Lecture Notes for M

1. Challenges to the
Church, Part II
Taking Root in Church - Reformation from Within

2. Objectives
❖ Students will describe reasons why England formed a new
church.
❖ Students will analyze how the Catholic Church reformed
itself.
❖ Students will analyze the changes in European thought and
culture resulting from the Renaissance.

3. Vocabulary
❖ sect: a subgroup of a major religious group.
❖ compromise: an agreement in which each side makes
concessions; an acceptable middle ground.
❖ Council of Trent: a group of Catholic leaders that met
between 1545 and 1563 to respond to Protestant challenges
and direct the future of the Catholic Church.
❖ ghetto: separate section of a city where members of a
minority group are forced to live.

4. Protestant Sects Grow
❖ Hundreds of new sects of Protestants spring up throughout
Europe
❖ Some followed variations of Luther or other leaders
❖ Some were more radical - Anabaptists felt that infants
could not know what being baptized meant, so it was
impossible to convey the faith
❖ Considered radical for the time

5. Anabaptists Push For
Social Change
❖ Some wanted to
❖ Abolish private property
Speed up the coming of God’s
❖
judgement through violent
means
❖ Lutherans encouraged to join Catholics in suppressing
Anabaptists
❖ Most were peaceful and victims of harsh persecution
❖ Today: Baptists, Mennonites, Amish

6. English Reformation
❖ English had long history of
questioning authority, including the
Church
❖ Protestantism has roots in England
from 1300s with the clergy
❖ Eventual break with the Church
happens with King Henry VIII

7. Henry VIII
❖ Henry had only one surviving
daughter with his wife
❖ Wanted an annulment so that he
could marry another woman and
have a son
❖ Pope refused
❖ Henry, influenced by high ranking
members of his advisors took steps
to break with the church

8. Church of England
❖ With Parliament, Henry took control
of the church
❖ 1534: Parliament passed the Act of
Supremacy, making Henry the “only
supreme head on Earth of the
Church of England”
❖ Caused infighting between Protestants
and Catholics
❖ 1534-1540: Strengthening of the
Church of England through seizures
and closing of Catholic churches

9. Swift Changes and Turmoil
❖ 1547: Henry dies; Nine year old Edward takes over
❖ Attempt to create a strict Protestant nation with Parliament
(Protestant)
❖ Edward dies in his teens - half-sister Mary Tudor comes to the
throne
❖ Determined to return England to
Catholic faith
❖ Bloody revenge
❖ Mary dies - Throne passes to Elizabeth

10. Elizabeth: Age of
Compromise
❖ Elizabeth had survived religious swing
between Edward and Mary
❖ Determined to try to meet both faiths
need
❖ Catholic structure (bishops and
archbishops) kept
❖ Protestant customs; English
replaces Latin at service
❖ Hallmark of Elizabeth was finding
ways to satisfy the needs of her people

11. Catholic Reform -
the Counter Reformation
❖ Pope Paul III recognized that Protestantism could spread and
ultimately threaten the Church in a much larger way
❖ Called the Council of Trent in 1545
❖ Lasted nearly 20 years
❖ Reaffirmed many of the traditional views that Protestants had
challenged
❖ Salvation comes through faith and good works; Bible is not
only source of truth
❖ Took steps to end abuses in the church and establish schools
to better educate clergy

13. Inquisition
❖ Church led court set up during the Middle Ages that was
now being used to fight back against Protestantism
❖ Secret testimony, torture and execution used to root out
heresy
❖ Index of Forbidden books - including books by Luther
and Calvin and other humanists
❖ Pope Paul III strengthened the Inquisition

14. Jesuits
❖ Ignatius of Loyola - vowed to become a
soldier of God
❖ Rigorous religious training with absolute
obedience to the Church
❖ Set up schools that taught humanist and
Catholic beliefs and enforced discipline
and obedience
❖ Spies and secret missionaries

15. Spread and Legacy of the
Catholic Reformation
❖ Response to the ends of abuse and changes in the church
stopped the tide of conversion to Protestant
❖ Majority of Europe is still Catholic
❖ Protestants have foothold in Europe, though
❖ Divided faiths in Europe

16. Persecution
❖ With major tensions and anger - fighting
and killing for religion heightened
❖ Intolerance and persecution of outsiders
- considered to be witches or Jews
❖ Witch hunts targeted mostly women
during the religious wars
❖ Came to an end at the end of the wars
❖ Pressure on Jews to convert
❖ Venice - force all Jews to live together
in one quarter of the city called the
ghetto
❖ Throughout, those Jews that refuse to
convert would be persecuted and driven
from their homes