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Reformation

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For other uses, see Reformation (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Reform movement.

The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation[1]) was
a movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political
challenge to the Catholic Church and in particular to papal authority. Although the Reformation is
usually considered to have started with the publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther in
1517, there was no schism between the Catholic Church and the nascent Luther until the 1521 Edict of
Worms. The edict condemned Luther and officially banned citizens of the Holy Roman Empire from
defending or propagating his ideas.[2] The end of the Reformation era is disputed: it could be
considered to end with the enactment of the confessions of faith. Other suggested ending years relate
to the Counter-Reformation or the Peace of Westphalia. From a Catholic perspective, the Second
Vatican Council called for an end to the Counter-Reformation.[3]

Overview Edit

Movements had been made towards a Reformation prior to Luther, so some Protestants in the tradition
of the Radical Reformation prefer to credit the start of the Reformation to reformers such as Arnold of
Brescia, Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, Petr Chelčický, and Girolamo Savonarola.[a] Due to the
reform efforts of Hus and other Bohemian reformers, Utraquist Hussitism was acknowledged by the
Council of Basel and was officially tolerated in the Crown of Bohemia, although other movements were
still subject to persecution, including the Lollards in England and the Waldensians in France and Italian
regions.[citation needed]

Luther began by criticising the sale of indulgences, insisting that the Pope had no authority over
purgatory and that the Treasury of Merit had no foundation in the Bible. The Reformation developed
further to include a distinction between Law and Gospel, a complete reliance on Scripture as the only
source of proper doctrine (sola scriptura) and the belief that faith in Jesus is the only way to receive
God's pardon for sin (sola fide) rather than good works. Although this is generally considered a
Protestant belief, a similar formulation was taught by Molinist and Jansenist Catholics. The priesthood of
all believers downplayed the need for saints or priests to serve as mediators, and mandatory clerical
celibacy was ended. Simul justus et peccator implied that although people could improve, no one could
become good enough to earn forgiveness from God. Sacramental theology was simplified and attempts
at imposing Aristotelian epistemology were resisted.

Luther and his followers did not see these theological developments as changes. The 1530 Augsburg
Confession concluded that "in doctrine and ceremonies nothing has been received on our part against
Scripture or the Church Catholic", and even after the Council of Trent, Martin Chemnitz published the
1565–73 Examination of the Council of Trent[4] as an attempt to prove that Trent innovated on doctrine
while the Lutherans were following in the footsteps of the Church Fathers and Apostles.[5][6]

The initial movement in Germany diversified, and other reformers arose independently of Luther such as
Zwingli in Zürich and John Calvin in Geneva. Depending on the country, the Reformation had varying
causes and different backgrounds, and also unfolded differently than in Germany. The spread of
Gutenberg's printing press provided the means for the rapid dissemination of religious materials in the
vernacular.

During Reformation-era confessionalization, Western Christianity adopted different confessions

Leaders within the Roman Catholic Church responded with the Counter-Reformation, initiated by the
Confutatio Augustana in 1530, the Council of Trent in 1545, the Jesuits in 1540, the Defensio Tridentinæ
fidei in 1578, and also a series of wars and expulsions of Protestants that continued until the 19th
century. Northern Europe, with the exception of most of Ireland, came under the influence of
Protestantism. Southern Europe remained predominantly Catholic apart from the much-persecuted
Waldensians. Central Europe was the site of much of the Thirty Years' War and there were continued
expulsions of Protestants in Central Europe up to the 19th century. Following World War II, the removal
of ethnic Germans to either East Germany or Siberia reduced Protestantism in the Warsaw Pact
countries, although some remain today.

Absence of Protestants however, does not necessarily imply a failure of the Reformation. Although
Protestants were excommunicated and ended up worshiping in communions separate from Catholics,
contrary to the original intention of the Reformers, they were also suppressed and persecuted in most
of Europe at one point. As a result, some of them lived as crypto-Protestants, also called Nicodemites,
contrary to the urging of John Calvin, who wanted them to live their faith openly.[8] Some crypto-
Protestants have been identified as late as the 19th century after immigrating to Latin America.[9]

Origins and early history Edit

See also: History of Protestantism

Earlier reform movements Edit

See also: Bohemian Reformation, Hussites, Lollardy, Waldensians, and Arnoldists

Execution of Jan Hus in Konstanz (1415). Western Christianity was already formally compromised in the
Lands of the Bohemian Crown long before Luther with the Basel Compacts (1436) and the Religious
peace of Kutná Hora (1485). Utraquist Hussitism was allowed there alongside the Roman Catholic
confession. By the time the Reformation arrived, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Margraviate of
Moravia both had majority Hussite populations for decades now.

