Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses in Wittenberg, starting the Reformation.

The late medieval Church held great wealth and power but was criticised for simony and clerical corruption. Wycliffe and Hus had already called for reform in the 14th and 15th centuries. When Pope Leo X sold indulgences to pay for rebuilding St Peter’s Basilica, Martin Luther, a theology professor at Wittenberg, attacked the practice in 1517 with his Ninety-five Theses.

Luther taught that people are saved by faith alone, not by good works or indulgences, and that scripture alone, not the pope, is the basis of faith. Excommunicated by the pope and condemned as a heretic before the emperor at the Diet of Worms, he was protected by the Elector of Saxony and translated the Bible into German. After conflict among the German princes, the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 let each prince choose between Lutheranism and Catholicism.

In Switzerland Calvin stressed predestination and diligent work in one’s calling, winning support among merchants and craftsmen, and his teachings spread to France (the Huguenots), the Netherlands, Scotland and England (the Puritans). In England Henry VIII broke with the pope over his divorce and founded the Church of England with the Act of Supremacy (1534).

The Catholic Church reformed itself too, holding the Council of Trent and founding the Jesuits (the Counter-Reformation). Religious division in Western Europe led to wars such as the French Wars of Religion and the Thirty Years’ War. Jesuit missionaries brought Western learning to Ming and Qing China, which in turn led to the reception of Western learning and Catholicism in Joseon.