preview

American Revolution Dbq

Decent Essays

In High schools and freshman history classes, The Reformation is covered quickly and credit is given to Martin Luther and the printing press. Children are told about the rift between the church and Lutherans, then quickly are moved over to the English Reformation and the Catholic Church’s response to these deeds. It is not until one starts to really look deeper in to the history to see that there was much more to the story than the Ninety-five thesis being the flame that started the fire of revolution. It cannot be denied that much of the motivation of the reform was theological but there are many other causes as well. The rise of nationalism, western schism, corruption of curia and the Renaissance all had a part in the movements of the …show more content…

The Black Death had arrived in Europe and would kill more than half of the population. This one event spawned economic depression, revolts, and started power struggles between the elite and lower classes, and would lead to a new way of thinking that would spark changes that are still felt today in modern times. Humanism was born and instead of the Bible and religious issues being the only resource to look to, worldly issues and the thought that the individual had importance, became the new way of thinking. Before the renaissance the church controlled art, science, and even how one learned. Any discovery that went against the churches teachings was considered heresy and anyone participating in these acts could expect excommunication or death. Many great artists come from this time, some like Michangllo were able to still thrive under the church’s rule but others like Johann Kepler and Galileo did not fare so well. In the Catholic institution, only the members of the clergy had the power to interpret scripture, and in this new age of learning, these men did not think the bible had all the …show more content…

A new way of learning was starting to be utilized and the study of the bible was beginning to be treated like any other classical piece and with the study of it came the realization of corruption in the church. The humanist movement came at a time when faith in the church war growing weak and educated men were growing bored with the old fashioned way of learning. The return to the study of the classics led to feelings of restless and a need to learn about the world around rather than the blind faith in the supernatural beliefs that Christianity was based. The extremist on both sides blamed each other, the church was leery of any teachings that came from pagan sources, and humanist, encouraged by their scientific discovery’s, were questioning long held

Get Access