How revolutionary was the Protestant Reformation?
Martin Luther and Lutheranism lie at the epicentre of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, because, according to acclaimed historians such as Sommerville, MacCulloch and Nichols, it was the German monk’s supposed nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg in October 1517 that sparked this Reformation. In fact, 500 years on from this historically crucial event, the word Reformation still remains synonymous with Luther. Therefore, when analysing the Reformation, it’s vital to associate many of its activities with the role played by Luther in rousing opposition to the Church and its hierarchy. However, to consider his movement revolutionary is to assume that it radically challenged the traditional authority of the Catholic Church in a way in which no other reformer had done before, that it brought about widespread revolutionary fervour and support, and that it intented to overthrow an existing social and religious order in favour of a new one. Whilst it’s highly debated that this was not the case, and that Luther’s movement and the ideals upon which it was founded were pre-existent and relatively conservative, the Protestant Reformation was revolutionary to a great extent.
It’s arguable that the Protestant Reformation wasn’t revolutionary because Luther’s criticisms of the Catholic Church were neither original nor unique. Instead, according to Chadwick, at the start of the sixteenth century, “everyone that mattered in the Western Church was crying out for reformation,” and there was great resentment of the Church’s “distressingly commercial venture” of the pursuit of salvation. Luther, the “Father of the Reformation,” wasn’t alone in grieving the practices such as Simony and Indulgences, where salvation, forgiveness for sinning, and exemption from purgatory could be bought. Contemporaries challenging the Church alongside Luther indicates that his ideas were not new or idiosyncratic. Moreover, it’s argued that Luther’s Reformation could not have been revolutionary if its founding principles predated him. Luther, in his time studying biblical scriptures and formulating a resilient criticism of the commercialisation and corruption of the Catholic Church and Papal authority, was enthused by highly influential and renowned reformists. Among these were John Wycliffe and Jan Hus, who played a predominant role in criticising the structure and governing of the Church in the fourteenth century. Both vigorously contested the authority of the Church for its unethical undertakings, including the aforementioned Indulgences and Simony schemes. Therefore, one could say that the Protestant Reformation wasn’t revolutionary, because its values were reproduced from previous agitators who had made the same criticisms of the Church “for decades before Luther.” Also, resentment of the Church was so prevalent at the start of the sixteenth century that Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses could be viewed as a sign of conformity to the surrounding crusade of criticism against the Church, rather than of reformation or revolution.
Furthermore, an argument, substantiated by historians including Trueman, proposes that the Protestant Reformation could hardly have been revolutionary. It’s questioned that, if Luther’s movement was so radical and revolutionary, why did it attract the support “of so many north German princes who would have had a vested stake in keeping society stable,” rather than creating social and religious disturbance? These princes, electors and urban magistrates supported Luther to “reduce papal intrusions into his [their] domain…to protect his [their] sovereign authority,” rather than because they were induced by his theological views. Had the Protestant Reformation been truly revolutionary, these important figures would have sided with Luther, preferring to overthrow the existing order of the Church, or at least question its authority and practices, like Luther himself did. However, these largely self-seeking nobles wanted to increase their spheres of influence and limit the Pope’s, and their intransigent, anti-revolutionary vehemence and commitment was reflected in their fight against the dissenters throughout the German Peasants’ War in 1524-5, an outgrowth of the Reformation. Even Luther condemned the uprising, for which he was chiefly responsible, as evidenced in his Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants. By labelling the peasants the “worst blasphemers of G-d and slanderers of His holy name,” it’s credible that Luther’s Reformation could not have been revolutionary, because its own figurehead denounced its actions, preferring to side with legitimate authority rather than insurgency – or, as Luther put it, “Sine vi humana, sed verbo.”
