The Reformation

The Reformation

1. When people decided that they weren't happy about how the church was run they wanted to improve or "reform" it

2. Causes

   • Abuses in the church
     • Ignorant Bishops
       • Priests didn't know what they were on about when they spoke in latin and didn't bother learning the 10 commandments
     • Wealthy Bishops
       • Many bishops were very wealthy due to tithes(church taxes) and money and land left by rich people to the church
         • This money was generally used as personal wealth not donating to the poor etc.
     • Unworthy Popes
       • some popes were really stupid like trying and failing at murder and having kids which is a no go when your a priest and all that
     • Indulgences
       • Over time the church bribed people with an imaginary ticket out of hell or purgatory in return for real money to donate to church funds
         • This gave off the idea that if you were rich you didn't have to go to hell
   • The Renaissance
     • people now had confidence in their own abilities instead of feeling inferior to a god or king thanks to the people who stood up during the Renaissance
     • The Renaissance was clearly famous for the production of works of art but a lot of these were paid for by the pope through church funds
       • Most of the church funds were made up of tithes paid by poor people
         • This angered some people
   • The Printing Press
     •  I think that the printing press allowed for mass production and distribution of the reformation ideas. It could also have been used to discredit the catholic church in the minds of the public at large. The more documents that you can product and get out to the people, the more they tend to believe what they read....if they can read...that is probably another good thing...it encouraged the illiterate to become knowledgeable and therefore actually learn about what the organized church was really doing to them...prior to that you had to learn to read latin (with the printing press documents were often translated into the vernacular), and the only ones allowed to do that were the clergy...
     • The printing press helped to spread new ideas
       • Some of these ideas were critical of the church
       • Some of these exposed the abuses in the church
       • Up until the printing press was developed there were very few bibles as monks inscribed them word for word in latin
         • So if you wanted to read the bible you would need to know latin and be a member of the Catholic clergy
         • Which was a very slow and expensive ordeal
         • The Catholic church was very strict as to what should be read by the people
   • or things that made people angry

3. Martin Luther

   • Was a massive influence during the Reformation as he was the father/founder of Lutheran which later lead to Protestantism
   • Studied to become a lawyer
     • Caught in a thunderstorm and promised that if he survived he would become a priest
       • He did survive and became an Augustine monk
         • Justification of Faith
           • Believed that only faith in Jesus could save our souls
             • But the church believed that faith AND good works were needed for salvation
   • 1517 Martin Luther was a monk and a popular professor in Wittenberg,Saxony,Germany
     • Friar John Tetzel came collecting for the rebuilding of St.Peter's Basilica in Rome granting 'indulgences' for the souls of the peoples dead loved ones
       • Angry Luther wrote out 95 theses which condemned Indulgences and pinned them to the church door in wittenburg
         • These ideas circulated through the printing press
           • Martin Luther was condemned by the popes papal bull and then excommunicated from the church