The Protestant Reformation: Crash Course European History #6

You may have noticed that the internet is terrible at religious discourse. Well, this is not a new phenomenon. In the early 16th century, the Roman Catholic church dominated Christianity in Europe, and the institution was starting to show some cracks. Tensions mounted and protests grew, and eventually, the Protestant Reformation happened. Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg, but the Reformation doesn't exactly begin with Luther, and it certainly doesn't end with him. Today, we're looking at how and why the Catholic church in Europe split, first into two sects, and eventually into a LOT of sects.

#crashcourse #europeanhistory #history

Sources:
Hunt, Lynn et al. Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, 6th ed. (Boston: Bedford St Martins, 2019 ch. 14.
Kelley, Donald R. Beginning of Ideology: Consciousness and Society in the French Reformation. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981) ch. 1.
Smith, Bonnie G. Women in World History since 1450 (London: Bloomsbury, 2019) ch. 3.

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[playea]

The return of John doing Crash Course History is the best thing to happen since sliced bread

[kristianutomotobing]

If YouTube existed in that age
#1 trending, *95 reasons why Catholic Church is wrong*

[davidspiller]

Martin Luther had 95 problems, and the Pope was one.

[Preygrantess]

I'm still waiting for Disney to buy the rights to the Schmalkaldic League of Protestant Princes from SONY so they can finally enter the MCU

[lxverdant]

The pope: We own all of western civilization!

Martin Luther: I'm about to end this man's whole career!

[Martoto]

John Green: European Christianity split into two in the 16th century.

Orthodox Christianity: Am I a joke to you?

[thomasturner]

Catholism: *_exists_*
Martin Luther: Hold my thesis

[ethefirst]

As a catholic i absolutely hated how corrupt and bad the church was before the counter-reformation.
what annoys me even more however, is when modern catholics deny that the church ever made any mistakes and act like criticising the church means you are criticising god himself.

[Jason-rkxo]

I like how when people are talking about the Protestant Reformation, they say "Christianity Split in 2" like orthodoxy just never existed.

[piotrp]

The main reason why princes helped Luther were vast lands owned by Catholic Bishops in Germany. Thanks to Reformation they were able to seize them,

[angelolorilla]

I can say... Luther *nailed* the Catholic Church with his thesis

[dominicd]

Me: has a church history final in 11 hours
John green a few days ago: here, have this

[Cae_the_Kitsune]

I had to pause this video and come back, and when I did, I was greeted by a very unamused expression from John and the large word "REPENT."


Yikes.

[paraglokhande]

Hey Crash Course! Can you make a video on Eastern Orthodoxy in the future please? Please do consider!🙏🙏

[shermanhow]

Catholic Church: Let's sell indulgences


Martin Luther: OBJECTION!

[shaneben]

Catholic Church: 1 like = 1 soul out of purgatory

[davidpearce]

So glad to see John back in the seat! As a teacher of world history, I do not know what we would do if we were forced to show those boring videos that makes us all go to sleep. John puts the cool back in learning history. Keep up the good work!

[deraldanderson]

what about the great schism in 1054 that split the orthodox and roman catholic church

[waffle]

**Just to clarify something for a lot of people in the comment section who seem confused - **

When John says "Christianity split from two groups into many different sects" he is first referring to the original split that happened before Luther in Christianity, and then he transitions into what Martin Luther brought about, which was Christianity splitting into many sects. But he does acknowledge that before Marthin Luther there was already two main sects of Christianity that being Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox which came about becomes of the Great Schism in 1054 long before Martin Luther. What Martin Luther did was split Christianity even further by kick-starting the creation of many different Protestant groups who now (because of his actions) felt they had the right to be their own thing separate from the Roman Catholic church. When he says there were two groups he is not referring to Catholicism and Protestants, because the term "Protestant" is a catch-all term that refers to all the denominations that came about because of the Protestant Reformation, so being "Protestant" is not in it of itself a sect in Christianity, but refers to many sects that came from Martin Luther's actions. This is why when he says "Christianity split from two groups (Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox) into many different sects. (these would be the Protestant)"

Hopefully, this explanation helps the people who thought he forgot about Eastern Orthodox, because he did not, he just did not refer to it by name.

[GR]

In the German Church, there were abuses of indulgences that were never meant to be sold. Luther's doctrine of Sola Scriptura was his invention that was unheard of until Luther came along. This doctrine was the single reason for the cleaving of Christendom as others decided they could interpret the scriptures themselves. Even the reformers could not agree on biblical doctrine and used the scriptures to refute each other.