Download thematic essay questions for reformation

CHAPTER 11
THE AGE OF REFORMATION
Social and Political Conflict
1. Where did the Reformation break out first and why there?
2. What groups and classes were the first to support the Protestant Reformation movement?
3. In what ways did Luther’s words reach the townspeople where he preached?
Popular Religious Movements and Criticism of the Church
ID: Laity (laypeople), Lollards, Hussites
1. Why did the Medieval church cease to provide a viable foundation for religious piety?
2. What influence did the Diet of Worms have on initiating the Reformation?
3. List the factors that contributed to the growing lay criticism of the Church.
The Modern Devotion
ID: Nicholas of Cusa, Johannes Reuchlin, Vernacular
1. What were the goals and methods of the Brothers of the Common Life (the Modern
Devotion)?
2. In what ways was the Modern Devotion a conservative movement?
Lay Control over Religious Life
ID: Benefice System, Indulgences
1. What caused the falling apart of the international network of church offices in the
Catholic Church?
2. What were the arguments against the benefice system?
3. Why did the Church promote the sale of indulgences?
4. What were Luther’s arguments against the sale of indulgences?
5. How did city governments attempt to improve local religious life?
6. What “perks” did the Church and clergy receive in the Middle Ages?
7. How did governments attempt to rein in those perks?
Map 11–1 THE EMPIRE OF CHARLES I Dynastic marriages and simple chance
concentrated into Charles’s hands rule over the lands shown here, plus Spain’s overseas
possessions. Crowns and titles rained down on him; his election in 1519 as emperor gave
him new distractions and responsibilities.
Martin Luther and the German Reformation to 1525
Justification by Faith Alone
ID: Praemunire, Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, Justification by Faith Alone,
1. What part of traditional church teaching plagued Luther?
2. What was Luther’s argument against faith and good works being the determining factors
to attain salvation?
3. According to Luther, why are people saved by faith alone?
The Attack on Indulgences
ID: Indulgence, “Treasury of Merit”, Letters of Indulgence, Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz,
House of Fugger, John Tetzel, Ninety-five Theses
1. According to Medieval theology how did an indulgence work?
2. Why were indulgences sold in Saxony and Mainz?
3. What was Luther’s argument against the practices of John Tetzel?
Election of Charles V
ID: Dominican Order in Augsburg, Charles V, Frederick the Wise
1. How did Luther end up as a central figure in the German cultural movement against
foreign influence?
2. What deals were made to elect Charles I as Holy Roman Emperor?
Luther’s Excommunication and the Diet of Worms
ID: The Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, The Babylonian Captivity of
the Church, Freedom of a Christian, Exsurge Domine
1. What arguments did Luther have in his debate with John Eck?
2. Why didn’t Luther recant his views to Charles V?
3. What happened to Luther after he was excommunicated?
Imperial Distractions: War with France and the Turks
ID: German Diet of Speyer, Edict of Worms, Peace of Augsburg
1. How did war (HRE vs. France) help the Reformation movement?
How the Reformation Spread
ID: Schmaldkaldic League
1. How did the Reformation change in the 1520’s and 1530’s?
2. Why did the leaders of the German states politicize religious reform in their territories?
The Peasants’ Revolt
ID: Karsthans, Peasant Revolt
1. Why did the peasants believe that Luther was an ally of theirs?
2. Why did Luther condemn the peasants as “un-Christian”?
3. What did Luther urge princes to do to the revolting peasants?
4. Where does the freedom of the Christian lay, according to Luther?
The Reformation Elsewhere
Zwingli and the Swiss Reformation
ID: Cantons, Ulrich Zwingli
1. What were the two preconditions of the Swiss Reformation?
2. What was one of Zwingli’s first acts as a reformer?
3. What teachings and practices did Zwingli question?
4. How did the city government of Zurich view Zwingli’s criticisms of the Church?
The Marburg Colloquy
ID: Landgrave Philip, Philip of Hesse
1. How did Luther and Zwingli differ in their theological beliefs?
2. What were the results of Philip of Hesse’s attempt to work out the differences between
Luther and Zwingli?
