Protestant Reformation Humanism

With the end of the 14th century came a rediscovery of philosophy, sciences and arts that pushed Europe out of the dark ages (Oxtoby, 190). This push led to the Humanism movements that “was met with a push toward internal reform from within the Church itself. Together, these external and internal forces for change led to the schism within Western Christianity… known as the Protestant Reformation” (190). Oxtoby begins his discussion of the Protestant Reformation with a broad overview of the Churches influence within Europe at the time of the Reformation, as well as the cultural advances that were taking place throughout the continent. After setting up the stage for the religious and cultural practices that had taken root in most of Europe, …show more content…
Throughout the text we never see Oxtoby proclaiming things about God such as “The Living God, the true Head of His Church,” except for in referencing another philosopher. This is not to say however that because De Vries, due to his religious bias, is unable to give good information about the Protestant Reformation. He is able to give clear reasoning for why Martin Luther wanted to reform the Church. However his statements are written in a religious light, proclaiming things like “The living God, awakened a… young minister Martin Luther to some of the failings of his Church. The issues were multiple- including the gross abuse of power… the taking from the poor in the name of serving the poor,” (De Vries). Oxtoby and De Vries cover much of the same material when discussing Martin Luther, but where we see a split in information is when Oxtoby writes about Martin Luther’s support for the reigning class and his support for the ruthless suppression of peasants (192). De Vries does cover the darker side of Martin Luther, but not to the same extent as Oxtoby. Only stating that Luther had …show more content…
It does hurt his credibility a bit when there is a clear agenda, and that he is pushing certain aspects of each mans life more than others to further the strength of his argument. This is not to put any of the facts given by De Vries into question but rather to question what was left out, so he could further emphasize the points he wanted to make and strengthen his argument. Even though Oxtoby doesn’t have the same level of religious detail that is given by De Vries it is hard to question the accuracy of the information that Oxtoby is providing, because the areas where they do discuss the same aspects of Reformation the facts line up. De Vries article even though historically accurate should not be used for historical context, but instead should be seen as a religious piece that was written to persuade the masses to come together under one leader “by renewing our deep loyalty and loving devotion to the true leader of the Church, the Lord himself, most of all” (De Vries). From this it can be seen that where Oxtoby is clearly supposed to be used for historical and religious reference, De Vries should be looked at more as piece used to help re-affirm faith in the Church and more importantly re-affirm God as the head of that