User:Hishon/Yr 11 RE. The Reformation

The Reformation of the Catholic Church was a period of time when the Church Leaders gathered together a talked about how they could fix the church. This was started by Martin Luther in 1517, when he was excommunicated by the Pope and then created Lutheranism, and then with Henry VIII breaking away to form the Anglican Church. The Catholic Church then formed the Council of Trent to solve the problems.

Martin Luther
Key Events

The Reformation of the Church was started by Martin Luther when he posted his 95 Theses about how the Pope could fix the Catholic Church on October 31, 1517. Martin Luther did this because he was getting annoyed with how the Church was running things and becoming corrupt. Martin Luther was mostly annoyed with how the Church was selling indulgences by saying that it will give you time off in purgatory but all the Church cared about was if they got the money to fund St. Peters Basilica.

Key Beliefs

Martin Luther’s Key Beliefs were Faith Alone, Scripture Alone, and Grace Alone. Martin Luther believed that if you believe in God and follow what the Bible says, you don’t need to buy Indulgences to get time off in purgatory. He also believed that if we follow and do what the scripture tells us to do because it is the 1st place to go to understand how we can be a disciple. Martin Luther also believed that it was Gods gift of Grace and his Unconditional Love that saves us and there is nothing we can do to earn it and that is given freely.

3 Practises of the Church that Martin Luther Challenged

In Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, he challenged the selling of indulgences, the 7 sacraments and how the Bible was only written in Latin. Martin Luther didn’t like the selling of indulgences because he believed that you shouldn’t have to buy them and that Purgatory was made up because there was no scripture reference for it. Martin Luther also thought that some of the Priests and Bishops were taking some of the money for themselves and becoming corrupt. Martin Luther didn’t agree with the 7 sacraments, he believed that you only need 2 (Baptism & Eucharist) rather than the Catholic Churches 7 (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Marriage). Martin Luther thought that the Bible should be written in a common language like English unlike Latin so everyone could read the Bible for themselves and make their own decisions on what it says.

Catholic Understanding on 1 of Martin Luther’s Beliefs

When Martin Luther introduced Faith Alone the Pope introduced Faith and Good Works Alone meaning that to get to Heaven you had to believe and have Faith in God and also do Good Works for the Church and follow Church Tradition. Unlike Luther who believed you just had to believe and have Faith in God.

King Henry VIII
Key Events

In 1534, King Henry VIII declared himself the Head of the Church in England taking all power of it away from the Pope. Henry did this because the Pope wouldn’t grant him a Divorce from Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. When Henry did this, the Pope excommunicated him and Henry then made the Church of England, the first Anglican Church.

Key Beliefs

King Henrys Key Beliefs were that the Monarch is the Head of the Church, The Seven Sacraments and like the Catholic Church, Faith and Good Works. Henry made the Monarch the Head of the Church so that he could do what he wanted, when he wanted. This way he could Divorce Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn. Henry was a big believer in the Seven Sacraments and was against Luther’s Two Sacraments. When Martin Luther said that their only needed to be Two Sacraments, Henry wrote a book on how the Seven Sacraments were important. When he did this the Pope granted Henry the title of The Defender of Faith. Henry wasn’t against any of the Catholic Churches beliefs when he broke away from them, with this he introduced Faith and Good works into the Anglican Church meaning that you had to have Faith and Believe in God as well as do Good Works for the Church and follow Church Tradition.

3 Practises of the Church that King Henry VIII Challenged

The Key Beliefs of the Catholic Church that Henry challenged was Papal Authority, Disestablished Monasteries and Priests can marry. Within the Anglican Church, the Pope had no authority on any of the rulings that went on within the Church. This happened because instead of the Pope being the Head of the Church, the Monarch is, making Henry the Leader. Henry disestablished Monasteries because he new that they were very wealthy, so he took all of the objects that were worth money and kicked out the Priests and Nuns. He then used the money to fund the wars that England was in. Henry also allowed Priests to marry, he did this because it helped his reasoning on why he left the Catholic Church.

Catholic Understanding on 1 of King Henry VIII's Beliefs

The Catholic understanding of Henrys belief that the Monarch was the Head of the Church was that the Pope was from a long line of Popes before him and the Monarch is also from a long line of Monarchs but they are all from the same family. And also the Popes are the successor of St Peter who was the person who Jesus appointed head of the Church, when the Monarch had no connection to Jesus apart from through their faith.

The Council of Trent
The Council of Trent was a group of Bishops and Priests that gathered together fro 18 years to change/fix the Catholic Church and begin the Counter Reformation.

The Council of Trent had 25 sessions in this time but they were split into 3 different parts. They were split because of interruptions such as the plague and war.

Two Purposes of the Council of Trent

The Two Purposes of the Council of Trent was a Spiritual Reformation and an Organisational/Discipline Reformation. The Spiritual Reformation was to stop the ideas and practises of Protestantism and to come up with new ideas to support the Catholic Church. They also wrote a Catechism on how to be a Catholic and what they believed in. The Organisational/Discipline Reformation was when they re-instated the Laws of the Catholic Church such as interpretation of the Bible and Church Tradition. In this time they also banned the selling of Indulgences.

Two Changes that the Council of Trent Made

Two Changes that the Council of Trent made was the banning of selling of Indulgences and the Training of Priests. The Council of Trent decided to ban the selling of Indulgences because the Priests were starting to become corrupt and take the money for themselves rather than giving it to the Church. The Catholic Church also decided to start training the Priests because they were starting to take advantage of their position in society and take money form the Indulgence profits.

Conclusion
So in summary, the Reformation of the Catholic Church was a period of time when the Catholic Churches Leaders looked at the way it was being run. This was all started by Martin Luther when he nailed 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Church Door and it was then carried on by King Henry VIII when he broke away from the Catholic Church to start the Anglican Church. The Anglican and Lutheran Church is now under a joint heading of Protestantism (Churches formed by breaking away from the Catholic Church during the Reformation).