The Reformation
The Reformation: An Inexorable Consequence
When Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five criticisms to a door of a church in Wittenberg in 1517, he anticipated it would lead to a quiet, scholarly discussion of his grievances and not that it would put him at the head of a rebellious army of religious dissidents (Durant 340). Luther’s actions began what many historians refer to as a religious revolution, but a strong argument can be made that Luther’s place was not at the start of a revolution, but at the end of a long evolutionary period during which the internal and external problems that beset the Church made the Reformation all but inevitable.
After the destruction of the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church was the only institution that could impose social order in Europe. And for one thousand years, it consolidated its position as the central structure of civilized life, exerting influence in a world that was circumscribed by its inability to transmit information. Medieval society was illiterate and isolated; news of the world most often came from a wandering troubadour or traveling entertainers (Durant 1036). For the illiterate and dialect-speaking villager, the Church was the main source of information. In a period that had no press and no widespread literacy, the daily sermon was a news bulletin with editorial comment. This monopoly over communication and information well suited the Church in suppressing heretical outbreaks, as for example in the case of John Wyclif (c.1328-1384), who – as a reformer or heretic, depending on which side one is on – argued that religion was a personal matter and questioned the pope’s authority (Merriman 96). Wyclif’s ideas did not start a revolution because hand-copied books and word of mouth did not allow them to reach a wide enough audience.
Heretics were not the Church’s only problem, for even among the faithful there was unrest. Prior to the Reformation, the discipline and constraints that the Church...
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