▪Explain continuity and change within

Christianity as the Protestant

Reformation marked a break within
existing Christian traditions.
▪Explain how Protestant and Catholic
reformations contributed to the growth
of Christianity.
▪ Reformation’s Beginnings
▪ Desiderius Erasmus and John Wycliffe argued for Church reforms unsuccessfully
▪ Priests married, had children, indulged in wealth and “immoral behavior”
▪ Catholic Church had enormous fortune in land and money
▪ Church sold indulgences to allow people to pay for sins instead of atone

▪ Luther’s 95 Theses
▪ Publicly challenged the Church in Wittenberg (1517)
▪ Argued the Church was corrupt
▪ Especially challenged Johann Tetzel selling indulgences
▪ Believed in “salvation by faith alone,” reading the Bible, and individual relationship with god
▪ Guttenberg’s printing press allowed Luther’s ideas to spread throughout Europe
▪ Summoned to Wittenburg to defend 95 Theses and refuses to recant (given 120 days)
▪ On January 3, 1521, Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther
▪ Holy Roman Emperor Charles V orders all of his writings to be burned
▪ Prince Frederick of Saxony sheltered him
▪ Huldrych Zwingli in Switzerland
▪ Emphasized personal relationship with god, pope not
the head of religion, and sacraments symbolic
▪ Reforms adopted in Zurich but led to violence between
Catholics and Protestants
▪ John Calvin
▪ Believed that humans are naturally sinful, god chooses
who to save (predestination), and people should lead
moral lives to show beliefs (founded Presbyterianism)
▪ Established a theocracy is Switzerland
▪ Mandatory religious classes, no art showing saints, or
gambling

▪ Henry VIII and England

▪ Pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of
Aragon
▪ Used Protestantism to take power and money from the
Church
▪ Annulled his own marriage, named himself the head of the
Anglican Church, took Church lands and money
▪ Catholic Reformation attempted to stop
Protestantism’s spread
▪ Council of Trent confirmed Church’s authority
▪ Salvation by faith and good works, Bible and tradition
equal, and indulgences valid (but not to be sold)
▪ Attacked Protestant beliefs and supported Catholic
monarchs
▪ Wars fought over religion and laws created to punish or
expel Protestants
▪ Society of Jesus founded to study theology, convert
people, and stop spread of Protestantism
▪ Inquisition targeted Protestants, Muslims, and Jews in
Catholic territories