
The Protestant Reformation was a movement which emerged in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. The main front of the reformation was started by Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. The reformation ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. It also led to the Counter-Reformation within the Roman Catholic Church. == Roots of the Reformation == * Anti-hierarchical movements: Catharism, Waldensianism, and others * Avignon Papacy ("Babylonian Captivity of the Church"), Avignon, Western Schism * Jan Hus, John Wycliffe, William Tyndale * Northern Renaissance == Reformation begins == * Martin Luther, Johann Tetzel, Philipp Melanchthon, Indulgences, ''95 Theses'', Nicolaus Von Amsdorf * ''Exsurge Domine'', Diet of Worms (1521), Peasants' War * Huldrych Zwingli and Zürich * John Calvin and Geneva * John Knox and Scotland * Radical Reformers -- Thomas_Muentzer, Anabaptists, Menno Simons * Reformation in France -- Huguenots, Pierre Viret === Underlying Demographic and Economic Factors === Historical upheaval usually yields a lot of new thinking as to how society should be organized. This was the case leading up to the Protestant Reformation. Following the breakdown of monastic institutions and scholasticism in late medieval Europe, accentuated by the “Babylonian Captivity” of the Avignon Papacy, the Western Schism, and the failure of conciliar reform, the sixteenth century saw the fermenting of a great cultural debate about religious reforms and later fundamental religious values. Historians would generally assume that the failure to reform (too many vested interests, lack of coordination in the reforming coalition) would eventually lead to a greater upheaval or even revolution, since the system must eventually be adjusted or disintegrate, and the failure of the Conciliar movement led to the Protestant Reformation in the European West. These frustrated reformist movements ranged from nominalism, modern devotion, to humanism occurring in conjunction with economic, political and demographic forces that contributed to a growing disaffection with the wealth and power of the elite clergy, sensitizing the population to the financial and moral corruption of the secular Renaissance church. The outcome of the Black Death encouraged a radical reorganization of the economy and eventually European society. In the emerging urban centers, however, the calamities of the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, and the resultant labor shortages, provided a strong impetus for economic diversification and technological innovations. Following the Black Death, the initial loss of life due to famine, plague, and pestilence, contributed to an intensification of capital accumulation in the urban areas, and thus a stimulus to trade, industry, and burgeoning urban growth in fields as diverse as banking (the Fugger banking family in Augsburg being the most prominent), textiles, Weapon, especially stimulated by the Hundred Years War, and mining of iron ore due, in large part, to the booming armaments industry. Accumulation of surplus, competitive overproduction, and heightened competition to maximize economic advantage, contributed to civil war, aggressive militarism, and thus centralization. As a direct result of the move toward centralization, leaders like Louis XI of France (1461-1483), the “spider king,” sought to remove all constitutional restrictions on the exercise of their authority. In England, France, and Spain the move toward centralization begun in the thirteenth century was carried to a successful conclusion. But as recovery and prosperity progressed, enabling the population to reach its former levels in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the combination of both a newly abundant labor supply as well as improved productivity, were mixed blessings for many segments of Western European society. Despite tradition, landlords started the move to exclude peasants from common lands. With trade stimulated, landowners increasingly moved away from the Manorialism economy. Woolen manufacturing greatly expanded in France, Germany, and the Netherlands and new textile industries began to develop. === Humanism to Protestantism === The frustrated reformism of the humanists, ushered in by the Renaissance, contributed to a growing impatience among reformers. Erasmus and later figures like Martin Luther and Zwingli would emerge from this debate and eventually contribute to the second major schism of Christendom. Unfortunately for the church, the crisis of theology beginning with William of Ockham in the fourteenth century was occurring in conjunction with the new burgher discontent. Since the breakdown of the philosophy foundations of scholasticism, the new nominalism did not bode well for an institutional church legitimized as an intermediary between man and God. New thinking favored the notion that no religious doctrine can be supported by philosophical arguments, eroding the old alliance between reason and faith of the medieval period laid out by Thomas Aquinas. The major individualistic reform movements that revolted against medieval scholasticism and the institutions that underpinned it were: humanism, devotionalism, and the observatine tradition. In Germany, “the modern way” or devotionalism caught on in the universities, requiring a redefinition of God, who was no longer a rational governing principle but an arbitrary, unknowable will that cannot be limited. God was now an unknowable absolute ruler, and religion would be more fervent and emotional. Thus, the ensuing revival of Augustinian theology, stating that man cannot be saved by his own efforts but only by the grace of God, would erode the legitimacy of the rigid institutions of the church meant to provide a channel for man to do good works and get into heaven. Humanism, however, was more of an educational reform movement with origins in the Renaissance's revival of classical education and thought. A revolt against Aristotle logic, it placed great emphasis on reforming individuals through eloquence as opposed to reason. The European Renaissance laid the foundation for the Northern humanists in its reinforcement of the traditional use of Latin as the great unifying cultural language. The polarization of the scholarly community in Germany over the Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) affair, attacked by the elite clergy for his study of Biblical Hebrew language and Jewish texts, brought Luther fully in line with the humanist educational reforms who favored academic freedom. At the same time, the impact of the Renaissance would soon backfire against Southern Europe, also ushering in an age of reform and a repudiation of much of medieval Latin tradition. Led by Erasmus, the humanists condemned various forms of corruption within the Church, forms of corruption that might not have been any more prevalent than during the medieval zenith of the church. Erasmus held that true religion was a matter of inward devotion rather than an outward symbol of ceremony and ritual. Going back to ancient texts, scriptures, from this viewpoint the greatest culmination of the ancient tradition, are the guides to life. Favoring morality reforms and de-emphasizing didactic literature ritual, Erasmus laid the groundwork for Luther. Humanism's intellectual anticlericalism would profoundly influence Luther. The increasingly well-educated middle class sectors of Northern Germany, namely the educated community and city dwellers, would turn to Luther's rethinking of religion to conceptualize their discontent according to the cultural medium of the era. The great rise of the burghers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices, contributed to the appeal of humanist individualism. To many, pope institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and usury. In the North burghers and monarchs were united in their frustration for not paying any tax to the nation, but collecting taxes from Citizenship and sending the revenues disproportionately to the Pope in Italy. These trends heightened demands for significant reform and revitalization along with anticlericalism. New thinkers began noticing the divide between the priests and the flock. The clergy, for instance, were not always well-educated. Parish priests often did not know Latin and rural parishes often did not have great opportunities for theological education for many at the time. Due to its large landholdings and institutional rigidity, a rigidity to which the excessively large ranks of the clergy contributed, many bishops studied law, not theology, being relegated to the role of property managers trained in administration. While priests emphasized works of religiosity, the respectability of the church began diminishing, especially among well educated urbanites, and especially considering the recent strings of political humiliation, such as the apprehension of Pope Boniface VIII by Philip IV of France, the “Babylonian Captivity,” the Western Schism, and the failure of Conciliar reformism. In a sense, the campaign by Pope Leo X to raise funds to rebuild the Saint Peter's Basilica was too much of an excess by the secular Renaissance church, prompting the high-pressure sale of indulgences that rendered the clerical establishments even more disliked in the cities. Luther, taking the revival of the Augustinian notion of salvation by faith alone to new levels, borrowed from the humanists the sense of individualism, that each man can be his own priest (an attitude likely to find popular