Swiss Civil Wars
ID: Kappel, Heinrich Bullinger
1. What was the result of the first Protestant victory in the Swiss civil war?
2. What was the result of the second civil war?
Anabaptists and Radical Protestants
ID: Anabaptists
1. Why were some people discontented by the Lutheran and Zwinglian reformations?
2. Why did the Anabaptists insist on adult baptism?
3. Why did Lutherans believe in infant baptism?
Conrad Grebel and the Swiss Brethren
ID: Swiss Brethren, Schleitheim Confession
1. Why did Grebel break with Zwingli?
2. How did the Anabaptists distinguish themselves?
3. Why did political authorities view Anabaptists as a potential threat?
The Anabaptist Reign in Munster
ID: Re-baptism, Menno Simons, Mennonites
1. Why did Lutherans, Zwinglians, and Catholics declare re-baptism a capital offense?
2. What tactics did the Anabaptists use while holding power in Munster?
3. Why was polygamy practiced in Munster?
4. How did Protestant and Catholic armies respond to the Anabaptists in Munster?
Spiritualists
ID: Thomas Muntzer, Sebastian Franck, Schwenckfeld
1. What did the Spiritualists believe?
2. How did the Spiritualists differ from less extreme Protestants?
Antitrinitarians
ID: Michael Servetus, Lelio and Faustus Sozzini
1. What are the beliefs of the Antitrinitarians?
2. How did the followers of Socinianism differ from Calvinists?
John Calvin and the Genevan Reformation
ID: John Calvin,
1. Where was Calvinism prominent in the sixteenth century?
2. What did Calvinists believe?
3. What were the goals of Calvinists?
4. What ideas did his theology stress?
5. Where did he promote reformation?
Political Revolt and Religious Reform in Geneva
ID: Guillaume Farel, Antoine Froment
1. What changed in Geneva as a result of Protestant victory there?
2. Once in Geneva what did Calvin do to promote reformation?
3. Why were Calvin and Farel exiled from the city?
4. What did Calvin do after his exile?
Calvin’s Geneva
ID: Predestination, Geneva
1. Why did Calvin return to Geneva?
2. What were the four levels into which the Genevan Church was organized?
3. Why has Calvin’s idea of predestination been criticized?
4. According to Calvin, why might true Christians take consolation from predestination?
5. Who are “God’s elect”?
6. What was the goal of the strict moral discipline imposed upon the people of Geneva?
7. Why was Michael Servetus executed? What role did Calvin have in the Servetus case?
8. Why was Geneva a “woman’s paradise”?
Political Consolidation of the Lutheran Reformation
The Diet of Augsburg
ID: Charles V, Schmalkaldic League, Augsburg Confession, Schmalkaldic Articles, Elector John
Frederick of Saxony
1. Why was the Diet of Augsburg called and what order did it issue in 1530?
2. What did Luther and his followers achieve in his battles with Charles V?
3. Why did the emperor lose interest in his battle with Luther?
The Expansion of the Reformation
ID: Frederick I, King Gustavus Vasa
1. What changes did the regional consistories make to daily life and religion in the German
states?
2. Where did the Lutheran reformation movement spread?
3. Why did Poland become a model of religious pluralism and toleration?
Reaction Against Protestants
1. What was the result of Charles V’s military activity against the Lutherans?
2. What concessions were Protestants granted?
3. What happened to Protestant leaders after their defeat?
The Peace of Augsburg
ID: Maurice of Saxony, Peace of Passau, Cuius region, eius religio
1. What was the result of the defeat of Charles in 1552?
2. What was stated in the Peace of Augsburg?
3. What happened to Anabaptists after the Peace of Augsburg? To Calvinists?
The Reformation in England
ID: Henry VIII, Defense of the Seven Sacraments, Catharine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Act of
Supremacy, Thomas More, Utopia, Edward VI, Mary Tudor aka Bloody, Elizabeth I aka The
Great, recusants, The Thirty Nine Articles,
1. Henry's motives for breaking with the Catholic Church?
2. How did Henry's break with the Church increase his power in England?
3. Why was Mary’s attempt to revive Catholicism doomed to failure?
4. Consequences of enforced Protestantism for relations between Ireland and England?
The Consolidation of Protestantism by 1560
ID: Max Weber, Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
1. Common ideas of Protestantism?
2. How important were economic changes for spread and acceptance of Protestantism? What
does RRP say?