Nevertheless, one must still consider the side of the argument that advocates the idea of a revolutionary Reformation. After all, there’s an extremely overwhelming historiographical consensus to suggest that this was the case. Firstly, in its causation, it’s argued that the Reformation was radical. This is because, although Wycliffe and Hus, among others, had already previously criticised the Catholic Church in the same manner as Luther, the latter acted differently. With advancements in technology, he could manipulate the simultaneous rise in power of the printing press, to help the diffusion of his message across Europe. Luther’s predecessors didn’t have access to such resources to spread their teachings and galvanise support. Consequently, this ground-breaking technology allowed one of the conditions of a revolution to be fulfilled, by bringing about widespread revolutionary zeal through “information transmission and ideological diffusion.” Despite claims that Wycliffe and Hus were more revolutionary than Luther, because they were burnt at the stake as heretics and Luther was not, his influence cannot be understated. His works sold “like hot cakes” within days of publication, due to the ascendency of the press, and “excited the interest of a wide international public,” particularly across Central Europe and Scandinavia. Remarkably, within the first decade of the Reformation, Luther was responsible for over a quarter of all printed publications, especially given his translation of the Bible into the vernacular. Moreover, even if he didn’t envisage an “impious destruction of the Church,” his literary writings “hit the vital nerve of current Church practices,” and consequently endangering his life, specifically after the Edict of Worms and his excommunication from Rome in 1521. His inflammatory rhetoric and denunciation of Indulgences, tithes and other imposed immoral observances, fuelled by the power of printing, led to the censorship of all his religious writings across the Holy Roman Empire. Therefore, whilst authoritative figures, including former Pope Benedict XVI argue otherwise, Luther’s Protestant Reformation was largely revolutionary.
In addition, the Protestant Reformation was revolutionary in the way in which it completely “transformed the political order of Europe.” Although not Luther’s intention, as aforementioned, to devastate the structure of the Church, his ideas contributed heavily to displace the Catholic Church from power across Europe. His calls to reduce the political and military authority of the Pope reverberated throughout the continent, and “fundamentally altered the makeup of city councils, parliaments and royal councils…one of the most important long-run effects of the Reformation.” For example, King Henry VIII of England followed the principles outlined by Luther’s writings and famously split from Rome in 1534, emasculating Papal influence, thus increasing his own control. By rejecting the “medieval dualism of church and state” and instead adopting Luther’s doctrines that coalesced the government under monarchical rather than ecclesiastical power, Henry VIII proclaimed himself the Church of England’s leader. As such, he clearly exhibited the revolutionary nature of the Reformation, not only in the way that it had manifested outside of Germany, but in the way in which legitimate rulers were following the teachings of a German monk and using them to challenge the traditionally unimpeachable authority of the Church and Pope.
Luther was assisted in bringing about a revolutionary Reformation by the work of John Calvin in Geneva and Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich, to name but a couple of key reformists. In fact, these men generated such a socio-political and religious wave of revolutionary spirit that they were credited with having movements named after them. Whilst Calvinism and Zwinglianism diverged from Luther’s theologies, they were arguably more radical, receiving great support across Europe. The emergence of these new hubs of evangelicalism allowed the Reformation, set in stone by Luther, to gain “a revolutionary momentum” across the continent. The founder of Scottish Presbyterianism, John Knox, even branded Calvin’s centre of reformation in Geneva “the most perfect school of Christ,” such was its positive influence on the consolidation and development of the Reformation. Although Zwingli and Calvin sometimes preached conflicting ideas to Luther, such as the doctrines of predestination and transubstantiation, their denigration of the Church arguably had an equal impact as Luther’s criticism on the progress of the Reformation. Consequently, the widespread support for the Reformation, not only from monarchs such as Henry VIII, or from Electors such as Frederick III of Saxony, but also from influential spiritual leaders across Europe, strongly suggest that it was revolutionary.