support considering the rapid rise of an educated urban middle class in the North), and that the only true authority is the Bible, echoing the reformist zeal of the Conciliar movement and opening up the debate once again on limiting the authority of the Pope. While his ideas called for the sharp redefinition of the dividing lines between the laity and the clergy, his ideas were still, by this point, reformist in nature. Luther's contention that the human will was incapable of following good, however, resulted in his rift with Erasmus finally distinguishing Lutheran reformism from humanism. ===Religious Influences for the Reformation=== While there were some parallels between certain movements within humanism and teachings later common among the Reformers, the main influence was the Bible itself. The Roman Catholic church had itself been the main purveyor in Europe of humanism for centuries: the neo-Platonism of the scholastics and the neo-Aristotelianism of Thomas Aquinas and his followers, had made humanism part of church dogma. Thus, when Luther and the other reformers adopted the standard of “sola scriptura”, making the Bible the sole measure of theology, that made the Reformation a reaction against the humanism of that time. Luther himself had been trained as a professor of the Bible and was teaching Bible at the University of Wittenberg when the Bible changed him. He later lamented that he wished he had learned the Bible earlier instead of spending so much time studying classical humanistic authors as Plato and Aristotle. It appears that he was not familiar with the writings of earlier people who called for reformation, for example, he did not know the teachings of Jan Hus until he was introduced to them by a taunt from Johann Eck that he was teaching the same doctrines. The Protestants emphasized such concepts as Justification by "faith alone" (not faith plus good works or infused righteousness), "Scripture alone" (that the Bible is the final authority not to be overuled by tradition), "the priesthood of all believers" (eschewing the special authority and power of the Roman Catholic sacramental priesthood), that all people are individually responsible for their status before God such that talk of mediation through any but Christ alone is unbiblical. Because they saw these teachings as stemming from the Bible, they encouraged publication of the Bible in the common language and universal education, for how can people avail themselves of the knowledge of their salvation without the ability to read the Bible? Part of the revolt was an Iconoclasm#Reformation iconoclasm, seen in John Calvin and Huydrich Zwingli, but particularly amongst the radical reformers. Iconoclastic riots took place in Zürich (in 1523), Copenhagen (1530), Münster (1534), Geneva (1535), Augsburg (1537) and Scotland (1559). The Reformation did not happen in a vacuum, as there were movements for centuries calling for a return to Biblical teachings, the most famous being from Wyclife and Jan Hus. It is no surprise that their teachings were later found in the Reformation, as they imbibed from the same source. While it is true that there were calls for religious and doctrinal and moral reformation within and without the institutional church for centuries, apparently it was the invention of the printing press which allowed quick broadcasting of ideas, the rise in nationalistic fervor and popular discontent at the moral corruption in the church to coalesce in support for a reformation as never before. But the spark that started the Reformation and keeps it going even today is the doctrinal issues brought up by the Bible. === The Radical Reformation === Unskilled laborers and peasants recently squeezed from the countryside embraced the most radical theological options opened up by the religious revolution. Peasants and new migrants to the cities had little understanding of economics, so they had no understanding of the increasingly discredited just price concept and the influence of capitalism and Mercantilist. They believed that higher prices were the result of unjust, parasitic, and immoral behavior. Discontented and morally righteous, the lower classes were ready to follow leaders, who urged them to band together against immorality and decadence. They preached against landowners who took control of increasing acreages, kings centralizing control and princes looking for increased tax revenues to fund their growing states. The disadvantaged peasantry turned to radical leaders, to people like the Drummer of Niklashausen and later the Anabaptist preachers. Many of the Anabaptist preachers belonged to the peasant and laboring class. The Anabaptists and other radical leaders were condemned by the Lutherans and nationalistic Germans. Nearly every country in Europe saw a flare up of failed peasant revolts motivated by religious concerns and executed according to religious doctrine. The Hungarian Peasants' War (1514), the revolt against Charles V in Spain (1520), the discontent of the lower classes in France with the excessive taxes levied by Louis XI, and the secret associations which prepared the way for the great Peasants' War of the lower classes in Germany (1524), show that discontent was not confined to any one country in Europe. === Lutheranism adopted by the German Territorial Princes === Luther, like Erasmus, in the beginning favored maintaining the bishops as an elite class for administrative purposes. And while Luther rejected many of the Catholic sacraments, as well as salvation by grace alone through both faith and good works (as opposed to the Protestant "faith alone") and indulgences, he firmly upheld the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Luther favored a reformed theology of the Eucharist called consubstantiation, a doctrine of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Traditionally, the consecrated bread and wine were held to become, substantially, the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation). Transubstantiation was most fully spelled out by the medieval scholastics. According to the doctrine of consubstantiation, the substances of the body and the blood of Christ and of the bread and the wine were held to coexist together in the consecrated Host. In fact, Luther, along with his colleague Philipp Melanchthon, emphasized this point in diplomatic plea for the Reformation at the ''Reichstag (institution)'' in 1529 amid charges of heresy. Once again, though, the church and the emperor squandered their last chance to reform and salvage the old order; the edict by the Diet of Worms (1521) prohibited all innovations. Meanwhile, in these efforts to remain a Catholic reformer as opposed to a heretical revolutionary, and to appeal to German princes with his religious condemnation of the peasant revolts backed up by the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, Luther's growing conservatism would usher in the more radical reformers. At a religious conference with the Zwinglians in 1529, Melanchthon joined with Luther in opposing a union with Zwingli. There would finally be a schism in the reform movement due to Luther's belief in consubstantiation. His original intention was not schism, but with the ''Reichstag (institution)'' of Augsburg (1530) a separate Protestant church finally emerged. In a sense, Luther would take theology further in its deviation from established Catholic dogma, forcing a rift between the humanist Erasmus and Luther. Similarly, Zwingli would further repudiate ritualism, and break with the increasingly conservative Luther. While it would be an understatement to state that Erasmus, Martin Luther, Zwingli, and Melanchthon regarded the fundamental theological questions quite seriously, their followers tended to split along socio-economic lines. Luther found great support from the new bourgeoisie in Germany's urban centers to overthrow the power of the landowning aristocracy and the Latin clergy, rooted in their control of land and peasant labor, which were the central means of production of the time. And up-and-coming merchants, not yet part of the ruling elite, rallied to Luther's cause. Zwingli, however, appealed to poorer segments of society who lacked the stake in German proto-nationalism among the ambitious, consolidating princes and the new bourgeoisie. Aside from the enclosing of the lower classes, the middle sectors of Northern Germany, namely the educated community and city dwellers, would turn to religion to conceptualize their discontent according to the cultural medium of the era. The great rise of the burgers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices contributed to the appeal of individualism. To many, papal institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and usury. In the North burgers and monarchs were united in their frustration against for not paying any taxes to the nation, but collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy. In Northern Europe Luther appealed to the growing national consciousness of the German states because he denounced the Pope for involvement in politics as well as religion. Moreover, he backed the nobility, which was now justified to crush the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 and to confiscate church property by Luther's Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. This explains the attraction of the territorial princes to Lutheranism, especially its Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. With the church subordinate to and the agent of civil authority and peasant rebellions