The Reformation Of European Religion
in the 16th century cannot be generally attributed to the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance. Although the peasants saw bishops and abbots as part of a wealthy and oppressive ruling class and rebelled against the Roman Catholic Church for reasons primarily pertaining to the lavish adornments used by those aforementioned, their power was not great enough, nor did their reasons carry enough clout to start a reformation movement throughout Europe: that job was accomplished by those already having some, however small, social or religious power, such as the monk Martin Luther, the accomplished priest and lawyer Jean Cauvin, and King Henry VIII of England.
The Lutheran and Calvinist ...
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the awful omnipotence of God, his own insignificant existence in comparison, and his apprehensiveness of the devil. His personal problems would not yield to the existing manners of assuring oneself that he/she was headed for heaven such as sacraments, alms, prayer attendance at Mass, and assorted "good works." Luther solved the problem, however, by believing that good works were the consequence and external evidence of an inner grace, but in no way the cause of this grace. He felt that if one had faith in themselves, the religion, and God, then good works would manifest themselves because of it. This was Luther’’s doctrine of justification by faith. Luther was then involved in various events that provided for the spreading of Lutheranism, albeit sometimes indirectly. The agitation that Lutheranism was creating throughout Europe had revolutionary side effects where the reforming religious spirit was mistaken for that of a social and economic one, especially in Germany in the 1520s. A ...
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of Christianity. He joined forces with the religious revolutionaries of whom the best known was then Luther. His book, Institutes of the Christian Religion, appealed to human reason itself. If dissatisfied with the Roman church, people of all countries could find an idea that would most appropriately fit their beliefs or the situation they were in. In general, Calvin was in agreement with Luther’’s criticisms of the Roman church and Luther’’s fundamental religious ideas, such as justification by faith and not by works. However, the two differed in the area of Catholic Mass. Although both of them rejected transubstantiation, Luther maintained that God was somehow actually present in ...
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The Reformation Of European Religion. (2007, April 15). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Reformation-Of-European-Religion/63408
"The Reformation Of European Religion." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 15 Apr. 2007. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Reformation-Of-European-Religion/63408>
"The Reformation Of European Religion." Essayworld.com. April 15, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Reformation-Of-European-Religion/63408.
"The Reformation Of European Religion." Essayworld.com. April 15, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Reformation-Of-European-Religion/63408.
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