Protestant and Catholic Reformation
Protestant and Catholic Reformation
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church, modeled upon the bureaucratic structure of the Late Roman Empire, had become extremely powerful but internally corrupt. From early in the 12th century onward, there were calls for reform. Between 1215 and 1545, nine church-councils were held with church reforms as their primary intent, yet the councils all failed to reach significant accord. Around the beginning of the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church experienced a wide range of social, artistic, and geo-political changes, which was termed the Reformation. Catholics and Protestants both demanded change; however, the way in which they fought for change differed immensely. The Protestant's approach was aimed at undermining the Catholic Church politically, economically, and socially, whereas pressure from the Protestants forced the Catholics into constant struggle to bolster their own claims and improve their corrupt nature. With help from Ignatius of Loyola, Gian Matteo Giberti, and members of the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church launched a somewhat successful counter attack. However, the division of the universal Catholic Church would be the ultimate hardship that Catholics had to endure as a result of this awakening of new ideas. The battle to monopolize people's beliefs would create a culture of religious pluralism, as it is known today.
The Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when a German monk named Martin Luther unwittingly sparked a revolution. The Catholic Church had been selling indulgences for the purpose of raising money, "dirty" money that was used to carry out certain endeavors that they were interested in. For example, they sold a jubilee indulgence near Wittenburg Castle in order to generate funds for Saint Peter's in Rome. Luther became disgusted with the Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences, thus he responded to his own inner aversion of this practice by posting a list of grievances against the Catholic Church, called The Ninety-Five Theses. Consequently, he started a religious revolution that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther's teaching of Sola Fide successfully undermined the Catholic Church's attempt to gain economic prosperity by means of remitting sins and shortening visits to purgatory for profit's sake. He accomplished this by preaching that faith alone can bring salvation. He taught that man's salvation is totally dependant upon God's activity and is in no way conditioned by the action of man. Man's choice of sin...