History
Spread of the Reformation
The spread of the Reformation refers to the dissemination of Protestant ideas and the establishment of Protestant churches across Europe in the 16th century. It was driven by key figures such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, and was facilitated by the printing press, which allowed for the rapid distribution of Reformation literature. The spread of the Reformation led to significant religious and social changes throughout Europe.
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8 Key excerpts on "Spread of the Reformation"
eBook - PDF- Sacha Golob, Jens Timmermann(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
16 The Protestant Reformation jesse couenhoven The Protestant Reformation was a diverse spiritual, intellectual, and political revolution. It spanned multiple countries – particularly the areas we now call Germany, Switzerland, and Great Britain – though its influence was felt throughout Europe. Even France, under Henry IV, flirted with disestablish- ing Catholicism. Partly because of its gradual political progress, the Reformation worked its influence out over decades of European history, with seminal figures appearing in different places at a variety of times. Thus, it might be more accurate to talk of reformations than of a single reformation movement. This suggestion is substantiated by the lasting divisions between the main churches born of the Reformation, the Lutheran, Reformed, and Anglican denominations. It should not be forgotten that alongside these reformations another revolu- tion of thought and practice was taking place – the “Radical Reformation,” which birthed such movements as the Mennonites and Brethren, among others. These diverse, often populist reformers sought to make radical changes to the ethos of their day, experimenting with the abolition of hierarchies of authority, permitting women to preach, living in communities that shared goods in common, and practicing pacifism. Because of the Reformation’s complexity, it is not possible to speak with any accuracy of “the moral philosophy of the Protestant Reformation” as if there were one such thing. Consider, for example, the attitude of leading reformers towards ancient philosophy. Although Martin Luther was bitterly opposed to Aristotle’s influence on the moral theology of his day, his favored follower Phillip Melanchthon was openly deeply influenced by Aristotle, and their sometime ally and opponent Huldrych Zwingli drew on Stoic as well as Greek philosophy in his defense of divine predestination.
eBook - PDF- James M. Anderson(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Greenwood(Publisher)
5 Spread of the Reformation Religious reformers made rapid strides in the imperial lands of the Holy Roman Empire, where the territorial secular rulers were often inclined toward the new religious point of view as were some members of the Catholic clergy. Reformist leaders used all means available to condemn and ridicule the Catholic Church and inform a mostly illiterate society of their beliefs. Besides the printing presses, woodcuts, engravings, songs, satire, drama, and the pulpit were all means to instruct the masses. GERMANY How the religious lives and practices of the people were disrupted by the anxiety, passion, and upheavals of the time is well illustrated in the case of Germany. Local congregations, anxious to hear the new orthodoxy, pressured their village and town councilors to hire a preacher sympathetic to the Reformation. Unsympathetic city officials found themselves confronted by an angry populace. When no church was available to itinerant evangelists, as was often the case, they preached in the market place, the churchyard, or wherever there was a willing audience. Church services were now changing; in some cases, the preacher allowed questions from the congregation during the sermon. Elsewhere, clerical garb was not worn. In one case the preacher wore a long red coat, fashionable shoes, and a Scottish red beret. In some instances, congregations became unruly; in Regensburg, a Catholic preacher was heckled during the sermon. In 1524, in Ulm, a priest who began his sermon with a prayer to the Virgin Mary, was driven out of the church with vociferous abuse. Where reforms were accepted by the populace, a once-passive congre- gation sometimes turned into an unrestrained shouting match. Disputes with priests reached the point where town councils forbade public contra- diction of preachers, and city officials everywhere reimposed discipline by prohibiting anyone from speaking during the Mass.
