 the action or process of reforming an institution or practice:
 "the reformation of the Senate"
 a 16th-century movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Catholic Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant
Churches.

 Pope
 Cardinals
 Archbishops
 Bishops
 Priests
 Monks/Nuns
 Congregation

a member or follower of any of the
Western Christian churches that are separate from the Roman Catholic
Church and follow the principles of the Reformation, including the
Baptist, Presbyterian, and Lutheran churches.

 A series of events in the 1500s that led to a new form of Christianity known as
Protestantism.
 Nearly ¼ of all Christians in the world today are Protestants.
 Most of the churches right here in
Morehead are Protestant.

Read Pages 61 & 62- Background to the Reformation

1.) Renaissance attitude of secularism (worldiness)
-spirit of curiosity, improvement was valued.
2.) Resentment of Church power and wealth
-Political power, taxes, land ownership
3.) Church abuses (corruption)
Immorality (fornication, gambling, drunkeness)
Ignorance (lack of education, illiteracy)
Pluralism/Absenteeism (misuse of money, neglecting spiritual duties)

Martin Luther
1483-1546
 From Germany, son of a copper miner
 Lightning storm
 1505- entered a monastery
 1507- became an ordained priest
 1512- became a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg.
 Struggled with anxiety over his salvation
 “He who through faith is righteous shall live”
 Began to disagree with Catholic Church teachings

 What prompted him?
 The sale of indulgences (pardons for sins)


Remission, after death, of all or part of the punishment for sin
Replaced traditional act of penance (fasting, prayer, etc…)
 Johann Tetzel – “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”
 Luther’s protests:


Unfair to the poor
Gave people false sense of salvation

 Oct. 31, 1517: Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the door of the Church.
 Wanted reform, not to break from the church.
 Quickly reprinted in the vernacular ; spread quickly due to the printing press.
 Luther’s ideas were so popular because of the environment of backlash that already existed.
 His popularity and followers make him a huge threat in the eyes of the Church.

Read pages 62-63- Catalyst of
Change

 -What Luther wanted to change:
 No Indulgences
 No Confession
 No Pilgrimages
 No Prayers to saints
 Simplify ritual of the mass, instead focus on sermon
 Clergy should be able to marry

 Church officials asked him to recant; he refused
 Summoned to appear at the Diet of Worms
 Excommunicated and declared an outlaw
 Translated the New Testament into German during his year of hiding.
 Some of his teachings had already been put into action
= Lutherans – the first Protestant church.
 1555- Peace of Augsburg

 What were Calvin’s ideas?
 How were Calvin’s ideas put into practice?