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Black Death through Reformation The XVI century reformation that arose largely in answer to the Protestant Reformation; sometimes called the Catholic Reformation. Although the Roman Catholic reformers shared the Protestants' revulsion at the corrupt conditions in the church, there was present none of the tradition breaking that characterized Protestantism. By this century, the corruption and bribery in Roman Catholic Church was beginning to extend and becoming common phenomenon. Simony, or trading of church offices, was widespread alongside with pluralism, which was the appointment of numerous bishops in numerous areas. Tithing had become obligatory to maintain the church's greasy clergy, even the poor servants who did the duties of priest. In the meantime due to the development of the printed press, ordinary people were reading canons and dogmas for themselves. (Hodges) All these causes sparked a big resentment about the church.
With proceeding Renaissance and following French Revolution, the Reformation entirely changed the medieval way of life in Europe and commenced the modern history period. The movement dates from the beginning of sixteenth century, when Martin Luther first dared the church's authority. Although circumstances that led to his revolutionary attitude had existed for centuries and had complex political, cultural, economic, and doctrinal elements. (Mullet) Some time after reading the historical papers of Martin Luther and Ignatius of Loyola, their "conversation", I felt some irritation and antipathy toward the Catholic Church. All in all, they basically slammed the Catholic Church and everything they are. It seems that these historical document set out to expose the ways of the Catholic church and to promote the new reformed ways of the Lutheran church (if you could call it a church at the time). Luther starts off with telling all about the powers of God and how no human in existence could ever compare to the magnitude of His divinity.
I feel that this is in reference to the pope. (Luther Works) Luther is trying to tell us of the amount of power the pope possessed over the people. He tells us about the intimidation he has and how he esteems himself as possibly being in a position right below God, and how the people owed him similar respect and reverence. Luther goes on to speak about salvation and faith versus good works. In that time period, the Catholic Church taught the people that good works, "donating" money to the church, and self-mutilation among many things were all ways of being saved. This is considered absolutely ridiculous by today's standards and I have to agree yet feel sorry for the people because they grew up being forced to believe false doctrines. Luther knew this and sought out to expose the truthful way of being saved; through faith.
God didn't desire for people to live in this manner yet I wonder still how will they be saved if their whole lives were lived blasphemously. (Luther Works) The Catholic Church became afraid as the reformation had been growing stronger cause within themselves they knew they had been lying to everyone one, or as psychology would say, they were also taught in a way so repetitively, that they began to believe their own lies. Since most of the European population at that time was illiterate, the religious authorities would translate the bible to the people. This was unfortunate as they had been translating it according to their own desires and greed. This basically is how the church became wealthy and empowered as much as they were. Toward the end of the document, Luther sums up the dirtiness of the Catholic Church by aiming at the head; the pope.
He compares the pope to a cuckoo who robs eggs just as the pope robs the church of their dignity and religious freedoms and rights. He ends it by declaring every act not ordained by God idolatry, with which I must agree. (Luther Works) The Counter Reformation was led by conservative forces whose aim was both to reform the church and to secure the its traditions against the innovations of Protestant theology and against the more liberalizing effects of the Renaissance. However, one of the most important aspects of the Catholic fightback was the Society of Jesus. Founded by St.
Ignatius Loyola, a Basque ex-soldier, who had met Lutheranism and discovered that he hated it, the Order's founders were gathered by Loyola and made into Loyola's own disciples. Loyola's Spiritual Exercises and Thinking with the Church was books of some power and believed in neither mystic retreat, nor in crazed devotion, but instead in an "indifference" to the world backed up by knowledge of God and controlled mystic experience. In the Catholic Church defense by Ignatius Loyola, he seems stupid to me. He backs up the church knowing the wrong they do and starts a new religion, which ends up being, if you will, a sub-religion to the Catholics. To me he ultimately screwed himself in two places of his doctrine. In number thirteen of his doctrine where he says: "I will believe that the white I see is black if the church defines it so. " (Wylie) How retarded is it to believe something you know is wrong, when you can clearly see it is wrong.
He's literally telling people to believe whatever the church says no matter what. The second part is following in number fourteen where he tells us that salvation is only for those predestined for it. Talk about blasphemy, it's all right there. In a great majority of his document, he tells us to praise many physical things such as church buildings, sacred images, and the service of Mass.
There is no doubt that in today's society, the Catholic churches beliefs have drastically changed. They have since then, become more in accordance with the Christian Church. To compare the doctrines of Martin Luther and Ignatius Loyola, it's like comparing Christ and Satan. The doctrine of Martin Luther clearly stands out as the right doctrine by which many of our beliefs today compare very similarly.
Ignatius Loyola's doctrines were all wrong and I regard them as the devil's work. Nevertheless, the same mortifications, vigils, austerities, and intellectual efforts and agonies which were undergone by Ignatius Loyola, had but a very few years before this been passed through by Martin Luther. Until then the careers of the originator of the Jesuits and that of the upholder of Protestantism were similar. Both had set by themselves high standards of sanctity, and both sacrificed their life to achieve it. But at the point to which we have come the courses of the two men widely diverge. Both hitherto in their quest for holiness and truth had traveled by the same way; but now we see Luther turning to the Bible, "the light that shineth in a dark place, "the sure Word of Prophecy. " (Wylie) Ignatius Loyola, on the other hand, surrenders himself to revelations and visions.
As Luther went further the brighter light shone upon him. He had turned his face to the sun. Ignatius, on the contrary, had turned his gaze inward upon his own beclouded mind, and verified the saying of the wise man, "He who wandered out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. " (Wylie) Conclusively, in my opinion, the Reformation was one of the greatest things that ever happened to both Europe and the rest of the world. The ideas of the Reformation were the foundation of expression of democracy and free speech. The Reformation showed the world that their lives did not have to be run by a religious leader or Monarchist and that a person's life did not have to be centered on religion or the afterlife.
If it were not for the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the world we live in now would be a much different place. The Protestant Reformation was a major building block of history, and some would say our country. Bibliography Wylie, J. A. History of the Jesuits. History of Protestantism.
Vol. I. , 1878. Online Book, 2004 < web > Mullet, Michael A. The Catholic Reformation. New York: Routledge, 1999 Works of Martin Luther, 6 vol. , Philadelphia ed. 191532, reprinted 1982 Hodges, Miles H. The Protestant Reformation, 2002 < web >
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Research essay sample on Protestant Reformation Martin Luther
