THE REFORMATION Ch. 1 Section 3

In the beginning…

The Reformation began in Germany where Renaissance ideals of the secular and individual helped weaken the authority of the church. Northern European rulers also resented the pope’s authority. However, because Germany was divided into many smaller competing states, it was difficult for the pope or emperor to impose control.

Moreover, the church had become corrupt with its leaders more interested in worldly affairs than spiritual duties. Popes spent money patronizing the arts, on personal luxuries and fighting wars. Many priests and monks could barely read and were unable to teach their congregations. Others broke vows by marrying, gambling or drinking in excess.

Martin LutherMartin Luther was the eldest son of a copper miner. His father pushed him to become a lawyer but Martin was more interested in philosophy and religion than the law. On a trip back to school from home, Martin had a life changing experience. Traveling in a thunderstorm, lightening struck nearby. Feeling scared and helpless, he prayed to St. Anne for safety and pledged to become a monk. His deliverance from the storm led to his withdraw from law school and admittance to an Augustinian monastery.

Luther witnessed the corruption of the church first hand and was particularly upset with the selling of indulgences or pardons for sins. Johanna Tetzel sold these in an effort to raise money to rebuild St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Tetzel and his priests gave people the impression that by buying indulgences, they could buy their way into heaven.

In response, Martin Luther wrote a set of formal statements called his 95 Theses which he posted to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517. This document was copied and reprinted all over Germany. Luther’s actions are seen to begin the Reformation or a movement for religious reform.

Luther’s 3 main ideas:

People win salvation only by faith in God’s gift of forgiveness. The Church taught that faith and “good works” were needed for salvation.

All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. The pope and church traditions were false authorities.

All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the Bible for them.

Pope Leo X issued a decree in 1520 threatening to excommunicate Luther if he did not take back his statements. In response, Luther and some of his students gathered around a bonfire in Wittenberg where he threw the decree in the flames. The pope later excommunicated Luther.

1521- The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V (only 20 yrs old) summoned Luther to Worms to stand trial for his offences against the church and was ordered to take back his statements. Luther refused and issued an imperial order, the Edict of Worms which declared Luther an outlaw and a heretic. The edict stated that no one in the empire was to give Luther food or shelter and all of his books were to be burned. Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony went against the edict by giving Luther shelter in one of his castles.

1522- Luther returned to Wittenberg to find that many of his teachings had been put into practice by the local clergy. Sermons in German and married “ministers” made Luther and his followers a separate religious group called the Lutherans.

1529- Many German princes supported Luther and factions supporting each side began hostilities. Princes who supported Luther signed a protest against the Catholic princes. These protesting princes came to be known as Protestants. Eventually, the term Protestant was applied to Christians who belonged to non-Catholic churches. Charles V goes to war against these Protestant princes and defeated them in 1547.