FEATURED ESSAYS 1. Three Periods Of European Histor... 2. Modern European History: The Refo... 3. The Protestant Reformation And Co... 4. Martin Luther King Jr. 5. The Protestant Reformation 6. The Catholic Church And The Middl... 7. Desiderius Erasmus 8. Martin Luther And John Calvin Mos... 9. Movie Analysis - Sand Pebbles 10. The European Union 11. Compare And Contrast The Attitude... 12. Consequences Of The 30 Years W 13. Celtic Invasions 14. Luther And The Reformation

Modern European History: The Reformation


      I believe the statement "The reformation was a rejection of the
secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance" is false because in the long
term of European history, the reformation was able to create a more
humanistic view of the world than that of the Renaissance humanism.  There
are three major changes and philosophies that the Protestants of the
reformation incorporated which led to the long term advancement of Humanism.
 These are the beginnings of "free thought" away church dogma, the
development of Capitalism, and the questioning of religious and
Governmental authorities.

     Before Martin Luther's reformation the church dictated how Christians
teachings should be interpreted, even the reading of the bible was
discouraged.  There also was the "indulgences" issued by the clergy, which
was in essence a "passport to heaven".  This out-raged some people like
Martin Luther who stressed an individual interpretation of the bible, in
books like Freedom of a Christian, stressing salvation by faith alone. This
first division of the church in to Protestant caused many more religious
groups to form on each interpretation of the bible.

     The next important long-term change, Capitalism stemmed from Calvinism.
 Calvinism was a religious movement which believed in the individuals
responsibility to reorganize society according to "God's plan". Max Weber,
the famous German sociologist, in his study The Protestant Ethic and the
Spirit of Capitalism, argued that these ideas led to the development of
Capitalism.  Secular life was able to develop in this environment.

     The last important change came from thee many people who were not
satisfied with the existing forms of Government and religious authority.
Clergy and royalty were believed to be intermediaries between God and the
common person.  This meant the a king could say God told him anything and
it must be accepted. Martin Luther and many other of the early Protestants
became objects of protest for the groups not satisfied.  In 1525 many of
Martin Luther's followers revolted against the German nobility. These
protestants wrote "We...take it for granted that you will release us from
serfdom as true Christians".  This was the ultimate refutation that led to
the reformation.

     All of this change, from the reformation the entire way of religious
thought changed.  At first, the Protestant Reformation did reject the
secular spirit, but in the long term, the revolting caused individual
thought leading the great changes I described in this essay.  The
Protestant Reformation was a major building block of history, and some
would say our country.