Lutheran Revolt - Term Paper Example

Lutheran Revolt Table of Contents Introduction 2 The Main Ideas 3 Situation of the Church and the Supremacy of the Pope 3 An Attempt to Reform the Church: John Wycliffe and Jan Hus 4 Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses 6 Spread of the Reformation and its Effect on the People 7 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction Religion is a virtue that people introduced in their social system along with their development. But with the passage of time and growth of civilisation many vices percolated in to this virtuous system and the need for the divide and separatist movements have cropped up since ages. The age of reformation also known as the Protestant Revolt or Protestant Reformation, actually refers to the reformation movement in Christianity. This movement enabled the establishment of Protestantism as a branch of Christianity in contemporary era. The Reformation Movement was led by Martin Luther and John Calvin among others who are tagged as the Protestants. The reformers self-described themselves as “Protestants” and objected to the rituals and conventions that the ecclesiastical structure of Roman Catholic Church imposed on the people. Consequently, this objection led to the break in the unified Christian ecclesiastic and resulted in the formation of many protestant churches all over the Europe. To this movement and protest, the Catholics also raised a counter-reformation movement that was headed by the Jesuit order. This reclaimed a greater part of Europe, precisely the entire Poland. In general terms, the northern Europe turned protestant and the southern Europe turned Roman Catholics. The largest congregation of the new domination were the England based Anglicans, Germany and Scandinavia based Lutherans along with Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and Scotland based Reformed Churches. Along with these, there were smaller bodies too. But the most worrying part of the entire fiasco arose when severe battle took the shape of almost a war at the central Europe. Chronologically, the period of movement began in the year 1517. This was the year when Luther published the Ninety-Five Theses which was concluded in the year 1648 with the Treaty of Westphalia. This treaty marked the end of an age-drawn battle in European Religious Conflict. Martin Luther gave a definite shape to the protestant movement but there are also people who started to perceive and revolt against the autocracy of church long before Luther started his protest movement. Luther’s spiritual predecessors include the name of exuberant personalities who were dominantly responsible to move the reformation movement forward. John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are two names that deserve a mention in the history of reformation movement. Wycliffe the great English theologian and preacher was a major leader among the precursors of the Reformation Movement. Also, the leader of the Lollard Movement protested long back in 14th Century against clerical activities and the reforms that are bible-centred. Jan Hus’ teachings on the other hand had a considerable influence on the states of Europe and on the Bohemian denomination of the Christian religion. Long after that almost a century later, Hus’ doctrines remained enough strong to influence Martin Luther. The Main Ideas Situation of the Church and the Supremacy of the Pope It is evident that in the system of clergy in England certain corruption and vices percolated that tentamounted to a breakthrough into the age-old conventions resulting into Protestant Movement. The movement of Protestantism began with a motif and vision to reform the Roman Catholic Church executed out by a body known as Western European Catholics. The clergy that time was more based on the hierarchy in which the Pope played the supreme role and was considered as the highest authority in terms of power and its manifestation. The Catholic clergy became subsequently the seat of all kinds of malpractices and corruptions. The teachings were also perceived to be false and the indulgences of the sale and relative abuses were largely protested which were also pretty much against the image of the church. The rituals and the conventions of simony also incorporated into the ecclesiastical bodies of Europe and the main vice was regarded as the purchase and selling of the clerical offices. In short, the Protestants viewed the entire body of clergy to be corrupted and the corruption during the time percolated through every level of the church including Pope who held the supreme position in the clergy. Therefore, the precursors of Martin Luther and his followers felt an urgent and dire need to reform the Catholic Church which became evident and essential during the time (Simon, E., “Great Ages of Man: The Reformation”). An Attempt to Reform the Church: John Wycliffe and Jan Hus John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are regarded in the history of western religious movement as a significant precursor to the Martin Luther. Wycliffe was a renowned theologian and was among the first series of educated people in England who advocated the simplification of religion and protested against the snob and corrupted conventions and rituals of English Clergy. He felt the need of making religious ideals very commonplace and found exactly no reason for making it obscure and distancing them from the reach of the common men by placing it into a pedestal surrounded by invincible halo and raised above the general perception of the common man. With this idea, Wycliffe first started translating Bible into common language of England. Wycliffe translated the New Testament from the Vulgate language to vernacular English in the year 1382. Since then, this very popular translated version of the Bible is known by the name of Wycliffe’s Bible. He also added most of his valuable inputs into the document there by paving the way for the common man to enter into the realm of religion. Wycliffe first revolted against the clergy and made his entry into the ecclesiastical politics with the question of feudal tribute to which England was made answerable and responsible by King John. This tribute was not paid continuously for thirty-three years until Pope Urban V in the year 1365 made a demand for the tribute. Very soon the parliament of England intervened and made a declaration that neither Pope nor King John or any one across the Globe has the power to subjugate England to any alien power. It was also declared