Protestant Reformation
Erasmus had rebuked the church for its corrupt ways. But his pointed writings created just a fraction of the clamor of those of a young Augustinian monk to follow him. Martin Luther (1483–1546) inveighed against the clergy's attention to self-indulgence and greed. But nothing focused his attention like the sale of papal indulgences by a Dominican friar named Tetzel. Any person could pay a fee and buy off the guilt and penalties for his or her sins. Luther knew that such a practice was theologically corrupt and nailed his famous “Ninety-five Theses” to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church in 1517. In time his bold action would incite a major protest against the church that would be felt across Europe. The revolution was called the Protestant Reformation.
The Protestant Reformation was in part a response to the rampant corruption that had spread through the papacy. Martin Luther was outraged by the selling of indulgences — in other words, paying a monetary fee for the sacrament of confession.
The issue of selling indulgences was just a symptom of a greater cause. Luther's attack on indulgences led to a battle with the church over issues of fundamental importance concerning theology and church authority. His protest resounded all the way to Rome. Both sides were so entrenched in their positions that Pope Leo X thought it necessary to excommunicate Luther in 1520.
Luther was not the radical antireligionist that many of his opponents made him out to be. In fact, he was close to Augustine on many doctrinal matters, including his views on the authority of Scripture, God's punishment for sin, and other issues. But his excommunication had far-reaching effects throughout Europe. In 1530 England broke away from Rome over the issue of Henry VIII's dispute with the pope about his divorce. John Calvin (1509–64) developed a reform theology that attracted followers in France, Holland, Scotland, and England. Among the major Protestant movements, Calvinism steered furthest away from Catholicism in doctrine and practice.
An interesting note about Luther and Calvin is their contribution to their respective languages. This was an age when educated people spoke Latin. With the humanist movement and the Reformation, nations came to celebrate their uniqueness and their languages. Luther and Calvin's voluminous writings in their native languages helped contribute to the evolution of modern German and French.
Luther had taught that people could follow their own interpretation of the Bible and individual conscience. In undercutting the religious authority of the Catholic Church, downplaying subservience to tradition, and placing new importance on the individual, the Reformation caused a groundswell against all intellectual authorities and traditions. The upshot of the Protestant Reformation was that more worshipers followed their own personal reflections.
