'The factors that led to Luther's reform of the GermanChurchwere not exclusive; the abuses were to be found within the Church in Europe.'Outline the main reasons which led to believe why the Church was in need of reform throughout Europe.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

History Essay – Luther’s Reformation

‘The factors that led to Luther’s reform of the German Church were not exclusive; the abuses were to be found within the Church in Europe.’

Outline the main reasons which led to believe why the Church was in need of reform throughout Europe.

It is fair to say there were numerous reasons suggesting why the Church was in need of reform on a wide-scale degree throughout Europe during Luther’s time. Apart from centralised abuses in Rome, concerning the Pope or other members of the higher clergy using their considerable political and spiritual power to their own ends instead of for the good of the Church they claimed to represent. There was corruption at the very grass-roots of religion, at local level churches, where simony, nepotism, and other corrupt practices moved the focus of the Church and its ministers away from the spiritual health of its people and towards a more materialistic view. Also the very representative of the Church in local areas, the priest, was often uneducated in faith, leading the people in a misguided manner until it was on the brink of collapse. Martin Luther, a German, Augustinian monk, recognised many of these failings, and finally stood up against them, this led to the movement known today as the reformation, which called for the change and reform of the malpractices in the Catholic Church.

The main point that Martin Luther wished to speak out upon was that of the issue of indulgences (which he did in his work 95 thesis, 1517), these were in essence, dispensations issued by the church under authority of the Pope, for peoples sins, or a reduction of time spent in Purgatory for either the purchaser or a loved one. These indulgences could only be bought from the Church, and was therefore an attractive prospect to the institution, who looked upon these as an easy way to make money. The ordinary people who bought them also found them an attractive prospect, they were cleansing their souls and saving time for them spent in Purgatory, this to them seemed like a good bargain. However, the more educated of people saw the flaws within the system; these people saw that the Church had become obsessed with greed, due to the huge revenue gained from indulgences, while the people who bought them often were poor as a result (especially since the Church was already taxing them heavily in the form of tithes, Peter’s Pence etc.). Many religious scholars believed that all you needed to gain eternal life was faith alone, and no special dispensation would save you from the judgement of God. What was claimed then, in a sense was that indulgences were useless and a waste of money. This was Luther’s focal point for the beginning of the reformation, he wished to see the sale of indulgences stopped, so the Church would regain the focus of its role. Not as a money absorbing establishment, rather a body to lead its followers in the path of eternal salvation.

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As mentioned in the opening paragraph, there were other practices going on at a local level which led to calls for reform of the Catholic Church. Both Simony, (the purchasing of Church positions and titles) and Nepotism (a Priest preparing his son to take over his duties as a priest in his parish when he retired) were rife. As the vocational work was seem as an easy life many families saw it as a place to send their sons where they would be powerful, respected and well-off. This paved the way for untrained men entering the priesthood and monastic life without any theological training, which was seen as essential in order to lead God’s people in the way of salvation. As a result, the men supposed to be leading the ordinary people in their religious lives were often just as ignorant in faith matters as any of the people. ‘In fact Pluralism, (the holding of more than one post as Priest, Bishop etc.) led to widespread absenteeism so often the parish did not even have a priest, good or bad.’ John Denman, ‘History of the Reformation’. No real answers could be found when people posed these men a theological question, and superstition and misinformation were widespread. The actions of these ‘men of God’ was again called into question as they were often found to be concerned with the materialistic rewards in life, such as money possessions and even women. Many of these priests would say offertory masses numerous times a day, all to earn money for themselves. In fact it seemed all these priests could do was say mass and no-more as they did not posses the skills or knowledge to progress the faith of their people. This lead for a call for purification of the religion and it’s clergy, and was another main reason why the Church needed to reform.

By the time the Reformation began, it actually cost a great deal to be part of the Catholic Church, especially in Germany. The Pope constantly taxed the country as he was well able to, due to its great wealth and lack of central government. Both ‘tithes’ and ‘Peter’s Pence’ were extremely effective ways of squeezing money out of not only Germany but the rest of Europe. This was particularly hated in Germany however, as this was seen as German money going to a ‘foreign’ Pope in Italy and would not be seen again. Rome seemed to have an incessant need for cash, with even Bishops paying money when they inherited a new bishopric (Annates). However, the clergy did not have a bad deal in the main term. They were exempt from taxation, and many were in fact very powerful land-lords, earning more than their congregation could ever dream of. All of this led to a resentment of the clergy from ordinary people, who called for widespread reform in this area. These calls, led by the ‘Humanist foundation’, ‘who contrasted the existing nature of the Church with the purity of the original Church of the New Testament’ and saw the problems with this gulf in wealth and power between the people and the priest as an obvious reason for resentment. (Taken from the History Department AS notes.)

It was not just on local and nation levels there were problems, corruption ran right up into the Vatican. Continually the Papacy was more of an embarrassment to the Church than an effective leader. Keith Randell in his publication Luther and the German Reformation comments ‘they were more concerned with the securing of Papal lands and the Beautification of Rome than being God’s representative on Earth.’ Most of the taxes collected from the faithful across Europe went to meet these needs. ‘Peter’s Pence’, was in fact named after money collected from it went to restore St Peter’s Basilica. The Popes lived a life of luxury, far fetched from the original impression the Pope was meant to have, in the image of Jesus or St. Peter the first Pope. Many Pontiffs bought their way into the role to benefit from the huge political influence the office wielded, including some unsavoury characters such as Pope Alexander VI, or Rodrigo Borgia, (who fathered eight children and acted more like a powerful King than the Pope).With Pontiffs like these the Pope’s intended role was all but forgotten. With this succession of Popes who did not merit the office, the focus of the Church had shifted and the health of the faith of its followers was not its top priority. Many wished for the religion to be purified in a reform, and the issue of the Papacy proved a main reason for the Reformation movement.

To conclude, it finally seemed that faith had no part to play in the Church, it was corrupt from the local priest right up to the Pope himself, obsessed with secular matters rather than matters of faith. The Church was in dire need of reform, and regardless of whether Martin Luther originally intended it or not, the Reformation movement would achieve that in the following years.

Conor Lavery