3. Effects of Protestantism on women and the family?
Chapter 2, Section 10 "Catholicism Reformed and Reorganized"
ID: Catholic Reformation, Counter Reformation, Fifth Lateran Council, Council of Trent,
tridentine
The Council of Trent
1. Developments leading up to the Council of Trent?
2. Results of Council of Trent? Two kinds of tasks?
3. What abuses in Catholic organization were reformed? How?
The Counter Crusade
ID: Pope Paul III, Jesuits, Oratorians, Ursulines, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Ignatius Loyola, high
papalism/"ultramontanism"
1. Activities of the new religious orders?
2. Special characteristics and activities of the Jesuits? i.e., missionary, political, educational?
3. How did nation-states enforce religious conformity, both Protestant and Catholic?
THEMATIC ESSAY QUESTIONS FOR REFORMATION
1. How did Catholic authorities respond to the challenge of Protestantism?
* 2. Compare and contrast the religious and political beliefs Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, the Anglican Church and the
RCC.
3. To what extent were Luther's 95 Theses a political as well as a dogmatic protest against the Roman Catholic
Church?
4. What caused the spread of Lutheranism throughout the German states among the nobility and the common
people?
5. Why did Protestantism fail to spread to the French nobility the way it did in the German states?
6. Was the Reformation in England more of a political or dogmatic reformation?
7. What impact did the spread of Protestantism have upon the political balance of power in Europe from 1520-1603?
8. What were the political implications of Reformation ideas and actions?
9. Why did the Irish resist Protestantism and Anglicanism?
10. To what extent could the Reformation be viewed as a further progression in the rise of an educated middle class?
11. The Reformation and the Scientific Revolution were contemporary events in Europe. Discuss the relationship
between these two events in the following aspects: a) their common origins b) their influence on economic
developments c) their creation of political tensions.
12. "The Protestant Reformation was primarily an economic event." By describing and determining the relative
importance of the economic, political and religious causes of the Reformation, defend or refute this statement.
13. How did the disintegration of the medieval church and coming of the Reformation contribute to the development
of nation-states in Western Europe between 1450 and 1648?
14. "Luther was both a revolutionary and a conservative."
Discuss this statement with respect to Luther's responses to the political and social questions of his day.
15. What were the responses of the Catholic authorities in the sixteenth century to the challenges posed by the
Lutheran Reformation?
16. Compare and contrast the attitudes of Martin Luther and John Calvin toward political authority and social order.
17. "The Reformation was a rejection of the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance."
Defend or refute this statement using specific examples from 16th c. Europe.
18. Describe and analyze the ways in which 16th c. Roman Catholics defended their faith against the Protestant
Reformation.
19. Evaluate the relative importance of the religious rivalries and dynastic ambitions that shaped the course of the
Thirty Years War.
20. Assess the extent to which the Protestant Reformation promoted new expectations about social roles in the
sixteenth century. Refer to at least two social groups in your assessment.
21. "Luther began the Reformation as a religious reformer and ended it as a religious revolutionary." Assess the
validity of this statement.
22. Calvin's doctrines were a radical departure from those of both the Roman Catholic Church and Lutheranism."
Evaluate this statement.
23. "The reformation was caused by long-term political, social and economic developments." Discuss this statement.
24. "The Catholic Counter Reformation attempted not only to reform the Church but to suppress heresy." Defend or
refute this statement.
25. "The Protestant emphasis on one's personal relationship with God was a logical outgrowth of the Renaissance."
Assess the validity of this statement.
26. "Protestant spread with the growth of nationalism." Discuss this statement.
