Did Luther Need To Reform Essay

Do something need reforming in the world today? Luther thought that the Catholic Church in the sixteenth century needed reforming. He nailed his ninety-five theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517 (Kirsch). In the beginning, Luther was only trying to reform the Church; but he kept traveling farther and farther away until he broke with the Church. This started Protestantism. Protestantism spread fast, and many lords and kings saw it as a means to weaken the Church and the clergy and to build their own power (Ibid). In order to stop the heresy and spread the truth, the Catholic Church had to combat the protestants. She did so by launching a counter-reformation known as the (Catholic) Counter-Reformation (Pollen).
However, Luther later denied many of the Catholic Church’s doctrines. Though still based off the Bible, his Protestantism taught opposite what the Church taught. His erroneous beliefs had to be corrected. Pope Paul III, therefore, put the Roman Inquisition back into action in 1542 (HIST333). This inquisition concentrated more on “orthodoxy of a more academic nature, especially as it appeared in the writings of theologians” (Ibid). In order to protect Catholics from heretical ideas and writing, the Catholic Church also created the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Index of Prohibited Books) in 1559 (Schlumpf). However, one of the three major defenses and attacks against Protestantism was put into play. This was the Baroque style. The Baroque style, around A.D. 1600-1750, contained passion and emotion ("Baroque Art"). These three ways aided the Catholic Church in fighting the effects of
A most obvious one, Luther taught that good works do not bring about salvation but that faith alone gains paradise. By denying good works, he also denied Christian asceticism and monastic vows (in general) since monasteries and ascetics built their lives off doing good works, such as praying and caring for others (Kirsch). Luther also denied the authority of all Church authority and placed the Bible instead as the sole authority. All supernatural medicine, such as the Mass and the sacraments, Luther furthermore dismissed. In addition to Luther in Germany, Zwingli taught very similar beliefs in Zurich, Switzerland (Ibid). Zwingli differed slightly from Luther and was more radical in changing the Mass. There was also Calvin, who taught his erroneous beliefs in Geneva, Switzerland. Calvin’s religion contained stricter moral precepts and more inflexible forms of doctrine, which controlled each person’s entire life (Kirsch). These primary leaders sought to destroy the power of the Church by forming their own