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At the beginning of the 16 th century, the Roman Catholic Church, modeled upon the bureaucratic structure of the Late Roman Empire, had become extremely powerful but internally corrupt. From early in the 12 th century onward, there were calls for reform. Between 1215 and 1545, nine church-councils were held with church reforms as their primary intent, yet the councils all failed to reach significant accord. Around the beginning of the 16 th century, the Roman Catholic Church experienced a wide range of social, artistic, and geo-political changes, which was termed the Reformation.
Catholics and Protestants both demanded change; however, the way in which they fought for change differed immensely. The Protestant's approach was aimed at undermining the Catholic Church politically, economically, and socially, whereas pressure from the Protestants forced the Catholics into constant struggle to bolster their own claims and improve their corrupt nature. With help from Ignatius of Loyola, Gian Matteo Giberti, and members of the Council of Trent, the Catholic Church launched a somewhat successful counter attack. However, the division of the universal Catholic Church would be the ultimate hardship that Catholics had to endure as a result of this awakening of new ideas. The battle to monopolize people's beliefs would create a culture of religious pluralism, as it is known today.
The Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when a German monk named Martin Luther unwittingly sparked a revolution. The Catholic Church had been selling indulgences for the purpose of raising money, "dirty" money that was used to carry out certain endeavors that they were interested in. For example, they sold a jubilee indulgence near Wittenburg Castle in order to generate funds for Saint Peter's in Rome. Luther became disgusted with the Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences, thus he responded to his own inner aversion of this practice by posting a list of grievances against the Catholic Church, called The Ninety-Five Theses.
Consequently, he started a religious revolution that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. Luther's teaching of Sola Fide successfully undermined the Catholic Church's attempt to gain economic prosperity by means of remitting sins and shortening visits to purgatory for profit's sake. He accomplished this by preaching that faith alone can bring salvation. He taught that man's salvation is totally dependant upon God's activity and is in no way conditioned by the action of man. Man's choice of sin has rendered him incapable of spiritual action; he is spiritually dead, and unless he is rescued from a source outside himself, he would eternally perish in this state.
These teachings caused great economic hardship for the Catholic Church by debasing their claims that indulgences eradicate sin from one's life and eventually abolishing the sale of indulgences. Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press allowed Luther's reforms to spread throughout Europe. Before the printing press was invented, books and Bibles were very rare, and people thought that the Roman Catholic Church held the final authority concerning religion and God. Leaders of the Catholic Church not only possessed the few Bibles available, but also were the only ones who could interpret them since they were written in Latin and Hebrew. Only monks and highly educated people could read and interpret the languages.
They even set laws that prohibited any persons other than the church to possess Bibles. If anyone else wanted to translate it, he or she had to translate it from the Catholic manuscripts and not from the original Hebrew or Latin texts. Protestant reform on the other hand, rejected visual imagery and insisted on primacy of the word. Therefore it was inevitable that mass production of Luther's writings would effectively rally Protestants and bring a sense of rejuvenation to their cause, eventually subverting the politics of the Catholic Church. An understanding of simple economics makes this point quite clear in studying supply and demand. Europeans had gained an insatiable appetite for the Bible, thus scriptures began to appear everywhere in Europe.
Protestants were now able to gain relatively easy access to the scripture. Given that the Catholic Church believed in a guided interpretation of the Bible, they derived interpretations of the Bible that were in their best interest. However, when Luther began teaching about receiving guidance from the Bible, "Sola Scriptura" served as a useful tag to express that scripture ought to have authority over the church and not just within the church. In this fashion, Luther's reforms successfully took root and the immediate split in the Roman Catholic Church was irreconcilable. In attempt to expose the Catholic Church, Protestants helped moved along the wave of iconoclasm that swept through Europe, particularly in the North, and experienced great successes. This was a unique approach at undermining the Catholic Church.
Protestants broke stained glass windows, destroyed images of saints and removed pipe organs from churches. They attacked the Catholic Church both economically and socially. The Protestants were trying to spread their belief that the word of God does not have to be shrouded in elaborate settings or images; the word of God can be taught anywhere. The Catholics responded to this iconoclasm with an exuberant style of art and architecture, which came to be known as the baroque. The baroque was in ideological opposition to Protestant severity.
