The Reformation of Christianity in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe - Essay Example

The Reformation of Christianity in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe Introduction Christianity for centuries has been the world’s biggest religious body with the religion currently having more than 2.1 billion followers worldwide. Christianity is influenced by the teachings of Jesus Christ who lived on earth some 2000 years ago. According to Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God, who is fully divine and the savior of humanity. Christ is the Messiah, who will come to judge the living and the dead. Based on this faith, Christians are walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ to emulate his teachings in anticipation of the Day of Judgment1. Nevertheless, despite a requirement that Christianity be a religion that walks in the footsteps of Christ, the religion has undergone many challenges and reforms owing to the socio-cultural factors in different regions of the world where the faith is proclaimed. In an attempt to understand Christianity and the path of becoming a Christian in commune with the Christ, this paper is purposed to explore Christianity in Europe especially during the late medieval and early modern times. It was during this period that there was a lot of cultural interaction in Europe, which greatly influenced Christianity during the era. The paper will thus focus on the reformations that occurred in Christianity with inference to the leaders, challenges faced by reformations, as well as the implications of the reformations, to Christianity in Europe during the period. Reformation of Christianity At the time the Christian faith was developed in Antioch, and the apostles of Jesus Christ first called Christians, the church was a single community of believers proclaiming the same faith and doctrines. Despite the existence of opinion differences among the faithful, there were amicable solutions to the questions of faith and ethical teachings that were mainly borrowed through inference to the work of Jesus. After setting of the first church in Vatican, Christianity remained as single religion of the same church, with Catholic being the church of Christ at the moment; it was not until the 16th century that eminent cracks developed among the followers and leaders of the church resulting to reformations within the church2 Reformation of Christianity can thus be termed as a religious revolution that that took place in the 16th century. The greatest leaders of reformation were Martin Luther and John Calvin. With highly developed social, economic and political effects, the Reformation became the foundational basis of the Protestantism that is one of the branches of Christianity. Reformation in the late medieval Europe resulted from a complex intricate of the factor with the office of the papacy pointed as the pinnacle of the genesis of the Reformation. Over the years before actualization of reformation ideas, the office of the papacy had become deeply involved in the political affairs of the Western Europe3. The increased wealth and power of the church and political manipulations in the affairs of the Western Europe diminished the position of the church as a spiritual force. Abuses such as the sale of spiritual privileges and corruption among the clergy further undermined the respect of the church as a spiritual authority. Despite the clear failures of the church, the Catholic faith still enjoyed unprecedented support and followership by the majority in Europe. The 16th century Reformation was a presidental factor with the reformers within the medieval church such as St. Francis of Assisi addressing aspects in the divergence of the faith of the church before 1517. At the onset of the 16th century, Erasmus of Rotterdam, who was a humanistic scholar, was among the chief proponents of liberal Catholic reforms. He attacked the popular superstition in the church and questioned the limitations of Christ as the supreme moral teacher. The advocacy for liberalism within the Church is a pointer to the ongoing concern of renewal within the church even before the years of Protestantism4. Martin Luther claimed that the distinguishing factor between himself and the early reformers of the church was that, while the others attacked corruption in the life of the church, he looked at the theological root of the problem. According to Luther, the root of the problems of the church was the perversion of the doctrine of grace and redemption. In his thesis, Luther attacked the indulgence system while insisting that the Pope has no authority over purgatory; thus, the doctrine of the merit of the saints had no ground in the gospel. These claims laid the basis for the concerns for ethical and theological reforms of the church. Even though Luther did not intend to break from Catholic, a confrontation with the papacy was eminent and in 1512, Luther was excommunicated from the church, thus paving ground for the reform movement that became a fracture in the Christendom. Reformation movement in Germany With the excommunication of Martin Luther from the Catholic Church, reformation movement within Germany diversified almost immediately. Equally, in Germany, there developed other impulses of reforms that were independent of the instigation of the excommunication of Martin Luther from the Catholic Church. Hildrych Zwingli built a Christian theocracy in Zurich where the church and the state joined for the service of God. Zwingli agreed with Luther in the doctrine of justification by faith but exposed a different understanding of the Holy Communion. According to Luther, the doctrine of transubstantiation was a falsified belief where the bread and the wine in the Holy Communion became the actual body of Christ. In his reasoning, the Christ was physically present in the elements since he is omnipresent. However, Zwingli claimed that the entitlement to the Holy Communion and spiritual presence of Christ and the declaration of faith by the recipient justified the doctrine of transubstantiation5. Reformation in the Germany was equally manifested in the stand towards baptism. According to some reformers who