Reformation 1

1. The three disorders the critics of the church concentrated their attacks on were clerical im-mortality, clerical ignorance, and clerical pluralism, with the related problem of absentee-ism. The law that required for priests to accept absolute celibacy was difficult to enforce and many had sexual, drinking, and gambling transgressions. Bishops casually enforced the regulations regarding the education of priests and the standards were very low. Many cler-ics held several benefices simultaneously but seldom visited their benefices and did their duties. However, they collected revenues from all of them and hired a poor priest to per-form the duties of the lesser positions.

2. The group in the late 14th century that was known as pious in Holland was the Brethren of the Common Life. They were found in the classic the Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kem-pis.

3. Martin Luther originally became a friar because he was badly frightened during a thunders-torm. He was anxious about sin and his ability to meet God’s demands, leading him to doubt the values of the monastic life. The medieval church believed that the monastic life was a sure and certain road to salvation, but that only increased Luther’s confusion and anxiety. His wise confessor, John Staupitz, directed Luther to the study of Saint Paul’s letters where he gradually came to the understanding that salvation comes through a simple faith in Christ.

4. Indulgences were total remissions of penalties for sin—on earth or in purgatory—and en-sured swift entry into heaven. Archbishop Albert hired Dominican friar John Tetzel to sell the indulgences, and he made it a business. The 95 Theses was an argument on the power of indulgences and how the undermined the seriousness of the sacrament of penance, competed with the preaching of the Gospel, and downplayed the importance of charity in Christian life. He nailed them on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle on October 31, 1517.

5. Ulrich Zwingli introduced the reformation in Switzerland by announcing on January 1, 1519 that he would preach from Erasmus’s New Testament. He was convinced that that Christian life rested on the Scriptures, which were the pure words of God and the sole basis of reli-gious truth. He attacked indulgences, Mass, institutions of monasticism, and clerical celiba-cy.

6. Some of the reasons Lutheranism appealed so much to the people of Germany were that city governments had expressed resentments of clerical privileges and immunities and that critics of the church condemned the irregularity and poor quality of sermons. Luther’s ideas attracted many preachers. German peasants sided with Luther because of his peasant back-ground. The Twelve Articles condemned lay and ecclesiastical lords and summarized the agrarian crisis of the early sixteenth century. They complained that nobles had seized village common lands, that they had imposed new rents on manorial properties and new services on the peasants working those properties, and that they had forced the poor to pay unjust death duties in the form of the peasants’ best horses or cows.

1. Benefices—religious offices; Many clericals held several benefices simultaneously but sel-dom visited their benefices and instead put up priests to perform the duties while the plu-ralist cleric collected money for both of them.

2. John Eck—A Catholic debater who argued against John Luther in Leipzig. Luther denied both the authority of the pope and the infallibility of a general council.

3. Philipp Melanchthon—After Luther’s death, he reported that the theses were posted on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle on October 31, 1517.

4. Charles V—The Holy Roman emperor who declared Martin Luther an outlaw.

5. On Christian Liberty—One of Martin Luther’s treatises that said rallied peasants against the nobles.

6. An Admonition to Peace—One of Martin Luther’s tracts where he condemned the lords.