Furthermore, it’s remarkable that, together, Calvin, Luther and Zwingli’s unprecedented attack on the Church – some argue the most well-known feature of the Reformation – wasn’t even its most revolutionary branch. One outgrowth of the movement was known as the Radical Reformation, and, as the name suggests, there’s little doubt that it was revolutionary. Müntzer and Karlstadt, among the leaders of this crusade, exaggerated the foundations of the Reformation laid by Luther and his contemporaries, and campaigned “through provocation…shouting down sermons by those held to be preaching something other than the pure word of G-d.” They also refused to pay tithes or to have their children baptised (Anabaptists). Although Baylor downplays the portrayal of these revolutionaries as “wild-eyed fanatics,” it’s almost impossible to suggest that this was not the true nature of the early to mid-sixteenth century activists. Luther’s sola Scriptura, sola fide doctrine, which was only half-heartedly enforced by its creator, was pressed by the radical reformers “as far as they could.” This was crucial for the progress of the Reformation, because, without this more extreme wing of the movement, Luther, Calvin and Zwingli’s hard work may have come undone over time. However, because the proposals put forward by these radicals were so damning and critical of the Catholic Church, they enabled the Reformation to gain more momentum. Thus, under their guidance and leadership, an already revolutionary faction transformed into an extremely popular, subversive, and inflammatory movement.
Finally, the Protestant Reformation was highly revolutionary, as it has profoundly affected the shaping of European politics, religion and society over the last five centuries. Indeed, it can be regarded as “one of the most far-reaching events of the last millennium.” The vilification of the Pope as an “Antichrist” changed the perception of traditional Papal authority, and this is underlined by Henry VIII’s extraordinary break from Rome. Similarly, his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, subsequently imitated this by declaring herself the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, whilst successively ousting Papal influence in England, and changing the state of religion in the country forever. This was not specific to England; other countries followed suit, and over time, the growth of the Reformation into an institution split the monarchy and State from the Church, and enabling the development of the modern nation-state. The prevalence of reform, which by the work of Luther alone occurred in “50 of the 65 free imperial cities of the Holy Roman Empire,” as well as many more continentally, also improved the standard of education. Schooling, which had previously been a privilege, became widely accessible due, largely, to Luther and Calvin, among others. The revolutionary effect of this is evident globally today, where access to education has become increasingly equal. It is, according to theologians such as Whelchel, the work of Protestant reformists such as Luther who made this possible, because, Luther’s demand that “every town also had a girls’ school” pushed society towards greater equality of education provision. In fact, the long-term effects are best exemplified by statistics that uphold that, by 1871 in Prussia, literacy rates of Protestant men were 93.36%, compared to the Catholic male rate, which lay at 84.75%. Protestant women likewise had a 10.24% margin in literacy rates above their Catholic colleagues in nineteenth-century Prussia. This short and long-term revolutionary improvement in schooling was undoubtedly facilitated by the advancement of technology – most notably through the invention of the printing press. Cities with a press, according to research conducted by Rubin, were “significantly more likely” to embrace the Reformation, and, it was so fundamental in making the Reformation a revolutionary force that it’s been notoriously stated, “Without printing, no Reformation.”
In conclusion, whilst Luther, the architect of the Reformation, may not have foreseen the indescribable political, religious and social upheaval and transformation that he was about to bring when he publicly pinned the Ninety-Five Theses, the chaos and change that followed was indeed revolutionary. Although it’s argued that Luther’s work was no more than an extension and outgrowth of previous reformist fervour, there’s overwhelming evidence to suggest that what Luther proposed and achieved was prodigiously more revolutionary than anything accomplished by Wycliffe and Hus. Furthermore, his withdrawal of support for the peasantry, in their fight for increased recognition of rights, and backing of the German princes, was not a conservative move that proved a lack of revolutionary movement. Instead, Luther gained the admiration of the elite and thus aided the Reformation cause, by having the aid of heavyweight political figures. The spectrum of support that it harnessed, from nobles and monarchs, to religious preachers and radical reformists, emphasise just how revolutionary it was. This, coupled with its long-lasting political, religious and social effects, and its unprecedented, vicious attack on the hierarchy and immoral practices of the Catholic Church, reiterate that the Reformation was, indeed, revolutionary to a great extent.
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