Reformation (Descriptive and Refresher Type) for B. A. III

Reformation

Question II-2-3: What do you understand by the term Reformation? What were the shortcomings of the Church, which led to the Reformation?
Or
Examine the role of Martin Luther in the rise and progress of Reformation in Germany.
Or
What do you understand from Reformation? What were its causes and main objectives.
Or
What do you understand from the Reformation Movement? What were its effects on the political and social life of Europe?
Or
What do you understand by the Reformation? Throw light on its aims and causes. What were its effects?

Answer: - The Reformation movement was the most important movement after the Renaissance in the history of Modern period. This movement in fact was a reaction against the Pope and the church, which took place in the European countries in the sixteenth century. It was a religious revolution of sixteenth century, which culminated in the separation of many nations of Europe from the Church of Rome."

The Main Aims of Reformation:
The main aims of this movement are discussed briefly as follows: -

1. 
   To put a check on the unlimited powers and the ecclesiastic supremacy of the Pope and the high class priests (bishops, cardinals, and monks).
2. 
   To reform the moral life of priests.
3. 
   To end corruption rampant in the churches and make the priestly class to redirect their attention back to the aims of spiritualism.
4. 
   To lay emphasis on the establishment of the National Church.
5. 
   To help the common man to develop and have faith in God for salvation and to end their dependence on the Pope.
6. 
   To give the right of religious freedom to every person.

It can be added here that apart from the above mentioned aims, the movement was originally aimed at ending the superstitions of ancient times for which efforts were being made since the thirteenth century.


CAUSES OF THE REFORMATION


There was not one single cause for the emergence of the religious Reform Movement. The overwhelming support of virtually the whole of European people is a proof that there were numerous factors which were at the root cause of the rise of Religious Reformation. Such unanimity among so many people and the unity among them for the support of the reform could never be easily possible. The factors, which played role in the rise and the progress of the Reformation Movement were multiple and are discussed in detail as under:

(1). Evils of Church: - By the beginning of the sixteenth century, the institution of church were corrupted with numerous evils. Nobody was spared from the taxes imposed by the church. The church owned huge private property. The Pope and the high priestly class used their money according to their own desire. Consequently, they became pleasure seekers and corrupted. They had quarrelled over postings and offices. They had fallen from high standard of morality for which the Roman Catholic world was known; forgot religious pursuits and sought pleasures in the worldly life.
According to the rules, the monks could not marry. However, they indulged in immoral activities with the nuns of the convents. The number of their illegitimate children was increasing day by day. Similarly, Pope Leo X (1513- 1521) was notorious for spending 6000 'ducata' per month for gambling. He did not mind indulging in extremely heinous acts to collect money. The public outcry against the church increased further when the intellectual class elaborated upon the evils of the church before the Europeans like in the Praise of Folly by Erasmus.
(2). Privileges of the Pope and the Priests: - In the social system of Europe the Ecclesiastic class was one of the privileged class. No law of the country had the jurisdiction over them. Even if they committed any crime, the could not be tried in any of the courts of the country. Only the inquisition – the court of the church headed by a priest, could punish such a priest. In this way they always escaped the punishment . Even if they were convicted by their religious court , they used to receive mild punishments in comparison to the common man. It was almost very difficult for the common man to continue to suffer because of those privileges enjoyed by these religiously corrupt priestly class.
The Pope had appointed 'Legate and Nunsius' as his representatives in very European country for the protection of the Christians. They did not pay any regards to the orders of any authority except that of Pope.
(3) Pope's Interference in the Political Affairs: - Pope was having absolute power not only in the religious sphere but he was wielding far reaching influence in the political sphere of Europe also. His political influence was so strong that every coronation in European countries was either conducted by him or had at least his consent. Otherwise, no coronation could take place. He demonstrated his absolute political power by not only punishing the common man of any country but even the kings of the various countries. He also interfered in the internal and external matters of the different countries. Hence, the various European kings challenged the political privileges and the rights of the Pope and struggled to get themselves free from the influence of the Pope but the Pope suppressed their revolt with force. Henry II of England was one of the victims among such kings, against whom, the Pope demonstrated his unlimited powers. That is why when the Reformation Movement started, the kings of Europe participate in its spread.
(4). Greed of the Kings: - No state administration can be managed without the abundant sources of income but the church had control over most of the property of Europe. The church had raised a huge property by imposing various taxes, sale of letter of indulgence, and the ecclesiastic posts. The public did not have enough money to feed the church and pay the kings also. Hence, when the kings of Europe needed money to fulfill their needs, their attention was naturally arrested by the large wealth in possession of the churches. They had been waiting and seeking such an opportunity when they could take the large property of churches in their possession. In the meantime the Pope with the motive of increasing their collection extended the ambit of Tithe which was strongly opposed by the people as well the kings. Hence, it can be said that the monetary demand of the Pope was the cause of the Reformation Movement. Hence, the desire on the part of princes to acquire the wealth of the churches, along with the discontent of the people, was one of the major causes.
(5). Support of Merchants to the Kings: - The European traders had been endangering their life when they visited far off countries. They earned lot of money from such trades. However, the use of their hard earned money was being denied to them by the Pope and the high priest by different means. They were tired of this type of financial oppression and they started supporting and strengthening the kings. These powerful rulers became their protectors. The kings, who received the support of the wealth of the rich merchant, raised the strong armies. All these factors encouraged the kings and the people to raise their voice against the oppression of Pope, which strengthened the feeling of religious reforms.
(6). Rise of Nationalism: - With the coming of the modern age, the spirit of nationalism became strong and it provided a solid base to the Reformation Movement. Before it, the influence of the Pope and the church was so strong that they, instead of obeying the laws and traditions of their country, obeyed the dictates of the Pope. But with the rise of the feeling of nationalism, they started identifying the Pope as a foreigner and started working for the uplift of their country and race. The kings exploited such feelings of their subjects to the maximum and started inciting the public to destroy the dominance of the Pope. In this manner the public rage against the Pope and the church rose to such an extent that it erupted in a form of very strong movement for the reformation of religion.
(7). Influence of Renaissance: - The Renaissance was such a revolution which had inculcated among the Europeans a new awareness that had attacked the religious dogmas, superstition and blind faith. The Europeans acquired rational and scientific attitude under the influence of Renaissance. They were not ready to accept the validity of any assertion, unless they had made empirical and rational evaluation of the facts. The invention of Printing process helped the printing of as many number of copies of Bible as required. After getting it translated in various languages, these were made available to the large multitude of people. They studied Bible in their own language and came to know that church had been befooling them in the name of religion. In the meantime, many religious reformers of Europe toured Italy. On their return, they made their countrymen aware of the evils prevalent in the church. The people with rational attitude of life could not tolerate the corruption in their religion and soon their dissatisfaction turned into anger. This paved the way for religious reformation.
(8). Opposition of Pope by the Religious Reformers: - The Europeans religious reformers played a commendable role in the starting and spread of religious reform movement. These religious reformers exposed the shortcoming of the contemporary religious setup before the eyes of the Europeans. The first reformer to take the initiative was Waycllif. He was from England and a professor in the Oxford University in England. He translated the Bible into English language and saved the common man from misguidance at the hands of church. He explained to the people that the extreme wealth and money of the church was the main cause of the evils of the church. Hence, in order to maintain the religious sanctity of the church, the property of the church should be snatched from it.
(9). Immediate Cause- 95 Theses of Martin Luther and his Role: - The Reformation Movement got the maximum strength from the efforts of Martin Luther, the famous reformer from German. In 1511, he visited Rome. There he was astonished to watch the corrupt and immoral life of the priestly class headed by pope himself. It hurt his faith and religious feelings and became the staunch opponent of pope.