- R. W. Scribner(Author)
- 1988(Publication Date)
- Hambledon Continuum(Publisher)
THE REFORMATION AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT In recent years it has become common to speak of the social dimensions of the Reformation, to relate it to social historical phenomena, and to adopt socio-logical terminology in its analysis *. This trend has gathered such momentum that some church historians have begun to call for a reversal of its course, to argue that the Reformation as a religious phenomenon should be rescued from the in-cursions of the social historian 2 . This is highly ironic, for serious social analysis of the Reformation has scarcely begun. We could have no clearer proof of this than the frequent use of the term movement (Bewegung) to describe the Refor-mation as some kind of popular social event. The term is rarely defined precisely, and the social historical implications of its use less rarely evaluated3. In this paper I want to examine more closely the nature of the Reformation as a move-ment and to bring out some of these implications. The term movement is most commonly applied to the beginning of the Reformation in Wittenberg in 1521—22 4 . I should like to give a brief resume* of these well-known events in order to establish a more precise understanding of how they constitute a movement. The events can be divided into those which were public and those which were private. Thus during the autumn of 1521 the implications of the religious revival sparked off by Luther's ideas were hotly 1 See, for example, the use of the notion of legitimation in P. Blickle, Die Revolu-tion von 1525, Miindien 1975; the argument for the use of historical sociology in Thomas A. Brady Jr., Ruling Class, Regime and Reformation in Strasbourg 1520— 1555, Leiden 1978, pp. 19—47; and the more extended application of sociological therory in O. Rammstedt y Sekte und soziale Bewegung, Koln 1966, and id., Stadt-unruhen 1525, in: H.-U. Wehler (ed.), Der deutsche Bauernkrieg 1524—1526, Got-tingen 1975, pp.
eBook - PDFWestern Civilization
Beyond Boundaries
- Thomas F. X. Noble, Barry Strauss, Duane Osheim, Kristen Neuschel(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 390 Chapter 14 The Age of the Reformation as a threat to strong royal government, and reformers soon found themselves with royal patrons. Elsewhere, especially in eastern Europe, no strong central governments existed to enforce religious unity, and so a variety of Christian traditions coexisted. By the second half of the sixteenth century, political and religious leaders concen- trated their energies on a process of theological definition and institutionalization that led to the formation of the major Christian religious denominations we know today. They created Roman Catholic, Anglican, Reformed (Calvinist), and Lutheran churches as clearly defined confessions, with formally prescribed religious beliefs and practices. An important aspect of the reform movement was the emphasis on individual belief and religious participation. Far from freeing the individual, however, the Christian churches of the late sixteenth century all emphasized correct doctrine and orderliness in personal behavior. Although early Protestants rejected a system that they accused of oppressing the individual, the institutions that replaced the old church developed their own traditions of control. The increased moral discipline advocated by churches accom- panied and even fostered the expansion of state power that would characterize the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Reformation Movements, ca. 1517–1545 Why did the reformers feel it was necessary to establish entirely new churches outside the Roman Catholic Church? In 1517, Martin Luther, a little-known priest and professor of theology in eastern Germany, launched a protest against practices in the late medieval church.
eBook - PDFDiscovering the Western Past
A Look at the Evidence, Volume II: Since 1500
- Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Andrew Evans, William Bruce Wheeler, Julius Ruff(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Own-ing a Bible or part of a Bible to read in one’s own language was now a realis-tic possibility. In many ways, then, the early sixteenth century was a favorable time for a major religious change in western Europe. Your task in this chapter is to assess how that change occurred. How were the ideas of Luther disseminated so widely and so quickly? How were they made attrac-tive to various groups within German society? in the way the stronger kings of west-ern Europe could, with the result that Germany supported many more indulgence peddlers than England or Spain. The decentralization of the Holy Roman Empire also left each territory more vulnerable than before to external military threats, the most significant of which in the early sixteenth century was the Ottoman Turks. Originat-ing in central Asia, the Turks had ad-opted the Muslim religion and begun a campaign of conquest westward. In 1453, they took Constantinople, and by 1500 they were nearing Vienna, arousing fear in many German rulers. The Turkish threat combined with so-cial and economic grievances among many sectors of society to make west-ern Europeans feel that the end of the world was near, or to seek a charis-matic leader who would solve their problems. Technological factors also played a role in the Protestant Revolution. SOURCES AND METHOD Before you look at the evidence in this chapter, think about how ideas are spread in modern American society. What would be the best ways to reach the greatest number of people if you wanted to discuss a new issue or pres-ent a new concept? You might want to use health issues as an example, for these often involve totally new ideas and information on one hand and are regarded as vitally important on the other. Think, for example, about how the dangers of cigarette smoking or information about the spread of AIDS are communicated. To answer the first question, we will need to examine the sixteenth-century equivalents of these forms of communication.
