The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Reformation, Protestant S 375

tin L UTHER , posted on a church door 95 “theses” or propositions that he wanted to debate. Luther objected to the manner in which a Dominican friar was raising money nearby ( see D OMINICANS ). The friar promised that if people gave him a certain amount of money, all their SINS would be forgiven. The issue quickly grew beyond an academic discussion. Copies of Luther’s theses appeared in many places and helped stir up dissatisfaction with the church. Meanwhile Catholic authorities tried to silence Luther. In 1521 the church excom municated him. The rift between the church and Luther’s supporters had grown too wide to bridge. Luther and his followers organized their own churches. In doing so, they altered many Catholic practices. They eliminated whatever contradicted the B IBLE , as they read it. They translated the Bible and the Mass from Latin into the language people ordinarily used. They eliminated MONKS AND NUNS . They allowed clergymen to marry. Above all, they rejected the authority of the Catholic Church and looked to the Bible as their only authority. As they read it, the Bible taught that human beings received G OD ’s forgiveness freely ( see GRACE ). They did not have to do good works to be saved. They only had to have FAITH . CALVINIST REFORMATION Luther’s example inspired others. Soon religious rebellion had broken out in many different cities and regions of the Holy Roman Empire. Another important center was Switzerland. There the reformers eliminated not only what contradicted the Bible, but also whatever the Bible had not actually commanded. In the early 1520s a parish priest named Hul drich Zwingli (1484–1531) held religious debates before the town council of Zurich. He convinced the council that certain common practices, such as using images in worship, were unbiblical and should be abolished. He also convinced the coun cil that the Catholic view of the E UCHARIST was wrong. Zwingli’s view of the Eucharist differed from Luther’s, too. The two reformers met in 1529 but could not come to any agreement. Two years later Zwingli was killed. Much more politically

nephew Bethuel. As portrayed in the Bible, she is a woman who can influence the course of events. Sometimes she must resort to deception to do so. Like her mother-in-law S ARAH , Rebekah had difficulty conceiving children. She eventually gave birth to twins, Esau and J ACOB . According to the Bible, these two were the ancestors of the Edomites and the Israelites, respectively. Rebekah favored Jacob, the twin born second. She helped deceive the old and blind Isaac, so that he gave the blessing for the first-born son to Jacob rather than to Esau. Then she helped Jacob flee from his enraged brother. Reformation, Protestant A movement in west ern European C HRISTIANITY in the 1500s. During the Reformation many Christians broke away from the Roman Catholic Church ( see R OMAN C ATHOLICISM ) and formed their own, independent churches. They were known as “Protestants” ( see P ROTESTANTISM ). They protested against the teachings, practices, and institutions of the Catholic Church. The move ment itself is known as the Reformation because it aimed to reform, that is, to correct abuses and errors in the church. But Protestants did not disagree only with Catholics. They also disagreed with each other. As a result, the Reformation produced a variety of Protestant churches: Lutheran churches, espe cially in Germany and Scandinavia ( see L UTHERAN ISM ); Reformed (Calvinist) churches, especially in Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, and Scot land ( see P RESBYTERIAN AND R EFORMED CHURCHES ); the Church of England ( see A NGLICANISM ); and Ana baptist churches such as the M ENNONITES and the A MISH . Each made its own contribution to the story of the Reformation. So did the Catholic reaction, known as he Counter-Reformation. LUTHERAN REFORMATION The Reformation began in Germany on October 31, 1517. On that date a university professor, Mar redemption See SALVATION .