cause of the reformation in europe?

Question

what would you say is the major cause of the protestant reformation in europe? economic, political, or religious? i am thinking religious, also a little political.
also: could you make a case for each of these causes?
thankss

Answer 1

It is never easy to separate these. In real life, they always affect each other.. But it is certainly good to see the religious part appreciated, since the trend fro some time has been to downgrade religious conviction as a central motivating force (all the more so when some insist on explaining ALL major events purely on the basis of economics).

I have to disagree with a cut-and-dried approach such as the suugestion that the Lutheran Reformation was all or mostly religious in its basis, while the English/Anglican was "all political" It's more complex in BOTH cases:

a) Lutheranism became a STATE church in Northern Germany and Scandinavia, in significant measure because of the decisions of PRINCES (as opposed to other rulers who opted for the Roman Catholic Church), though that need not mean they or their people were not partly convinced of these ideas by "religious" influence (hearing and agreeing with the teaching).

b) England -
For one thing the English Reformation was already underway when Henry VIII made the formal split. Henry (urged by Thomas ) had opposed the work of early Reformers, such as Tyndale Though the KING was more Catholic in his convictions, there were many who soon played a major role in carrying out the reforms in the church who were RELIGIOUSLY motivated.. as can be seen in the influence of Reformed (or "Calvinistic") ideas on the doctrinal statements (39 Articles) and prayerbook.

Indeed, England was in many ways the BIRTHPLACE of "the Reformation" with the 14th century where John Wycliffe, the "Morning Star of the Reformation", advocated reforms (including DECREASE the church's role in .. politics! though he did not advocate more power for the crown) and began the very important efforts -- characteristic of ALL the Reformation movements that followed-- to translate the Bible into the local vernacular.

Wycliffe's ideas shaped John Hus's work in Bohemia [Czech], and thence returned to influence the 16th century "Protestant Reformation" (It is important to see this continuity, and that the "Lutheran" and "Reformed/Calvinistic" movements, as also the Anglican, grew out of them... and only finally succeeded on a large scale BECAUSE of these beginnings, and the additional support of such things as the printing press --to spread ideas-- and growth of political strength apart from the church in various places, esp in Northern Europe.)

And note that it was surviving "Lollards" (followers of Wycliffe's ideas.. the name itself was a mocking term for 'heretics', probably meaning 'babblers') amongst whom the 16th century English Reformation took root. "All political"? I don't think so.

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-wycliffe.html
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/plantagenet_kings/68669
http://www2.kenyon.edu/Projects/Margin/hus.htm


Consider also the mix of factors in OTHER important places where the Reformation took root

a) Switzerland - Zwingli's reforms (beginning slightly before Luther) were, like Luther's, the outgrowth of "Bible-based preaching", and so RELIGIOUS ideas. But as various Swiss cantons chose the Reformation route, their own desire to establish their political independence (outsiders not to tell them 'what to believe'....) played a role.

b) Netherlands - again, the religious convictions and teachings took root early, though the growth of the church's influence was surely aided by the struggle for independence from Spain.

Answer 2

Both political and religious. Martin Luther's 'Reformation' was intended to religiously 'reform' the Church from within, not break away. The Catholic church's power was immense from a political standpoint, and thus it led to corruption. Calvin's reforms were religious as well. However, Henry VIII's reformation was political and nothing more. It had nothing to do with religion except for the fact that he wanted to be the head of his own church.

Answer 3

The Reformation got started in Germany.
Germans had (and continued to have) an unhealthy relationship with Italy, and in this case, Rome. It was German barbarians who finally knocked out the Western Roman Empire. The Lombards in North Italy were putting a lot of pressure on Rome about 770 A.D. The Frankish Emperor Charlemagne beat the Lombards and for offering his protection to the Roman Church was granted the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
The center of gravity of the HRE shifted to Germany after his death, where it remained. The Holy R Emperors maintained that they had the exclusive right to nominate bishops, a conflict that lasted for centuries and which involved several invasions of Italy (and occupations of Italian territory).
Meanwhile, the Church had severe internal problems. Rome was a violent place and by about 1320 the Popes no longer felt safe there, so they moved to Avignon, which was in French territory (and hence, many believed, under French control). This caused the Great Schism - Italian cardinals elected another pope and the excommunications flew back and forth in a spiritual tug of war that was completely embarassing to nearly everyone. At one point there were 3 popes at the same time, each condemning the others.
The schism finally ended, but the Vatican continued to operate as if it were drunk on spending. In order to finance the building of the enormous cathedral of St. Peter's, the Vatican stepped up the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was a "grace" paid for by a sinner who was, in theory, buying grace from the heavenly storehouse of grace. This heavenly storehouse arose from the bountiful goodness of the saints, of whom there were some 20,000. This indulgence could knock off some of your time in purgatory, and thus sales were popular.
The Germans resented all this southward flow of money - a lot. Once the invention of printing was established, new presses sprang up everywhere, and people no longer had to hire scribes to copy out the same documents over and over again. When Martin Luther went to Rome, he was astonished by the corruption of the Church, and used the new invention of printing to publish his broadside attacks against the Church.
He issued a challenge of 95 points to the local Church theologians (Martin Luther had a doctorate in theology). He denied the authority of the Pope, the reality of the Trinity, the existence of saints, the right of the Church to sell indulgences, the sacraments (except for Mass), and the need for clerical celibacy. He claimed that there was no justification for these from the text of the Bible. By the way, he also denied that salvation could come from good works - it could only come from the grace of God. Problem was, God wasn't about to let everyone into Heaven; there were only a few chosen ones and everyone else was (and is ) damned.
This was outright heresy. The peasants thought that he supported them in their efforts to get the barons off their backs; the result was a ferocious Peasant's War from 1524-1526. Luther denounced the peasants and took the side of the barons. The barons realized that they could declare their independence of Rome and collect all those Sunday tithes for themselves, which they proceeded to do. The result was a nearly endless series of wars that culminated in one of the worst wars in history, the 30 Year's War from 1618-1648.
Theologically, the Lutherans and the Protestants were holier than thou (the damned Catholics and the whore of Rome). To use just one example, Catholic teaching and practise had been very tolerant of prostitution. St. Augustine compared the institution to cesspools - cesspools may stink and be unpleasant, but they were necessary. All through the Middle Ages there were guilds of prostitutes who turned over earnings to the local Bishop or Archbishop, and few people saw anything wrong with this. Once Luther came along, the Church had to prove that it was just as moral as the Lutherans and Protestants, so prostitution becamed banned all over.
Another example is the use of saint's days as religious holidays. Nearly a third of the year was given to religious holidays. Protestants said the only day of rest was the Sabbath, and so suddenly all Protestant workers lost all those holidays. I continue to resent this, as working all the time is a drag. America has a Calvinist hangover, which is probably the reason why Italians and the French get 5-6 weeks of paid vacation a year and generous maternity benefits.
Don't get me wrong, I hate the Catholic Church too. Christianity sucks.

Answer 4

. Allysa, I hope you get at least a B+ with 'Pampers' assistance doing your take-home exam.
. Ya, I know, I hated History 202 also. sigh.

Answer 5

Why in the devil don't you just read your materials.