27. Compare and contrast the Lutheran Reformation and the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century regarding the
reform of both religious doctrines and religious practices.
28. The reformation inaugurated by Martin Luther was primarily a religious protest. At the same time it unleashed or
soon gave rise to a number of other diverse protests and calls for change in areas which, while related to social,
political and economic issues rather than spiritual matters, were advanced by religious groups. Discuss, giving
specific examples of the various protests or calls for change.
29. Describe and analyze the impact of the Counter-Reformation on European history.
30. Discuss the political and social consequences of the Protestant Reformation in the first half of the sixteenth
century.
USEFUL DATES FOR THE REFORMATION
1328-1384 - Life of John Wyclif. The Lollards were his disciples. He was declared a heretic
posthumously and the RCC dug up and burned his bones in 1428.
1369-1415 - Life of John Hus. Condemned as a heretic by the Council of Constance, he was
burned at the stake.
1414-1418 - Council of Constance ends Great Schism.
1483-1546 - Life of Martin Luther.
1484-1531 - Life of Ulrich Zwingli.
1509-1564 - Life of John Calvin.
1517 - Luther's 95 Theses are posted on the door of the Court Church at Wittenberg.
1518 - Luther refuses to recant his assertions.
1519 - Charles V is elected HRE and Luther debates theologian John Eck on the issue of the
authority of the Pope and church councils, the famous Leipzig Disputation.
1520 - Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X. He burns the Bull that announces it.
1521 - He denies papal infallibility and so Luther declared an outlaw by Charles V and the Diet
of Worms. ("Nobody loves me, everybody hates me...") Luther is rescued by the Elector of
Saxony and placed in protective custody at Wartburg where he translates the Bible into German.
1524 - Peasant's rebellion in Germany is stirred by Luther's writings thought condemned by
Luther himself.
1525 - Lutheranism becomes official religion of Saxony.
- in East Prussia, Albert of Branderberg converts the area belonging to the Teutonic
Knights into a secular duchy.
1526-1532 - Charles V's war with the Turks.
1527 - Henry VIII of England petitions Pope Clement VII for a divorce from Catherine of
Aragon. Pope won't agree because he is in debt to Charles V who is Catherine's nephew.
1529 - German Lutheran princes protest imperial decrees against their faith. That's how they
come to be known as Protestant! It's political: princes against Emperor, not religious: Luther
against Pope. Diet of Speyer
1530 - Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer annuls the marriage of Henry VIII and
Catherine.
1531 - Ulrich Zwingli killed.
- Schmalkaldic League founded including the majority of Protestant Princes and Imperial
Cities for the defense of Protestantism
1534 - The Act of Supremacy completes the English Reformation.
- Jesuit order founded by Ignatius Loyola.
1534-1535 - The Anabaptist movement led by John of Leyden, takes control of Munster in an
attempt to make it a "City of God."
1535 - In England Sir Thomas More, who wrote Utopia, is beheaded for refusing to take the
oath of supremacy.
1536 - John Calvin's Institutes are published in Geneva.
1539 - British Parliament passes the Six Articles reaffirming many of the sacraments of the
Catholic church.
1540 - The Jesuit Order is approved by the Pope to counter the spread of Protestantism.
1541 - Calvin constructs a government based on the subordination of the states to the church and
becomes "ruler" over the city of Geneva until he dies in 1564.
1545 - The Council of Trent is called by Pope Paul III. It reaffirms the seven sacraments.
1546-1547 - Schmalkaldic War: Charles V vs. Schmalkaldic League
1547 - The Six Articles are repealed by Parliament.
- Schmalkaldic League defeated at Muhlberg
1549 - The British Parliament passes the Act of Uniformity, adopts the Anglican mass and a
prayer book as new implements of the state religion.
1550 - John Knox establishes Presbyterianism in Scotland.
1551 - Thomas Cranmer publishes 42 Articles of Religion.
1553 - Michael Servetus, one of the founders of Unitarianism, is burned at the stake by John
Calvin.
