Reformation

The Medieval Catholic Church came to be associated with superstitions, corruption and greed for money. Superstitious peasants were convinced by the Church that it possessed the true Cross. People were used to paying fees for seeing a piece of wood as the true Cross because it was believed that sacred relics had healing power.

The Church laid more emphasis on blind faith than reason as it was the means to extract money from the devotees. All this changed with the coming of the Renaissance.

In the new spirit of the Renaissance nothing could be accepted. In 1517 AD that a German priest called Martin Luther first challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. According to him, the Bible was the only source of religious authority. He believed that salvation could be attained through faith in Jesus Christ instead of having blind faith on the Church.

He protested against some practices of the Church such as the selling of positions in the church, the issuing of the letters of indulgence for works of charity or going on crusades, to the highest bidder. Luther had the protection of the German Princes, primarily because of his desire to seize church property. But on 3 January 1521, he was excommunicated by Pope Leo X after he refused to stop writing against the Church.

Luther’s views started the Protestant Reformation in the West and it divided the Christian world into two, the Protestants and the Roman Catholics. According to him, Christians must win salvation by following Christ and not by buying letter of indulgence.

Though the Reform Movement in England was influenced by Lutheran ideas, the English Reformation occurred as a direct result of King Henry VIII’s efforts to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Thomas Cromwell, the King’s Chief Minister, helped the Parliament to pass the Act in Restraint of Appeals and the Act of Supremacy. It gave a royal headship to the King over the church. The king was allowed to marry Anne Boleyn, a commoner.

The Reformation proved to be a great upheaval for religious revival. A Reform Movement also took place within the Catholic Church. This is known as the Counter Reformation. It aimed to reduce corruption as well as to improve and strengthen Catholic Church. It began in Spain where Ignatious Loyal founded the ‘Society of Jesus’ which stressed upon service of God, charity, chastity and missionary work.

The movement started by Martin Luther spread to other countries of Europe through the efforts of King Henry VIII of England, Huldreich Zwingli and John Calvin.