eBook - PDFWestern Civilization
A Brief History, Volume II: Since 1500
- Jackson Spielvogel(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
C H A P T E R 13 Reformation and Religious Warfare in the Sixteenth Century CHAPTER OUTLINE AND FOCUS QUESTIONS Prelude to Reformation Q What were the chief ideas of the Christian humanists, and how did they differ from the ideas of the Protestant reformers? Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany Q What were Martin Luther’s main disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, and what political, economic, and social conditions help explain why the movement he began spread so quickly across Europe? The Spread of the Protestant Reformation Q What were the main tenets of Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, Anabaptism, and Calvinism, and how did they differ from each other and from Catholicism? What impact did political, economic, and social conditions have on the development of these four reform movements? The Social Impact of the Protestant Reformation Q What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on society in the sixteenth century? The Catholic Reformation Q What measures did the Roman Catholic Church take to reform itself and to combat Protestantism in the sixteenth century? Politics and the Wars of Religion in the Sixteenth Century Q What role did politics, economic and social conditions, and religion play in the European wars of the sixteenth century? CRITICAL THINKING Q Where and how did the reform movements take hold, and how did the emergence of these reform movements affect the political and social realms where they were adopted? CONNECTIONS TO TODAY Q How are the religious controversies of the sixteenth century related to religious and social conditions in the Western world today? A nineteenth-century engraving showing Luther before the Diet of Worms bpk, Berlin/Art Resource, NY 301 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
eBook - PDFProtestant Empire
Religion and the Making of the British Atlantic World
- Carla Gardina Pestana(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- University of Pennsylvania Press(Publisher)
In this respect the English men and women who be-came Protestant had already entered a new world before they ever left En-gland. In this world, believers looked to the Bible and inward to the state of their own souls rather than outward to a larger community of faithful—made up of both the living and the dead—for religious guidance. They relied less on spiritual adepts to help them, instead embracing the idea of a ‘‘priesthood of all believers’’ that emphasized the individual faith tradition. Their ritual lives were less rich and full than they had been before, as they jettisoned many sacraments. The more radical reformers rejected saints’ days and the church calendar of Lenten and Christmas observance. Protestants varied among themselves as to how much of this tradition they dropped, but all of them abandoned at least some of the religious elements that had been broadly analogous with those in use elsewhere. That Protestants would enjoy less success as missionaries in the Americas and Africa than their Catholic rivals should come as no surprise, given how Reformation altered the Protestant religious sensibility. Even as Protestant reformers worked to communicate a new faith to the laypeople of the British Isles and Ireland, Catholic missionaries were undertaking the same work among Native Americans in the Americas. Euro-pean expansion during the sixteenth century was largely a Catholic affair. Reformation 57 Spain and Portugal, but especially Spain, dominated on the western side of the Atlantic, while the Portuguese were most active along the coast of Africa and, eventually, in Asia. Remaining staunch supporters of the traditional church during the Protestant Reformation, both were also affected by the subsequent currents of reform within Catholicism. The church in Spain had been reinvigorated on the eve of the Protestant Reformation, a development related to the drive to expel the Muslim Moors and the Jews from the Iberian Peninsula.
eBook - PDFWestern Civilization
A Brief History, Volume I: to 1715
- Jackson Spielvogel(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
290 Chapter Outline and Focus Questions 13-1 Prelude to Reformation Q What were the chief ideas of the Christian humanists, and how did they differ from the ideas of the Protestant reformers? 13-2 Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany Q What were Martin Luther’s main disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, and what political, economic, and social conditions help explain why the movement he began spread so quickly across Europe? 13-3 The Spread of the Protestant Reformation Q What were the main tenets of Lutheranism, Zwinglianism, Anabaptism, and Calvinism, and how did they differ from each other and from Catholicism? What impact did political, economic, and social conditions have on the development of these four reform movements? 13-4 The Social Impact of the Protestant Reformation Q What impact did the Protestant Reformation have on society in the sixteenth century? 13-5 The Catholic Reformation Q What measures did the Roman Catholic Church take to reform itself and to combat Protestantism in the sixteenth century? 13-6 Politics and the Wars of Religion in the Sixteenth Century Q What role did politics, economic and social conditions, and religion play in the European wars of the sixteenth century? ON APRIL 18, 1521 , a lowly monk stood before the emperor and princes of the Holy Roman Empire in the city of Worms. He had been called before this august gathering to answer charges of heresy, charges that could threaten his very life. The monk was confronted with a pile of his books and asked if he wished to defend them all or reject a part.
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