condemned on strict religious terms, Lutheranism and German nationalist sentiment were ideally suited to coincide. Though Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor fought the reformation, it is no coincidence either that the reign of his nationalistic predecessor Maximilian I saw the beginning of the Reformation. While the centralized states of western Europe had reached accords with the Vatican permitting them to draw on the rich property of the church for government expenditures, enabling them to form state churches that were greatly autonomous of Rome, similar moves on behalf of the Reich were unsuccessful so long as princes and prince bishops fought reforms to drop the pretension of secular universal empire. ==English Reformation== ===Political Reformation=== The course of the Reformation was different in England. There had long been a strong strain of anti-clericalism, and England had already given rise to the Lollard movement, which had inspired the Hussites in Bohemia. By the 1520s, however, the Lollards were not an active force, or, at least, certainly not a mass movement. The different character of the English Reformation came rather from the fact that it was driven initially by the political necessities of Henry VIII of England. Although Henry had once been a sincere Catholic, he found it expedient and profitable to break with the Papacy. In 1534 The Act of Supremacy put Henry at the head of the church in England (n.b. not the Church of England). Between 1535 and 1540, under Thomas Cromwell, the policy known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries was put into effect. The veneration of Saints, pilgrimages and pilgrim shrines were also attacked. Huge amounts of church land and property passed into the hands of the crown and ultimately into those of the nobility and gentry. The vested interest thus created made for a powerful force in support of the dissolutions. There were many notable opponents to the Henrician Reformation, such as Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, who were executed for their opposition. But there was also a growing party of Protestants who were imbued with the Zwinglian and Calvinistic doctrines now current on the Continent. When Henry was succeeded by his son Edward VI of England in 1547, they found their views in the ascendant in government. A more radical reformation was imposed, including the abolition of the Mass_%28liturgy%29, the destruction of images, and the closing of the chantry. Following a brief Roman Catholic reaction during the reign of Mary I of England 1553-1558, a loose consensus developed during the reign of Elizabeth I, though this point is one of considerable debate among historians. Yet it is the so-called Elizabethan Settlement to which the origins of Anglicanism are traditionally ascribed. The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme Calvinism on the one hand and Arminianism on the other, but compared to the bloody and chaotic state of affairs in contemporary France, it was relatively successful until the Puritan Revolution or English Civil War in the seventeenth century. The success of the Counter-Reformation on the Continent and the growth of a Puritan party dedicated to further Protestant reform polarised the Elizabethan Age, although it was not until the 1640s that England underwent religious strife comparable to that which her neighbours had suffered some generations before. ===Early Puritan Movement=== ''See articles Puritan and English Civil War'' The early ''Puritan Movement'' (late 16th century-17th century) was Reformed or Calvinism and was a movement for reform in the Church of England. Its origins lay in the discontent with the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The desire was for the Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially Geneva. The Puritans objected to ornaments and ritual in the churches as idolatry (vestments, surplices, organs, genuflection), which they castigated as "pope pomp and rags." (See Vestments controversy.) They also objected to ecclesiastical courts. They refused to endorse completely all of the ritual directions and formulas of the ''Book of Common Prayer''; the imposition of its liturgical order by legal force and inspection sharpened Puritanism into a definite opposition movement. The later Puritan movement were often referred to as Dissenters and Nonconformists and eventually led to the formation of various reformed Christian denominations. ==Resources== ===Printed Resources=== *Braaten, Carl E. and Robert W. Jenson. ''The Catholicity of the Reformation.'' Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996. ISBN 0-8028-4220-8 *Estep, William R. ''Renaissance & Reformaton.'' Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986. ISBN 0-8028-0050-5 *Gonzales, Justo. ''The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day''. San Francisco: Harper, 1985. ISBN 0060633166 *Kolb, Robert. ''Confessing the Faith: Reformers Define the Church, 1530-1580.'' St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1991. ISBN 0-570-04556-8 *Spitz, Lewis W. ''The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents.'' St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997. ISBN 0-570-04993-8 *Spitz, Lewis W. ''The Renaissance and Reformation Movements: Volume I, The Renaissance.'' Revised Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987. ISBN 0-570-03818-9 *Spitz, Lewis W. ''The Renaissance and Reformation Movements: Volume II, The Reformation.'' Revised Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987. ISBN 0-570-03819-7 ===Online Resources=== ====Historical Materials==== *Timelines **Detailed_Christian_timeline#Renaissance_and_Reformation **Timeline of the Protestant Reformation in England *Middle Ages in history *A list of Protestant reformers ====Primary Materials==== *[http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses] *Book of Common Prayer *The Book of Concord ====External links==== *[http://history.hanover.edu/early/prot.html Internet Archive of Related Texts and Documents] *[http://www.lepg.org/religion.htm A summary of the Reformation] *[http://www.newgenevacenter.org/west/reformation.htm An Overview of the Protestant Reformation] ga:Reifirméisean Protestantism History of Europe
==Catholic counter-reformation== I would suggest add the following: catholic counterreformation, and (drums) Warsaw confederation (agreement about religious tolerance, first and probably only one up to modern times not imposed by kings or government, by agreed by people alone). and of course impact of reformation on national languages - standarisation of German came as one example, first books in national language in Poland, etc, etc user:szopen">user:szopen ==Early sixteenth century key revolutionary period in European history needs expansion== The early sixteenth century was a revolutionary stage in which old elite groups were challenged or eliminated, namely the clergy. As Reformation pushed the clergy out of its dominant position while the French Revolution would later herald the twilight to the aristocracy’s traditional primacy. In both times new groups emerged, partly at least to fill the vacuum in a process fundamental to cultural regeneration and cultural renewal. Although the cultural contexts of the two eras set these two great revolutions apart, ideologies can vary in their content, dependent on the local cultural values. Some might stress political values like justice as in the French Revolution, and some may stress immediate or long range economic values as in the Russian Revolution. In short, this was a key revolutionary period in European history not adequately addressed by this short article. I hope that my recent contributions spur other contributors to fill in the gaps and make this an article worthy of the historical significance of the topic. User:172 ===Reformation was religiously motivated=== :The Reformation was religiously motivated (not discounting economic and nationalistic justifications). To denigrate religion as the chief motive, is to insist that those who carried out the Reformation did not understand their own cause. The article should not characterize the stimulus of the Reformation in terms of materialism or class-struggle, except where the proponents of the Reformation expressed these as bases for their own actions. Otherwise, the article may satisfy Marxists and anarchists, but in my opinion it is simply not the truth about this movement, as understood by those who promoted or defended it, or by those since who have been most sympathetic with it. User:Mkmcconn --------- ::Mkmcconn: The article goes into the theological debate, particullary the complex relationship between humanism and Protestantism. In that sense, it makes reference to the revival of Augustinian theology, namely salvation by faith alone. However, this is a historical page, not one simply pertaining to theology or philosophy. Thus, it not only goes through the intellectual and religious developments of the era, but characterizes the context in which these ideas caught on. If the ideas of the Protestant reformers were derived from Augustus and carried out to a logical consistency one must ask why did these ideas all of a sudden catch on at this time. ::Just because some readers aren’t familiar with the economic and political sides of the Reformation doesn’t mean that these factors shouldn’t be presented. Rather, it accentuates the necessity of presenting them. ::I'm familiar with Marxist theory, even Marxist theory applied to this