Reformation

 The Reformation was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church in particular to papal authority, arising from what was perceived to be errors, abuses, and discrepancies by the Catholic Church. The Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now the Roman Catholic Church. It is also considered to be one of the events that signify the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period in Europe.

Movements have been made towards a Reformation prior to Martin Luther, so some Protestants, such as Landmark Baptists, and the tradition of the Radical Reformation prefer to credit the start of the Reformation.

Luther began criticizing 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 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 the forgiveness of 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 Chamnitz published the 1565-73 Examination of the Council of Trent as an attempt to prove that Trent innovated on doctrine while the Lutherans were following the footsteps of the Church Fathers and Apostles.

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 the Reformation-era confessionalization, Western Christianity adapted different confessions. Radical Reformers, besides forming communites outside state sanction, sometimes employed more extreme doctrinal change, such as the rejection of the tenets of the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon with the Unitarians of Transylvania. Anabaptist movements were especially persecuted following the German Peasant's War.

Leaders within the Catholic Church responded with the Counter-Reformation, initiated by the Confutatio Augustana in 1530, the Council of Trent in 1545, the formation of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1540, the Defensio Tridentinae 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 remain 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 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 remained today.

The absence of Protestants, however, does not necessarily imply the failure of the Reformation. Although Protestants were excommunicated and ended up worshipping in communions separate from Catholics (contrary to the original intentions of the Reformers), they were also suppressed and persecuted in most of Europe at some 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. 

x--------x

This post is sponsored by Tiffany & Co. Men's Leather Bracelet.