Defending Martin Luther

I. The Catholic Church and its problems

In the beginning of the 16th century Western Europe only had one religion, Catholicism. The Catholic Church was very powerful and rich. The church made practices to impose reforms and the lax practices had grown up in the church. Churchmen began to criticize the administration of the church and began to doubt some of its teaching. The church insisted that it alone had the authority to interpret the meaning of the bible for people and tell them what it meant, but an English priest, John Wycliffe, stated the people had the right to read and interpret the meaning of the bible themselves.

The Catholic Church had too much power, and corruption began to happen. Some popes saw themselves as being in a position of more power than any king or emperor. One example of this is Pope Boniface VIII; he declared that the Church and priests were subject to no mortal and that the pope had absolute power over everything and everyone on earth. Many kings did not like this including, King Philip IV of France who imprisoned Boniface for this.

In this time of growing and wealth, the church

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Many branched off and formed their own churches with their own pope, like France and Italy each one clamming to be the true leader of the church. John Calvin made Geneva the world center of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Luther nailed the 95 theses, going against indulgences and other church practices, to the door of the church in Wittenberg. He is a man who stated his opinion and took a chance in challenging the Catholic Church for his beliefs. Other Reasons

An uneasy political situation in Europe also helped to extend the religious revolt because many local rulers wanted their independence from the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Protestants that are unhappy with the Catholic kings challenge the monarchy. Also many tradesmen and peasants were seeking more rights from rulers and landlord and resented the church because they believed that they supported their oppressors. People leaving

This led many people to believe that the church was wrong in many ways, and caused people to leave the Catholic Church in search for a different and more truthful, less corrupted way of believing. Luther’s followers

Some of Luther’s follower carried the reform movement further then he had intended. The sale of indulgences then

came around which were said to free all sinners from their sins if they gave money to the church and bought this little piece of paper. Luther has presented many new ideas that go against the church. became greedy and corrupt in wanting wealth themselves. Many other people have helped spread the Reformation.

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Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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