Negative Aspects of the Lutheran/Protestant Reformation - Essay Example

Negative Aspects of the lutheran/protestant reformation al affiliation) Introduction The aim of this essay is to discuss the major negative impacts of the protestant reformations that took place in Europe in the sixteenth century. The protestant reformation is also known as the reformation and is considered a schism within western Christianity that was initiated by John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli and Martin Luther as well as other early protestant reformers. Protestant reformation affected all classes of European society in the period in the sixteenth century and beyond. The major arguments will be based on religion consequences of protestant reformation as well as the political and socio economic outcomes. The paper will also attempt to explain why reformation enthusiasm ran out of steam and the way reformation prepared the way for the modern world. The negative consequences of protestant reformations Protestant reformation was the sixteenth century religious, intellectual, cultural and political upheaval that splintered catholic Europe, setting in position the beliefs and structure that would describe the continent in the modern era. In the central and northern Europe, reformers like John Calvin, Martin Luther, and Henry VII questioned the ability of the Catholic Church to define the Christian practice as well as challenging the papal authorities. They advocated for a political and religious distribution of power into the hands of pamphlets and bible reading princes and pastors. The disruption triggered persecutions, wars and Counter Reformation. The reformation period is often estimated to be between 1517 during the publication of the 95 theses by Martin Luther to 1555 Augsburg peace, that allowed the coexistence of Lutheranism and Catholicism in Germany, to the treaty of Westphalia in 1648, which brought to an end the 30 years of war1. The main idea of protestant reformation was a call to cleanse the church and a faith that the bible, not custom should be the foundation of religious authority. However, Luther as well as other reformers became the first group to utilize the printing press’s powers with an intention of providing information to a wide audience. Some of the practices of the church that was questioned included excessive papal wealth, indulgences, simony and cleric violation of the biblical and church rules of behavior. Even though the initial challenges ware aimed at reforming the practices of the church, the move led to a schism in western Christendom. The split in the western Christianity led to far reaching social and political changes. Early reformers faced opposition from secular rulers, communities and church. The movement resulted to more hostile reactions such as excommunication and death. Apart from the excommunication and death of the reformers, protestant reformation was utilized by leaders to achieve what they wanted. The reformation movement resulted to the lessened influence of the Catholic Church. Rulers wanted the church to have less involvement in the state affairs. This could be observed more clearly in England when Henry VIII established the Church of England after breaking from papal authority. The king was insecure and developed the Anglicanism as a way of passing his throne to his son. He made the move after the pope refused to support his divorce. He then established Anglicanism and crowned himself as church’s head. He used his power as the head of the church to get a divorce and ensured that his son was able to succeed him in the throne. Additionally, the Protestants and the Catholics in their zeal to defend their faiths targeted Muslims and Jews who were considered religion minorities. The protestant reformation led to opposition to the established church and the throne. Those politically opposed to the throne in France allied themselves with religious dissenters who were referred to as Huguenots. The move led to civil war that took place in various parts of the country. The reformation process led to division among people based on their religious stands. In Germany, the southern states were Roman Catholics with the northern part being majorly Lutheran. In Ireland, the English class followed the teachings of the English class with the Irish people remaining predominantly Catholics2. The protestant reformation can therefore be said to have caused division among countries as well as causing conflicts to emerge among the opposed groups. The reformation impacted on colonization and exploration of the world. In addition to the motivation for discovery and exploration, religious zeal to spread the gospel was a motivational factor. The division between the Protestants and Christians did not diminish the zeal but acted as a motivational power. The race for colonies was coupled with the desire to convert indigenous people to catholic faiths and Protestants. The move led to conflicts and cold war between the people. God, glory and gold were equally compelling motivation for discovery and explorations. The desire to spread the word of God often competed with the desire to for Gold. The catholic majesties of Spain, for instance, filled their treasury with gold and new world silver which forced them to send Jesuits to establish missions and spread the word of God among the indigenous people. The result led to the successful building of the Spanish empire, creating jealousy, interests and competition with Netherlands, France and England. The competition led to war for economic, political, global and