The Renaissance was a time when …show more content…
The Great Schism brought about a feeling of mistrust and separation. Over the centuries the church, particularly in the office of the papacy, had become deeply involved in the political life of western Europe. The resulting intrigues and political manipulations, combined with the church’s increasing power and wealth, contributed to the bankrupting of the church as a spiritual force. The majority of people of Europe were beginning to lose their faith in the Church's leadership. One man by the name of Martin Luther began to rebel against the Church, stating that it had fallen away from the teachings of Jesus and their meanings, and was overly obsessed with money. These believed faults compelled Luther to take action. In 1517, on the eve of All Saint's Day, Luther posted up on the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral, ninety-five problems with the Church. His Ninety-five Theses set off a spark for all to follow in the protest against the Church. It began the Protestant …show more content…
Here lay the key to Luther’s concerns for the ethical and theological reform of the church: “Scripture alone is authoritative (sola scriptura) and justification is by faith (sola fide), not by works. While he did not intend to break with the Catholic church, a confrontation with the papacy was not long in coming”1 In 1521, however, he was summoned before the Diet of Worms and excommunicated. Sheltered by Friedrich, elector of Saxony, Luther translated the Bible into German and continued his output of gospel pamphlets. When German peasants, inspired in part by Luther’s empowering “priesthood of all believers,” revolted in 1524, Luther sided with Germany’s princes. By the Reformations end, Lutheranism had become the state religion throughout much of Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltics. Years after Luther's death his spirit live on in people such as John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli who were responsible for the upkeep and spread of Protestantism to places such as England and