Protestant Reformation - Essay Example

He was against corruption that prevailed in the Roman Catholic Church. John Calvin, a reformist of French origin was the father of Calvinism, a religion whose English believers were known as puritans. He was famous for his uncompromising theological and moral position and for instilling harsh teachings. He also placed a lot of emphasis on the freedom of the church and encouraged it to arrange its internal affairs by means of its own consistory. Hulrich Zwingli was another reformer. Most of the beliefs that he supported were Martin Luther’s.

Like Luther, he was against how the church defined sacrament (Eucharist), celibacy, prayers to saints, confession and use of relics. He also emphasized on the existence of communion and baptism as the only two sacraments. Despite being more radical than Luther and more political than Calvin Zwingli’s vision and movement never developed into a church. The protestant reformation is also known as the reformation era. It refers to a great religious reform that took place in Europe during the 1500s (Grcic, 2009).

According to Grcic, it “was a revolt against the authority of the Catholic Church and that destroyed the religious unity of Europe” (2009, p. 109). Different aspects of life, such as economics, government and homes were affected by reformation. In regard to the impact of the period on an international level, it changed religion, the church and the world as a whole. The protestant reformation developed from the values and ideas of the renaissance. During the reformation, reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and Huldrich Zwingli among others accused the Catholic Church clergy of being corrupt and abusing the power bestowed on them (Grcic, 2009).

They urged that Christianity ought to be more pure. As a result of the step taken by the reformers, the Catholic Church was very grieved