
The Reformation in Germany changed German political life primarily by changing the way the princes operated and the way the state and the church viewed their own power. Prior to the Reformation, German princes' loyalty was to the Catholic Church; specifically, their loyalty was to the Pope in Rome.
What are some important effects from the Reformation?
Today, some theologians continue to disagree on key questions such as:
- Was the break with Rome and its structure a mistake?
- Is it appropriate to refer to a singular Reformation, or was it multiple movements?
- Is the Reformation over, or does it continue to this day?
- Do Protestants and Roman Catholics now agree on justification by grace through faith?
What were the causes and results of the Reformation?
What were the main causes and effects of the Protestant Reformation? The start of the 16th century, many events led to the Protestant reformation. Clergy abuse caused people to begin criticizing the Catholic Church. The greed and scandalous lives of the clergy had created a split between them and the peasants.
What are the causes and effects of the Protestant Reformation?
What were the causes of the Reformation quizlet?
- Social Cause. The renaissance values of humanism and secularism led people to question the church.
- Social Cause. The printing press helped spread ideas critical of the church.
- Political Cause. …
- Political Cause. …
- Economic Cause. …
- Economic Cause. …
- Religious Cause. …
- Religious Cause.
How did the Reformation affect society?
The Reformation affected European society by establishing two conflicting religious orders that dominated the countries of Europe, by starting many religious wars, and by prompting a wave of self-reform in the Catholic church.

What is the Reformation of Germany?
The Reformation presents the historian with an acute instance of the general problem of scholarly interpretation—namely, whether events are shaped primarily by individuals or by the net of historical circumstances enmeshing them. The phenomenon that became the Protestant Reformation is unthinkable without the sense ...
What did Luther do to the German princes?
Luther prodded the German princes to consider the state of the church and to reform it for the sake of the faith. In this way Luther drew out, albeit reluctantly, the full consequences of his principle of “salvation by faith alone.”. No church was needed to act as God’s agent; grace was available without mediation.
What was Luther's argument in the Ninety-five Theses?
This is the gist of Luther’s argument in the Ninety-five Theses, which he sent to his ecclesiastical superiors to persuade them to abandon the indulgence sale. (The story that he nailed a copy of the theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg may be the invention of a later time.
What was the indulgence controversy?
It was the indulgence controversy of October 1517 that brought it all into the open. Few other issues could so clearly have exposed the gulf that separated this ardent friar from an urbane and pragmatic church. The indulgence offered in Saxony in 1517 had its origin in two purely financial arrangements.
What did Paul discover in the Epistle to the Romans?
According to his own account, it was during his close reading of Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, while preparing to give a course of lectures on that text, that he discovered what struck him as the solution to the problem posed by the huge gap between human sin and divine grace.
The Catholic Church
By the end of the Early Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had more or less pushed out all competing forms of Christianity within Europe and established itself as the most important Christian denomination. While some heretical sects appeared every now and then, the church was successfully able to crush them.
The Renaissance
The Protestant Reformation took place at the same time as another major movement in European history: the Renaissance. During the Renaissance, new ideas and technologies circulated throughout Europe. One reason for this was the invention of the printing press. For the first time, written materials could be mass-produced and read by large audiences.
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German priest and theologian. (At this time in history, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire.) Luther was a professor at the University of Wittenberg. During his time there, Luther came to believe that much of the theology and worldly practices of the Catholic Church were not based on biblical truths.
John Calvin
John Calvin (1509-1564) developed an alternate Protestant theology that also presented a major challenge for the Catholic Church. Calvin was French, and his theology rested on the concept of predestination, the theory that God predetermines who will go to heaven and hell.
Henry VIII
King Henry VIII of England (1491-1547) broke from the Catholic Church over the church's refusal to grant him a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Henry subsequently created a Protestant faith known as Anglicanism. Anglicanism in America is known as the Episcopal Church.
Results of the Protestant Reformation
What were some of the most important effects of the Reformation? The most immediate impact of the Protestant Reformation was that millions of Europeans left the Catholic Church. Protestantism was most successful in Northern Europe, but initially, had also found converts in what is now Austria, the Czech Republic, and France.
