The Protestant Reformation, Religious Unity, and Calvinism

2182 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of protestant reformation on europe

Introduction

The Protestant Reformation of the Catholic Church devastated the religious unity of Christian Europe, resulting in a great deal of antagonism, which in turn led to the persecutions, denial of civil rights, expulsion, and ultimately the torture and death of many men, women and children. The ongoing conflict was not consigned to one distinct European nation, but was experienced in every European nation that the Catholic Church ruled and reigned. There was no worldview in Europe at that time that allowed for the religious differences of men to coexist peaceably.

As quoted by McGrath in his book, French Protestantism to the Present Day. From Britain in the west to Hungary and Poland in the east, thousands of towns and villages found themselves split internally and still more had to reckon with “heretics” living just down the road or across the field. It was a profound shock, and it evoked extreme responses. France's ‘Most Christian King’ Francis I declared in 1535 that he wanted heresy banished from his realm in such manner that if one of the arms of my body was infected with this corruption, I would cut it off, and if my children were tainted with it, I would myself offer them in sacrifice (Diefendorf, 1991).

The Roots of Calvinism

This limited worldview would become the preferred way of dealing with the problem that the French Calvin’s or Huguenots presented to Catholic France. The roots of Lutheranism or Protestantism in France can be traced back to the life of John Calvin. John Calvin (whose name in French is Cauvin), was born, July 10, 1509 in Noyon, the northern part of France. Calvin sometime around 1527-1530, or possibly later, was converted to Protestantism by the possible influence of German scho...

... middle of paper ...

... Christopher. (1999). The Body Broken : The Calvinist Doctrine of the Eucharist and the Symbolization of Power in Sixteenth-century France. New York: Oxford University Press.

McGrath, Alister E. (2003). French Protestantism to the Present Day. The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism. Blackwell Publishing. 21 April 2011 http://0-www.blackwellreference.com.library.regent.edu/subscriber/tocnode?id=g9781405157469_chunk_g978140515746916.

Olson, Roger. (1999). The Story of Christian Theology. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press.

Shelley, Bruce. (2008). Church History in Plain Language. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Steinmetz, David Curtis. (2010). Calvin in Context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. (2006). Retrieved 22 April 2011 www.oxfordreference.com.library.regent.edu/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t95.e2840.

Show More
Related

  • Essay On The Effects Of The Protestant Reformation

    474 Words  | 1 Pages

    There are so many causes from the Protestant Reformation. In the Protestant, there was three different sections that got affected more the the others. When the Protestant Reformation happened it affected the Sociality, Political, and Economic the most.

    Read More

  • Revolt and Anarchy in Seventeenth Century Europe

    1317 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beginning very early in the seventeenth century, religious tension was rampant throughout Europe. An example that illustrates the disastrous effects of religious conflicts in Europe that caused a tremendous amount of violence can be seen in the Holy Roman Empire. In 1618, Ferdinand Habsburg a devout Catholic succeeded the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, and set out to unify the empire under the Catholic faith. However, this mission of Ferdinand Habsburg was not accepted by Protestant citizens, which essentially led to the violence to come. In May 1618, a group of Protestant nobles killed two of the king’s catholic officials, which created the spark for Protestants all throughout the Empire to revolt. Instances of religious revolts were reported in Hungary and Bohemia, ultimately creating an exponential effect, and a reason for Protestants to unite and revolt to preserve their faith. This particular historical event later was termed the Defenestration of Prague. However, the violence did not stop there; in fact the violence only multiplied. Religious conflicts continued to occur in Bohemia in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 in which Frederick V a Calvinist, lost to Fer...

    Read More

  • Europe after the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter Reformation

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The period immediately following the Protestant reformation and the Catholic counter reformation, was full of conflict and war. The entire continent of Europe and all of it's classes of society were affected by the destruction and flaring tempers of the period. In the Netherlands, the Protestants and the Catholics were at eachother’s throats. In France it was the Guise family versus the Bourbons. In Bohemia, the religious and political structures caused total havoc for over thirty years; and in England, the Presbyterians thought that the English Anglican Church too closely resembled the Roman Catholic Church. Religion was the major cause of the widespread turmoil that took place throughout Europe between 1560 and 1660.

    Read More

  • The Protestant Reformation And The Counter-Reformation

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 16th century was a time of social, political, and religious change in Europe. The Protestant

    Read More

  • Causes and Effects of the Protestant Reformation

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    What happens when people start to break away from the entity that bound an entire civilization together for over a thousand years? How does one go from unparalleled devotion to God to the exploration of what man could do? From absolute acceptance to intense scrutiny? Sheeple to independent thinkers? Like all revolutions preceding it, the Protestant Reformation did not happen overnight. Catholics had begun to lose faith in the once infallible Church ever since the Great Schism, when there were two popes, each declaring that the other was the antichrist. Two things in particular can be identified as the final catalyst: a new philosophy and simple disgust. The expanding influence of humanism and the corruption of the Catholic Church led to the Protestant Reformation, which in turn launched the Catholic Reformation and religious warfare.

    Read More

  • Calvinism Dbq

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    Crossan looked at how the firm belief in the bible that was held by Calvinists affected their identity in regard to poor reform. She references a document called ‘Discipline’ which was created by Calvinists in 1576. The document formulated four types of ministers for poor relief: priests, teachers, elders, and deacons. It were the deacons that the Calvinists saw as the primary supporters and enforcers of poor relief [14]. What this shows is that despite some close similarities between both Lutheranism and Calvinism, the Calvinists still maintained a strong focus of the church in regard to poor relief, rather than the Lutherans who took poor reform out of the control of the church and into the hands of the government and

    Read More

  • Age of Religious Strife

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religious reformation in Germany, France, and England transformed religious liberty at the cost of Western Christian unity. Leading up to this point, there is a build up of resentment against Catholic taxation and obedience to officials of the foreign papacy in other countries of Europe. As a result of this religious strife, an increasing amount of European political warfare occurs for over 100 years. Furthermore, as faith is being questioned against the ruling monarchs, no longer is politics the only party involved in war. Subsequently, a sense of humanistic revival is found in the 15th century, laying down the path for reform among religious authority in Germany, France, and England in the 16th century.

