Initially, Luther instigated a break with Rome because of both the religious abuses so common and a vehement disagreement with Catholic theology of the time. In basic terms, this meant that Luther preferred a rather rigorous Augustinian system (after St. Augustine) to the Medieval Thomistic (after St. Thomas Aquinas) one. The Thomistic view held that God alone determined human salvation, whereas the Augustinian system allowed for a more individualistic approach to religion and human affairs (Oberman, 1986).
Secondly, the Reformation is characterized by a large number of Germans and other European groups rising against Rome, primarily for their own nationalistic reasons. During the Middle Ages, the Roman papacy had both spiritual and temporal power over any king or ruler in any region. The Bible and other important documents were printed in Latin, thus forcing the ordinary citizen to utilize priestly authority in matters both secular and religious. After the development of the printing press, documents including the Bible were more accessible to the masses. Thus, instead of printing the items in Latin, the vernacular of the particular region was used. This allowed all concerned more information, and often created tension between the village priest and the townspeople (Simon, 1966). For example, since most of the previous laws had been printed in Latin, the village priest was of
...