How Reformation Influenced the Formation of National Identity in Europe and North America - Essay Example

? Ways in which the Reformation influenced the formation of national identity in Europe and North America Perhaps the most significant context of the recent study of nations and reformation has been the increasing interest in national identities across the historical profession. A closer look into reformation reveals that national identity is something constructed rather than natural. Nationality was created as particular types of social and cultural interactions encouraged people to imagine a national community where previously there had been only unrelated groups or individuals. With this view, Wolfe (2003, p. 24) notes that the vital moment in the formation of identity came when individuals came to view amorphous mass of people as sharing a common history, destiny, culture and interest. In the past few decades, the examination of the history of religion has shifted from the ghetto of clerical history to which it had been long impounded (Veer & Lehmann, 1999, p. 21). Having looked at the general state of identity in the European countries, it is imperative to focus attention on the relationship between reformation and national identity in the European and North American nations. In reference to Arnold (1999), Reformation is the religious insurgency that occurred in the Western church in 16th century. Martin Luther and John Calvin were its greatest leaders. It had far reaching political, social and economic effects and was the primary cause of Protestantism, one of the three primary divisions of Christianity. Meyer (2009) denotes that this revolution aspired to reform the practices and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the revolution’s religious elements were complemented by political leaders who aimed at extending their supremacy and control to the detriment of the church. This upsurge brought an end to the unity inflicted by medieval Christianity and, according to many historians, marked the start of a new era (Meyer, 2009). A deterioration of the old order was by now in progress in North Europe, as verified by the materialization of flourishing new cities and a resolute middle class. The efforts and determination of the leaders of reformation resulted to the creation of new protestant churches (Clark, 2000, p. 251). The world of the medieval Roman Catholic Church from which the reformers aggressed was an intricate. Over the centuries, the church, especially the papacy, had been involved in the political life of Europe. This had resulted to manipulations which prompted the reformers to revolt. The Catholic Church controlled the economy of majority of Europena countries and imposed heavy taxes on the people (Meyer, 2009). Luther saw that Catholic was a way of manipulating the people and driving them away from God. In 1517, Martin Luther, posted a document referred to as the 95 theses. This document outlined reasons by why he believed that Catholicism was completely defective (Clark, 2000, p. 253). Martin Luther’s stand transformed some parts of the Roman Catholic set of guidelines and numerous other practices. He insisted on the point that the Bible and not the pope, was the main way to recognize God’s Word. The pope was an extremely worldly figure and held supremacy in the Catholic Church. For this reason, Arnold (1999) asserts that this point raised eyebrows across the continent. Martin Luther felt that the bible was the most significant aspect in spirituality which the Christians should abide to other than the orders of the pope. He felt that this was an unfair to the true significance of salvation. When Luther criticized the Catholic Church, not everyone accepted him as a savior of religion. At first, he only appealed to the barbarians and other lower class people. No one in the religion had acknowledged the importance of the document written by Luther, though it would be one of the most significant documents to ever be written in history (Meyer, 2009). Many public figures wanted to excommunicate him. The church did not want to involve him in its activities. This motivated people to break away from the Catholic Church to form their own Lutheran Church. This was established in order to keep the religion going. It was established exclusively on the idea of purification of the church with a new start, which Luther did plenty to accomplish (Chidester, 2001, p. 123). The reformation and the establishment of the Lutheran Church transformed the culture in European nations wholly and assisted in shaping the national identity of the Europe and Northern American nations (Bossy, 1985, p.54). It made the society all together live more nourishing lives by cutting down on their criminal offenses and sinful acts. This is accredited to the idea that as churches began to mark what is acceptable and what is not, the people began to live a more holy life in all aspects. Since the religion had far reaching influence on the government and politics, the relevant authorities of the different nations could no longer depend on buying-off the church to get their way (Chidester, 2001, p. 125). After reformation, the authorities have had to deal with issues in a non-corrupt way, which engrosses the buying off churches in order to make the issue they are tackling socially tolerable. They no longer have to say that, since the church has acknowledged their ideas, the rest of the society will. During reformation, freedom was at most at stake. It was the church that cultivated the artistic freedom of the Baroque and the Renaissance. The Protestants shattered the religious art of sensualist and adultery (Chidester, 2001, p. 76). The Protestants funded the literary freedom of the humanists and insisted that an individual’s fate was determined before he was born. This assisted in bringing freedom to the European and Northern American nations, which has for a long time shaped the national identity of the countries (Clark, 2000, p. 256). The Europeans saw themselves as profoundly fortunate that they had escaped the bondage of the Catholicism. They viewed other countries who had not been redeemed from the bondage of Catholicism as essentially corrupted. They were thus given a heightened, ideological sense of the border of their nation; and were