The Influence Of Martin Luther's Reformation

Early Modern Europe was a time of change, and one of the most dramatic changes was the reformation. Martin Luther, a scholarly monk, wanted the church to return to scripture and in so doing split Europe between Catholic and Protestants. During this time, Luther wrote two works: On the Freedom of a Christian in 1520, and The German Mass and Order of Divine Service in 1526. Through these documents, it is seen through Luther that many within Europe did not want change or to be tolerant and wanted unity for Europe so that everyone could obtain salvation for their souls. In the wake of the reformation and unity became impossible, Luther shows that Europe was forced to cope with religious change as well as start to adopt tolerance for different Christians.

Po-Chia Hsia which describes religious cultures in early modern Europe. It discusses the cultural divide between northern and southern Europe which played a factor in Luther’s Reformation in 1517. Hsia writes how the divide in religious leadership existed by the eleventh century and continued to get worse and more and more leadership positions and saints were from Italy or Spain, leaving Germany behind. Hsia also wrote that by the 1500s, any legitimate criticism on the Catholic church was automatically seen as anti-Rome and anti-Pope. This is a likely explanation as to why Luther wrote a letter to Pope Leo X directly explaining that his ninety-five thesis was directed at the Roman institution and not against Leo X. Luther knew that previous critics such as Erasmus and Dsvonarola as well as the previous men of the church were attacked as heretics and their legitimate attacks on corruption were

And if all salvation requires is faith in Christ, then the Catholic hierarchy, excluding Leo X, had condemned themselves as they have lost faith with the decadence. Luther wrote “What greater rebellion, impiety, or insult to God can there be, than not to believe His promises?...than either to make God a liar, or to doubt His truth-that is, to attribute truth to ourselves.” Luther was a reactionary against what he saw an intolerable, faithless, rebellion against God and Christ himself. “Were he so foolish as to pretend to be justified, set free, saved…by means of good works, he would immediately lose faith with all of its benefits.” Europeans, including Luther, could not tolerate how the Church was turning against their beliefs. They were bad Christians, and this mentality went both ways, which resulted in religious civil