Protestant Reformation

Unit 5 World History

SSWH9

Problems in the Catholic Church

• By the 16th century, corruption in the Catholic Church led many to begin to question the Church

What were the issues?

• Immorality of church leaders and priests• Popes focused on secular wars and issues • Wealth of the Pope and church leaders • Questions about Church doctrines

(indulgences, salvation by good works)

Martin Luther

• Martin Luther was a monk and professor in Germany

• He was especially upset by the selling of indulgences for forgiveness of sin.

What is an indulgence?

• Indulgences = people could pay the Church to get themselves or loved ones out of purgatory

Martin Luther

• After studying the Bible, he began to believe that salvation was through faith alone, not by good works and faith like the Catholic Church doctrine suggested

Stop and Think!

• What were the criticisms of the Catholic Church leading up to the Protestant Reformation?

• Why do you think these things bothered people?

95 Theses

• In 1517, Luther posted his “95 Theses” on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany

• He stated his beliefs that based on scripture salvation came through faith alone

• He also criticized the selling of indulgences.

Impact of 95 Theses

• Martin Luther’s ideas spread quickly and he gathered support from lots of people

Why did ideas spread so quickly (as opposed to the past)?

• Gutenberg’s printing press!! • Texts could now be copied in a 1-2 days, when

it would have taken monks a year to transcribe by hand.

Side note

We will come back

to this later!

Impact of 95 Theses

• The Catholic Church excommunicated Luther in 1521.

• He refused to change his ideas, and was made an outlaw according to the Edict of Worms.

Impact of 95 Theses

• His books were to be burned and he was supposed to be delivered to the Holy Roman Emperor, but he was protected by his local German ruler.

Impact of 95 Theses

• Martin Luther’s movement continued to gain popularity

• Many German princes supported new state churches that held services focused on Bible readings, sermons and song rather than the Catholic Mass.

• These first Protestants came to be known as Lutherans.

Stop and Think!

• What were the 95 Theses? • What was the Edict of Worms?• How did Martin Luther impact the European

world?

Another Protestant Reformer – John Calvin

• John Calvin fled Catholic France after her converted to Protestantism.

• He went to Switzerland where Huldrych Zwingli led a Protestant Reformation that focused on scripture, prayer and sermons instead of the Catholic Mass.

John Calvin

• Calvin became the leader of the movement after his death and introduced the doctrine of predestination.

• In other words, Calvinists believed that God determined in advance who was saved and who wasn’t.

Impact of Calvinism

• Calvinism spread quickly in many places in Europe.

Stop and Think!

• How was Calvinism different from Lutheranism?

Overall impact of Protestant Reformation

• New Protestant faiths and denominations• Decrease in religious unity in Western Europe• Decrease in power of the Catholic Church