14.3 The Protestant Reformation: Ambient Classroom

Abuses in the Church during the late Middle Ages led to increasing worldliness and power struggles between popes and monarchs. Popes maintained lavish lifestyles and funded art projects by increasing fees for church services and promoting the sale of indulgences. This led to protests by Christian humanists who sought a return to the simple ways of the early Church. Martin Luther, a German monk and theology professor, triggered a full-scale revolt in 1517 by drawing up 95 theses against indulgences, which he posted on the door of a church in Wittenberg. Luther's teachings rejected Church doctrine that good deeds were necessary for salvation, upheld the Bible as the sole source of religious truth, and rejected the idea of a Church hierarchy with special powers. Instead, he talked of a "priesthood of all believers" with equal access to God through faith and the Bible. Luther called for the modification of other Catholic practices, including the simplification of the mass and the banning of indulgences, confession, pilgrimages, and prayers to saints.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a prominent figure in the spread of Lutheran ideas. His reforms found support among the clergy and German princes who saw Lutheranism as a way to combat Church corruption and seize Church property. Luther's ideas also gained popularity among the peasants, who hoped to gain his support for social and economic change. However, Luther strongly favored social order and respect for political authority, and he denounced the violent Peasants' Revolt. Despite efforts by Holy Roman emperor Charles V to force Lutheran princes back into the Catholic Church, a settlement was reached with the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. Meanwhile, John Calvin emerged as an important reformer with his logical and profound ideas that greatly impacted the direction of the Reformation.

John Calvin (1509-1564), a French priest and lawyer, shared Luther's belief in salvation through faith and the Bible as the only source of religious truth. He preached predestination and divided people into saints and sinners, with Calvinists aspiring to live like saints. Calvin set up a theocracy in Geneva, where citizens were expected to live strictly moral lives. Calvinism spread through Europe and set off wars of religion. In Scotland, John Knox led a rebellion that overthrew the Catholic queen and established the Scottish Presbyterian Church. Calvinists faced opposition from Catholics and Lutherans in Germany and France, and organized the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands.

[elsymonroy]

Interesting read ... and vital to what's happening today ... we're so split, we don't know what's up or what's down. I think we're entering into an integration of thought about religion ... the heart. Dr. David R. Hawkins in his book Truth vs Falsehood shows through his Map of the Scale of Conscience that the heart and mind must be one in order to ascend to The divine.