Protestant Reformation-

 

One of the greatest of all revolutions was the religious revolt in the 16th century, called the Reformation. The stormy, often brutal conflict separated the Christians of Western Europe into Protestants and Catholics. So far reaching were the results of the separation that the Reformation has been called the turning point in history. It ushered in the Modern Age because, with their religious unity destroyed, people began to think in terms of their own regional interest. From the diversity of those interests arose new political, social, and economic problems and beliefs.

 

Background of the Revolt

 

These disturbing conditions led some churchmen to criticize the administration of the church and even to doubt some of its teachings, or doctrines. For example, the church insisted that it alone had the authority to interpret the meaning of the Bible for the people. As early as the 14th century, however, John Wycliffe, an English priest and teacher at Oxford University, declared that people had the right to read the Bible and interpret it for themselves. Despite protests by the church, followers of Wycliffe translated the Bible from Latin into English in 1382 and carried copies throughout the countryside. Wycliffes ideas spread into Bohemia, where john Huss widely preached them in powerful sermons. The work of Wycliffe and Huss greatly influenced a Saxon monk named Martin Luther.