Western Civilization

By: Aaron Schwartz
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:25:24
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The paper discusses Reformations in western European countries. Particularly, the paper is focused on the Catholic Reformation, the German Reformation, the English Reformation, the Genevan Reformation and the Swiss Reformation. At the first part of the paper basic similarities between the Reformations are analyzed while in the second part the emphasis is on principal differences between them.

Introduction

The development of western civilization was marked by several turning points that had changed the history completely. Basically, these were some revolutionary events and Reformation was one of such events. It is noteworthy that Reformation had started in different countries practically at the same period of time but independently and not as a solid revolution of traditional religious system dominating in different European countries. Very soon it overwhelmed practically all politically and culturally significant countries of Europe, particularly Spain, Germany, England, Switzerland.

Similarities of Reformations

Speaking about different Reformations, namely catholic, Genevan, German, English, and Swiss, it is necessary to point out that practically all of them had certain similarities and differences. At the first part of the paper the basic similarities will be discussed.

So, probably the main similarity of all the Reformations listed above is the main, or if it is possible to say here, the strategic cause of these Reformation. Before Reformations, Europe represented a solid organism in which Roman Catholic Church played a dominant role in religious sphere as well as to a significant extent in political and economical spheres. Naturally, the ruling elites of western European countries could not make up with such a situation and tended to weaken the role of Rome in national affairs both within countries and on the international arena.

At the same time average people could not bear the situation either. It was obvious that the Roman Catholic Church was in decay. People clearly understood that priests and high Catholic Church’s hierarchy is as sinful as other ordinary people. Abuse became a normal thing and “greed, sex, abuse of power were only some of these abuses.” (Spielvogel 1997:78). In such circumstances the practice of selling indulgences (papers that were temporal pardons of sins) invented by the Catholic church was treated as an extreme hypocrisy, on the other hand, such papers could not make people closer to God, on the contrary, they could make people feel that sin is not so bad if you have money to pay for an indulgence and get the God’s mercy. Naturally, such an attitude perverted the basic principles of Catholicism and Christianity at large as well as human minds and spirit. So, it is possible to say that Catholicism was in a sort of decay and morality of Roman Catholic Church and its priests was on a very low level.

Another characteristic of practically all Reformations is the role the royalty played in this process. Actually, royalty take an active part in the struggle against the domination of the Roman Catholic Church and they strived for independence of local churches and its controllability from the part of local political powers.

Differences of Reformations

Naturally in such circumstances, the situation could not remain unchangeable. As the result, the processes of Reformation had started in different countries.

However, in spite of some similarities mentioned above, all of them had their own particular features that made them different from each other.

First of all, it should be said that some of them were Catholic as the Catholic Reformation in Spain and Italy, while others were Protestant. It means that the Catholic Reformation basically supported main principles and ideas of the Roman Catholic philosophy, organization, theology, etc. Whereas Protestants did not support it and on the contrary tend to create their own equivalents, for instance the English Reformation led to the creation of Anglican Church that was absolutely independent from Rome and was actually ruled by King or Queen of England. So, in Spain Queen Isabel brought the church under the crown’s control more than ever before but formally it was still under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church. While, in England Henry VIII became a head of the Anglican Church that was absolutely independent, even formally from Rome.

Furthermore, each Reformations had their own pragmatic goals. At this respect it is necessary to briefly overview all the cases. For instance, in Spain Queen Isabel not simply intended to get control over the church but her proclaimed aim was “to raise moral and intellectual standards of the church.” (Jensen 1992:135). It means that she aimed at improvement of morality within the church, and consequently within the society at large.

Unlike in Spain, in England, King Henry VIII pursued a more pragmatic aim, namely he wanted to divorce his wife and marry another woman that could bear him a son that would be an heir of English throne. In such a context, it is possible to say that not only social demand but also state interests demanded reforms in English church.

Furthermore, the German Reformation, headed by Martin Luther, led to the split of the church into Catholic and Protestant. It was actually he who opposed probably the most to the implementation of indulgences. So his aim was to stop such a practice and help people to be real Christian with traditional Christian morality that according to him was a bit different from what the Roman Catholic Church suggested to people. Not surprisingly that he is the most famous for 95 indulgences nailed to the door of the catholic church.

As for the Genevan and Swiss Reformations they were geographically and to a certain extent spiritually close to one another. The Genevan Reformation, led by Calvin, unlike all Reformations that has been just described, was mainly organized not by a King or Queen but by a series of councils that constituted the government of Geneva and naturally they cared basically about their own national interests while the leader of local Reformation “enforced the ideals of purity, simplicity, and devout religious faith.” (Grass 1998:219).

At the same time, the leader of the Swiss Reformation, Zwinglian, broke traditional standards and he estimated that “a church without the magistrate is mutilated and incomplete.” (Grass 1998:247). He also stood on the ground that there should be nothing that could distract people from the pure word of God as such he considered to be music, paintings and images that traditionally decorated walls of churches.

Conclusion

Thus, taking into account all above mentioned it is possible to conclude that all Reformations were engendered by the decay of the system created by the Roman Catholic Church and its rules were unbearable neither for the rulers of western European countries nor for their peoples. So, Reformations were a natural result of such a situation. Basically, all Reformations had the same causes but they were hold differently and its goals were to a certain extent different as well. But still, it is obvious that the Reformation in Western Europe was another step ahead in the progress of European society, culture, and philosophy.

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