religious dominations3. The protestant reformation had a negative effect on the indigenous people during colonization. Missions were developed throughout Latin America with an intension of converting and educating the indigenous people on the way of Catholicism. American natives in Spanish holdings were forcefully and voluntarily converted to Catholicism4. Many others were utilized as slave laborers by the Spanish people who owned the lands. Mistreatment of the people was often justified by their refusal to convert to Christianity and their heathen practices. Unintentionally, these contacts led to the spread of small pox and other diseases that drastically declined the overall native population. The reformation led the Catholic Church to establish a permanent institution known as the Roman inquisition. The aim of the inquisition was stamp out and pursues virulent heresy. The move however, painted a bad picture about the Catholic Church due to employment of tactics such as confiscation of properties, imprisonment and utilization of secular authorities to torture people and extorts confessions as well as carrying out other related punishments. Contrary to their hopes, the Roman Catholic Church was unable to neither stamp out the protestant churches nor convert Protestants back to Catholicism. Why the original reformation enthusiasm later run out of steam The sixteenth century reformers of the church had important cause to protest against a church that was led by greed and power and which had reduced the faith to political and economic manipulations. Even though the movement was not meant to create a parallel church, protestant churches emerged. The western churches have since fragmented into various denominations leading to the weakening of the protestant voices in the world5. The protestant experiments have run out of steam after over four hundred and eighty years and its reason for being has evaporated as a result of the Roman Church’s reforms. There exist large consensus among catholic and protestant theologians about the centre of faith and the consensus happens to be growing. Protestants have remained separated even after numerous reasons for their separation continue to disappear. After the break up with Rome, the protestant churches found themselves victims to the philosophical movements of modernity that were initiated by Hobbes, Locke and Descartes. The movement undermined all the authority that had been received and led to development of an individual who was his own orthodoxy. The philosophical movement was the final blow the unity of Protestants since it warranted the people to make up their own minds. Protestants embraced the aspect of modernity while the Catholics hold out against it. Being church now meant believing in the right things and not belonging to an alternative community. Protestant reformation is running out of steam, ongoing decline is taking place and so society does no longer attribute same authority to how the first reformers interpreted the world. Much of the mainland Protestantism is skipping from one church to the other, hunkering down and giving up or confusing being patriotic with doing church. How reformation prepared the way for modern world Reformation in my opinion paved way to the emergence of the modern world. Protestant reformation was a revival for the New Testament and biblical theology. The events that were brought out by reformers such as Martin Luther changed the course of history6. The 16th century reformation marks the end of middle age and the begging of modern times. The movement was the propelling force behind modern civilization. After reformation, the desire to convert people in other parts of world to either Catholics or protestant spurred civilization and gave rise to modernity. Reformation allowed prosperity in the field of science which was initially controlled the church. Through science, the world witnessed innovations and industrial development that resulted to the changes which led to development of the modern world7. Conclusion Even though protestant reformation was linked to various positive results such as the spread of the gospel to other parts of the world, Roman Catholic reforms as well as civilization, the movement was also associated with numerous negative effects that included expulsion of the Jews from Christian lands, the weakening of the holy roman empire, strengthening of the inquisition and religion conflicts in Europe that resulted to many deaths. In addition, many reformers were excommunicated and killed. References Andrea, Alfred J, James H Overfield, and Alfred J Andres. 2001. Using The Human Record: Sources Of Global History, Fourth Edition, Volumes I And II. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Cooper, J. David, John J Pikulski, and Patricia A Ackerman. 2003. Traditions. Princeton, N.J.: Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Hatto, Arthur Thomas. 1980. The Traditions. London: Modern Humanities Research Association. Jerry Bentley, Herbert Ziegler and Heather Streets-Salter, Traditions & Encounters A global perspective on the past vol II(New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2015) Kim, Kirsteen. 2010. David Westerlund, Ed., Global Pentecostalism: Encounters With Other Religious Traditions (London And New York: I. B. Tauris, 2009). X + 302 Pp., $89.50, Cloth.. Pneuma 32 (1): 144-145. doi:10.1163/027209610x12628362888153. Martin, Bernice. 2011. Global Pentecostalism: Encounters With Other Religious Traditions. Journal Of Contemporary Religion 26 (3): 505-506. doi:10.1080/13537903.2011.616066. Read More