To What Degree Did Catholic- Protestant Conflicts During the 1600s Lead To the Rise of Witchcraft?
World History II
Ms. Chinn
April 1st, 2016
Protestant Reformation was the period during 1517 -- 1648 that ends the Middle Ages and begins a new era in the history of Western Civilization. It was mainly about the conflicts between the protestant and Catholic Church. Witchcraft is the use of magic powers, especially evil ones, to make things happen. In Europe during the Protestant Reformation, most of the witchcraft was blamed on the female, only few were the male. Belief in witchcraft was ancient and was found in the Bible, classical law and literature, and popular folklore. In the 5th century AD, Christian …show more content…
And witchcraft became the “bad” type magic called black magic. If someone fell ill of unknown causes, this was often said to be caused by witches who practiced black magic. Other harms caused to society, such as accidents, deaths, or bad luck, were also said to be caused by Black Magic. Witch-hunt was the fear of witchcraft led to witch hunts and executions. “Tens of thousands of people in Europe and European colonies died,” and “millions of others suffered torture, arrest, interrogation, hate, guilt, or fear.” Witch-hunt reached the peak during the protestant reformation. Being accused of witchcraft in the Middle Ages meant being labeled as a heretic. If accused of witchcraft, the accused was forced to confess, even if he was innocent, through brutal torture. Then he was hanged or burnt alive for his crimes. Laws against witchcraft were further tightened when they began to be used for personal vendettas against the accused or in order to gain property of the accused. While witchcraft had always been recognised within the church in one way or another it was not until the Lutheran reformation and the continuing protestant reformation that lead the growth in response to …show more content…
However, the difference lies in regards to possession. While Catholics were adamant about the possibility of possession and exorcism, Protestants out rightly expressed disbelief and disapproval of the ideas of possession and the practices of exorcism. It means that during the conflicts between protestant and Catholic that there was no either side is support the witchcraft. However, the difference between the two sides was that Catholic used violent to disapproval the witchcraft but protestant used the mind to disbeliefs the witchcraft. "In Catholic Demonology, possession by any evil spirit became limited to possession by a Christian devil. As a Christian devil, he admitted the superior power of the Christian God and therefore obeyed the commands of a Christian priest acting through exorcism on behalf of God and the Church" This sentence was the evidence that support the view of Catholic Churn to the witchcraft, it shows that Catholics viewed exorcism as an ideal opportunity to demonstrate that the heavenly force was with them. "The Catholic church usually continued to offer exorcism at the local level." According to the description of the sentence, it was clearly shows that only the catholic church offers a formal ritual to practice exorcism. From the view of protestant it doesn’t like drastic. "The mainline Protestants, with their rejection of traditional views