Transcript The Reformation

The Reformation
Objective: Analyze the causes, course, and
effects of the Reformation
Mrs. Chen
7th grade World History
The Weakening of the Catholic
Church
• By the late Middle
Ages, two major
problems were
weakening the
Catholic Church:
1. Corruption within
the Church
2. Political conflict
between the
monarchy and
papacy
Criticism of the Church
• The Church owned 1/5 to
1/3 of all the lands of
Europe and Church
leaders needed large
sums of money to
maintain such a large
institution
• Many people were
angered by some of
the ways in which the
Church earned and
spent its money…
• Corruption: Too often,
clergy failed to live up to
their roles as spiritual
leaders and many broke
their vows while some
seemed to ignore
Christian values and
morals altogether.
Criticism of the Church:
How they earned Money
• Europeans paid taxes to the
Church, while the Church did not
have to pay any taxes to the
monarchy
• Objection to the sale of
indulgences, pardons from sins.
• Objection to simony, the buying
and selling of spiritual or holy
things
• Critics did not like how the Church
spent large sums of money on arts
and their own personal pleasures.
Criticism of the Church:
corruption
• During the Middle Ages, the church was a political
and economic institution as well as a religious one.
By the 1300s, many Catholics felt that the church
had become far too wordly and corrupt.
• Many priests, monks, and nuns broke their holy
vows not to marry or have children
• Some church leaders behaved like royalty instead of
humble servants of God, living in elegant palaces
and wore jeweled robes.
Political Conflict:
The Great Schism
• In 1305, Clement V was
elected pope and moved the
center of the Church to
Avignon, France
• Since then, most of the popes
were French
• Other Europeans and many
church officials felt the French
king was controlling the pope
and wanted to move the
center back to Rome.
The Split…
• The church split into two sides, one with a
center at Rome and the other at Avignon.
• Each side elected a pope who had same
powers
• This caused confusion and doubt among
the Christians and weakened the Church
• In 1417 the two popes resigned and
church officials elected a new pope based
in Rome who began to unify the Church
again
Reformers…
• John Wycliffe in England
questioned the pope’s
right to levy taxes and
appoint church officials
without the king’s approval.
He was the first to translate
the Bible into English
vernacular.
• Desiderius Erasmus, a
humanist from Holland,
criticized the clergy for
neglecting Christian
values, but also criticized
reformers for trying to
divide the Church.
Martin Luther Confronts the
Church
 Martin Luther was a
German monk and
scholar who believed
that people could only be
saved through faith in
Christ and disapproved
of the sale of
indulgences
 In 1517 in Wittenberg,
Martin Luther wrote all
his complaints against
the Catholic Church in
his Ninety-Five Theses
and nailed it to the door
of the Castle Church
Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses
• Main Ideas of Lutheranism
• The Bible is the only
source of religious truth
and everyone should have
access to it
• People do not need the
clergy to interpret the Bible
• Salvation can be gained
through faith in Christ (NOT
the sale of indulgences)
Protestants
• In 1529, some German Princes
made an agreement to unite
against Martin Luther and stay
loyal to the Catholic Church
• Other Princes who supported
Luther and signed a “protest” to
the agreement became known as
“Protestants”, a term that
became the name for any
Christians who broke away from
the Catholic Church.
The Printed Word
• Printing the Bible from
Latin to vernacular
(common local
languages), as a result
people could read and
interpret the Bible for
themselves (they did
not need the clergy to
interpret it for them
anymore)
Luther’s Ideas Spread…
• Priests who agreed with
Luther preached his ideas
• Merchants spread Luther’s
ideas along trade routes
• Peasants used Luther’s
ideas to justify revolts
(humanism)
The Reformation Grows
• The Church of England
(The Anglican Church)
• King Henry VIII wanted to
divorce his wife, the pope
would not grant his divorce,
so Henry rejected the
power of the pope and
• Calvinism
founded the Church of
England (Anglican
• John Calvin believed in
predestination – the belief Church
that a person’s salvation
is determined before birth
and cannot be changed
Church Divisions
Christianity
Eastern Orthodox
Catholicism
Protestantism
Lutheran
Calvinist
Anglican