Unit Three

      Western Civilization

 

THE REFORMATION_1c

 

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

 

1.  RELIGION:    What role did Religion play in western civilization?

 

2.  GROWTH OF THE NATION-STATE:    How has the rise of the Nation as a                   political, economic, social and cultural institution, influenced world events?

 

3.  WARFARE:    How has the nature of War and Peace impacted world history?

 

4.  ECONOMIC GROWTH:    How has the evolution of Economic Systems, as well as                   technological developments, impacted world civilization?

 

OVERVIEW:

 

      By the sixteenth century, reform of the Christian Church was not a new idea.  Many had advocated change and a number of reforms had been carried out.  What was new about the reforms of the sixteenth century was that most of the reformers lived to tell about them.  John Huss and John Wycliffe, two of the more important earlier reformers, were both burned at the stake for their efforts to bring change to the church.  But Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli, to mention a few, lived to see their reforms.  Their reforms were to bring about change and  in most cases separate branches of the Christian Church.  Although that was not their intent, this development would have tremendous, and in some cases, disastrous effects upon western civilization, as we shall see in Unit 4.

 

      We will start with an overall look at the long-range causes of the Reformation.  We will then turn to Martin Luther as the immediate cause.  Luther did not want to establish a new church.  He wanted to restore the original values and practices of the early Christian Church.  He believed that the Roman Church no longer followed the true path of Christ, and so wished to reform that church.  Calvin and others would follow in those footsteps.  Their attempt to purify the church and the subsequent establishment of the various protestant churches make up much of the story of the Reformation.

 

      The Reformation also occurred in England.  There it came as part of the struggle between King Henry VIII and the Pope.  The Anglican Church, the Church of England as it is called,

has elements of the new reform churches and yet many Catholic elements.  You will read about the Henry’s role in the establishment of the Anglican Church.

 

     

 

 

 

 

      Did the Catholic Church respond to the protestors or was the Church already interested in reforming itself?  This is a key question in what some call the Catholic Reformation and others call the Counter-Reformation.  Whatever its name, we will look at what the Roman Church did.  We will trace the reforms of the Council of Trent, the establishment of the Jesuit religious order, and the work of the infamous Holy Office, aka the Inquisition.

 

      Finally, it is hard for some modern day students to understand how religious this period truly was.  It is hard for them to understand the religious motivations of a man like Luther.  Whether you can or can not, you must understand the Reformation was to impact western civilization’s political, economic and social life for centuries to come.  Even nonbelievers, Jews and Moslems, would be caught up in the actions of the era. 

 

      Keep these questions handy as you read about this era.

 

 

CONTENT QUESTIONS:

 

1.  What were the causes of the Reformation?

 

2.  What were the ideas behind Luther’s critique of the Church?

 

3.  Who were some of the other important leaders of the Reformation?

 

4.  What was the Catholic Reformation?

 

5.  What were the political, economic, and social consequences of       the Reformation Era?

 

     

KEY TERMS:

 

   Christian humanism                       Martin Luther

   John Calvin                                     John Knox           

    Inquisition                                        Huguenots

   Transubstantiation                           Henry VIII

   “Justification by Faith Alone”           Indulgences

   Catholic or Counter-Reformation   Ignatius Loyola

   Jesuits                                               Ulrich Zwingli

   Protestant                                           Ninety-Five Theses

   Peace of Augsburg                         “Cuius regio, eius religio”

   Peasant Revolt                                Act of Supremacy

   Council of Trent                               Index      

   Anabapists                                       Lutheranism

   “Sola scriptura”                                    “Sola fide”

   Predestination                                   John Tetzel                 

 

  

TIME LINE:

        1384   John Wycliffe- who assailed certain abuses and doctrine of the

                Church- is burned at the stake

   1415   John Hus burned at the stake

   1450  Johann Gutenberg invents printing press with movable type

   1483   Luther born

   1505   Luther enters Erfurt monastery.

   1517   Luther publicizes his  "Ninety-five Theses"

   1519   Luther challenges authority of pope at Leipzig Debate

    1521   Papal bull excommunicates Luther

   1524-25   Peasants’ revolt in Germany

   1525   Luther marries

     1534      English Act of Supremacy makes the king head of the Church of England

            German Bible published.

   1536   John Calvin arrives in Geneva

   1540   Jesuits founded by Ignatius of Loyola

   1545-63   Council of Trent

   1546   Luther dies

   1549      First Act of Uniformity imposes Book of Common Prayer on the English

 

1555                  Peace of Augsburg

1563            Elizabeth I enacts the Thirty-nine articles, which restores Protestantism to

                              England

   1572   Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

   1598   Edict of Nantes

   1618-1648   Thirty Years' War

 

 

SOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH:

 

A.  Bibliography:

Bainton, Roland.  Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. (1955)

Bainton, Roland.  The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century. (1952).

Dickens, A.G.  The Counter Reformation. (1969).

Dickens, A.G.  The English Reformation. (1974).

Durant, Will.  The Reformation. (1957).

Elton, Geoffrey.  The Reformation. (1965).

Marius, R.  Martin Luther: Christian Between God and Death. (1999).

MacCulloch, D.  Thoomas Cranmer: A Life. (1996).

McNeill, J. F.  The History and Character of Calvinism. (1954).

O’Malley, J. The First Jesuits. (1993).

Stephens, W.P.  The Theology of Huldrych Zwingli. (1984).

Weber, Max.  The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism  (1904).

Williams, G.H.  The Radical Reformation (1962, rev. 1994).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B.  Web Sites:

Primary Sources of the Reformation Era  - http://www.mun.ca/rels/reform/

Great Biographies and a wealth of Reformation materials–

                    http://www.educ.msu.edu/homepages/laurence/reformation/Luther/Luther.htm

Catholic Reformation  - http://history.hanover.edu/early/cath.htm

More Reformation info  - http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook02.html

Modern Christian perspectives of the arts and the Reformation  -

                                             http://www.artsreformation.com/

A tremendous source for Renaissance and Reformation information and WEB sites

      - http://my.execpc.com/~dboals/rena.html

BBC’s English Reformation  

      - http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/church_reformation/english_reformation_01.shtml

More English Reformation  - http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/reformation.htm

Lecture on the English reformation and the Counter Reformation  -

      - http://www.missouri.edu/~lpw476/lecture5.htm

From the Catholic Encyclopedia  - http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04437a.htm

Luther –

http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Christianity/Church_History/The_Reformation/Lutheran_Reformation/