Success and Spread of the Reformation as a Result of Non-Religious Goals

AP European History: Success and spread of the Reformation as a result of non-religious goals

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Success and spread of the Reformation as a result of non-religious goals: AP European History

Introduction

Increasing worries concerning the corrupt command and power of the Catholic Church in the Sixteenth century incited reformations in Europe. There were many questionable belief practices such as excessive papal wealth, clerical desecrations of church and indulgences, etc. Europe experienced various transformations in politics, worship, and cultural patterns in the 1500s via protestant reformation (Groen & Vermeer, 2013). Reconstruction put an unexpected closure to the relative unity that had happened for the past thousand years in the Western Christendom under the Roman Catholic Church. Reformation expressed and substituted vision of religious practices, and propelled the establishment and rise of the Protestantism (Burchardt, 2013). Leaders such as John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Ulrich Zwingli backed the growth and development of the Protestant Reformation, which forever transformed the religious makeup of Europe. The success of reformation was as a result of the popularity of Christian Humanist works and the political anatomy. Thus, the essay outlines the progress and spread of the Reformation as a result of non-religious goals

Discussion

Protestant Reformation began in 1517 triggered by Martin Luther’s critique of doctrinal ideologies and church activities in Germany, initiating the formation of denominations such as the Anglican, Calvinist and the Lutheran (Becker, Pfaff & Rubin, 2016). They were different from the Roman Catholic in theology. Continuing determinations to change the old church took on a new urgency in reaction to various encounters, leading to a distinct Catholic Reformation. Patterns of alteration in Europe via the Protestant faithfulness were affected by the Reformation. Due to complexity course together with many results of the transformation movements, modern historians speak of numerous reformations throughout the first two-thirds of the 1500s.

 Groen & Vermeer (2013) argued that Protestant Reformation was set in cumbersome processes that incorporated the rise of national states, profound socio-economic changes and new interaction with the outside world. John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Henry VII criticized multiple catholic actions such as papal authority while questioning the Catholic Church’s capability to describe Christian practices. The three advocated for a political and religious redeployment of authority into hands of the bible. On the contrary, persecutions and Counter-Reformation were triggered by the Latin Catholic. Martin Luther argued that political manipulations combined with churches to increase wealth which was against the bible. Moreover, a sale of indulgences, as well as the bribery of the priests, further dented church’s spiritual authority (Burchardt, 2013).

Niccolo Machiavelli (Political philosopher) disallowed the medieval notion that popes were superior to kings. Fundamentally, many reformers asked essential doctrines of Roman Catholic, comprising the priest’s exclusive authority to grants salvation. They argued that human salvation relied on personal belief but not clerical arbitration (Becker et al., 2016).

Reformation initiated by Luther grew and spread in popularity, particularly, in Northern Europe. Nevertheless, reaction to the objection against the church varied from one state to another (Groen & Vermeer, 2013). In 1529, Elector John remained hostile to Charles V becoming one of the aggressive protectors of the Protestantism. Reformation led to the transformation of both north and West Germany to become Protestant by the mid of sixteenth century. For example, King Henry VII broke with Catholic Church and joined Protestants when Pope refused to terminate his marriage to Catherine (Burchardt, 2013). The refusal of the pope to annul the King’s marriage prompted him to challenge the papal supremacy over religious issues through parliament. Eventually, King Henry VIII used the legislature to pass various legislations stripping the Catholic clergy in England its sovereignty (Field, 2014). In 1534, an Act of Supremacy was adopted by the Parliament, announcing Henry VIII to have supreme power, making Henry the head of Church of England. Also, Henry VIII was authorized to control church finances as well as appointments.  Lutheran church easily gained stronghold without the help of the state government (Groen & Vermeer, 2013). Similarly, other centers emerged in countries such as France and Hungary where national government concentrated on national interest rather than religion. In other words, the Hungry government was somewhat distracted as they only focused on empirical operation than to control religion. Therefore, Hungary citizens safely adopted protestant (Nunziata & Rocco, 2016). From the reason mentioned political autonomy together with governments’ assisted Protestant Reformation as they focused on other goals. In 1536, doctrines of the new faith were codified Through the ICR (Institute of the Christian Religion), thus becoming fundamental for Presbyterianism (Becker et al., 2016).