Protestant Reformation Flashcards
7 Sacraments of the Catholic Church
BAPTISM, CONFIRMATION (confirmed you were part of the Catholic Church), EUCHARIST/COMMUNION, RECONCILIATION (confession), MATRIMONY, ANOINTING OF THE SICK, HOLY ORDERS
Purgatory (Definition)
Purgatory is the last place where people go before they go to heaven so they can wash away their sins; this concept allowed the Catholic Church to take advantage of people wanting to get out of Purgatory quickly.
For example, they made people pay to look at things like the skull of an important church figure, which would supposedly take time out of Purgatory for them and their relatives.
This is important because people got very angry when they figured out that those things wouldn’t actually take time out of Purgatory for them and their relatives, which led to them trying to make reforms of the Catholic Church and, for some, completely breaking away from the Catholic Church and becoming Protestant.
Indulgences (Definition)
Indulgences were things that let people avoid time in Purgatory in exchange for giving money to the church, which led to many problems.
For example, when Luther was in Rome, he saw people paying the church to look at an important person’s skull, which didn’t actually take time off of Purgatory for them, but they thought it did.
This is important because, when they realized that it didn’t take time off of Purgatory, it made the people mad because it was unfair, so they broke off from the Catholic Church, or another Great Schism, which led to the formation of other churches, like the Lutherans and the Calvinists.
Reformation (Definition)
The Reformation was when the Catholic Church was split into two parts, which were the Catholic and different types of Protestant Churches.
For example, one of the Protestant churches was Lutheranism, which was made by Martin Luther, who wanted to reform the Catholic Church, but accidentally influenced them to leave it and join their religions.
This is important because it allowed people who didn’t want to believe or participate in Catholic ideas like this to get to pick what ideas they wanted to follow and what concepts they wanted to learn while still believing in the same God.
Simony (Definition)
Simony was the act of paying money to the church to become a church official, which made many people very angry.
For example, Cardinals during that time had their parents buying their positions and they owned more land than they should have, but they were able to pay the church so they wouldn’t get in trouble.
This is important because the church officials were guaranteed to go to heaven and it made the poor people, who didn’t have enough money to buy their position as a church officials, angry, which led to them breaking away from the Catholic Church to become Protestant.
Protestants (Definition)
Protestants were people who had separated from the Catholic church during the Protestant Reformation
For example, Martin Luther, who broke off from the Catholic church mainly because the church was making people pay so much so they could go to heaven, was a Protestant and he formed his own church, the Lutheran church.
This is important because he influenced other people to break off from the Catholic church and create their own divisions, which allowed them to be happier with following their religion and it didn’t put the stress of having to go to church everyday and donating most of their money to the church on them and it allowed poor people to not spend all of their money on the church.
Heretic (Definition)
A heretic is a person who differs in opinion from established religious beliefs, especially of the Catholic Church.
For example Luther was considered a heretic for writing the 95 Theses because they were things that he thought were wrong about the Catholic Church and their interpretations of the Bible.
This is important because calling Luther a heretic made people mad because they knew he was just trying to suggest things that the Catholic Church could improve in, so they got mad and decided to completely leave the Catholic Church, which is also known as another Great Schism, or the Protestant Reformation.
Difference Between Heretic and Heresy
Heresy - Action of going against the church
Heretic - Person who does the action
Desiderius Erasmus (Definition)
Desiderius Erasmus was an author who did things that were very important in the forming of the Protestant Reformation.
For example, he wrote the book “Praise for Folly”, which talked about all of the injustices that the church were doing and how they would most likely not go to heaven for their acts.
This is important because it allowed for people to realize how bad the Catholic Church was in the aspect of caring for other people, which allowed for them to learn the reasons why they should go against the Catholic Church, which led to them breaking away from the Catholic Church and becoming Protestant.
Martin Luther (Definition)
Martin Luther was a very influential figure in the Protestant Reformation, who did novel things to try and reform the Catholic Church.
For example, he created the 95 Theses, which was a list of complaints about the Catholic Church, which caught many other people’s eyes.
This is important because it showed people all of the bad things about the Catholic Church, which made them want to leave the Catholic Church, leading to the creation of other Protestant churches.
John Calvin (Definition)
John Calvin was a Swiss Protestant who created the Calvinist Church, which stated important concepts that differed from those of other Christian churches.
For example, he and his followers, whom he called Calvinists, believed in predestination, which was the belief that God already knew if a person was going to heaven before they were born.
This is important because it allowed people to believe what they wanted to believe: instead of having to listen to one repeated idea, they could choose what ideas they wanted to believe in while believing in the same god.
William Tyndale (Definition)
William Tyndale was a English Protestant who did things that defied the importance of the Catholic Church, making them very angry.
For example, he translated the Bible, originally written in Latin, into English, which the Catholic Church didn’t like because people wouldn’t have to ask the church officials to interpret the Bible for them.
This is important because the church officials wouldn’t be as important to the people as they were before, which would lead to people breaking away from the Catholic Church and becoming Protestant, where they could interpret the Bible for themselves.
King Henry VIII (Definition)
King Henry VIII was a king of England who created the Anglican church for unique reasons.
For example, a reason he created the Anglican church was because he wanted to divorce his wife so he could have children with a younger woman, but the Pope wouldn’t let him, so he created and joined his own church so he could divorce his wife.
This is important because it made the people of England all change to the Anglican Church, which meant that they became Protestant, which meant that Catholicism was spreading less and that Protestant churches were starting to form in other places around Europe.
