Copyright, 1996 © Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.

Religious Reform in Europe

Objectives• Identify the problems in the Catholic Church and the desire for reform.

• Identify Martin Luther: life and career.

• Discuss his main teachings.

• Explain how politics, printing, and social grievances all played a role in the spread of Lutheranism and the outbreak of violence conflict.

Organization of the Church:

• Supreme authority lay in the Pope.

• Power of dispensation (set aside any law not ordained by divine authority).

• Confirmed the appointment of Bishops and Arch-Bishops.

• Subdivision of the Empire was the diocese.

• Archbishop primate were the leaders of the bishops (Canterbury).

• Secular clergy (Popes and Priests) and the regular clergy (monasteries)

Seven Sacraments• The soul after death goes to

heaven, hell or purgatory.• Ministrations of the church

and absolution of sin allows the soul into heaven.

• Church saves souls through the Seven Sacraments.

Seven Sacraments cont.

• Baptism, Penance (contrition, confession, and absolution), Holy Eucharist (Transubstantiation), Confirmation, Matrimony, Ordination, and Extreme Unction (Last Rights).

Abuses and Corruption in the Church:

• Benefice system: Any church position to which any revenues are attached.

• Appointments through bribery (Simony).

• Offices sold were regarded as pension and investment.

The Revenues• One tenth of the net income.

• Annates, incomes from benefices.

• Procurations were requisitions for the bishops personal entertainment.

• Indulgences

Roots of the Reformation:

• Monarchical states in France, England and Spain.

• Monarchical control over religious appointments and ecclesiastical property.

• Churches gradually took a national character.

Germany and Switzerland• Smaller states ruled by princes,

oligarchies or bishops.

• Church influence depended on lay rulers.

• Problems in communication and transportation delayed papal reform.

Critics of the Church:• Europe’s strong monarchs.• Heretical movements rejected

papal authority.• The councilor movement.• Church corruption.• Questioned Church doctrine

and the nature of faith.

The Great Schism• National churches.

• 14th century French and English kings taxed ecclesiastical property.

• Boniface VIII’s bull “Unam Sanctum” (1302)

• France’s Philip IV arrested Boniface.

Avignon Papacy• 1309 Philip IV elected Clemont V.

• Avignon Papacy (1309 - 1378)

• Gregory XI returns to Rome in 1377 and dies.

• Urban VI elected and stayed in Rome (1378 - 1389)

• Clement VII Pope (1378 - 1417)

• France, Castile, Navarre, and Scotland supported the Avignon popes.

• Italian states, Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire and England obeyed the Roman popes.

• The Great Schism enabled lay rulers to construct virtual national churches at papal expense.

• Movements based on beliefs contrary to the teachings of the Church arose.

• Waldensians in the Alps and the Albigensians in South France.

• William of Occam(1290m - 1349), and English Monk rejected scholasticism.

Scholasticism:• Associated with Thomas

Aquinas.

• Deduce the existence of god from rational proofs that moved from one premise to the next.

• Individual piety should be the cornerstone of religion.

John Wycliff: (1328 - 1384)• Wealth and temporal power had

made the church lose sight of mission.

• Church consisted of the body of those God chose to be Saved.

• Faith in reaching eternal salvation. Scriptures formed basis of faith.

• Rejected Transubstantiation.

• Demphasis on ritual reduced the importance of the Church.

• Translated the bible into English and started the Lollards.

• Criticized the churches wealth and called for a simpler religion.

• Crushed in a rebellion in 1414.

• Criticized worldliness of Church.

• Appealed to the authority of the scriptures against the customs and dogmas of the Church.

• Called the surrender of papal wealth and temporal power.

• Excommunicated min 1410

• The doctrine arose e in response to The Great Schism and the growing demand for reform.

• The Council of Constance (1414 - 1418)

• Called to resolve the Great Schism and limit the power of Papacy.

Council of Constance• Hus burned at the stake.• Hussites survived until 1620.

• Deposed the three popes.• Elected Martin V (1417 - 1431)

Council of Basel (1431)• The Pope moved the council

and declared it schismatic.

• Pope Pius II declared the conciliar movement heresy and reestablished the authority of the Pope.

When Christ was sacrificed on the cross, more merit, or “good works,” resulted than was necessary to save all those who had lived upon the earth up to that time. This surplus was accumulated in a vast treasury in heaven. To this treasury house the Pope, as God’s vicar on earth, had the keys. By means of indulgence tickets, he could dispense these merits at discretion to anxious sinners.