provided with a sense of national character which had rejected the sensuous debauchery, priestly persecution and monarchial tyranny which were thought to be the defining vices of Catholicism. Reformation contributed to the perception by the British to think of themselves as the chosen ones too. The British thought of themselves as the ‘chosen nation’ (Brown, 2009, p. 62). In this view, the early contemporary Englishmen’s sense of themselves as the unique adherents of God’s true faith, led them to believe that they were the successors of the Old Testament Jews, and that they enjoyed a similarly privileged relationship with the deity (Bossy, 1985, p.54). Noticing the parallels between the Hebrews’ situation surrounded by unbelieving pagans, and their own position in a largely popish continent, the English came to think that they too were God’s Chosen people. They came to believe that they were the object of God’s special love’ they thought that they too received His special care and protection; and they too argued that they had entered into a peculiar covenant with heavenly powers, in which they gained providential blessing in return for their continuing efforts to sustain and extend true protestant worship (Chidester, 2001, p. 82). This bred a feeling of uniqueness and produced a peculiar vision of national history (Brown, 2009, p. 162). This was a protestant national identity that helped shape the contemporary European and northern American national identities. An interesting effect of Reformation is the growth of nationalism. In reference to Clark (2000, p. 261), nationalism refers to the perception of the members of a nation have towards their care for national identity and the actions that the members of the country take up to attain self-determination. Reformation led to the removal of the Pope’s overarching authority over the European rulers and leaders. Prior to the reformation of the pope, he could apprise the kings and rulers to stop war against each other on the threat of excommunication from the Catholic Church. He also rallied the different European and Northern American nations under one banner. Though the battles among the countries may have been an atrocity, they assisted in bringing unity among the nations. Moreover, nationalism was brought about by the reformation through language (Myhill, 2006. P. 66). After reformation, the bible could now be rewritten in different languages, instead of being in Latin. In the different states, the vernacular version of the bible became more significant than the Latin version (Myhill, 2006, p. 67). This also marked the first time use of some languages in Europe for writing. With the growth of the individual languages’ significance, the distinction between different language groups and nations were highlighted. This helped create unity among people who spoke the same language. For instance, the Burgundians started to view themselves as French other than inhabitants of Burgandy. The differences created by the different national languages brought about the national identities in the European and North American countries (Clark, 2000, p. 264). However, although reformation acted as a unifying factor in England, this was not the case in France. The central structure of the French was portioned. In this country, the only factor that united the people was religion and monarchy. Nationalism brought about the strengthening of the rulers against the church. This was a desirable state by the rulers. For instance, in the name of the reformation, Henry VIII stripped the pope off the powers to rule over the English church (Clark, 2000, p. 266). In addition, the German princes were glad to be free from the power of the pope. In the name of the Reformation, the European leaders would now erect their nations according to the patterns of their choice. Reformation changed the people’s view points on faith. It transformed their faiths from a monolithic form to a plethora of competing doctrines. This brought about freedom of worship to the European nations (Veer & Lehmann, 1999, p. 132). Arguably, we can note that prior to the Reformation, there was no freedom of worship and the only church that was present was the Roman Catholic Church. This had deprived the people their right to worship under different religions. Throughout the past centuries and decades, people have believed that the five dimensions of national identity; prosperity, freedom, civilization, Protestantism and Christianity, are interrelated and that the linchpin has been Protestantism (Meyer, 2009). Christianity and reformation is believed to have gone hand in hand with civilization in the European and North American countries. For instance, in England, it is true that as Christianity made progress, so did civilization advance, and as civilization advanced, so did Christianity become more deeply rooted, and shines now as the light of an enlightened people. References Arnold, J. L. (1999, March). The cause and Results of the Reformation. IIIM Magazine, 1(2). Bossy, J. (1985). Christianity in the West 1400-1700. Oxford University Press. Brown G. (2009). The Death of Christian Britain. Routledge. Chidester, D. (2001). Christianity: A global History. Penguins Books. Clark, J. C. (2000). Protestantism, nationalism and national identity 1660-1832. The Historival Journal, 43(1), 249-276. Ihalainen, P. (2005). Protestant nations redefined: Changing perceptions of national identity in the rhetoric of the English, Dutch, and Swedish public churches, 1685-1772. Leiden: Brill. Meyer, N. (2009, May 19). Effects of the Protestant Reformation. Yahoo Voices. Retrieved December 2012, from http://voices.yahoo.com/effects-protestant-reformation-3304348.html?cat=34 Myhill, J. (2006). Language, religion and national identity in Europe and the Middle East: A historical study. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. Veer, P., & Lehmann, H. (1999). Nation and religion: Perspectives on Europe and Asia. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Wandel, L. P. (2011). The Reformation: Towards a new history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wolfe, J. (2003). In Religion in History. Conflict, Conversion and Co-existence. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 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