Relative successes can be seen in the theatrical designs present in modern day Catholic Churches. This is a triumphant symbol of the Roman Catholic Church's belief in itself and its history. Furthermore, the plain churches of the North are remnants of Protestant beliefs and successes. In opposition to Luther, the Jesuits, founded by Ignatius of Loyola, aggressively lead a campaign to support Catholic doctrine and to meet Protestant's beliefs that God can be found in all things. The members of this order acted covertly within the Catholic Monarchies to exercise a strong influence in political spheres. Jesuit Priests often acted as confessors to major political leaders and thus won acclaim when Pope Paul III termed them the Society of Jesus.
In addition, this society was founded at a time when the spiritual needs of the Catholic Church were being extended. Loyola offered up his assistance in even the most remote parts of the world. Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was the founding of schools that would train recruits for his order. The fact that he lived to see the establishment of nearly one hundred colleges and seminaries founded in the doctrine of St. Ignatius Loyola speaks to his success. Alongside Loyola, another influential figure was Gian Matteo Giberti of Verona.
His ideas, leadership, and approach to reform in the Catholic Church differed largely from that of Ignatius of Loyola. Giberti aimed his efforts at reforming his diocese, whose clergy was in a deplorable state. His objectives included rigorously enforcing vows, residency, and the pastoral duties of the clergy. The report from one of the tours of his parish was, "The priests in this diocese are marked men, the unworthy are removed from their offices; the jails are full of their concubines; sermons for the people are preached incessantly and study is encouraged. " Furthermore, Giberti established a printing press in Verona, where he was able to turn out as well as produce in quantity, editions of the central works of Roman Catholicism. One can see that the printing press benefited both parties during the Reformation. Eventually his efforts at reform were crowned successful and he was beckoned by Pope Paul III to serve and make preparations for the Council of Trent.
Charles V strongly recommended that the papal Curia convene to resolve issues of internal dispute, and after many delays a council convened in Trent in December of 1545. Three basic issues were under examination; two involved broad resolves to clarify doctrinal issues in order to halt internal disputes and definitely solve the problem of ecclesiastical abuses among the clergy. The third issue was the initiation of a crusade against the infidels. Its objective was to defend against Luther's teachings of Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide as well as mend its corrupt ways. Paul III lobbied to get widespread approval to condemn the Protestant heresy, and thereby gain support for a suppression of the reformers by force.
However, in the end, the Council of Trent succeeded by not condoning violence, but simply by presenting a united front against the Protestants. The remnants of the Council of Trent include an established seminary system for the training of the clergy, establishing roman liturgy as the standard Catholic service, and condemnation of simony and the sale of indulgences. Furthermore, the Catholic Church reasserted its doctrines, placed faith on scripture as well as tradition, affirmed transubstantiation and the presence of Christ at mass (mass as sacrifice), conferred all authority to the Papacy, and fixed its seven sacraments. The Church at last proved it is capable of action, and subsequently reinforced its representation of the orthodox faith. The Reformation's lasting impacts on the world will never be forgotten.
To this day scholars debate certain aspects of it and they will continue to debate until Judgment Day. Before and during the years of the Reformation, exploration and westward colonization experienced broadened horizons and consequently was able to relieve certain pressures among warring factions in Europe. Transformations in political, economic, religious, and social fronts were experienced worldwide. When studying the Reformation, one must ultimately keep in mind that there was no correct solution in solving the disputes amongst the Protestants and Catholics, for there were corrupt men and women residing on both sides of the struggle, but it was the lasting corrections that we have come to understand in this day and age that must be remembered. The Protestant Church fought with exhausting effort to clean up religious corruption and the Catholic Church stood strong in addressing its own beliefs and fallacies.
Despite the ultimate division of the Catholic Church, the feeling of religious pluralism that ensued enabled us to witness religious freedom this day.
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Research essay sample on Protestant And Catholic Reformation
