The Protestant Reformation

Before the reformation, Europe was dominated by the Catholic Church. The church was very powerful both politically and spiritually. It was the most wealthy and powerful institution in Europe and owned about one third of the land in England. They controlled and influenced almost every aspect of life for the people. Social life was centered on worship services, prayer rituals, and religious festivals and ceremonies. Thousands of people lived in monasteries and were employed by the church. Bishops were appointed by the Pope and their job was to rule all the countries in Europe. The bishops took orders from the Pope and not the king. This made the Pope appear more powerful and important than the king.
England was under the rule of King Henry VIII.
He highly disagreed with the church doings, especially the sale of indulgences. In 1517, Luther, and his colleague, Philip Melanchthon, wrote a list of their grievances concerning the number of wrongdoings of the church, known as the 95 Theses. The 95 Theses was a document attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling “indulgences” to absolve sin. He posted it on the doors of his Wittenberg church in protest against the corruption of the Catholic officials. Luther argued that sinners could win salvation neither by doing good works nor buy purchasing indulgences, but only by receiving the gift of God’s grace through the redemptive power of Christ and through a direct personal relationship with God. He also said that a person has to save their own soul from going to Hell and the Bible is the central source of religious authority. The 40th statement in the 95 Theses states, “A Christian who is truly contrite seeks and loves to pay penalties for his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties and causes men to hate them -- at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.” This shows that a person that pays penalties for their sins (indulgences) should feel sorry and causes them to hate them. Martin Luther’s new ideas were extremely revolutionary and they threatened the power of the Pope and the ruling monarchs who depended on the Catholic Church to maintain their
He was a theologian and church reformer who created a form of Protestantism, known as Calvinism, during the Reformation. Calvin preached against the Roman Catholic Church. During the reformation he wrote “Institutes of the Christian Religion” which summarized the Protestant systematic theology. His denomination was known for the idea of predestination. Predestination is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually referring to one’s individual soul or future and certain people were destine for heaven. In 1541, Calvin was invited to Geneva to put his doctrine and preaching into practice. Geneva became home to many people who were exiled from the church and they all followed Calvin’s beliefs. He insisted on reforms including: the congregational singing of the Psalms as part of church worship, the teaching of a catechism and confession of faith to children, and the enforcement of a firm moral discipline in the community by the pastors and members of the