Quick Write

•Write for 5 MINUTES on the prompt below:

•What do the words “protest” and “reform” mean? How do they work together?

The Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation

A period of time in Europe when people wanted changes in the Catholic Church

Beginning as early as the 1100s, but officially began in the 1500's thanks to Martin Luther

Will lead to changes within the Catholic Church as well as many European Nations and its leaders

Without the Gutenberg Printing Press, none of this would have been possible (the first copy machine basically)

Why change the church?

The Catholic Church dominated Europe in the 1500s

Most of the Church and powerful clergy (religious leaders) had become corrupt

People did not like to see the moral decline of the church

The people had a strong desire to revolutionize

Indulgences became a way of corruption for many clergy members

Why didn't they care earlier than the 1500s?

This corruption had been going on since the middle ages....Why care now??

As the Renaissance progressed, more and more people gained access to education

Thus, they could read and educate themselves

As they read the bible, they realized the clergy were no longer acting as religious leaders, but more as politicians

This resulted in the Protestant Reformation

The Poor of Lyons

In 1176, a merchant named Peter Waldo living in Lyon, France questioned the Catholic Church

He sold his belongings and began to dedicate his life to the gospel and his followers called themselves the Poor of Lyons.

In the 1100's, it was illegal for someone to preach who was not from the Catholic Church

Peter and his followers were excommunicated and they formed a new church called the Waldensian Church.

The Waldensians

It was illegal for the Waldensians to form a church of their own outside of the Catholic Church

They were persecuted and burned at the stake by the Catholic Church in the 1200s for heresy

However, this did not discourage the Waldensians from keeping their church

Martin Luther

Many years later, the reformation continued by the efforts of a German monk named Martin Luther

Martin Luther devoted his life to God despite his parents wishes for him to become a lawyer

He dedicated his life to studying the bible

The more he studied, the more he felt the Catholic Church had gone astray

95 Theses

He wrote down 95 points about the Catholic Church he felt were wrong

He nailed these to the door of the Catholic Church in Wittenberg, Germany.

These 95 points were copied and sent all throughout Germany thanks to the printing press

The Catholic Church lost money on indulgences – money which people paid to be forgiven for their sins

This was just 1 of the 95 points Martin Luther felt was corrupt

The Catholic Church Fights Back

The Diet of Worms (pronounced dee-it) As the sale of indulgences declined, Pope Leo X

grew upset and sent clergy to get Martin Luther to recant his feelings about the church Martin Luther refused to do so

The Catholic Church claimed Martin Luther a heretic, a crime punishable by death.

Luther escaped and went into hiding, where he began translating the bible into German and printed to give to German followers.

Inspired by the Waldensians, Martin Luther founded a new religion known as Lutheranism.

John Calvin and Calvinism

In the mid-1500s, another religious leader by the name of John Calvin wanted to set up a theocracy(government ran by the church)

By 1541, he set up a theocracy in Geneva, Switzerland and was very strict about attending church and other everyday rules of the people.

Wrote a book called “The Institutes of The Christian Religion” Believed mankind could not control or change anything about life on

earth

Believed everything was controlled by God -past, present, and the future- and called this Predestination

Some are destined for heaven while others are destined for hell and you can not change your destiny

Put many people to death for not following the rules or acting “too Catholic”

Church of England

Remember, King Henry VIII started a church known as the Church of England all because he wanted a divorce! Well, I told you this would play an important role later on…

If you are a non-catholic, you are considered a Protestant

When King Edward IV dies and Mary takes power, she also restores Catholicism to England Remember, she killed many Protestant followers and became

known as 'Bloody Mary'

Queen Elizabeth, who was a protestant, restored the Church of England

Thus, the Catholic Church and Protestant religion were now able to live in “somewhat” harmony.

Council of Trent

The Catholic Church realized it needed to resolve the problems of its clergy

The Catholic Church resolved some of their issues with the meetings of the Council of Trent between the years 1545 and 1563 Established the nature of Christian doctrines

No longer were clergy to act like government and take money from citizens to guarantee they go to heaven

The divide between the Catholic Church and Protestants began to cease