that if such steps were taken by Pope then he will have to face national resistance. Pope Urban V soon dropped the demand and the idea. During this time Wycliffe served as a theological counsel to the government. Wycliffe viewed and believed in the predestined “invisible” church of the elect rather than the prevailing convention of the “visible” Church of Rome. He wanted his theology to get incorporated into actual practice and wanted that church should be poor and without any personal property like it prevailed in the days of apostles. He started the movement with all these visions and his followers were known as Lollards and Wycliffe as “The Morning Star of the Reformation” (Wholesome Words, “John Wycliffe”). John Hus was a Czech priest who sacrificed his life for the sake of heresy. He was burned alive as he was seen as a threat to the English Church. Hus was a great preacher, reformer, and philosopher and had done his masters from the University of Prague. He opposed strongly against the doctrines of the Catholic Church and his opposition also included the ecclesiology and the Eucharist along with the other theological topics. John Hus embraced the philosophy of Wycliffe brought by the servants of Anne of Bohemia from England after her death in the year 1394. He made the proposal of reformation of the Church likely in the manner Wycliffe made the reformation in England. Some of his followers came to be known as Hussites and his stauncher and radical followers were known by the name of Taborites. The Taborites started rejecting everything in clergy and Christianity that was not recorded or based upon Bible. Around the year 1450, some Taborites established a community known as the Bohemian Brethren. The Moravian Church further nurtured the ideals led by the Brethren community in Germany and evolved out as one of the most influential and charismatic denominations in the history of early Protestantism movement. Finally in the year 1411 Huss was excommunicated as the Catholic Church deemed his ideals, philosophy and teachings declaring them as a supreme threat to the Christianity. He was condemned by the Council of Constance and was burned alive in the year of 1415 (Oberman, H. A. & Walliser-Schwarzbart, E., “Luther: Man between God and the Devil”). Martin Luther and his Ninety-Five Theses Martin Luther was a famous German priest and philosopher who initiated the Reformation Movement, following the footsteps of Hus and Wycliffe. He was a professor of theology and strongly opposed the claim led by the church that the freedom from the punishment of God and sin can be achieved by purchasing it. He opposed and confronted the activities and indulgence of the salesman Johann Tetzel by laying his Ninety-Five Theses in the year 1517. He refused to retract his theses on the demand of the Pope Leo X in the year 1520 along with the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V on the occasion of the Diet of Worms in the year 1521 which led to his excommunication by the Pope. He was condemned as an outlaw by the Emperor as well (Spaeth, A. & Et Al., “Works of Martin Luther”). Luther’s rebellious character traits also evolved in translation of Bible from Latin to common languages there by making it accessible to the common man. He married Katharina von Bora and initiated the practice of clerical marriage for the Protestant priests. Luther laid his Ninety-Five theses for the agreement within the Catholic clergy associated with the practice of baptism and absolutism. Luther’s theses paved a new and a clear dimension to the religion making it more transparent. He argued that the selling of indulgence and forgiveness is a genuine violation for the desire of penance for sin and true intention for confession. The theses laid by Luther thus occurred at the Castle Church in Wittenberg in the Holy Roman Empire where the Ninety-Five Theses by Luther stood tall and erect to display one of the largest collections of the European holy relics and acted almost as a saviour for the Christian religion from being sold at the hands of pimps in the face of clergy and ecclesiastical bodies of the Church (Domine, E., “Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther”). Spread of the Reformation and its Effect on the People The end years of the 14th century and the commencing years of the 15th century witnessed a major change in the history of theology and religion in Europe. The reformation movement almost divided the entire Europe into two halves and it gave the Europeans for the first time an option to choose between the Catholicism and the Protestantism. By the end of the year 1521, Luther’s Ninety-Five theses actually gave a place and a space for the people to opt a path to God that they felt was correct. The monopoly of the clergy was about to end and a new era touched by the winds of change, humanism and renaissance was about to indulge into the theology, science, trade and commerce, art and literature of the new world. In other words, the reformation movement opened the door of the new world that was framed on the pillars of equality and true religious justice. The corruption and hierarchy in the Roman Church received an alarming threat which in turn resulted into the counter reformation of the churches and clergy. Bible, precisely the New Testament, became available for the common people which paved the way for the better comprehension of the religion. Conclusion The reformation movement undoubtedly fragmented the unified Christian aura. But at the same time, the fact that the reformation movement played in terms of awakening the corrupted clergy is commendable. The reformation movement divided the entire Christian religion into two dominions and the Europe into two halves i.e. the respective dominions of the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. The reformation had a very strong influence that echoed till date. The various congregations and the worldwide spread of Christianity during the colonial era strengthened the activities of myriad groups and factions operating in the religious realm. References Domine, E., “Condemning the Errors of Martin Luther”. December 07, 2010. Papal Encyclicals Online. 1964. Oberman, H. A. & Walliser-Schwarzbart, E. Luther: Man between God and the Devil Yale University Press, 2006. Simon, Edith. Great Ages of Man: The Reformation Time-life Books, 1978. Spaeth, A. & Et Al. Works of Martin Luther. A. J. Holman Company, 1915. Wholesome Words, “John Wycliffe”. December 07, 2010. Christian Biography Resources. 2010. Read More