How did the Reformation impact the worldWhat caused it? What was the result of it? Who were the major figures?

Question

The Reformation of the 16th century. Please help me.

Answer 1

It caused wars (30 years war) between protestant and catholic governed parts of Germany, but also in other countries. French Protestants (called hugenottes) had to flee in various waves to England, the Netherlands and Switzerland, which meant that France lost many best qualified citizens.

Martin Luther had never intended to split the church. He wanted to reform the catholic church, hence the name Reformation. His main criticisms were the too close link between church and politicians and the greed of the church for money. Those who paid were promised that they or their already dead relatives would have to spend centuries less in the fires of hell - something for which there is no biblical basis. But who knew the bible? Until then the bible existed only in Latin, only priests could understand the bible. By translating it into German, Martin Luther made it possible that for the first time the bible existed in a language of the common people. The catholic church kept Latin until 1962.
The Protestant churches were not opposed to science, as the catholic church had been (i.e. Gallilei). Therefore the Reformation can be called the foundation of the industrialisation.
Other important figures were Huldrich Zwingli, Johannes Calvin or John Knox. Reformation according to each of those is slightly different.

Answer 2

The Reformation completely changed Christianity and most of the Western world. Martin Luther was the biggest mover.Any King,Queen or Pope during that period were also major figures. It was the beginning of the Protestant religion.

Answer 3

The Reformation was essentially a movement to reform the Church. The Roman Catholic Church dominated European religious and political life. Many believed the church itself was corrupt. Several different groups protested this corruption in various ways. Martin Luther, in Germany, broke away from the church and formed his own church which resembled the Catholic Church in many ways. The Anababtists were another early reform group who didn't believe in infant babtism. This group broke into several denominations over the centuries, and generally they were more austere than the Lutherans in their practice.

John Knox, Martin Luther are a couple of names you can look up to learn more.

Answer 4

Go to the Library

Answer 5

Since this is a class assignment, and I'm a teacher, I'm tempted to just point you to some web sites. Wikipedia is a good place to start, but since most instructors won't accept Wikipedia as a reference because the site has no main editor who supervises the posts, here are some other sources:

http://www.history.hanover.edu/early/prot.html

The Catholic Encyclopedia--
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12700b.html

http://www.schoolhistory.org.uk/protestantreformation.htm

The Start of the Protestant Reformation:

The following summary of Protestantism will help you sort out different Protestant beliefs and doctrines. If you disagree, that's fine, too, as long as you back up your opinion with logical reasons--that's a Protestant tradition as well. After all, Protestants were the original protesters.

Af first, dissenting theologians and their followers sought not to break away from the Roman Catholic Church but to reform it. The Protestant Reformation, however, ended up breaking the unity imposed on European society by the Roman Catholic Church since the Middle Ages, and thus it began the Modern Era.

During the 16th century, individual Christian believers, for the most part, became Protestant or remained Roman Catholic, depending on what their rulers decided to do. For example, the Northern principalities in Germany along with Scandanavia became followers of Martin Luther while Southern Germany and Austria remained Roman Catholic.

Basic Protestant Beliefs:

Martin Luther, a German Augustine monk, began the Protestant Reformation in 1571 when he nailed 95 theses (or statements of belief) on the church door at Wittenburg. Luther was protesting indulgences, or the idea that by paying money believers could be released from punishments for sin. [The Roman Catholic Church was in debt because of the money the Pope had spent on building the Vatican's St. Peter's bascilica.]

Luther outlined three major beliefs that almost all Protestants since his time have acknowledged:

---Sola Scripture: The Bible is the sole authority for Christian faith, life, and conduct. All teachings and tradition are subordinate to Scripture. Luther translated the Bible from Latin into German. Allowing individuls to read the Bible in their own language cut out the need for priests and put added emphasis on teaching all children to read and write. After all, their eternal salvation now depended on their literacy. The Counter Reformation, a Roman Catholic response to Protestantism, in turn, jumpstarted education in predominantly Roman Catholic countries.

---Sola Fide: God justifies (or saves) Sinners by Faith alone, not faith + works (or anything else). Although works show the presence of faith, they don't earn Salvation for the believer.

---Priesthood of Believers: Protestants believe they can pray to God directly through Jesus Christ. Priests and saints don't need to act as go betweens.

Luther, and the reformers who came after him, rejected the following Roman Catholic beliefs and practices:
1) The merit of good works
2) The mediation of the Saints
3) All but two Sacraments--Communion and Baptism.

Various Protestant Denominations:

Lutherans (see above): The most prominent Protestant faith in Northern Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway--not to mention their descendants in the US Midwest.

John Calvin and his followers (Reformed Churches of Switzerland and the Netherlands as well as the Church of Scotland/ Presbyterian Church, USA) rejected the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantion, or the idea that the wine and bread are literally Christ's blood and body. They also believe in the doctrine of Grace, or Predestination: Christ died for those predestined from the beginning of time to be redeemed.

Congregationaliststs and Baptists hold similar beliefs to Presbyterians; however, they waffle on whether or not grace or freewill most influences an individual's salvation.

Although Baptist congregations appeared in England as early as 1612, the denomination didn't really catch on until after the American Revolution in the United States. Baptists also believe that Baptism is reserved only for believers once they have reached the Age of Reason. Hence, Baptists "dedicate" their infants rather than baptize them. They immerse (dunk the entire body in water) rather than sprinkle. Baptists also place a great emphasis on missionary work and are probably the biggest group of Evangelicals. Not all Baptists are necessarily conservative in politics or viewpoint, however.

Disciples of Christ/Christian Church ("Campbellites'): These two sects are offshoots of both Baptist and Presbyterian Churches about the time of the "Great Awakening" (an evangelical movement that also occasioned the growth of the Baptist and Methodist denominations in the US).

Anglicans/Episcopalians: The Pope wouldn't grant Henry VIII a divorce from his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry then simply took matters into his own hands and broke England's ties with Rome. You might refer to Episcopalians as "Catholics-Lite"; for example, Episcopalians place authority both on Scripture and tradition, although contemporary Episcopalians also like to flaunt tradition: priests can marry; women can be priests; and in some countries, such as the US, for instance, priests can be gay.

Methodists are a (presently a more conservative) offshoot of the Episcopalian Church.

Latter-Day Saints (Mormons): Although Joseph Smith was originally a Baptist, most Protestant denominations define the Mormons as a cult primarily because Smith came up with The Book of Mormon, which takes up where the Bible ended. Mormons believe that divine revelation continues through prophets (or elders) up to this day.

I've left out the Society of Friends (Quakers), Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Pentecostals, and many other Protestant groups, but I trust that this post gives the major tenets of Protestantism.