era, and I must say that just because this article doesn't refute Marxism doesn't mean that this article is backing it up. It simply doens't go into sufficient detail do either. And that's fine for an NPOV encyclopedia article. ::If you intuitively sense “Marxism” because economic factors and social class are mentioned in a historical article (My God, what could they be doing in an article on perhaps the most complicated period in European history?), then I challenge you to suggest in why the Reformation caught on where it did and why did it fragment into radical branches without looking at the broader historical trends of the sixteenth century. Why and how did Lutheranism win the support of the territorial princes in Northern Germany? ::I must also correct a very common misconception. Introducing economic and political factors does not imply that the Protestant reformers didn’t take their ideas seriously. They most certainly did and the article makes that clear. One, though, has to look at the environment in which these theologians came to their ideas and found their ideas easy to disseminate. User:172 :You added a lot of material. There are a few points that might need some corrections or clarifications (I lost your point here and there); but, I did not react to your insertions the way that I reacted to your explanation of what you are doing. It's your comments that I reacted to, not your additions - but, I'll admit that since you chose to be so open about what you are trying to illustrate by your edits, I'm going to look closer at what you have added in that light ;-) User:Mkmcconn 01:51 Apr 8, 2003 (UTC) ------------- ===Huh?=== ::First, I denied trying to insert a Marxist slant into the article in the above comments. Why is that making you more suspicious? ::Second, the comment I had made earlier on this page was not a uniquely Marxist interpretation. In fact, it’s making a distinction between the political/economic French Revolution and the religious revolution of the Protestant Reformation. That comment said nothing more than the Protestant Reformation was a period of historical upheaval. Mkmcconn, I was just trying to entice people into work on an article pertaining to a key era in history. User:172 ------------- ==informing and delghtful to read== qt, well i thought it was great!!!! very informing and delghtful to read. qt ==Text is used ''twice'' in the article...== :The great rise of the burgers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices contributed to the appeal of individualism. To many, papal institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and usury. In the North burgers and monarchs were united in their frustration against for not paying any taxes to the nation, but collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy User:Booyabazooka 17:56, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Overlap/inconsistency with Protestantism article == It would be valuable if s/o could look to rationalise this with the [disputed] Protestantism article and make the links between the two articles clear. User:Paul foord 07:39, 14 May 2005 (UTC) == some observations == You might take note of the fact that in the 16thC there was no idea of "The Reformation" and "Protestants" did not begin with that name or greatly like it when they got it--nor did Lutherans and Calvinists like being called Lutherans and Calvinists. The idea was to claim true Catholicity and denounce innovation or "newfangledness." Much of the period has to do with multiple competing stories about national and ecclesial origins and destinies. This should not be obscured by collapsing it into a "period" or "event" or "movement" with a single teleological narrrative. There also needs to be some attention to recent historiographical paradigm shifts such that the "Counter-Reformation" is discarded as a term in favor of "Catholic Reformation" and England is understood to have been reformed coercively by an elite minority embedded in and/or backed by the state that imposed a "reformation from above"--thus denying older views of the English reformation as a populist affair driven by rampant anticlericalism. It would be wise to subdivide or better yet "outsource" this entry to significant nations, regions and cities. User:Dpknauss == Need Revision == I believe the huge amount of material added by User:172 in the early development of this article obscures its essence. He argues that the overall socio-political environment in Europe played a significant role. True, as did the Renaissance, but the title of the article is "Protestant Reformation", not "The Socio-Political developments in early 16th century Europe". User:Jim Ellis 19:00, 23 May 2005 (UTC) :I would agree; this article, like Jesus, needs a massive rewrite...I think we should just have a "do over". There's just too much info that's (relatively) inconsequential. Yes, the socio-economic factors deserve mention, but it detracts from the main thrust of the article. User:KHM03 23:34, 23 May 2005 (UTC) ::There is no mention of the French Revolution, nor should there be--that happened at the end of the 18th century. User:Dpknauss ::: My mistake. Thanks Dan-- I deleted the phrase. My overall feeling that this article should be re-written and made more concise and focused still stands. User:Jim Ellis 11:44, 24 May 2005 (UTC) ::::This article does need replacement; it really ought to have a general outline of what was included in the Ref., and then it ought to be broken down by region (Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, etc.). The socio-economic arguments can still be included, but they really ought to be subordinated to the theological roots of Luther's action. Perhaps if we rewrite it as a skeleton and then add to it to fix it. Rekleov ==Radical Reformation== There is a new page for this topic which could use expansion by someone with expertise in that area. User:KHM03 11:41, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) ==Pro / Anti== A link is listed under external links entitled something like "Why Catholicism makes Protestantism Work". That's fine. An anonymous user placed that link under the label "Pro-Roman Catholic"; the assumption there is that the other links are anti-RC. This is not only an NPOV violation of wikipedia policy, it is also incorrect. Protestant does not necessarily mean anti-RC, not in 2005. I removed the label. User:KHM03 00:48, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Frankly, that link simply shouldn't be in this article. It may fit under Protestantism, but not under Protestant Reformation. This is an historical piece, not polemical --- while the linked article ''is''. I won't blast it away from this page, but it simply shouldn't be here. --User:Rekleov 13:12, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) That sounds reasonable...why don't you move it? User:KHM03 13:18, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Found it and moved it. --User:Rekleov 13:25, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: removing the link is fine, but I think Protestant still implies anti-RC, even in 2005. Most protestants still strongly disagree a number of Catholic doctrines and practices, such as the role of the papacy, transubstantiation of the Eucharist/Communion, indulgences, role of saints, etc. If they didn't, wouldn't they rejoin the Catholic Church? Why else would they remain separate? User:Wesley 15:50, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::Protestant does imply an opposition to various Roman Catholic teachings, of course. My point, however, is that such an article is simply out of place in an historical overview of the Protestant Reformation. It sits much better in the Protestantism article. I don't see this as a matter of pro/anti RC, but rather one of proper categorization. :::: Ok, I see your point. You're probably right about the categorization. User:Wesley 02:40, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC) "Pro-Roman Catholic" - I put this heading on - would have better been cited as "Anti-protestant". I decided not to jump into the discussion straight away. The article itself was quite POV, but the inference that the assumption there is that the other links are anti-RC is not clear to me. It could be that, and I believed they were NPOV or providing information. Resolution of issue is good. User:Paul foord 14:16, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) ==kudos== Nice edit under the new section, Early Puritan Movement. User:MkmcconnUser Talk:Mkmcconn 14:08, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Thanks, seemed something more was needed - it illustrates the overlap with the Protestantism article though User:Paul foord 14:20, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: I think that we can distinguish this article as a general history focused on a definable era, sub-divisible into identifiable periods, and the other looks at Protestantism partly in terms of an intellectual history, the event-structure (if that's a word) of which is mostly contained in this article. User:MkmcconnUser Talk:Mkmcconn 14:37, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
#REDIRECT Protestant Reformation
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Protestant_Reformation:
Protestant_Reformation
Protestant_Reformation
