by it”. The movements generated by Pope Gregory, as well as the results of the Inve...
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century is one of the most complex movements in European history since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Reformation truly ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. The Reformation ended the religious unity of Europe and ushered in 150 years of religious warfare. By the time the conflicts had ended, the political and social geography in the west had fundamentally changed. The Reformation would have been revolutionary enough of itself, but it coincided in time with the opening of the Western Hemisphere to the Europeans and the development of firearms as effective field weapons. It coincided, too, with the spread of Renaissance ideals from Italy and the first stirrings of the Scientific Revolution. Taken together, these developments transformed Europe.
First, war is universal due to its violent nature, violence in its application knows no bounds, and it is the common factor that identifies the war and without it the war is nothing more than a diplomatic effort to reach the end. However, wars blow out only when the diplomacy fails. Violence is the war engine. Although the application of violence evolved through time and its severity varies according to communities, cultures, and the means and methods used. Demonstrating the violence through the application of force to subjugate the enemy is the central idea of war. “War is a clash between major interests,
The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
This paper will provide an opportunity for dialogue within a small group setting on the idea of how Christians who are to model Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, in loving our enemies, not to kill, along with the presence of defending humankind by force; more specifically, the idea of just war. This study group will meet over the course of five weeks for one and half hours each.
The Reformation was the religious, political, intellectual, and cultural rise that separated Catholic Europe of the 16th century, this set beliefs that would define the era today. In northern and central Europe, reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin challenged the authority, and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to back up there practices. The change that the reformation started was characterized by the notion of souls being saved without the cycle of penitence or confession, but rather by the grace of God and faith. A new church structure arose from this. Instead of needing a central hierarchy, a group of believers just gathered around a preacher. The separation started wars, killings, and what they called The Counter-Reformation.
Violence. Just mentioning the word conjures up many images of assault, abuse, and even murder. Violence is a broad subject with many categories. Some types of violence are terrorist violence and domestic violence. Violence can arise from many different sources; these sources whether biological, cultural, and social all can evoke violent behavior. All cultures experience some sort of violence, and this paper considers violence as a cultural phenomenon across a range of various settings. Violence plays a part in both Islamic and Indian cultures according to the articles “Understanding Islam” and “Rising Dowry Deaths” by Kenneth Jost and Amanda Hitchcock, respectively. From an anthropological perspective, violence emphasizes concerns of meaning, representation and symbolism.