Christianity throughout its history was marked by several controversies that deeply affected its followers. In the eleventh century, for example, the Eastern Schism took place, which divided the Church into Western Catholic and Eastern Catholic. Another big break occurred in the 16th century, when the process known as Protestant Reformation, which shook the structures of Catholicism and contributed to the birth of other religions.
This reform arose to criticize the established practices of the Catholic Church that for a long time influenced and controlled believers around the world. Among the measures taken by Catholic leaders that motivated the reform, the practice of simony, which was the trade in holy relics. These relics were most often fake and the faithful bought them thinking they were objects used by Christ or some saint.
sales of indulgences they also stood out among the practices carried out by the Church. Catholic leaders were followers of the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas, who defended the idea that salvation did not come exclusively through faith, but through good works. It was believed, for example, that forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation they could be achieved through payment in cash, which would be earmarked to finance Church expenses.
Another mechanism of power of the Church was the monopoly of reading the Bible, which was written only in Latin. The intention was to mediate the meeting of the faithful with the sacred book, which should be translated by the priests. In this way, the Church avoided interpretations regarding the sacred text that did not fit with the thinking of the highest echelons of the clergy.
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) was the great creator of the Protestant Reformation against simony practices and the sale of indulgences. Luther was a young German who decided to enter religious life after a miracle that saved his life during a violent storm. Upon joining the Church, he gained direct contact with the attitudes of Catholicism towards its followers. Upon realizing the erroneous practices carried out by members of the clergy, he decided to deepen his studies to create a correct way in the relationship between the faithful and the Church.
Inspired by the Bible verse “The just will be saved by faith”, Martin Luther started the writing of the famous 95 Lutheran Theses that went against the practices of members of the clergy. Among the most important theses, the statement of the christian faith as the only way to eternal salvation and the Bible as the only source for faith. These ideas were launched against the position of the Church that in 1520 excommunicated Luther for his reformist ideals.
The rise of other religions was one of the main consequences of the Protestant Reformation. THE Calvinist Reformation in Switzerland led by John Calvin in the 16th century was an example of Luther's influence in the emergence of reformist practices against the Catholic Church. Subsequently, the Anglicanism in England promoted by Henry VIII, who broke with Catholicism.
Martin Luther promoted through his reform a great crisis in the Catholic Church that had its power diminished with the rise of other religions. Protestantism, therefore, characterized the faithful who did not follow Catholic doctrines and who continued the main religious reform carried out in Europe.
By Fabricio Santos
Graduated in History
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