The oldest Protestant churches, such as the Unitas Fratrum and Moravian Church, date their origins to
Jan Hus (John Huss) in the early 15th century. As it was led by a Bohemian noble majority, and
recognised, for a time, by the Basel Compacts, the Hussite Reformation was Europe's first "Magisterial
Reformation" because the ruling magistrates supported it, unlike the "Radical Reformation", which the
state did not support.

Common factors that played a role during the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation included the
rise of nationalism, simony, the appointment of Cardinal-nephews, and other corruption of the Roman
Curia and other ecclesiastical hierarchy, the impact of humanism, the new learning of the Renaissance
versus scholasticism, and the Western Schism that eroded loyalty to the Papacy. Unrest due to the Great
Schism of Western Christianity (1378–1416) excited wars between princes, uprisings among the
peasants, and widespread concern over corruption in the Church, especially from John Wycliffe at
Oxford University and from Jan Hus at the Charles University in Prague.

Hus objected to some of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church and wanted to return the church in
Bohemia and Moravia to earlier practices: liturgy in the language of the people (i.e. Czech), having lay
people receive communion in both kinds (bread and wine—that is, in Latin, communio sub utraque
specie), married priests, and eliminating indulgences and the concept of purgatory. Some of these, like
the use of local language as the liturgical language, were approved by the pope as early as in the 9th
century.[10]

The leaders of the Roman Catholic Church condemned him at the Council of Constance (1414–1417) by
burning him at the stake despite a promise of safe-conduct.[11] Wycliffe was posthumously condemned
as a heretic and his corpse exhumed and burned in 1428.[12] The Council of Constance confirmed and
strengthened the traditional medieval conception of church and empire. The council did not address the
national tensions or the theological tensions stirred up during the previous century and could not
prevent schism and the Hussite Wars in Bohemia.[13][better source needed]

Pope Sixtus IV (1471–1484) established the practice of selling indulgences to be applied to the dead,
thereby establishing a new stream of revenue with agents across Europe.[14] Pope Alexander VI (1492–
1503) was one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes. He was the father of seven children,
including Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia.[15][better source needed] In response to papal corruption,
particularly the sale of indulgences, Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses.[16][better source needed]

A number of theologians in the Holy Roman Empire preached reformation ideas in the 1510s, shortly
before or simultaneously with Luther, including Christoph Schappeler in Memmingen (as early as 1513).

Magisterial Reformation Edit

Main articles: Magisterial Reformation, Martin Luther, and History of Lutheranism § The start of the
Reformation
Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses in 1517

Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms, where he refused to recant his works when asked to by Charles V.
(painting from Anton von Werner, 1877, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart)

The Reformation is usually dated to 31 October 1517 in Wittenberg, Saxony, when Luther sent his
Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences to the Archbishop of Mainz. The theses
debated and criticized the Church and the papacy, but concentrated upon the selling of indulgences and
doctrinal policies about purgatory, particular judgment, and the authority of the pope. He would later in
the period 1517–1521 write works on devotion to Virgin Mary, the intercession of and devotion to the
saints, the sacraments, mandatory clerical celibacy, and later on the authority of the pope, the
ecclesiastical law, censure and excommunication, the role of secular rulers in religious matters, the
relationship between Christianity and the law, good works, and monasticism.[17] Some nuns left the
monastic life when they accepted the Reformation, such as Katharina von Bora and Ursula of
Munsterberg, but other orders adopted the Reformation, as Lutherans continue to have monasteries
today. In contrast, Reformed areas typically secularized monastic property.

Reformers and their opponents made heavy use of inexpensive pamphlets as well as vernacular Bibles
using the relatively new printing press, so there was swift movement of both ideas and documents.[18]
[19] Magdalena Heymair printed pedagogical writings for teaching children Bible stories.

Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych
Zwingli. These two movements quickly agreed on most issues, but some unresolved differences kept
them separate. Some followers of Zwingli believed that the Reformation was too conservative, and
moved independently toward more radical positions, some of which survive among modern day
Anabaptists.

After this first stage of the Reformation, following the excommunication of Luther in Decet Romanum
Pontificem and the condemnation of his followers by the edicts of the 1521 Diet of Worms, the work
and writings of John Calvin were influential in establishing a loose consensus among various churches in
Switzerland, Scotland, Hungary, Germany and elsewhere.

