The Protestant Reformation

The protestant reformation (led mainly by Martin Luther) was caused by Christian's intolerance with the corruption and worldliness of the church. They were also against the lavish lifestyles being lived by the popes and members of the clergy (a court set up by the church). The church was also raising fees for marriages and baptism out of greed. In my mind, one of the most unholy acts being committed by the church was the selling of indulgences, or a pardon for sins committed during ones life.

Martin Luther was a German monk as well as a professor of theology who lead the protestant reformation. Martin Luther's beliefs slightly differed from that of the Catholic Church. He believed that the Bible was the soul source of religious truth, members of the clergy had no special powers, and salvation could be gained through faith alone. He also rejected indulgences, confessions, pilgrimages, and prayer to saints. Martin Luther decreased the corruption in the church, by obtaining followers of his beliefs he created exposure to the corruption of the Catholic Church.

The inquisition was a corrupted court set up by the Catholic Church to force those who recanted their beliefs to convert back to the Roman Catholic religion. The inquisition bent and twisted the laws of Christianity when performing torture in order to get to the confession of ones heresy. They abided by the law that they could not shed blood while performing torture, but figured out ways to inflict pain upon heretics without having to do so. This included the strappado (Suspended by hands tied behind back), the rack (leg screws), the iron maiden (small coffin often containing interior metal spikes), the toca (a cloth places down the throat while water is continuously pour in the mouth), and often referred to, as the worst punishment of all was becoming a garrucha. This was a slave on a Spanish ship. The form of murder used was burning at the stake. I believe inquisition succeeded in increasing the membership of those in the Roman Catholic Church. Those people who did convert, most likely did out of fear.

Galileo was not a man who committed heresy by not believing in the catholic religion, but simply a scientist whose discovery went against the churches beliefs. Through much observation he came up with the theory that the earth moved around the sun in a "heliocentric", or sun centered universe. The church believed in, and taught about a "geocentric", or earth centered universe. Galileo was tried by the church and given many opportunities to take back what he had said; yet he refused. By the end of the trial, Galileo ended up recanting, or giving up on his theory in fear of torture, or even worse, death.

Based off what I had seen of the Catholic Reformation, I believe it was a success and a failure. The Catholic Reformation was a success for what it was trying to do achieve, which was increase the number of Roman Catholics and decrease the number of heretics. Yet I believe that the methods that were used to do so gave a label to the catholic religion that is less than favorable. The unnecessary torture that was inflicted, murders that were committed went against the religion that the Catholics were trying to get the people to convert back to. The conversion of heretics back into the Roman Catholic religion would last for about a generation, but view it gave people about Catholics would last forever. Considering all this, I believed that the Catholic Reformation was a short-term success, and long-term failure.

Sources:
http://www.historyguide.org/earlymod/lecture3c.html
http://www.essortment.com/all/protestantism_rcsd.htm