Christian Reformation
Objectives
At the end of this unit you should be able to:
• Describe the factors that necessitated
reformation in the Catholic Church.
• Discuss the relationship between Martin
Luther and the Catholic Church.
• Discuss the role played by Martin Luther and
John Calvin in the spread of Protestantism in
Europe.
Introduction
• During the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic Church
became the dominant Church in western Europe and
the Greek Orthodox Church in Eastern Europe.
• However, during the 16th Century several new and
separate churches were formed which became
known as Protestant Churches.
• These were three original Protestant movements;
Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism. Other
Protestant movements developed from these three.
Causes of the Reformation
• The word reformation means literally to “reform” or to form
again.
• A need for reform often arises because there is dissatisfaction
with the existing form of an organization.
• The reformation that began in Europe in the 16th century was
an effort to combat what various reformers saw as false
teachings and bad behaviour in the church.
• There were many abuses in the Roman Catholic Church.
• One of the most bitter grievances was the wealth of the
Church.
• The Pope imposed heavy church taxes such as the tithes, a sort
of tax on income that everyone had to pay.
• Through the centuries it became possible for
people to buy forgiveness for their sins by paying a
sum of money.
• High offices in the Church were often sold to
persons willing to pay the most.
• Funds collected in this manner were frequently
used for purposes that had nothing to do with
religion.
• Many clergy lived in an unspiritual and worldly way.
• They used church money to glorify themselves buy
paintings and buildings.
• In the later Middle Ages some monarchs started to
question the power of the Church – in the political
everyday life.
• This struggle between Popes and monarchs helped
to cause a split in the Church, the Great Schism.
• This resulted in there being two Popes for a while.
• One was in Avignon, in southern France, under
protection of the French king, and the other in
Rome.
• This division damaged the authority and prestige
of the Pope and so helped to pave the way for
reform.
• The first criticisms of bad practices in the Church
were made by people like Johannes Huss from
Bohemia, Desiderius Erasmus from Holland, John
Wycliff from England and Girolamo Savonarola
from Italy.
• The Main leaders of the Reformation itself,
however, were Martin Luther in Germany and John
Calvin in France.
• Luther was born in Eisleben in the German state of
Saxony in 1483.
• He obtained an MA degree in philosophy in 1505 at
the University of Erfurt.
• He studied further in theology and joined a
monastery in Erfurt.
• In 1508, he was appointed professor in philosophy
at the University of Wittenberg.
• In 1510, Luther was sent to Rome, where he
became bitterly disappointed with the worldly
outlook of the church leaders.
Martin Luther, 1483-1546
• On his return to Erfurt, he was strongly critical of the
sale of indulgences – letters of pardon for sins.
• In 1517 Pope Leo X needed funds to complete the
church of St. Peter in Rome.
• He therefore sent John Tetzel to Germany to sell
indulgences.
• When Tetzel started selling indulgences in Wittenberg,
Luther (now a doctor of theology), protested.
• Sin could be forgiven by God alone, he said, and
forgiveness could not be bought.
• On 31 October 1517, Luther nailed 95 theses – reasons
why indulgences were wrong – to the door of the
Cathedral in Wittenberg.
• This date is regarded as the birth of the Reformation.
• These theses were translated into German (the original
text was in Latin) and spread throughout Europe.
• The immediate effect was a sharp decline in the sale of
indulgences.
• Luther was summoned by the Pope to appear in Rome.
Martin Luther, 1483-1546 continues
• He refused, but was tried by a person a Papal emissary,
Cajetanus.
• Luther refused to take back his theses unless Biblical
evidence could be produced to show that he was
wrong.
• The Pope then banned Luther from the Church.
• But Luther burnt the Pope’s proclamation, or Papal
bull, in front of his students in Wittenberg.
• This act on 10 December 1520 marked Luther’s final
break from the Roman Catholic.
• The new Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire,
Charles V, summoned Luther to appear before
the Diet, or Parliament, of Worms in 1521.
• Luther again refused to retract his theses
unless he could be proved wrong through the
Holy Scriptures.