Protestant_reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a movement which emerged in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. The main front of the reformation was started by Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. The reformation ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. It also led to the Counter-Reformation within the Roman Catholic Church. == Roots of the Reformation == * Anti-hierarchical movements: Catharism, Waldensianism, and others * Avignon Papacy ("Babylonian Captivity of the Church"), Avignon, Western Schism * Jan Hus, John Wycliffe, William Tyndale * Northern Renaissance == Reformation begins == * Martin Luther, Johann Tetzel, Philipp Melanchthon, Indulgences, ''95 Theses'', Nicolaus Von Amsdorf * ''Exsurge Domine'', Diet of Worms (1521), Peasants' War * Huldrych Zwingli and Zürich * John Calvin and Geneva * John Knox and Scotland * Radical Reformers -- Thomas_Muentzer, Anabaptists, Menno Simons * Reformation in France -- Huguenots, Pierre Viret === Underlying Demographic and Economic Factors === Historical upheaval usually yields a lot of new thinking as to how society should be organized. This was the case leading up to the Protestant Reformation. Following the breakdown of monastic institutions and scholasticism in late medieval Europe, accentuated by the “Babylonian Captivity” of the Avignon Papacy, the Western Schism, and the failure of conciliar reform, the sixteenth century saw the fermenting of a great cultural debate about religious reforms and later fundamental religious values. Historians would generally assume that the failure to reform (too many vested interests, lack of coordination in the reforming coalition) would eventually lead to a greater upheaval or even revolution, since the system must eventually be adjusted or disintegrate, and the failure of the Conciliar movement led to the Protestant Reformation in the European West. These frustrated reformist movements ranged from nominalism, modern devotion, to humanism occurring in conjunction with economic, political and demographic forces that contributed to a growing disaffection with the wealth and power of the elite clergy, sensitizing the population to the financial and moral corruption of the secular Renaissance church. The outcome of the Black Death encouraged a radical reorganization of the economy and eventually European society. In the emerging urban centers, however, the calamities of the fourteenth and early fifteenth century, and the resultant labor shortages, provided a strong impetus for economic diversification and technological innovations. Following the Black Death, the initial loss of life due to famine, plague, and pestilence, contributed to an intensification of capital accumulation in the urban areas, and thus a stimulus to trade, industry, and burgeoning urban growth in fields as diverse as banking (the Fugger banking family in Augsburg being the most prominent), textiles, Weapon, especially stimulated by the Hundred Years War, and mining of iron ore due, in large part, to the booming armaments industry. Accumulation of surplus, competitive overproduction, and heightened competition to maximize economic advantage, contributed to civil war, aggressive militarism, and thus centralization. As a direct result of the move toward centralization, leaders like Louis XI of France (1461-1483), the “spider king,” sought to remove all constitutional restrictions on the exercise of their authority. In England, France, and Spain the move toward centralization begun in the thirteenth century was carried to a successful conclusion. But as recovery and prosperity progressed, enabling the population to reach its former levels in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the combination of both a newly abundant labor supply as well as improved productivity, were mixed blessings for many segments of Western European society. Despite tradition, landlords started the move to exclude peasants from common lands. With trade stimulated, landowners increasingly moved away from the Manorialism economy. Woolen manufacturing greatly expanded in France, Germany, and the Netherlands and new textile industries began to develop. === Humanism to Protestantism === The frustrated reformism of the humanists, ushered in by the Renaissance, contributed to a growing impatience among reformers. Erasmus and later figures like Martin Luther and Zwingli would emerge from this debate and eventually contribute to the second major schism of Christendom. Unfortunately for the church, the crisis of theology beginning with William of Ockham in the fourteenth century was occurring in conjunction with the new burgher discontent. Since the breakdown of the philosophy foundations of scholasticism, the new nominalism did not bode well for an institutional church legitimized as an intermediary between man and God. New thinking favored the notion that no religious doctrine can be supported by philosophical arguments, eroding the old alliance between reason and faith of the medieval period laid out by Thomas Aquinas. The major individualistic reform movements that revolted against medieval scholasticism and the institutions that underpinned it were: humanism, devotionalism, and the observatine tradition. In Germany, “the modern way” or devotionalism caught on in the universities, requiring a redefinition of God, who was no longer a rational governing principle but an arbitrary, unknowable will that cannot be limited. God was now an unknowable absolute ruler, and religion would be more fervent and emotional. Thus, the ensuing revival of Augustinian theology, stating that man cannot be saved by his own efforts but only by the grace of God, would erode the legitimacy of the rigid institutions of the church meant to provide a channel for man to do good works and get into heaven. Humanism, however, was more of an educational reform movement with origins in the Renaissance's revival of classical education and thought. A revolt against Aristotle logic, it placed great emphasis on reforming individuals through eloquence as opposed to reason. The European Renaissance laid the foundation for the Northern humanists in its reinforcement of the traditional use of Latin as the great unifying cultural language. The polarization of the scholarly community in Germany over the Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522) affair, attacked by the elite clergy for his study of Biblical Hebrew language and Jewish texts, brought Luther fully in line with the humanist educational reforms who favored academic freedom. At the same time, the impact of the Renaissance would soon backfire against Southern Europe, also ushering in an age of reform and a repudiation of much of medieval Latin tradition. Led by Erasmus, the humanists condemned various forms of corruption within the Church, forms of corruption that might not have been any more prevalent than during the medieval zenith of the church. Erasmus held that true religion was a matter of inward devotion rather than an outward symbol of ceremony and ritual. Going back to ancient texts, scriptures, from this viewpoint the greatest culmination of the ancient tradition, are the guides to life. Favoring morality reforms and de-emphasizing didactic literature ritual, Erasmus laid the groundwork for Luther. Humanism's intellectual anticlericalism would profoundly influence Luther. The increasingly well-educated middle class sectors of Northern Germany, namely the educated community and city dwellers, would turn to Luther's rethinking of religion to conceptualize their discontent according to the cultural medium of the era. The great rise of the burghers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices, contributed to the appeal of humanist individualism. To many, pope institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and usury. In the North burghers and monarchs were united in their frustration for not paying any tax to the nation, but collecting taxes from Citizenship and sending the revenues disproportionately to the Pope in Italy. These trends heightened demands for significant reform and revitalization along with anticlericalism. New thinkers began noticing the divide between the priests and the flock. The clergy, for instance, were not always well-educated. Parish priests often did not know Latin and rural parishes often did not have great opportunities for theological education for many at the time. Due to its large landholdings and institutional rigidity, a rigidity to which the excessively large ranks of the clergy contributed, many bishops studied law, not theology, being relegated to the role of property managers trained in administration. While priests emphasized works of religiosity, the respectability of the church began diminishing, especially among well educated urbanites, and especially considering the recent strings of political humiliation, such as the apprehension of Pope Boniface VIII by Philip IV of France, the “Babylonian Captivity,” the Western Schism, and the failure of Conciliar reformism. In a sense, the campaign by Pope Leo X to raise funds to rebuild the Saint Peter's Basilica was too much of an excess by the secular Renaissance church, prompting the high-pressure sale of indulgences that rendered the clerical establishments even more disliked in the cities. Luther, taking the revival of the Augustinian notion of salvation by faith alone to new levels, borrowed from the humanists the sense of individualism, that each man can be his own priest (an attitude likely to find popular support considering the rapid rise of an educated urban middle class in the North), and that the only true authority is the Bible, echoing the reformist zeal of the Conciliar movement and opening up the debate once