1. Objective: Analyze the causes, course, and effects of the Reformation
7th grade World History

2. The Weakening of the Catholic Church
By the late Middle Ages, two major problems were weakening the Catholic Church:
Corruption within the Church
Political conflict between the monarchy and papacy

3. Criticism of the Church
The Church owned 1/5 to 1/3 of all the lands of Europe and Church leaders needed large sums of money to maintain such a large institution
Many people were angered by some of the ways in which the Church earned and spent its money…
Corruption: Too often, clergy failed to live up to their roles as spiritual leaders and many broke their vows while some seemed to ignore Christian values and morals altogether.

4. Criticism of the Church: How they earned Money
Europeans paid taxes to the Church, while the Church did not have to pay any taxes to the monarchy
Objection to the sale of indulgences, pardons from sins.
Objection to simony, the buying and selling of spiritual or holy things
Critics did not like how the Church spent large sums of money on arts and their own personal pleasures.

5. Criticism of the Church: corruption
During the Middle Ages, the church was a political and economic institution as well as a religious one. By the 1300s, many Catholics felt that the church had become far too wordly and corrupt.
Many priests, monks, and nuns broke their holy vows not to marry or have children
Some church leaders behaved like royalty instead of humble servants of God, living in elegant palaces and wore jeweled robes.

7. Political Conflict: The Great Schism
In 1305, Clement V was elected pope and moved the center of the Church to Avignon, France
Since then, most of the popes were French
Other Europeans and many church officials felt the French king was controlling the pope and wanted to move the center back to Rome.

8. The Split…
The church split into two sides, one with a center at Rome and the other at Avignon.
Each side elected a pope who had same powers
This caused confusion and doubt among the Christians and weakened the Church
In 1417 the two popes resigned and church officials elected a new pope based in Rome who began to unify the Church again

9. Reformers…
John Wycliffe in England questioned the pope’s right to levy taxes and appoint church officials without the king’s approval. He was the first to translate the Bible into English vernacular.
Desiderius Erasmus, a humanist from Holland, criticized the clergy for neglecting Christian values, but also criticized reformers for trying to divide the Church.

10. Martin Luther Confronts the Church
Martin Luther was a German monk and scholar who believed that people could only be saved through faith in Christ and disapproved of the sale of indulgences
In 1517 in Wittenberg, Martin Luther wrote all his complaints against the Catholic Church in his Ninety-Five Theses and nailed it to the door of the Castle Church

11. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses
Main Ideas of Lutheranism
The Bible is the only source of religious truth and everyone should have access to it
People do not need the clergy to interpret the Bible
Salvation can be gained through faith in Christ (NOT the sale of indulgences)

12. Protestants
In 1529, some German Princes made an agreement to unite against Martin Luther and stay loyal to the Catholic Church
Other Princes who supported Luther and signed a “protest” to the agreement became known as “Protestants”, a term that became the name for any Christians who broke away from the Catholic Church.

13. The Printed Word
Printing the Bible from Latin to vernacular (common local languages), as a result people could read and interpret the Bible for themselves (they did not need the clergy to interpret it for them anymore)

14. Luther’s Ideas Spread…
Priests who agreed with Luther preached his ideas
Merchants spread Luther’s ideas along trade routes
Peasants used Luther’s ideas to justify revolts (humanism)

15. The Reformation Grows The Church of England (The Anglican Church)
King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife, the pope would not grant his divorce, so Henry rejected the power of the pope and founded the Church of England (Anglican Church
Calvinism
John Calvin believed in predestination – the belief that a person’s salvation is determined before birth and cannot be changed

16. Church Divisions Eastern Orthodox Catholicism Christianity
Protestantism
Lutheran Calvinist Anglican