Although the German Peasants' War of 1524–1525 began as a tax and anti-corruption protest as
reflected in the Twelve Articles, its leader Thomas Müntzer gave it a radical Reformation character. It
swept through the Bavarian, Thuringian and Swabian principalities, including the Black Company of
Florian Geier, a knight from Giebelstadt who joined the peasants in the general outrage against the
Catholic hierarchy.[20] In response to reports about the destruction and violence, Luther condemned
the revolt in writings such as Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants; Zwingli and Luther's
ally Philipp Melanchthon also did not condone the uprising.[21][22] Some 100,000 peasants were killed
by the end of the war.[23]

Radical Reformation Edit

Main article: Radical Reformation

The Radical Reformation was the response to what was believed to be the corruption in both the Roman
Catholic Church and the Magisterial Reformation. Beginning in Germany and Switzerland in the 16th
century, the Radical Reformation developed radical Protestant churches throughout Europe. The term
includes Thomas Müntzer, Andreas Karlstadt, the Zwickau prophets, and Anabaptists like the Hutterites
and Mennonites.

In parts of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, a majority sympathized with the Radical Reformation
despite intense persecution.[24] Although the surviving proportion of the European population that
rebelled against Catholic, Lutheran and Zwinglian churches was small, Radical Reformers wrote
profusely and the literature on the Radical Reformation is disproportionately large, partly as a result of
the proliferation of the Radical Reformation teachings in the United States.[25]

Despite significant diversity among the early Radical Reformers, some "repeating patterns," emerged
among many Anabaptist groups. Many of these patterns were enshrined in the Schleitheim Confession
(1527), and include believers' (or adult) baptism, memorial view of the Lord's Supper, belief that
Scripture is the final authority on matters of faith and practice, emphasis on the New Testament and the
Sermon on the Mount, interpretation of Scripture in community, separation from the world and a two-
kingdom theology, pacifism and nonresistance, communalism and economic sharing, belief in the
freedom of the will, non-swearing of oaths, "yieldedness" (Gelassenheit) to one's community and to
God, the ban, salvation through divinization (Vergöttung) and ethical living, and discipleship (Nachfolge
Christi).[26]

LiteracyEdit
Martin Luther's 1534 Bible translated into German. Luther's translation influenced the development of
the current Standard German.

The Reformation was a triumph of literacy and the new printing press.[27][b][18][29] Luther's
translation of the Bible into German was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy, and stimulated as
well the printing and distribution of religious books and pamphlets. From 1517 onward, religious
pamphlets flooded Germany and much of Europe.[30][c]

By 1530, over 10,000 publications are known, with a total of ten million copies. The Reformation was
thus a media revolution. Luther strengthened his attacks on Rome by depicting a "good" against "bad"
church. From there, it became clear that print could be used for propaganda in the Reformation for
particular agendas, although the term propaganda derives from the Catholic Congregatio de Propaganda
Fide (Congregation for Propagating the Faith) from the Counter-Reformation. Reform writers used
existing styles, cliches and stereotypes which they adapted as needed.[30] Especially effective were
writings in German, including Luther's translation of the Bible, his Smaller Catechism for parents
teaching their children, and his Larger Catechism, for pastors.

Using the German vernacular they expressed the Apostles' Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian
language. Illustrations in the German Bible and in many tracts popularized Luther's ideas. Lucas Cranach
the Elder (1472–1553), the great painter patronized by the electors of Wittenberg, was a close friend of
Luther, and he illustrated Luther's theology for a popular audience. He dramatized Luther's views on the
relationship between the Old and New Testaments, while remaining mindful of Luther's careful
distinctions about proper and improper uses of visual imagery.[32]

Causes of the Reformation Edit

Erasmus was a Catholic priest who inspired some of the Protestant reformers

The following supply-side factors have been identified as causes of the Reformation:[33]

The presence of a printing press in a city by 1500 made Protestant adoption by 1600 far more likely.[18]

Protestant literature was produced at greater levels in cities where media markets were more
competitive, making these cities more likely to adopt Protestantism.[29]

Ottoman incursions decreased conflicts between Protestants and Catholics, helping the Reformation
take root.[34]
Greater political autonomy increased the likelihood that Protestantism would be adopted.[18][35]

Where Protestant reformers enjoyed princely patronage, they were much more likely to succeed.[36]

Proximity to neighbors who adopted Protestantism increased the likelihood of adopting Protestantism.
[35]

Cities that had higher numbers of students enrolled in heterodox universities and lower numbers
enrolled in orthodox universities were more likely to adopt Protestantism.[36]

The following demand-side factors have been identified as causes of the Reformation:[33]

Cities with strong cults of saints were less likely to adopt Protestantism.[37]

Cities where primogeniture was practiced were less likely to adopt Protestantism.[38]

Regions that were poor but had great economic potential and bad political institutions were more likely
to adopt Protestantism.[39]

The presence of bishoprics made the adoption of Protestantism less likely.[18]

The presence of monasteries made the adoption of Protestantism less likely.[39]

Reformation in Germany

Reformation outside Germany

Spread

Conclusion and legacy

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

Last edited 22 hours ago by Materialscientist

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