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Catholic Church & the Reformation

The Age of Reformation was marked by the Protestant revolt against the tyrannies and corruption of the Catholic Church. The revolt was primarily against practices of the Church which mixed the secular and the religious and led to an emphasis on an abuse of power by church officials and a favoring of materialistic and worldly over spiritual matters. For example,

Bishops worked for their respective states as well as for the church, and they were paid by the church for their services to the state. It is astonishing that so many conscientiously tried to carry out their religious duties on top of their public burdens (McKay 442).

Calls for reform from within the church were ineffectual, which led to the Protestant movement from outside the church (McKay 443).

One of the worst wrongs of the church leading to the Reformation was the selling of indulgences. An indulgence was originally comprised of penance for sins, but church officials perverted its original intent and sold indulgences for money, declaring that "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs" (McKay 444). In other words, eternal salvation could be bought for money.

Martin Luther's protests against the purchase of indulgences and other church perversions led to his break with the church. In general, Luther and John Calvin sought to return Christianity and Christians to a concern with God and the Bible rather than with the church and the pope. The term "Protestant" came to refer to non-Catholic Christians.

The differences with the Catholic Church which formed the basis of Protestantism were four in number, having to do with salvation, religious authority, the church itself, and the highest form of life as a Christian. Luther, as representative of his followers as well as much of the Protestant movement which came out of his efforts, argued that salvation was won by faith alone, and not works; that religious authority "rests in th...

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Catholic Church & the Reformation. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 07:31, March 19, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1703349.html