The Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a major reform of the Christian church in response to problems that were found in the Catholic Church. Many people started to break away and form new Christian churches. The 1500s were times of alteration in and transformation of the church, and of social and political structures. Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian and many other denominations of the protestant church are prominent in today’s society. However these types of churches did not always exist, and to understand the Protestant movement we must take a closer look at the 16th century, when the Roman Catholic Church dominated Europe, and there was only one religion to be a part of. Catholic means universal and that is basically what the church was for …show more content…
Wider understanding of the bible gave momentum to the new protestant churches. This was very important to Luther because he believed the authority of scripture was the most important thing in faith, not the authority of the church.

Zwingli, born in 1484, was from Zurich, who agreed with Luther and looked to scripture as the sole authority. However one opinion he didn’t share with Luther was on the Eucharist (communion). Luther believed that the bread and the wine were transformed into the blood and flesh of Christ, whereas Zwingli believed the bread and wine were in fact symbols for the body and blood of …show more content…
The Reformation was very important to the Christian church as it completely transformed the way many people thought about church and the way they lived their Christian lives. If it were not for the actions of Luther, the world would be a very different place and everyone could still be abiding by the Catholic way of life. Many different churches have been formed since the Reformation, which allows a lot more freedom, and allows people to avoid manipulation from the church. Due to the Reformation the bible has been translated into hundreds of languages which has made it much more accessible to people. This accessibility has had a great impact on those learning to read, giving them motivation to understand what Jesus was talking about. Unfortunately, the Reformation has had some negative effects too. The churches are often very divided; arguments are often had on differing opinions. However, I believe the Reformation was, in all, a positive change made. It helped rid the church of some of the traditions such as indulgences; it brought about the translation of the bible into different languages, and, most importantly, it allowed for free thoughts and differing opinions on the way Christians should live their