REFORMATION, The. The Reformation was the movement in the religious life of western Europe in the 16th century which re sulted in the formation of the Protestant Church. At earlier periods there had been a feeling that conditions in the leadership of Christendom needed improvement and attempts at betterment were made along two dis tinct lines. The first was through the ef forts of individual men, monastic orders and eral councils to bring about changes for the better within the Church. Such a movement was undertaken by the Reforming Councils of Pisa, Constance Basel in the 15th century where an unsuccessful attempt was made to reform the Church In head and members. The second way in which efforts had been made to improve the condition of Christendom was to form separate organizations outside of the Roman Catholic Church such as the Albigenses and Waldenses. These early separatist move ments were not of any great importance be cause. they affected only a comparatively small number of the Christians of Europe. These efforts to reform the Church from within and to establish other churches outside of Roman Catholicism had not met with success as the 15th century came to its close. The papal chair had been occupied for half a century by men who were more interested in the revival of learning and Italian politics than they were in giving Christendom the kind of leadership which it needed. Some of the popes con tributed largely to the success of the Renais sance. Some were indifferent to religion and of immoral lives, The Reformation of the 16th century started as an effort to bring about re forms within the Roman Catholic Church, and it was only after this seemed impossible that the leaders withdrew from organized Roman Catholicism.
There are a number of reasons why the separation from the Church and the formation of a new organization met with success in the 16th century when the earlier efforts had failed. Most important of all was the revival of learn ing. Men were thinking for themselves as they had not before for centuries. The invention of printing brought about wide diffusion of knowl edge. There was an opportunity through the study of the writings of the Early Church fathers to compare the Church of the first centuries in its belief and organization with the Church of the 16th century. It was evident to students that there was a wide difference between the two. The circulation of the New Testament also tended to bring about a diversity of opinion on religious matters. There was a growth of the national feeling in some of the nations of Europe, and an increasing desire that ecclesiastical affairs be handled within the nation rather than by the distant papacy, es pecially as the popes were involved in Euro pean politics. There was also a group of men who were fitted for leadership in the establish ment of a separate Church. These men were able to accomplish what they did because of the growing consciousness that the Church as then organized and governed was not meeting the needs of the times, nor was it furnishing the moral and spiritual leadership which it had given in earlier centuries.
The Reformation began in Germany through the work of Martin Luther. A peasant by birth and a university graduate, he desired to make sure of his own salvation. He became an Augustinian monk and practised all the austerities of the order but did not find as surance of salvation. Through the help of friends in the order, by his study of the Ger man mystics, and especially through the study of the New Testament he came to the belief that a man is not justified by works but by faith alone in Jesus Christ. Justification by faith came to be the foundation of his theology. He became professor in the University of Wit tenberg and preached in that city While he was here, the indulgence seller, Tetzel, began his work near Wittenberg and Luther preached against the sale of . indulgences because it was - contrary to his conception of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. On 31 Oct. 1517 he posted his 95 theses, in this way stating his own position on the subject and challenging to a debate. This brought him into conflict with the papal authorities and it was found that there were great numbers in Germany who accepted his views. Efforts were made to bring him back to the Church but in vain. His further study of the New Testament and the Church Fathers led him to take views directly antagonistic to the papacy. He taught that a general council could make mistakes, that all Christians were priests before God and that in matters of doc trine the papacy had departed from the teach ings of the Bible. He was excommunicated and at the will of Emperor Charles V, placed under the ban of the empire but continued to be the leading spirit in the German Reformation. His most important assistant was his fellow teacher at Wittenberg, Phillip Melancthon, the thinker and scholar of the Reformation as Luther was the aggressive leader. The Ref ormation spread rapidly after 1517 but was somewhat checked in 1524-25 by the Peasant Revolt because, in the minds of many, Luther's preaching led directly to such outbreaks. Luther's marriage also alienated some of his followers who did not believe that monastic vows ought to be broken. Efforts were made repeatedly at the German diets to come to some agreement but in vain. Feeling between Catho lics and Lutherans became more bitter till war broke out between them, which was settled by the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 by which it was agreed that each prince should have it in his power to decide the religion of his people. The principle was expressed in the words cujus regw ems religo. Another part of the agree ment was the Ecclesiastical Reservation, accord ing to which if an ecclesiastical prince changed his religion he must resign his benefices. This settled the ecclesiastical question in Germany for nearly a hundred years, but was unsatis factory because it gave no room for the grow ing numbers of Christians outside of the Catholic and Lutheran bodies.