Coming straight out of the beginning of the Renaissance, the minds of many were filled with new ideas and broader perspectives. Ideas about the earth from Copernicus and new intelligences about human anatomy from Leonardo DaVinci started to make sense and stick with the people of that time. With the invention of the printing press around 1440, books and new age philosophy's were being easily printed in bulk and spread throughout Europe for everyone to see, especially the middle class.
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| 2. http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/200302/200302_104_john_wyclif.cfm John Wycliffe; translated the New Testament |
The reformation was the beginning of the division of the Church. It started out small but its ideas and influence grew to affect more than just the people of the Church. The Reformation began on account of all the malpractices, scandalous actions, false doctrines and corruption found in the Church. These ideas started to become known around, 1415, the time of John Wycliffe and Jan Huss. John Wycliffe led a movement to reform the Roman Catholic Church. He was a writer and philosopher who had a great interest in Bible theology and was also greatly involved in politics. He wrote many books concerning his findings that went against Church teachings. One of his biggest accomplishments was his translation of the New Testament into English. The translated version is referred to as the Wycliffe Bible. Even with Wycliffe’s efforts many people still rejected his attempts at reformation and attacked him with heresy, scandal and blasphemy. (John Wycliffe, English Bible History)
John Huss was a Czech priest who, because of his preachings of Reformational views and heresy against the Catholic Church, was burned at the stake. This man brought up the idea that indulgences were absurd and he became a hero to Martin Luther. Huss also had the same intensions as Wycliffe to provoke change in people through making the wrong doings of the Church known, but still people were not ready for change (Keifer E, James). Gutenburgs printing press helped with the spread of these accusations and made them known to the public. There was also lots of anger from the Germans and middle class at the Papal authority and Papal taxation. Things were beginning to seem unfair to the middle class and with rising national identities, the spread of renaissance ideas and more king's coming into power, the Reformation was beginning to emerge.
With the Holy Roman Empire having great power over Western Europe, there was only one religion dominating the area and it was the Catholic religion. There was many corrupted tendencies happening in the church. Some of this corruption was just speculated but many were known to the public. Clergy were participating in sinful acts and were not properly educated in church teachings. On top of this, indulgences were being sold. These indulgences claimed that with their purchase, the soul of a loved one will be freed from purgatory. This was the idea that upset and pushed Martin Luther to write the famous 95 Theses, the trigger of the Reformation.
Martin Luther was then excommunicated from the church because the Pope was so infuriated and wanted to put an end to his teachings.
In 1521, Luther was then summoned to the Diet of Worms, with a promise of safety during his travels by Prince Fredrick III, who was a supporter of Martin Luther. During the trial, the Church expected Luther to recant everything he was preaching and writing that went against the church. Of course, Luther refused to recant because he saw no proof against his theses. This is where Martin Luther spoke his infamous words, "Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise." (Bainton, 185)
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| 3. http://www.luther.de/en/worms.html Luther at the Diet of Worms |
After Worms, Luther was deemed an outlaw and all his writings were banned. He was then kidnapped for his own safety and kept at the Wartburg near Eisenach. While in seclusion Luther translated the New Testament into German so that others could read the Bible and interperet it themselves. (Martin Luther: Time Line)
In 1530, Charles V, who was the Holy Roman Emperor, called upon the bishops, princes and electors to address the issues of the Reformation and Luther himself. Under a lot of pressure from a possible attack from the Ottoman Empire, Charles V wanted to unify his people before an attack became eminent. Instead, the princes presented a document that solidified the practices of a Lutheran Religion, and this was the beginning of the spread of a new religion.