The opposition of Luther became highly aggressive against the Pope when he raised a strong voice against the selling of 'letter of indulgence' by the Pope Leo X. In these letters, the church had given the assurance to the buyer of a place in heavens in spite of their sinful life. In the various sacraments and religious traditions of Christianity, the letter of indulgence has a very pious meaning and is an act of sanctity and religious merit. It is given to a person, who takes a vow before the pope, that he would never commit sins in future; shows a genuine repentance for the misdeed and sins committed earlier, and sincere in his vow to do the Penance The Pope had been conducting an open sale and made a virtual mockery of this pious tradition of high religious merit. The evil doers were buying it for the satisfaction of their conscience but continuing with their misdeed. The church was collecting a fortune by selling it like a ticket to Heavens. Luther tried to stop the sale of such letter in Wuttenberg, where he was a priest in a church. He wrote 95 points, which are called 'Thesis' also, and it contained the misdeeds of the Pope and a challenge to him on the basis of the contents of the Bible. Luther had mastered the contents of the Bible. He had the understanding of the real meanings of the contents of the Bible. He displayed his 95 thesis on the door of the church of Wuttenberg. The Germans were highly influenced by it as they had in their mind similar objections to the activities of the Pope. As a result, the opposition to the Pope started rising day by day. In the most quoted verdict of the Historian Hayes, "Luther's Ninety Five theses against the indulgence in 1517 led to a sort of universal revolt in Germany against Pope and his Catholic religion and facilitated the foundation of Protestant church."
The Reformation movement got the maximum strength from the efforts of Martin Luther, the famous reformer from Germany.
Effects of Reformation:
(1). Cause of Counter Reformation Movement: In face of strong protest of Protestant movement, the genuine Roman Catholic started self correction movement. They brought changes in the organisation and administration of Church and started propagation of the Christian religion. The Council of Trent brought such changes. Jesuit Order was established to promote the cause of Christianity. The Inquisition, the religious court was revived which gave strong punishment to defaulting religious priests.
(2). Division of Christian World: Due to Reformation, the Roman Christian world was clearly divided. The North part of Europe became Protestant and the South part including Austria remained Roman Catholic. It became the cause of much political turmoil in future due to this religious basis.
(3). Growth of Intolerance: With the rise of Protestantism and Catholicism, as separate identities, a contention developed among them. It was soon developed into enmity and hostility. It was followed by number of massacre of Protestant at the hand of Catholics and of Catholics at the hand of Protestants. The goriest incidence was of St. Bartholomew’s Day in France in 1572. During that day, the Catholics killed Protestants.
(4). Rise of powerful Kings: With the rise of Reformation, the kings of England, Germany, Norway and Sweden, and Holland, became powerful and annexed the properties of Church. The Catholic Kings also followed they example at many places. The Protestant kings, like in England tried to take over the religious matters in their hand.
(5). Encouraged Trade and Commerce: The Roman Catholic Church was against charging interest, which was not the case with the Protestant church. The Protestant church favoured frugality and hard work. Such mental attitudes were conducive for the encouragement of trade and commence. Further, the Protestant people enjoyed living life of luxury whereas the Catholic Church believed the life after death and did not encouraged luxurious living. Hence, the Protestantism favoured such attitudes, which favoured trade and commerce. With the establishment of Protestantism as an acknowledged religious way of life, the trade and commerce flourished.