•Clerical Immorality

•Clerical ignorance

•Clerical pluralism

• Indulgences.–Priest’s investment trust.

–Indulgences: Began during Crusades.

–Canceled or reduced the temporal punishment.

–1457, the pope claimed indulgences could be applied to souls in purgatory.

Sale of Church Offices:• Simony

• Prominent positions would be given to Italians or bought by the wealthy.

• Rarely did the Cardinals see their ecclesiastical lands.

Moral Abuses:• 16 th century in the dioceses

of Trent, 1/5 of all priests kept concubines.

• Nepotism reigned supreme.The Churches call for sinners.

Luther’s Early Life• He was a descendant from

peasantry

• Educated by Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach

• Quit Law against father’s wishes

• Became a monk and then ordained a priest in 1507

• Gnawed with the doubt of his personal unworthiness.

• Was there any connection between good works effected on earth and salvation?

• Did unintentional omission of sins blot the soul?

• How could prayer, fasting, self-flagellation earn salvation?

• Influenced by the followers of William of Occam.

• Faith not good works was the key to salvation.

• “Man is saved not by pieces, but in a heap.”

• 1517, October 31, Ninety Five Theses.

Luther’s Teachings

• A man could not earn salvation by his own works

• Forgiveness of sin and eternal life were given for free by God

• A man was justified as soon as he discovered God’s grace

Christians are not saved through their own efforts but by the gift the God’s

grace which they accept in faith “not by pieces, but in a heap.” Friar John Tetzel

was authorized to sell indulgences

“As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul of purgatory springs.” Luther believed that no such control or influence could be had over salvation Luther’s 95 theses were nailed to the door of the Wittenberg church Wanted to reform not divide the church

• Bible could determine the correct religious practices and beliefs

• Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther

• In 1521 Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms

• The Peace of Augsburg (1555): division of Germany into Lutheran and Catholic

• An Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520) argued that nobles and clergy were the leaders of the church.

• The Freedom of the Christian Man (1520) explains Luther’s views on faith, good works, the nature of God, and the supremacy of political authority.

Social Grievances• In 1524 the peasants of Germany

revolted.

• A failure to find a mutually acceptable faith between Protestant and Catholic

• He gained the support of the upper and middle classes, while losing the support of the peasants.

• Pope Leo X orders an end.

• Elector of Saxony provides protection. (Frederick)

• 1520, Luther publishes three treatises.

• “Faith alone can bring salvation.:

• Called upon German princes to reform churches in their states.

• Scripture declared Church a priestly body not subject to Pope.

• Two of seven Sacraments (Baptism and Communion).

• Faith sufficient for reconciliation.

• Rejected poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Defining Calvinism• Calvinism: the theological

system of Calvin and his followers emphasizing the sovereignty of God and including the doctrines of predestination, limited atonement, total depravity, and the perseverance of Saints.

1. Human nature is totally depraved and unable to freely choose God

2. God unconditionally “elects” some to be saved

3. Christ died for the elect only and offers them the gift of faith

4. The Holy Spirit of God irresistibly draws sinners to Christ

5. The chosen of God will never lose their eternal salvation

Elements of Calvinism

• all believers are considered priests

• ministers chosen by the people

• God decides which people can be saved. These chosen people are called the Elect.

• Chosen before they are born

Catholic Opposition in Geneva

•Citizens of Geneva were unhappy with the Church

•Protestants throughout the city destroyed Catholic statues and altars, and converted monasteries into hospitals, thus forcing hundreds of monks, priests and nuns to flee the city

Calvin in Geneva• Calvin was very

disturbed by the apparent ineffectiveness of his teachings

• All around him, in Geneva, he saw drunkenness, gambling, prostitution and immodesty

The City of God• Calvin enforced a simplistic and

pure lifestyle

• it was thought that the government should not enforce laws on religion

• a model Christian society with ministers ruling the church and town was later developed

Calvin’s View of the Church

• To Calvin, the church was, “the mother of all who have God for their Father. There is no other way of entrance into life but by our being conceived by her….We must continue under her instruction of discipline until the end of our lives.”

Calvin’s Influence Outside Geneva

• After Calvin took up residence in Geneva, and instituted religious reforms, many churches were founded on his principles

• Reformed and Presbyterian Churches (Especially in the Netherlands) were instituted based on Calvin’s principles

The Geneva Academy

• Calvin supported the development of a municipal school system for all children, with the Geneva Academy as a center of instruction for the very best students

• In 1599, the Academy was founded• Eventually, the Geneva Academy became

a full-fledged University under the leadership of Theodore Beza