12 CONSEQUENCES OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION - HISTORY - 2025

The consequences of the Protestant Reformation featured the religious movement led by Martin Luther in 1517, which led to a theological division between Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Luther was a German monk who sought to reform the corruption that existed in the Catholic Church at the time. Although the movement was primarily spiritual, Protestantism led many to rebel against the authority of the church and the powerful monarchs of the time, who used their authority to control large empires.

The reform significantly changed the political landscape in Western Europe and culminated in the Thirty Years War of the 17th century.

Consequences of the Protestant Reformation on society

1- Break with Rome

Martin Luther

The Reformation had an impact on religious and philosophical thought, mainly due to dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church of the time, which was a preeminent authority in Europe in the 1500s. Martin Luther claimed that the authority came from the Bible and not of the Catholic Church or the Pope.

As a result, the Church fractured, giving rise to a multitude of Christian denominations, including the first, Lutheranism, and many more that still emerge and continue in modern times.

2- Emergence of the Anglican Church

The story begins with the break of King Henry VIII with the Roman Catholic Church. This reform in England was closely related to the personal affairs of the King, because he was desperate to get rid of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

Thus, in 1532 a law was passed in Parliament to curb the influence of the papacy in England and the King was appointed as Supreme Head of the Church, giving birth to Anglicanism.

Henry VIII took some action. The convents were dismantled and their wealth secularized, so each parish was required to possess an English Bible and the New Testament in Tyndale's translation dated 1526.

However, Henry VIII felt strong ties to Catholicism, so although he founded a separate Church from Rome, he sought to be faithful to Catholic doctrine.

After his death in 1547, his son Edward VI completely opened the doors of the Reformation in England. But a few years later, her sister Maria (daughter of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII) was crowned and, as a devout Catholic, restored Catholicism in England under the authority of the Pope and persecuted the Protestants.

Five years later, after the death of Mary, Elizabeth I (daughter of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII) became her successor thanks to the Protestants, for which she reinstated the Law of Supremacy, thus affirming her position as queen and sole head of the Anglican Church of England.

However, the queen retained some features of the service and organization of the Catholic Church, so she did not completely depart from this tradition.

3- Persecution between Catholics and Protestants

As a consequence of the Protestant Reformation, the Church of Spain and Portugal operated inquisitorial courts throughout their empires, for which Lutherans and Protestants were persecuted and murdered without mercy.

The intolerance of Protestantism was no less cruel. In England for example, having achieved supremacy, they established a new tyranny. They destroyed the Catholic monasteries and convents, expropriated their property, persecuted and assassinated them.

4- The Catholic Reformation

The desire for reform within the Catholic Church had begun before Luther's spread, but the Protestant Reformation pushed for a revived Catholicism to clarify and reaffirm Roman Catholic principles. Many men of great thought and intellect were involved in this Reformation.

Cardinal Ximenes of Spain reinforced clerical discipline and encouraged knowledge in schools and universities. On the other hand, Matteo Giberti, secretary of Clement VII, was one of the first members of the Oratory of Divine Love founded in Rome in 1517 to promote good works in daily life.

In 1524, Gian Pietro Caraffa (later Paul IV) helped find the Theatines, an order in which priests worked within the community, but lived in monastic austerity.

A decisive man in the Reformation, Ignacio de Loyola, founded the Jesuit order in 1534. They transformed the Roman Catholic Church and sought to bridge the gap between Thomism and Augustinian.

Pope Paul III, initiated the Council of Trent in 1545, in order for a commission of cardinals in charge of institutional reform, to address controversial issues such as corrupt bishops and priests, indulgences and other financial abuses.

Some Catholic reformers were also influenced by late medieval mysticism, such as Master Eckhardt and Thomas a Kempis. In France, Lefèvre d'Etaples published translations of these writers. The Dutch Jesuit Peter Canisius was heavily influenced by mystics and founded Jesuit colleges throughout Germany.

A succession of popes during the second half of the 16th century followed the policy established in the Counter-Reformation. Their conscientious administrations removed much of the incentive for rebellion.

5- The Thirty Years War

The Thirty Years' War (1618 -1648), in which most of the European powers intervened (especially the Holy Roman Empire) drew a new geopolitical framework in subsequent years.

It was born as a battle between those who defended the reform and those who supported the counter-reform, but it resulted in a conflict related to religion in general and as an incentive to achieve hegemony in Europe.

Once completed, the Peace of Westphalia was signed, which modified the religious and political map of Central Europe.

6- Literacy and promotion of education

In the context of the Protestant Reformation, Becker and Woessmann (2009) argue that Luther was interested in getting all Christians to read the Bible, thus promoting universal schooling in Protestant areas.

In turn, in the Catholic Reformation, with the appearance in the Catholic Church of San Ignacio de Loyola and his Jesuit order, schools were founded throughout Europe and education was promoted.

7- Economic development

A classically mentioned consequence is the work of Max Weber, on the relationship between Protestantism and economic development.