again on limiting the authority of the Pope. While his ideas called for the sharp redefinition of the dividing lines between the laity and the clergy, his ideas were still, by this point, reformist in nature. Luther's contention that the human will was incapable of following good, however, resulted in his rift with Erasmus finally distinguishing Lutheran reformism from humanism. ===Religious Influences for the Reformation=== While there were some parallels between certain movements within humanism and teachings later common among the Reformers, the main influence was the Bible itself. The Roman Catholic church had itself been the main purveyor in Europe of humanism for centuries: the neo-Platonism of the scholastics and the neo-Aristotelianism of Thomas Aquinas and his followers, had made humanism part of church dogma. Thus, when Luther and the other reformers adopted the standard of “sola scriptura”, making the Bible the sole measure of theology, that made the Reformation a reaction against the humanism of that time. Luther himself had been trained as a professor of the Bible and was teaching Bible at the University of Wittenberg when the Bible changed him. He later lamented that he wished he had learned the Bible earlier instead of spending so much time studying classical humanistic authors as Plato and Aristotle. It appears that he was not familiar with the writings of earlier people who called for reformation, for example, he did not know the teachings of Jan Hus until he was introduced to them by a taunt from Johann Eck that he was teaching the same doctrines. The Protestants emphasized such concepts as Justification by "faith alone" (not faith plus good works or infused righteousness), "Scripture alone" (that the Bible is the final authority not to be overuled by tradition), "the priesthood of all believers" (eschewing the special authority and power of the Roman Catholic sacramental priesthood), that all people are individually responsible for their status before God such that talk of mediation through any but Christ alone is unbiblical. Because they saw these teachings as stemming from the Bible, they encouraged publication of the Bible in the common language and universal education, for how can people avail themselves of the knowledge of their salvation without the ability to read the Bible? Part of the revolt was an Iconoclasm#Reformation iconoclasm, seen in John Calvin and Huydrich Zwingli, but particularly amongst the radical reformers. Iconoclastic riots took place in Zürich (in 1523), Copenhagen (1530), Münster (1534), Geneva (1535), Augsburg (1537) and Scotland (1559). The Reformation did not happen in a vacuum, as there were movements for centuries calling for a return to Biblical teachings, the most famous being from Wyclife and Jan Hus. It is no surprise that their teachings were later found in the Reformation, as they imbibed from the same source. While it is true that there were calls for religious and doctrinal and moral reformation within and without the institutional church for centuries, apparently it was the invention of the printing press which allowed quick broadcasting of ideas, the rise in nationalistic fervor and popular discontent at the moral corruption in the church to coalesce in support for a reformation as never before. But the spark that started the Reformation and keeps it going even today is the doctrinal issues brought up by the Bible. === The Radical Reformation === Unskilled laborers and peasants recently squeezed from the countryside embraced the most radical theological options opened up by the religious revolution. Peasants and new migrants to the cities had little understanding of economics, so they had no understanding of the increasingly discredited just price concept and the influence of capitalism and Mercantilist. They believed that higher prices were the result of unjust, parasitic, and immoral behavior. Discontented and morally righteous, the lower classes were ready to follow leaders, who urged them to band together against immorality and decadence. They preached against landowners who took control of increasing acreages, kings centralizing control and princes looking for increased tax revenues to fund their growing states. The disadvantaged peasantry turned to radical leaders, to people like the Drummer of Niklashausen and later the Anabaptist preachers. Many of the Anabaptist preachers belonged to the peasant and laboring class. The Anabaptists and other radical leaders were condemned by the Lutherans and nationalistic Germans. Nearly every country in Europe saw a flare up of failed peasant revolts motivated by religious concerns and executed according to religious doctrine. The Hungarian Peasants' War (1514), the revolt against Charles V in Spain (1520), the discontent of the lower classes in France with the excessive taxes levied by Louis XI, and the secret associations which prepared the way for the great Peasants' War of the lower classes in Germany (1524), show that discontent was not confined to any one country in Europe. === Lutheranism adopted by the German Territorial Princes === Luther, like Erasmus, in the beginning favored maintaining the bishops as an elite class for administrative purposes. And while Luther rejected many of the Catholic sacraments, as well as salvation by grace alone through both faith and good works (as opposed to the Protestant "faith alone") and indulgences, he firmly upheld the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Luther favored a reformed theology of the Eucharist called consubstantiation, a doctrine of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Traditionally, the consecrated bread and wine were held to become, substantially, the body and blood of Christ (transubstantiation). Transubstantiation was most fully spelled out by the medieval scholastics. According to the doctrine of consubstantiation, the substances of the body and the blood of Christ and of the bread and the wine were held to coexist together in the consecrated Host. In fact, Luther, along with his colleague Philipp Melanchthon, emphasized this point in diplomatic plea for the Reformation at the ''Reichstag (institution)'' in 1529 amid charges of heresy. Once again, though, the church and the emperor squandered their last chance to reform and salvage the old order; the edict by the Diet of Worms (1521) prohibited all innovations. Meanwhile, in these efforts to remain a Catholic reformer as opposed to a heretical revolutionary, and to appeal to German princes with his religious condemnation of the peasant revolts backed up by the Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms, Luther's growing conservatism would usher in the more radical reformers. At a religious conference with the Zwinglians in 1529, Melanchthon joined with Luther in opposing a union with Zwingli. There would finally be a schism in the reform movement due to Luther's belief in consubstantiation. His original intention was not schism, but with the ''Reichstag (institution)'' of Augsburg (1530) a separate Protestant church finally emerged. In a sense, Luther would take theology further in its deviation from established Catholic dogma, forcing a rift between the humanist Erasmus and Luther. Similarly, Zwingli would further repudiate ritualism, and break with the increasingly conservative Luther. While it would be an understatement to state that Erasmus, Martin Luther, Zwingli, and Melanchthon regarded the fundamental theological questions quite seriously, their followers tended to split along socio-economic lines. Luther found great support from the new bourgeoisie in Germany's urban centers to overthrow the power of the landowning aristocracy and the Latin clergy, rooted in their control of land and peasant labor, which were the central means of production of the time. And up-and-coming merchants, not yet part of the ruling elite, rallied to Luther's cause. Zwingli, however, appealed to poorer segments of society who lacked the stake in German proto-nationalism among the ambitious, consolidating princes and the new bourgeoisie. Aside from the enclosing of the lower classes, the middle sectors of Northern Germany, namely the educated community and city dwellers, would turn to religion to conceptualize their discontent according to the cultural medium of the era. The great rise of the burgers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices contributed to the appeal of individualism. To many, papal institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and usury. In the North burgers and monarchs were united in their frustration against for not paying any taxes to the nation, but collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy. In Northern Europe Luther appealed to the growing national consciousness of the German states because he denounced the Pope for involvement in politics as well as religion. Moreover, he backed the nobility, which was now justified to crush the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 and to confiscate church property by Luther's Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. This explains the attraction of the territorial princes to Lutheranism, especially its Doctrine of the Two Kingdoms. With the church subordinate to and the agent of civil authority and peasant rebellions condemned on strict religious terms, Lutheranism and German nationalist sentiment were ideally suited to coincide. Though Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor fought the reformation, it is no coincidence either that the reign of