    Read More

  • Martin Luther And The Reformation Of The Reformation In Europe

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    Protestantism, a new religion separated from the Catholic Church, spread around Europe. Sovereign could increase power because of Protestants. Protestantism was helpful for the government to separate from the Catholic since Protestant leaders taught people to obey godly rulers while Catholic Church believed that the religion is more powerful than government. In Germany, Luther’s Bible words became the linguistic standard for all separated regions. In England, reformation fostered a sense of nationalism. In the Catholic Church, Counter Reformers changed the system dramatically, but it had less finance than before, less power than the government, and lost millions of worshipers to Protestantism. Both Protestantism and Catholicism influenced not only Europe but also across the new world and Asia.

    Read More

  • Lutheranism

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Roman Catholic Church dominated religion for many years in Europe and became an extremely powerful institution. Over the years, the Roman church became corrupt and immoral in many ways. The development of the Protestant Reformation, Lutheranism, was greatly influenced by political events in the years proceeding the 16th century. The declared aim of the original reformer, Martin Luther, was to restore the Christian faith as it had been at its formation, while salvaging what he considered valuable from the Roman Catholic tradition that had developed during the previous centuries. Luther broke the unity of the Catholic Church forever by exposing their faults and misguided notions. Lutheranism spread quickly due to the availability of the Christian Faith, as well as the close relationship between religion and the state.

    Read More

  • The Role of the Roman Catholic Church During the Enlightenment

    1557 Words  | 4 Pages

    Proving to be the paramount of the conflict between faith and reason, the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century challenged each of the traditional values of that age. Europeans were changing, but Europe’s institutions were not keeping pace with that change.1 Throughout that time period, the most influential and conservative institution of Europe, the Roman Catholic Church, was forced into direct confrontation with these changing ideals. The Church continued to insist that it was the only source of truth and that all who lived beyond its bounds were damned; it was painfully apparent to any reasonably educated person, however, that the majority of the world’s population were not Christians.2 In the wake of witch hunts, imperial conquest, and an intellectual revolution, the Roman Catholic Church found itself threatened by change on all fronts.3 The significant role that the Church played during the Enlightenment was ultimately challenged by the populace’s refusal to abide by religious intolerance, the power of the aristocracy and Absolutism, and the rising popularity of champions of reform and print culture, the philosophes, who shared a general opposition to the Roman Catholic Church.

    Read More

  • How the Reformation Affected 16th Century Civilization

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of his local monastery in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517, Europe was plunged in political and social turmoil. With only a few notable exceptions, a wave of political unity and centralization swept across the Western world. Papal power was perhaps not at its height, yet its corruption and increasingly secular values could be seen from St. Peter's in Rome to John Tetzel in Germany. Furthermore, in the economically prospering towns and cities, the middle class was facing an increasing volatile political situation with the growing national monarchies. All of these factors were to only catalyze the reactionary religious movement which would begin to sweep across Europe by the 1520's. The Protestant Reformation, as it would soon be called, set back years of national centralization by strengthening the aristocracy and dividing countries and regions religiously. Moreover, the strict religious and ethical guidelines of the new Protestant sects forever changed the culture of cities and town across Northern Europe; thereby bringing drastic social reform along with widespread religious fervor. In the first half of the sixteenth century, however, these Protestant movements were only beginning to form, yet their impact has had a lasting effect on the politics of Europe and the rest of the world well in the 20th century.

    Read More

  • The Protestant Reformation

    2541 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Protestant Reformation: What it was, why it happened and why it was necessary. The Protestant Reformation has been called "the most momentous upheaval in the history of Christianity." It was a parting of the ways for two large groups of Christians who differed in their approach to the worship of Christ. At the time, the Protestant reformers saw the church- the Catholic church, or the "universal church- " as lacking in its ways. The church was corrupt then, all the way up to the pope, and had lost touch with the people of Europe. The leaders of the Reformation sought to reform the church and its teachings according to the Scriptures and the writings of the Apostles. They sought to simplify the church by returning to its roots, roots long lost by the Catholic church at the time, or so the reformers believed. After the fall of the Roman Empire, life in Europe declined rapidly into the Dark Ages. The Dark Ages were a time of misery and darkness. There were only two socioeconomic classes: the very rich nobility or the very poor peasants. Small kingdoms popped up everywhere, and were constantly at war with one another. Whole libraries were destroyed, and the only people who remained literate were the clergy of the Christian church. Life became such a struggle to survive that, for a period of five hundred years, very little artwork or literature was produced by the whole of Europe. Eventually, around the year 1000, the conditions in Europe began to get better. This marked the beginning of the Middle Ages. The Crusades began as an effort to revitalize the spirits of the people. However, things still weren't very good. Plagues ravaged the land, carried by rodents and destroying whole villages. With th...

    Read More

  • The Decline of the Holy Roman Empire

    3130 Words  | 7 Pages

    Greengrass, Mark. The Longman Companion to The European Reformation, C. 1500-1618. London: Longman, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • The Reformation and the Church

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Calvinism

    1927 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Short history of Calvinism, the Reformation and England (2004) by C. Matthew McMahon http://www.apuritansmind.com/Reformation/ShortHistoryCalvinism.htm

    Read More

More about The Protestant Reformation, Religious Unity, and Calvinism

Open Document