Protestant Reformation Essay Research Paper Title Protestant

Protestant Reformation Essay, Research Paper

Title: Protestant ReformationContent: An overview of the Protestant Reformation in EuropeDescription: Discuss the Protestant ReformationReligion is a predominant force in our world today. It also played a strong impact on the lives of those alive during the Protestant Reformation. Recently, many events have occurred to change the way people view religion such as the holocaust and more recently, the Branch-Davidians in Waco, Texas. But even a more spectacular event in history occurred when a group of people decided that just because everyone around them had said it was so, that did not mean that they should blindly follow this idea. The Reformation was led in three different countries’ by three different men who varied in the reasons for their countries need for reformation. The Reformation was “an attempt to recover a lost golden age of primitive purity as set forth in the Bible” (”Protestantism”, 206). This search for the “primitive purity” led to some very impure acts by some on the quest to regain this cleanliness. The origin of the word, “Protestant”, stemmed to an event which took place nearly a half-millenium ago in April of 1529 at an assembly of a politicaland religious leaders when a protest was read against the accustomed traditions of Roman Catholicism. The protesters, who consisted of 14 free German cities and six Lutheran princes, read their complaint to those in attendance at the assembly known as the Diet of Speyer. The assembly itself contained Roman Catholic princes of Germany and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. The challengers of the previously untouchable Catholic dogmas stated that if they were forced to choose between obedience to God and obedience to Caesar, they would unanimously choose in favor of God. Needless to say, the Diet was not delighted to hear such unheard of slander against everything there country stood for. This milestone of rebellion in religion furnished the name “Protestants” to those gathered there to protest. Although the protesters did not immediately welcome this new label placed upon them, their enemies did. The protesters main foe became the Roman Catholic church which in turn declared all those who claimed to be Christian, but opposed Catholicism, as Protestants. This declaration entailed the protesters, Baptists, Lutherans, and other denominations. Commencement of the Reformation was spear-headed by a German monk, Martin Luther. Born in 1483 in Eisleben, Martin Luther began his schooling in Magdeburg. Although he led a very strict childhood, his parents used this rigid boarding only as positive reenforcement. Martin Luther was brought up to believe in superstition mixed with Christianity which led to his more liberal interpretation of the Bible. After his initial schooling, he went on to study in many different universities across Germany. During one of his daily travels, Martin was thrown to the ground when a bolt of lightning struck near him. He interpreted this as a sign from God. At that instance, he declared that he would give up his schooling and become a monk. As a monk, Martin Luther led a very expected solitary life. He devoted himself to endless hours of contemplation of religion and the fundamental workings of all aspects of Catholicism. But the hours of constant meditation and study of the Bible led him to find ominous flaws in the papal doctrine of that day. Bainton said it best in his book, Here I Stand, when he said, the man who thus called upon a saint was later to repudiate the cult of the saints. He who vowed to become a monk was later to renounce monasticism. A loyal son of the Catholic Church, he was later to shatter the structure of the medieval Catholicism. A devoted servant of the Pope, he was later to identify the popes with the Antichrist. For this young man’s name was Martin Luther (15). Many of Martin Luther’s followers proclaimed him to be a prophet of the new era. Some went as far as to compare him to Moses because he reformed the culture of the religious world just as Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt (Bainton, 18). Still others compared him more so to John the Baptist. Bainton said that “he has revived the Christian consciousness of Europe” (15). In doing this, Luther laid the bridgework just as John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus, and for this reason, his followers referred to him as the “German Hercules” (Bainton, 93). After Martin Luther, there came a man from France who would take the Reformation to the next plateau. Born in 1509 in Picardy, France, John Calvin was the fourth son of the secretary to the chapter of the NoyonCathedral. Calvin was given many excellent schooling opportunities as he was friends with a family that were relatives to the bishop of Noyon. Later, Calvin attended college in Noyon. His father had predetermined that John would enter the priesthood. With this decision in mind, John’s father sent him to the University of Paris. There, Calvin became fascinated with his classes in logic which relayed to him the art of argumentation. However, his father decided that Calvin should not continue to study theology, but turn his attention to law. This turn derived from an argument of Calvin’s father with the cathedral chapter. Calvin followed his father’s wishes, but in his heart, he never forgot his true calling to religion. Accordingly, when his father died in 1531, Calvin was free to make his own choices and completed his