The Emergence of the Western Civilization - Assignment Example

Money played a big role in the 16th and 17th centuries. Aside from ensuring the successes of emperors and monarchs’ hold on their subjects, armies, state, and the conquest of enemy territories (as in the case of Charles V of Spain), money fueled unrest in society as its importance became increasingly exposed. The need for money, to pay for taxes imposed by the rulers, and the lack of it by some people and the way it was used to buy off people and the support of the pope engendered unrest, revolts, and uprisings.

B Martin Luther was a German monk who lived in the 15th century and who rebelled against the traditions and rituals imposed by the Catholic Church. He believed that a person is saved alone by the grace of God and not by his own action, and indulgences or certificates issued by priests absolving them from their sins in exchange for ‘pious’ acts like giving money to the Church. Ulrich Zwingli, a priest in Switzerland, attacked the Catholic Church for its ritualistic practices not found in the Scriptures.

John Calvin, on the other hand, was a French scholar who, inspired by Luther, subsequently turned to Protestantism. The distinctions between the three reformists are: while Luther was plainly against the ritualistic traditions of the Church, Zwingli questioned scriptural content by declaring that the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist was mere symbolism, a claim opposed by Luther who believed the presence is real and not merely symbolic. Calvin, on the other hand, although inspired by Luther's writings, went beyond Luther’s individual salvation objective by emphasizing the place of the individual in the salvation of the universe (pp 345-349).