• He exclaimed; “Here, I stands, I cannot do
otherwise. So help me God”.
Martin Luther, 1483-1546 continues
• Luther was outlawed by the Emperor.
• He was protected by the influential Elector of
Saxony, however, and went to stay in the
elector’s castle at Wartburg.
• In 1535, Luther translated the Bible into German.
• His followers increased daily.
• Eventually he founded the Evangelical Lutheran
Church, for he realized that reforming the Roman
Catholic Church was impossible.
• Luther did not believe in violence.
• His followers were expected to obey the
government.
• In 1524 a peasant revolt broke out in Germany.
• Peasants wanted the right to read the Bible
and decide upon its meaning for themselves.
• However, they also wanted to end serfdom and
the feudal payments they had to make to the
lords and nobles.
Martin Luther, 1483-1546 continues
• At first Luther supported the peasant revolt,
but was horrified when he heard that they
were looting and killing.
• He then gave his support to the nobles, who
crushed the revolt without pity.
• From this time on Luther and his followers
rejected political revolution.
• Many peasants felt that Luther had betrayed
them and returned to the Catholic Church.
Martin Luther, 1483-1546 continues
• Luther died in 1546 at the age of 63. By then,
about half of Germany’s rulers had become
Protestants.
• Nine years after his death, at the Peace of
Augsburg in 1555, it was decided that every
German ruler could decide whether the
Roman Catholic Church or the Lutheran
Church would be their state religion.
• Within a short period, the Lutheran Church
spread to countries such as Norway, Sweden,
Finland and Denmark.
• It reached Namibia through the Rhenish and
Finnish mission work.
John Calvin
• When Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses in 1517,
John Calvin was only 8 years old.
• But Calvin grew up to have as much influence in
the spread of Protestantism as Luther did.
• He would give order to the faith Luther had
begun.
• In 1536, Calvin published Institutes of the Christian
Religion.
• This book expressed ideas about God, salvation
and human nature.
John Calvin Continues
• Calvin wrote that men and women are sinful
by nature.
• Taking Luther’s idea that humans cannot earn
salvation, Calvin went on to say that God
chooses a very few people to save.
• Calvin called these few the “elect.”
• He believed that God has known since the
beginning of time who will be saved.
• This doctrine is called Predestination.
• The religion based on Calvin’s teaching is
called Calvinism.
• Calvin believed that the ideal government was
a theocracy, a government controlled by
religious leaders.
Calvin Continues
• In 1541, Protestants in Geneva, Switzerland, asked
Calvin to lead their city.
• When Calvin arrived there in the 1540s, Geneva
was a self-governing city of about 20000 people.
• He and his followers ran the city according to strict
rules.
• Everyone attended religious class.
• No one wore bright clothing or played card games.
Calvin Continues
• Authorities would imprison, excommunicate
or banish those who broke such rules.
• Anyone who preached different doctrines
might be burned at the stake.
• Yet, to many Protestants, Calvin’s Geneva was
a model city of highly moral citizens.
Calvinism spreads
• One admiring visitor to Geneva was a Scottish
preacher named John Knox.
• When he returned to Scotland in 1559, Knox put
Calvin’s ideas to work.
• Each community church was governed by a group of
laymen called elders or Presbyters.
• Followers of Knox were therefore known as
Presbyterians.
• In the 1560s, Protestant nobles led by Knox made
Calvinism Scotland’s official religion.
England Becomes Protestant
Calvinism spreads
• They also deposed their Catholic ruler, Mary Queen
of Scots, in favour of her infant son James.
• Elsewhere, Swiss, Dutch and French reformers
adopted the Calvinist form of church organisation.
• In France, Calvin’s followers were called Huguenots.
• Hatred between Catholics and Huguenots frequently
led to violence.
• The most violent clash occurred in Paris on August
24, 1572 – the Catholic feast of St.Bartholomew’s
day.
Calvinism spreads
• At dawn, Catholic mobs began hunting for
Protestants and murdering them.
• The massacres spread to other cities and
lasted six months.
• Scholars believe that as many as 12 000
Huguenots were killed.
END!
