Reformationist Spirit of Northern Europe
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The increased freedom of thought and challenges to authority that were features of Renaissance Humanism contributed strongly to the critical spirit of the Reformation. Northern variants of earlier Italian Humanism, especially the critical philological approach to Scripture and a growing belief in personal religion, were also extremely influential for Martin Luther, John Calvin and other reformers. By the sixteenth century the secular power of the Church and the abuses of the clergy had produced widespread dissatisfaction. This feeling was voiced by Martin Luther who felt that the word of God had been superseded by a merely human, and deeply flawed, authority. From a criticism of the church's abuses, Luther moved on to question the authority of the papacy, which he eventually set aside for the authority of the word of God alone. Scripture, rather than any the earthly church, was seen as the final authority in religious matters. This same approach was taken by subsequent reformers, such as Calvin, as the Reformationist spirit spread throughout Northern Europe all during the sixteenth century. The questioning of authority, inherent in Humanism and then in Luther's approach to religion, led many to assume that the reformers favored such a critical approach in the political realm as well. The rapid spread of Protestantism was due in part to the fact that greater self-determination seemed to be a logical consequence of Luther's approach to religion. Events such as the pea
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, and reform of the very nature of Christian worship. In Erasmus, all the tendencies that were to blossom into open rebellion with Luther achieved their final form among the non-Protestants. In fact, his contemporaries often accused Erasmus, who resolutely refused to depart from the Church, however flawed he found it, with having "laid the egg" that was to be hatched by Luther.
Erasmus has sometimes been accused of abandoning the Reformation his works were so influential in getting started. But, prior to the appearance of Luther and Calvin, there were few who would have predicted the overwhelming changes that were to come. More reasonably, as Dresden points out, in the early sixteenth century the "critical situation within the Catholic Church demanded reforms" and, as a "sense of emergency" evolved, Erasmus was perfectly willing to meet the need. But Erasmus always limited himself to a scholarly approach and relied on his writings, especially his satires, to bring about gradual reform of clerical abuses.
None the less, Erasmus' ideas had an enormous influence on Luther and other Reformers. In his early years, Erasmus enthusiastically adopted the devotio moderna notion of the "actual imitation of Christ's life and ideas."
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4197
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page)
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