1555 - Peace of Augsburg established religious peace in the HRE. "The religion of the prince is
the religion of the people." Only Catholics and Lutherans get to play. The Calvinists and other
sects are excluded.
1562 - Conflicts between the Huguenots and Catholic nobles lead to civil wars (nine of them)
that end in the Edict of Nantes that gives the Huguenots religious toleration in 1598.
1563 - British Parliament adapts thirty-nine of Cranmer's 42 Articles, and develops the
Elizabethan prayer book.
1572 - St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Catholic France tries to off all the Protestants, mostly
for political reasons.
1598 - Edict of Nantes. Henry IV of France tolerates the Huguenots after himself converting to
Catholicism, asserting that "Paris is well worth a mass."
1618 - Defenstration of Prague starts the 30 Years War, the last act in the wars of religion. It's
Calvinist Bohemians vs. the Catholic HRE, but it ends up being much more about the Balance of
Power and the decline of the Habsburgs than about religion.
1642-1648 - The English Civil War. England turns Calvinist for a short time, then turns back
when Oliver Cromwell's incompetent son Richard is tossed out, along with the Commonwealth.
1660 - Restoration of the Stuarts to the English throne. Score one for the Anglicans.
1648 - The Peace of Westphalia pretty much duplicates the Peace of Augsberg, except that this
time the Calvinists get their props.
ROAD MAP TO HEAVEN
Comparative Theology of the Reformation
Head
Sacraments
Catholic
Anglican
Luther
Calvin
Zwingli
Pope and
religious
hierarchy
King and
religious
hierarchy
Seven
First three:
Communion,
Baptism and
Penance then
two:
Communion
and
Baptism
Two:
C and B
Two:
C and B
Two:
C and B
2:
C
&
B
1:
Kn
ox
Ministerial
government
divinely
ordained.
Anabaptist
s
no
head
Lord's
Supper
Clergy
Celibate
Priests.
Only clergy
may
interpret
scripture
Married
Priests
Ministers and
priesthood of
all believers
Ministers,
elders,
deacons,
people.
Ministers
Mi
nist
ers
Minist
ers
Justification
Faith and
Works
Faith and
Works
Faith: When
one is justified
one is forgiven,
therefore one
can repent
fully and do
good works.
Good works
are a CONSEQUENCE of
justification.
Faith:
Good
works may
or may not
be
Faith:
Justification is God's
endorsement of the
morals of the
individual. Good
works are a
precondition
of justification
Fai
th
Faith
EVIDENCE
of
justification
Role of State
Where
Pope
theoretically
has spiritual
leadership over
the Catholic
sovereigns
Italy, parts of
Germany,
Ireland,
Poland, France
Eucharist
Transubstantiat
ion: the bread
and wine are
magically
transformed
into the body
and blood of
Christ in the
Eucharist.
Other
indulgences,
purgatory,
Abuses:
simony,
nepotism,
pluralism
The state
dominates
the church.
England
Religious
choices up to
the individual
but owes
obedience to
lawful ruler
two Kingdoms:
Spiritual and
Temporal
Religious
organization
dominates
the state, and
in fact IS the
state,
example:
Religion
dominates the state.
Parts of
Germany
Sweden,
Norway,
Denmark
Holland
France,
Switzerland Geneva
Switzerland
Zurich
Consubstantiat
ion:
Yes, Christ is
present in the
Eucharist, but
not actually
physically
present
Eucharist is
just a
symbol. No
magic.
Eucharist is a
memorial not a
sacrifice.
Predestination "What
must I do to
be saved?"
"Protestant
ethic and the
spirit of
capitalism" Max Weber.
"The elect."
Reformation
concerned more
with the moral
regeneration of the
church – the
community - than
the individual.
Geneva
Scot
land
Calvin and Zwingli think Luther is too subjective and too focused on the individual. They want criteria upon which
to reform the church and society, which they find in Scripture. Luther is, in short, concerned with DOCTRINE while
Calvin and Zwingli are concerned with LIFE and MORALS.
Switzer
land