The Causes of the Protestant Reformation - Essay Example

When we discuss Protestant Reformation, what we typically remember is a movement that ushered in negative consequences not only in the European continent but as well in the entire Catholic Church, which remains to be felt and experienced at present. Even though it may be factual that the Protestant Reformation had been one of the reasons for the eventual collapse of the Catholic Church at some stage of the 16th century, it as well ushered in countless contributions in the expansion not only of the Catholic Church but the entire Christian Empire as well.

It was because of the institution of these Protestant Churches that the Catholic Church began assessing the unfolding of events affecting the Catholic faith. The Catholic Church began to distinguish the imperfections and weaknesses of its traditions and practices and began to modify and search for solutions to the developing conflicts and dilemmas within and outside their Church and their followers (Rops 1961). In order to understand the origins of the Protestant Church and the Reformation, it is essential to initially recognize that one of the arguments that the Roman Catholic Church defends is that of Apostolic succession.

This implies that they claim a superior position over all other churches for the reason that they can trace the succession of Roman Catholic Popes from Apostle Peter. In their belief, this provides the Roman Catholic Church a distinctive authority that prevails over other churches. This Apostolic succession can only be located in the Catholic Church and no other unrelated churches to it have any legitimate claim to it. It is due to this apostolic succession that the Catholic Church claims a privileged command to interpret the Scriptures and to ascertain the doctrine, in addition to the claim of possessing a supreme religious head in the figure of the Pope who is seen as a perfect human being.

Hence, according to the perspective of the Roman Catholic, the preaching or practices of the Catholic Church as they originate from the Pope are mutually as perfect and powerful as the Scripture they interpret (Rops 1961). This is one of the primary dissimilarities between Catholics and Protestants and also one of the initial causes of the Protestant Reformation. The Protestant Reformation was an impressive movement of emancipation from religious oppression, and a justification of the sacred privileges of conscience in issues of religious conviction; Luther’s daring act at the Diet of Worms, in front of the two most powerful figures in the world, the pope and the emperor, is one of the understated incidents in the history of liberation and the expressiveness of his testimony reverberates through the ages (Caponetto 1999).

One exceptionally important value that the Christian Empire could learn from the Protestant Reformation is that resolving conflict through violence is not a justifiable move for the pursuit of the greater good. Nowadays, we can regard the Protestant Reformation as a grand contribution and power in the establishment of what we now know as the Christian Empire. The Protestant Reformation merely proves that power through blatant philosophy is not always fruitful in the long run. ReferencesCaponetto, Salvatore.