Weber's theory was motivated by the observation that in Baden (a southwestern German state), Protestants earned more than Catholics and were more likely to attend technical arts schools.

While the Protestants in Baden were mostly Lutherans, most of Weber's theory turns around Calvinism and ascetic branches of Christianity.

According to their hypothesis, these sects managed to instill the idea that work and the creation of money should be seen as a vocation, an end in itself, arguing that this attitude was central to the early development of modern capitalism.

However, an investigation by Davide Cantoni (2009) from Harvard University, ensures that there are no effects of Protestantism on the economic growth of the time. This according to the analysis of the population figures in a data set that includes 272 cities between the years 1300 and 1900.

“While there are many reasons to expect that Protestant cities and states have been more economically dynamic over the past centuries, due to their work ethic, their attitude towards business and their encouragement for literacy, this document considers that there is no an effect of religious denominations as a likely indicator of economic development, ”Cantoni writes.

The Harvard researcher concludes that despite different views on religious matters, Protestants and Catholics might not have been so different in their economic behavior after all.

8- Jewish migration to Eastern Europe

As for the Jews, Luther made a mistake. He was sure that the Jews would support him and even become Lutherans. He had shaken the Church to its core, he had endured excommunication, and he had risen before the Holy Roman Emperor. He thought that by his actions the Jews would be converted.

However, it was not even rejected, but ignored. The Jews of Germany were not interested in becoming Protestants or in being drawn into the forces fighting in Europe. In addition, a much more radical element emerged within Protestantism, the Anabaptists, who claimed that Luther was not Protestant enough.

Consequently, the Jews suffered terribly in the Thirty Years' War, despite the fact that this was a war between Catholics and Protestants.

The war led to chaos and anarchy, and armed gangs looted and killed everywhere. At the end of the war, Jews preferred to be in areas under the control of Roman Catholics, since in Protestant areas they were left to the wrath of the crowd.

The Jews would rebuild in the 17th century, but they would never be able to recover in Western Europe again. This is why after this period, Jewish life migrates to Eastern Europe (Poland, Lithuania and Russia), where the Protestant Revolution had no reach.

9- Changes in religious art

The Reformation inaugurated a new artistic tradition that highlighted the Protestant belief system and diverged dramatically from the humanist art of southern Europe produced during the High Renaissance. Many artists in Protestant countries diversified into secular art forms.

In terms of theme, iconic images of Christ and scenes of the Passion became less prevalent, as did depictions of saints and clergy. Instead, narrative scenes from the Bible and moralistic depictions of modern life were prevalent.

The Protestant Reformation also capitalized on the popularity of printmaking in Northern Europe. This technique allowed art to be mass-produced and widely available to the public at low cost, so the Protestant church was able to bring its theology to the people in a more persuasive way.

10- Destruction of religious images

The Protestant Reformation induced a revolutionary wave with regard to religious images. The most radical Protestants who promoted the destruction, we find the Protestant leaders Huldrych Zwingli and Juan Calvino, who actively removed the images from their churches.

John Calvin

On the other hand, Martin Luther encouraged the display of a restricted range of religious images in churches. However, the iconoclasm of the Reformation resulted in the disappearance of religious figurative art, compared to the number of secular art pieces that emerged.

11- Europe Division

At the beginning of the 16th century, Western Europe had only one religion, Roman Catholicism. The Catholic Church was rich and powerful and had preserved the classical culture of Europe.

The Protestant Reformation created a North-South divide in Europe, where generally the northern countries became Protestant, while the southern countries remained Catholic.

Towards the end of the 16th century, the Catholic Church was recovering the people in half of the lands that Protestantism had lost. Europe was divided along almost the same lines that still exist today.

12- Division of Protestantism

The Protestant Reformation gave rise to many divisions within itself. Although the origin was Lutheranism, many others distanced themselves from it, giving rise to a variety of churches (some more radical than others), such as: the Protestant Church, the Anglican, the Church of England Episcopal Baptist Methodist Pentecostal or Calvinism Reformed Presbyterian, among many more.

Currently the number of Protestant churches is difficult to count, it is believed that there are more than 30 thousand.

References

1. Sascha O. Becker (2016). Causes and Consequences of the Protestant Reformation. Warwick Economics Research Paper Series. Recovered from: pdfs.semanticscholar.org.
2. Boundless (2017). "Impact of the Protestant Reformation". Boundless Art History Boundless. Recovered from: boundless.com.
3. Berel Wein (2015). The Reformation. Jewish History. Recovered from: jewishhistory.org.
4. Davide Cantoni (2009). The Economic Effects of the Protestant Reformation. Harvard University. Recovered from: davidecantoni.net.
5. The Counter Reformation. The History Learning Site. Recovered from: historylearningsite.co.uk.
6. Aggelos (2017). The Anglican Reformation in 16th century. Virtual Museum of Protestantism. Recovered from: museeprotestant.