his nationalistic predecessor Maximilian I saw the beginning of the Reformation. While the centralized states of western Europe had reached accords with the Vatican permitting them to draw on the rich property of the church for government expenditures, enabling them to form state churches that were greatly autonomous of Rome, similar moves on behalf of the Reich were unsuccessful so long as princes and prince bishops fought reforms to drop the pretension of secular universal empire. ==English Reformation== ===Political Reformation=== The course of the Reformation was different in England. There had long been a strong strain of anti-clericalism, and England had already given rise to the Lollard movement, which had inspired the Hussites in Bohemia. By the 1520s, however, the Lollards were not an active force, or, at least, certainly not a mass movement. The different character of the English Reformation came rather from the fact that it was driven initially by the political necessities of Henry VIII of England. Although Henry had once been a sincere Catholic, he found it expedient and profitable to break with the Papacy. In 1534 The Act of Supremacy put Henry at the head of the church in England (n.b. not the Church of England). Between 1535 and 1540, under Thomas Cromwell, the policy known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries was put into effect. The veneration of Saints, pilgrimages and pilgrim shrines were also attacked. Huge amounts of church land and property passed into the hands of the crown and ultimately into those of the nobility and gentry. The vested interest thus created made for a powerful force in support of the dissolutions. There were many notable opponents to the Henrician Reformation, such as Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher, who were executed for their opposition. But there was also a growing party of Protestants who were imbued with the Zwinglian and Calvinistic doctrines now current on the Continent. When Henry was succeeded by his son Edward VI of England in 1547, they found their views in the ascendant in government. A more radical reformation was imposed, including the abolition of the Mass_%28liturgy%29, the destruction of images, and the closing of the chantry. Following a brief Roman Catholic reaction during the reign of Mary I of England 1553-1558, a loose consensus developed during the reign of Elizabeth I, though this point is one of considerable debate among historians. Yet it is the so-called Elizabethan Settlement to which the origins of Anglicanism are traditionally ascribed. The compromise was uneasy and was capable of veering between extreme Calvinism on the one hand and Arminianism on the other, but compared to the bloody and chaotic state of affairs in contemporary France, it was relatively successful until the Puritan Revolution or English Civil War in the seventeenth century. The success of the Counter-Reformation on the Continent and the growth of a Puritan party dedicated to further Protestant reform polarised the Elizabethan Age, although it was not until the 1640s that England underwent religious strife comparable to that which her neighbours had suffered some generations before. ===Early Puritan Movement=== ''See articles Puritan and English Civil War'' The early ''Puritan Movement'' (late 16th century-17th century) was Reformed or Calvinism and was a movement for reform in the Church of England. Its origins lay in the discontent with the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. The desire was for the Church of England to resemble more closely the Protestant churches of Europe, especially Geneva. The Puritans objected to ornaments and ritual in the churches as idolatry (vestments, surplices, organs, genuflection), which they castigated as "pope pomp and rags." (See Vestments controversy.) They also objected to ecclesiastical courts. They refused to endorse completely all of the ritual directions and formulas of the ''Book of Common Prayer''; the imposition of its liturgical order by legal force and inspection sharpened Puritanism into a definite opposition movement. The later Puritan movement were often referred to as Dissenters and Nonconformists and eventually led to the formation of various reformed Christian denominations. ==Resources== ===Printed Resources=== *Braaten, Carl E. and Robert W. Jenson. ''The Catholicity of the Reformation.'' Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996. ISBN 0-8028-4220-8 *Estep, William R. ''Renaissance & Reformaton.'' Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986. ISBN 0-8028-0050-5 *Gonzales, Justo. ''The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2: The Reformation to the Present Day''. San Francisco: Harper, 1985. ISBN 0060633166 *Kolb, Robert. ''Confessing the Faith: Reformers Define the Church, 1530-1580.'' St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1991. ISBN 0-570-04556-8 *Spitz, Lewis W. ''The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents.'' St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997. ISBN 0-570-04993-8 *Spitz, Lewis W. ''The Renaissance and Reformation Movements: Volume I, The Renaissance.'' Revised Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987. ISBN 0-570-03818-9 *Spitz, Lewis W. ''The Renaissance and Reformation Movements: Volume II, The Reformation.'' Revised Edition. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1987. ISBN 0-570-03819-7 ===Online Resources=== ====Historical Materials==== *Timelines **Detailed_Christian_timeline#Renaissance_and_Reformation **Timeline of the Protestant Reformation in England *Middle Ages in history *A list of Protestant reformers ====Primary Materials==== *[http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses] *Book of Common Prayer *The Book of Concord ====External links==== *[http://history.hanover.edu/early/prot.html Internet Archive of Related Texts and Documents] *[http://www.lepg.org/religion.htm A summary of the Reformation] *[http://www.newgenevacenter.org/west/reformation.htm An Overview of the Protestant Reformation] ga:Reifirméisean Protestantism History of Europe
Protestant Reformation
==Catholic counter-reformation== I would suggest add the following: catholic counterreformation, and (drums) Warsaw confederation (agreement about religious tolerance, first and probably only one up to modern times not imposed by kings or government, by agreed by people alone). and of course impact of reformation on national languages - standarisation of German came as one example, first books in national language in Poland, etc, etc user:szopen">user:szopen ==Early sixteenth century key revolutionary period in European history needs expansion== The early sixteenth century was a revolutionary stage in which old elite groups were challenged or eliminated, namely the clergy. As Reformation pushed the clergy out of its dominant position while the French Revolution would later herald the twilight to the aristocracy’s traditional primacy. In both times new groups emerged, partly at least to fill the vacuum in a process fundamental to cultural regeneration and cultural renewal. Although the cultural contexts of the two eras set these two great revolutions apart, ideologies can vary in their content, dependent on the local cultural values. Some might stress political values like justice as in the French Revolution, and some may stress immediate or long range economic values as in the Russian Revolution. In short, this was a key revolutionary period in European history not adequately addressed by this short article. I hope that my recent contributions spur other contributors to fill in the gaps and make this an article worthy of the historical significance of the topic. User:172 ===Reformation was religiously motivated=== :The Reformation was religiously motivated (not discounting economic and nationalistic justifications). To denigrate religion as the chief motive, is to insist that those who carried out the Reformation did not understand their own cause. The article should not characterize the stimulus of the Reformation in terms of materialism or class-struggle, except where the proponents of the Reformation expressed these as bases for their own actions. Otherwise, the article may satisfy Marxists and anarchists, but in my opinion it is simply not the truth about this movement, as understood by those who promoted or defended it, or by those since who have been most sympathetic with it. User:Mkmcconn --------- ::Mkmcconn: The article goes into the theological debate, particullary the complex relationship between humanism and Protestantism. In that sense, it makes reference to the revival of Augustinian theology, namely salvation by faith alone. However, this is a historical page, not one simply pertaining to theology or philosophy. Thus, it not only goes through the intellectual and religious developments of the era, but characterizes the context in which these ideas caught on. If the ideas of the Protestant reformers were derived from Augustus and carried out to a logical consistency one must ask why did these ideas all of a sudden catch on at this time. ::Just because some readers aren’t familiar with the economic and political sides of the Reformation doesn’t mean that these factors shouldn’t be presented. Rather, it accentuates the necessity of presenting them. ::I'm familiar with Marxist theory, even Marxist theory applied to this era, and I must say that just because this article doesn't refute Marxism doesn't mean that this article is backing it up. It simply doens't