The Reformation Dichotomy

The effects of reformation in the sixteenth century created ever lasting change in culture, politics, and religion. Various reform movements may have clashed, contradicted, or may have been completely parallel with each other either way all had one goal in mind. Whether it was fundamental differences with sacraments, papal authority, or corruption the goal was to place the fate of the individual in the individual’s hands. With the Church setting such an atrocious agenda the call for reform was inevitable, and when it was finally set on course society would never be the same. Through out my studies I have noticed that the type of reform you decided to lead was based on your education, social environment, and interpretation of the bible. With …show more content…
The reformation is way too complex to have a dichotomy in any area of study but for most of the reformation leaders the stepping off point that sparked writings and theological theories stemmed from one of two things transgressions by the Church or contradictions in scripture. These issues were a foundation of European societies, and have existed for hundreds of years, movements such as the renaissance and humanism introduced a new way of thinking and opened people up to the idea that the Church may be flawed in design and in practice. This new idea was welcomed in areas where the oppression of the Church was most prevalent. The way these leaders went about reform was all based with their proximity to power and how radical they were, some wanted a reform from the bottom up (most radical), some wanted it from the Crown, and some just wanted to sit and a have coffee with the Pope and dissolve the issues that way. Whatever their method and reasoning was their effectiveness came from, the sum of all the different observations and interpretations of scripture. This movement put pressure on an institution that was suppose to be infallible by pointing out flaws from rituals, scripture, and …show more content…
As an Augustinian monk he developed this notion that nothing we could do as humans was good enough for God, which would later be the premise for the whole “by faith alone we are saved”. Luther wasn’t against good deeds and respect for his fellow man, he was just against the Church’s teaching that good works makes one pious. Martin Luther felt that your relationship should be an intimate and personal one, it was on us the individual to believe and save ourselves. Luther also saw problems with the Church’s sacraments and believed that scripture signified something rather than it being something i.e., scripture about confession, and the mass. Luther’s goal was freedom from the medieval Church, focus on sola scriptura, and provide education so the individual can experience God for himself. I would have to say that all in all Martin Luther was a fairly moderate reformer. Luther had a positive impact on changing the landscape of European society he was responsible for the division of provinces in Germany which led to enlightened thinkers understanding scripture for