The importance of the reformation
...lt of this most significant time in history. Indeed, if the events did not take place, what we now consider modern society may have looked completely different. Martin Luther, although only a monk, is credited with starting the Reformation by challenging the affairs of the church. Luther had been appalled by the selling of indulgences and engendered the 95 thesis, upsetting Johann Tetzel by posting it on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg. Word spread quickly about Luther’s revolutionary ideas which instigated people to question church authority. This lack of confidence in the ways of the church led to a new autonomy in pedestrian thinking and helped to create a downfall in absolute power in the Catholic Church. Without this epiphany by the people of Europe, brought upon by Luther, the Church may have continued to monopolize European thought and politics. Queen Elizabeth, Henry Vlll’s third child to rule England, shaped religious thinking and it’s relationship to political power like no woman had done before. By promoting concessions that would lead to a uniting of Protestantism and Catholicism under one Church she created religious peace and reduced the power of a single dominating religious-political influence. This combining of the Churches can be viewed as a historical...