The Reformation

HOW IT STARTED

Humanism Definition: Gaining knowledge through reason, not religious faith. Giving importance to the individual and to society.

Humanism didn’t stop people from having religious faith, but it did cause them to question things about it.

Problems within the Roman Catholic Church

The church was very concerned about money. And people were unhappy with their tax policies.

Selling indulgences, which was basically selling a pardon for someone’s sins. Bishops were living like Kings and building large castles, etc, for family members.

Declarations like the one during the crusades that said anyone who fought would be free of sin.

Disputes in the church, such as who was pope, made people question their church.

John Wycliffe Priest in England in the 1370’s. Preached that Jesus was the head of the church, not the Pope.

Said that all religious truth came from the Bible, and therefore people should be able to read the Bible.

Started the first translation of the Bible into English (this became the King James Version of the Bible which is the most widely read English translation)

Erasmus

Christian Humanist who lived in the 1500’s.

Believed people should use reason to become better Christians.

Said it was not enough to participate in religious activity, but that it was important how you lived your everyday life.

1509: wrote a book where he criticized the church and their focus on money (even said the Pope wasn’t a real Christian!)

The Reformation Project Students will be creating a booklet with some information about the Reformation.

The booklet will describe issues that people had with the Roman Catholic Church, various religious movements that sprung up from that conflict and a timeline of how events played out.

Students will use a handout that has two maps printed on it.

OutsideCover Students make a “Top Ten” list of problems that people had with the Church at the time of the Reformation.

These problems can be taken from the presentation given in class, the book or by researching the internet for Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis.

Inside Each map will be color coded to represent religious locations before and after the Reformation. An accurate key will need to be included.

In the section below the maps, students create a three column table highlighting the three major movements opposed to the Church: Lutheranism, Calvinism and the Anglican Church.

Describe and summarize the following elements:

◦ Leaders of the movement◦ Beginnings of the religious offshoots◦ The focus of the new religious

movement◦ Ways it was different from the

Roman Catholic Church

Timeline On the back cover, students create a timeline of the Reformation that includes 7 points of interest with a brief description of each (similar in nature to those found at the beginning of each chapter in the textbook).

Timeline should be accurately laid out and would reflect information from the inside panels.