were referred to as radical reformers, baptism was to be performed only on adults and not on infants as practiced by the Catholic Church. Baptism according to this group was a holy divinity symbolizing faith and was only to be administered to those who had professed their faith in Jesus Christ. Reformation was greatly manifested in Germany through the preaching of Luther; he empowered the peasants with the motion of “priesthood of all believers”. At the time Reformation in Germany ended, Lutheranism had become the religion of the state throughout Germany, the Baltics, and the Scandinavia. Reformation in Switzerland and England Reformation in Switzerland began in 1519 with the preaching of Ulrich Zwingli. In 1541, John Calvin, exiled from France as a result of protesting against the church was invited to settle in Geneva and apply his reformation doctrines. With the presence of Calvin in Geneva, the city became a hotbed for Protestant exiles; thus, his doctrines were quick to spread to Scotland, France as well as in the Dutch where Calvinism became a religion and economic force for four hundred years. The separation of the Anglican Church of the Catholic Church began in 1529 and was completed in 1537. Nevertheless, reformation movement in England was more conservative than in other countries in Europe. Reformation in England was chiefly driven by the political necessity of Henry VIII. Henry VIII had been at a point a sincere supporter of Catholic faith and even in one time authored a book that criticized Luther, but later found it politically beneficial to break from the papacy6. In 1534, King Henry removed the Church of England from the authority of Rome, and the supremacy act recognized Henry as the supreme head on the earth and the Church of England. With the removal of the Church of England from the authority of Rome, the policy of dissolution of the monastery was effected. Some pilgrimages and pilgrims were attacked with a huge amount of the church property and land given to the crown and ultimately to the nobilities and the gents thus strengthening the support for the dissolution of the attachment of the church to Catholic. Notable opponents of the Reformation in England like Bishop John Fisher and Thomas more were executed for their opposition to the Henrichian Reformation. Reformation in France Reformation in France was as a result of the spread of Protestantism from Germany. On a personal basis, Francis I who reigned in France between 1515 and 1547 maintained an attitude of tolerance as according to his interest in the humanist movement. In 1534, Protestants in France denounced Catholic in placards, a wave that gripped the whole country. The issue of religious faith was thus through into the political arena threatened the stability of the Kingdome. The Protestant movement in France resulted at the beginning of the anti-protestant persecution with the burning chambers built in Paris acting as persecution places for the anti-protestants7. Even though in Geneva, Calvin still took an interest in the religious affairs of France and being beyond the rich of the king of France, he continued training pastors who would lead congregations in France. Reformation in France was achieved at an expense of a civil war, with the peak of the atrocities committed in the name of religion witnessed the St. Bartholomew’s day massacre of 1572 when the Roman Catholics killed between 30,000 and 100,000 Protestants. The war between Protestants and the Catholics only concluded with the assumption of Henry IV to power, issuing a decree of religious tolerance to the minority Protestants. Impacts of Reformation of Christianity in Europe Among the major implications of reformation of Christianity in Europe was felt in the unity of Europe as a Christian society. The unity of Europe was shattered, and the institution of the church was divided. Many denominations developed in Europe as a result of the Protestant action thus undermining the initially strong religious fabrics that bound the continent together. Reformation at the same time resulted in the vernacular translation of the Bible and many religious scriptures. The churchs authority and the papacy were challenged as people had an opportunity to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. Reformation thus gave people a new sense of coming to God without the mediation of the church and the priests. As a result of reformation of Christianity in Europe, the level of intolerance for one another declined as persecutions of those who held a divergent religious opinion from the popular opinions in particular areas were killed or excommunicated. Both the Catholics and the Protestants participated in religious prosecution with the Catholic Church using inquisition courts, burning of books that were perceived to be challenging the church as well as the violent religious wars. On a political point of view, Reformation created a politically fragmented Europe on a religious line with nations aligning themselves either as Catholics or as Protestants8. With the crumble of Catholic as the central pillar of religious authority, Reformation affected the social atmosphere with a rising sense of individualism. People sought to develop better lives for themselves, socially, politically and economically. This led to the crop of the middle-class members of the society who became stronger and continued to expand both politically and economically. As a result of the reformation, there grew a sense of skepticism in the society concerning the traditional institutions, thus there resulted in a higher growth towards secularism. This resulted in a rise of modern science, a tool that further challenged religion in the society. Bibliography Bergendoff &Coniad. "Luthers work, volume 40." Church and ministry II. (Fotress publishers 1950), 265-278 Gerald Straus. 2013. “The German reformation” Essential reading in history, 224-257 Michael G. Baylor. “The radical reformation.” Cambridge University press, 172-180 Rottenburge. Trial and martyrdom of Michael Sattler. Spiritual and Anabaptist writers, 136-147 Zwingli, and Bullinger. The library of Christian classics volume XXIV. (The Westminster press 2005), 239-279 Read More