So, what was the Protestant Reformation all about?
The dissolution of the Burgundian Netherlands in 1477 led to a realignment in the European geopolitical landscape in the early 16th century. France and the Holy Roman Empire expanded their territories, and Spain eventually became the dominant power in Europe. Attempts to reform the Church led to the Reformation and the establishment of Protestantism, which in turn prompted the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
The Reformation grew out of dissatisfaction with Church leadership and the perception that popes and upper-level clergy were too concerned with temporal power and material wealth. Because of inadequate support and leadership, movements such as the Modern Devotion, comprised of the lay religious order the Brothers and Sisters of the Common Life, placed new emphasis on personal religious rituals and encouraged a more direct spiritual communion with God.
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| Luther |
By the 16th century, dissatisfaction with the Church led to Martin Luther issuing his Ninety-Five Theses, in which he listed objections to Church practices. Luther objected most heavily to the sale of indulgences (remittances or reductions of time spent in Purgatory). His ideas ultimately led to the splitting of Christendom. Luther declared the pope the Antichrist.
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| Luther nailing his "95 Theses" |
Central to the reformers' creed was the question of salvation - how to achieve it. Luther proposed that faithful individuals attain redemption by God's bestowal of his grace. Only absolute faith in Christ could justify sinners and ensure salvation. Luther facilitated the lay public's access to biblical truths by producing the first translation of the Bible in a vernacular language.
Catholicism versus Protestantism
These doctrinal differences between Protestantism and Catholicism are expressed visually in Allegory of Law and Grace. Woodcut prints provided a prime vehicle for educating the masses," because artists could print them easily, permitting circulation and the sale of numerous copies. In this piece, the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism.
Iconoclasm
Not a new phenomenon, the term literally means the "destruction of images". The Protestant faith, in their zeal to strip things down to the very basic, essential structure, viewed the images produced by the Catholic faith not merely "unnecessary", but dangerously offensive in that they could be viewed as graven images (a violation of the Second Commandment). This resentment on the part of the Protestant movement resulted in the censorship, removal, and destruction of many works of art done in the service of the church.