go into sufficient detail do either. And that's fine for an NPOV encyclopedia article. ::If you intuitively sense “Marxism” because economic factors and social class are mentioned in a historical article (My God, what could they be doing in an article on perhaps the most complicated period in European history?), then I challenge you to suggest in why the Reformation caught on where it did and why did it fragment into radical branches without looking at the broader historical trends of the sixteenth century. Why and how did Lutheranism win the support of the territorial princes in Northern Germany? ::I must also correct a very common misconception. Introducing economic and political factors does not imply that the Protestant reformers didn’t take their ideas seriously. They most certainly did and the article makes that clear. One, though, has to look at the environment in which these theologians came to their ideas and found their ideas easy to disseminate. User:172 :You added a lot of material. There are a few points that might need some corrections or clarifications (I lost your point here and there); but, I did not react to your insertions the way that I reacted to your explanation of what you are doing. It's your comments that I reacted to, not your additions - but, I'll admit that since you chose to be so open about what you are trying to illustrate by your edits, I'm going to look closer at what you have added in that light ;-) User:Mkmcconn 01:51 Apr 8, 2003 (UTC) ------------- ===Huh?=== ::First, I denied trying to insert a Marxist slant into the article in the above comments. Why is that making you more suspicious? ::Second, the comment I had made earlier on this page was not a uniquely Marxist interpretation. In fact, it’s making a distinction between the political/economic French Revolution and the religious revolution of the Protestant Reformation. That comment said nothing more than the Protestant Reformation was a period of historical upheaval. Mkmcconn, I was just trying to entice people into work on an article pertaining to a key era in history. User:172 ------------- ==informing and delghtful to read== qt, well i thought it was great!!!! very informing and delghtful to read. qt ==Text is used ''twice'' in the article...== :The great rise of the burgers, the desire to run their new businesses free of institutional barriers or outmoded cultural practices contributed to the appeal of individualism. To many, papal institutions were rigid, especially regarding their views on just price and usury. In the North burgers and monarchs were united in their frustration against for not paying any taxes to the nation, but collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy User:Booyabazooka 17:56, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC) == Overlap/inconsistency with Protestantism article == It would be valuable if s/o could look to rationalise this with the [disputed] Protestantism article and make the links between the two articles clear. User:Paul foord 07:39, 14 May 2005 (UTC) == some observations == You might take note of the fact that in the 16thC there was no idea of "The Reformation" and "Protestants" did not begin with that name or greatly like it when they got it--nor did Lutherans and Calvinists like being called Lutherans and Calvinists. The idea was to claim true Catholicity and denounce innovation or "newfangledness." Much of the period has to do with multiple competing stories about national and ecclesial origins and destinies. This should not be obscured by collapsing it into a "period" or "event" or "movement" with a single teleological narrrative. There also needs to be some attention to recent historiographical paradigm shifts such that the "Counter-Reformation" is discarded as a term in favor of "Catholic Reformation" and England is understood to have been reformed coercively by an elite minority embedded in and/or backed by the state that imposed a "reformation from above"--thus denying older views of the English reformation as a populist affair driven by rampant anticlericalism. It would be wise to subdivide or better yet "outsource" this entry to significant nations, regions and cities. User:Dpknauss == Need Revision == I believe the huge amount of material added by User:172 in the early development of this article obscures its essence. He argues that the overall socio-political environment in Europe played a significant role. True, as did the Renaissance, but the title of the article is "Protestant Reformation", not "The Socio-Political developments in early 16th century Europe". User:Jim Ellis 19:00, 23 May 2005 (UTC) :I would agree; this article, like Jesus, needs a massive rewrite...I think we should just have a "do over". There's just too much info that's (relatively) inconsequential. Yes, the socio-economic factors deserve mention, but it detracts from the main thrust of the article. User:KHM03 23:34, 23 May 2005 (UTC) ::There is no mention of the French Revolution, nor should there be--that happened at the end of the 18th century. User:Dpknauss ::: My mistake. Thanks Dan-- I deleted the phrase. My overall feeling that this article should be re-written and made more concise and focused still stands. User:Jim Ellis 11:44, 24 May 2005 (UTC) ::::This article does need replacement; it really ought to have a general outline of what was included in the Ref., and then it ought to be broken down by region (Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, etc.). The socio-economic arguments can still be included, but they really ought to be subordinated to the theological roots of Luther's action. Perhaps if we rewrite it as a skeleton and then add to it to fix it. Rekleov ==Radical Reformation== There is a new page for this topic which could use expansion by someone with expertise in that area. User:KHM03 11:41, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC) ==Pro / Anti== A link is listed under external links entitled something like "Why Catholicism makes Protestantism Work". That's fine. An anonymous user placed that link under the label "Pro-Roman Catholic"; the assumption there is that the other links are anti-RC. This is not only an NPOV violation of wikipedia policy, it is also incorrect. Protestant does not necessarily mean anti-RC, not in 2005. I removed the label. User:KHM03 00:48, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Frankly, that link simply shouldn't be in this article. It may fit under Protestantism, but not under Protestant Reformation. This is an historical piece, not polemical --- while the linked article ''is''. I won't blast it away from this page, but it simply shouldn't be here. --User:Rekleov 13:12, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) That sounds reasonable...why don't you move it? User:KHM03 13:18, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Found it and moved it. --User:Rekleov 13:25, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: removing the link is fine, but I think Protestant still implies anti-RC, even in 2005. Most protestants still strongly disagree a number of Catholic doctrines and practices, such as the role of the papacy, transubstantiation of the Eucharist/Communion, indulgences, role of saints, etc. If they didn't, wouldn't they rejoin the Catholic Church? Why else would they remain separate? User:Wesley 15:50, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) :::Protestant does imply an opposition to various Roman Catholic teachings, of course. My point, however, is that such an article is simply out of place in an historical overview of the Protestant Reformation. It sits much better in the Protestantism article. I don't see this as a matter of pro/anti RC, but rather one of proper categorization. :::: Ok, I see your point. You're probably right about the categorization. User:Wesley 02:40, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC) "Pro-Roman Catholic" - I put this heading on - would have better been cited as "Anti-protestant". I decided not to jump into the discussion straight away. The article itself was quite POV, but the inference that the assumption there is that the other links are anti-RC is not clear to me. It could be that, and I believed they were NPOV or providing information. Resolution of issue is good. User:Paul foord 14:16, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) ==kudos== Nice edit under the new section, Early Puritan Movement. User:MkmcconnUser Talk:Mkmcconn 14:08, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :Thanks, seemed something more was needed - it illustrates the overlap with the Protestantism article though User:Paul foord 14:20, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC) :: I think that we can distinguish this article as a general history focused on a definable era, sub-divisible into identifiable periods, and the other looks at Protestantism partly in terms of an intellectual history, the event-structure (if that's a word) of which is mostly contained in this article. User:MkmcconnUser Talk:Mkmcconn 14:37, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Protestant reformation
#REDIRECT Protestant Reformation
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
P
PA | PB | PC | PD | PE | PF | PG | PH | PI | PJ | PK | PL | PM | PN | PO | PR | PS | PT | PU | PW | PX | PY | PZ |Words begining with Protestant_Reformation:
Protestant_Reformation
Protestant_Reformation
Protestant_reformation
These materials are based on Wikipedia and licensed under the GNU FDL
YouTube.com videos better site than Turbo Tax 2007
