The Protestant Reformation

On the eve of and during the Reformation, common people were concerned with salvation. They fasted, went on pilgrimages, attended mass,

bought indulgences. The question of salvation was large in their lives.

The Reformation

I. Causes of the ReformationII. Martin Luther Challenges the

ChurchIII. England Becomes Protestant

IV. Protestant Splits OccurV. The Catholic Reformation

I. Causes of the Reformation

I. Causes of the Reformation Problems in the Catholic

Church include: Popes spent extravagantly on arts and fought wars. Many priests and monks could barely read, let alone teach people. Others broke their vows by marrying, gambling, or drinking to excess.

I. Causes of the Reformation

Collections of relics grew more popular as a means to salvation.

According to church practice at that time, through veneration of a relic, a person could gain an indulgence – a release from all or part of the punishment for sin.

II. Martin Luther Challenges the Church

II. Luther Challenges the Church

In 1517, Martin Luther took a stand against the church selling indulgences.

An indulgence was a pardon for a sin.

He wrote the “95 Theses”, or formal statements, attacking this practice.

II. Luther Challenges the Church

He posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church in Saxony, Germany.

His actions begin the Reformation, a movement for religious reform.

II. Luther Challenges the Church

His teachings rest of 3 main ideas. People could win salvation only by faith in

God's gift of forgiveness. All Church teachings should be clearly

based on the words of the Bible. All people with faith were equal.

II. Luther Challenges the Church

In 1520, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther.

The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V declared Luther an outlaw and heretic.

Luther and his followers become a separate religious group, called Lutherans.

II. Luther Challenges the Church 1529, German princes who

remained loyal to the pope agreed to join forces against Luther's ideas.

Princes who supported Luther signed a protest against that agreement. They became known as Protestants.

Emperor Charles V went to war.

II. Luther Challenges the Church

Eventually, the term Protestant was applied to all Christians who belonged to non-Catholic churches.

Even though Charles V defeated them, he failed to force them back into the Catholic Church.

III. England Becomes Protestant

III. England Becomes Protestant

When Henry VIII became king of England, he was a devout Catholic

He wanted a male heir. He and his wife,

Catherine of Aragon, had one living child-a daughter, Mary.

III. England Becomes Protestant

He wanted to divorce his 42 year-old wife for a younger queen.

In 1527, he asked the pope to annul his marriage, but the pope turned him down.

In 1529, he asks Parliament to end the pope's power in England.

In 1534, the Act of Supremacy makes the English king, not the pope, the head of the Church of England.

III. England Becomes Protestant Henry marries Anne

Boleyn, who was in her twenties.

She gives birth to a girl. He imprisons her in the

Tower of London and later beheads her.

Henry marries four more times. His third wife gave him a son named Edward.

III. England Becomes Protestant

After his death in 1547, each of his three children eventually ruled.

Edward VI became king at age nine and only ruled for six years.

Mary ruled next returning the English Church to the rule of the pope.

Elizabeth I inherited the throne in 1558 and returned her kingdom to Protestantism.

III. England Becomes Protestant

Elizabeth I reign was a time of great prosperity and achievement.

She was the declared the head of the Church of England, or the Anglican Church.

In 1588, she defeated an invasion by the Spanish Armada, the most powerful navy in the world.

IV. Protestant Splits Occur

As Christians began to interpret the Bible for themselves, new Protestant

groups formed over differences in belief.

IV. Protestant Splits Occur John Calvin grew up to

have as much influence on Protestants as Luther did.

He created a doctrine known as predestination.

The religion based on Calvin's teachings is called Calvinism.

IV. Protestant Splits Occur

The Theology of Predestination: Men and women are sinful by nature. God chooses a very few people to save. These few are "the elect”. God has known since the beginning of time

who will be saved.

IV. Protestant Splits Occur

John Knox put Calvin's ideas to work in Scotland.

Each church was governed by a small group of laymen called elders or presbyters.

Followers of Knox became known as Presbyterians.

IV. Protestant Splits Occur

Another group believed that only adults could decide to be baptized.

Those baptized as children should be re-baptized as adults.

These believers were called Anabaptists.

IV. Protestant Splits Occur Anabaptists refused to

fight in wars and shared their possessions.

Both Catholics and Protestants persecuted them.

They became the forerunners of the Mennonites and the Amish.

V. The Catholic Reformation

V. The Catholic Reformation While Protestant churches

won many followers, millions stayed true to the Catholic Church.

This was helped by a movement within the Catholic Church to reform itself, known as the Catholic Reformation.

In 1545, Pope Paul III called the Council of Trent.

V. The Catholic Reformation

Catholic bishops and cardinals agreed on several doctrines:

The church’s interpretation of the Bible was final.

Christians need faith and good works for salvation.

The Bible and Church tradition were equally powerful authorities.

The Legacy of the Reformation Protestant churches flourished. Religion no longer united Europe. Individual monarchs and states gained

power. The Reformation helped to set the stage for

the modern world.