How Does Protestant Reformation Affect Religious Violence?

Running head: RELIGION AND THEOLOGY
Protestant Reformation
Name:
University:
Course:
Tutor:
Date:
How Does Protestant Reformation Affect Religious Violence? An Analysis on Jan Hus and the Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day
Jan Hus was a religious reformer in the 15th century and worked hand in hand with John Wycliffe and he was a key player in the reformation of the 16th century. After his university studies, of which he was never awarded the doctorate degree, he was ordained in 1402 and later appointed to be the rector and also the preacher of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. This chapel was the very place where Czech national movement conjoined with the religious reform cause (Levene, Roberts, 1999).
Jan Hus was excommunicated from the chapel in September 1412, following the city’s placement under interdict and the closure of Bethlehem Chapel. The interdict was by this time used against those considered to be heretics and/or those that had built enmity with the hierarchy of the church. After being lured into being a resident of papal, Hun was then and there under imprisonment in a Dominican cell, where was not only interrogated but also put in suffering (Gross, 2004). In the public hearing of his case, he was not even given a chance to respond to the charges that had been made against him.
He was late declared an arch-heretic after refusing to the very last time opportunity to recant. Immediately, his degradation from being a priest took place in a ceremonious manner and his soul was handed over to Lucifer. Moreover, he was given to the irreligious authorities so that he could be executed (Michalski, 1993). Factually, in the same day, he was burned alive in front of the city wall in a meadow. After he was completely burned, his ashes were thrown into the Rhine River. Following the outcomes of all this, religious violence is reflected as Hun calls for reformation- in the Catholic Church- in his detest for the rigidity of the church and in involvement in other wicked activities (Levene, Roberts, 1999).
This execution led to the Bohemian nationals violently making an expression of their nationalism, the so-called the Hussite wars. These wars were the originator of the religious civil wars during the time of Luther in Germany, they joined Hus to Luther. In their perspectives, their movement (the Hussite Movement) was not at its least, neither predominantly nor exclusively religious in nature. Although the Papal authorities issued briefings to Luther ordering him to submit and pull back to the authority of the church, Luther grew more and more uncompromising (Gross, 2004). Besides, he made appeals for reform, in attack of the sacramental system, and was for the opinion that religion rest on the faith of an individual founded on the biblical guidance.
This made the then Pope to threaten him with his being excommunicated but Luther burned the papal excommunication decree (christened the bull) and other accompanying voluminous canon law (Levene, Roberts, 1999). In so doing, Luther had acted defiantly, which gave a suggestion of a complete break with the system of the Western church in its entirety. After turning down the recant from the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, Luther was outlawed. In his hide-out he wrote a number of pamphlets in which he expounded his principles and at the same time gave the New Testament a German translation (Michalski, 1993). However, the imperial edict prohibited these but all the same, the same were openly sold. These written materials also played a key role of turning the cities in Germany which were considered to be great into Lutheranism centers (Michalski, 1993).
Jan Hus within no time was the leader of this reform and he took an active part in condemning the corrupt clergy. In addition, he never went according to John Wycliffe’s teachings such as the “doctrine of remanence with respect to the Eucharist”. Despite having disagreed with both the teachings of Wycliffe and also what the university taught, he turned down denouncing the views that he never held. Jan and others in the university became a test of a prevailing attitude. However, this posed danger on him of being brand-named a heretic. Additionally, he lost the support of both King Wenceslas and Archbishop Zbynek (Michalski, 1993).
Among the people, the reform movement had by now made remarkable strides. Even after Luther had retired and went to Wittenberg, his home place, Germany had already been severely divided herself along both economic and religious lines. Those that chose to cling onto traditions; the emperor, a greater number of the princes and the clergy in the higher positions, were still supporters of the Roman Catholic Church. The North German princes, the commercial class, the lower clergy and the greatest population of the peasantry supported Lutheranism (David, 2003). They had welcomed and embraced change, which in the line of view, were an opportunity for them to be more independent in the areas of religion and economy. This division also gave birth to the open warfare between these two offshoots. The peasant’s war was inspired by Luther’s teachings and was geared towards making better their economic proportion. They also were motivated by their liberated from the numerous services which had traditionally been claimed by both lay landlords and clerical landlords. It is notably that Luther was not a campaigner of violence on the basis of differences in religion, but was in support of settling conflicts peacefully (Michalski, 1993). He urged the landlords to see to it that they satisfactorily meet the needs of the peasants. Supportively, he (in the pamphlet “Against the Murdering, Thieving Hordes of Peasants”) condemns these peasants for having indulged in violence (Lumpkin, 2009).
Later, in 1525, the peasants lost the battle but the cleavage that had already grown between the Lutherans and the Roman Catholics was still on the increase. In the year that followed, a point of finding the middle ground was reached at Diet of Speyer. It was then universally agreed that those among the German princes of the decision and wish to practice Lutheranism were at freedom to do so. However, the majority during a second Diet of Speyer held three years following the first one, rescinded the earlier agreement (David, 2003). The Lutherans, doubtlessly the minority, held a protest against the abrogation, where they were also included the Christian Sect that had been as a result of the revolt against Rome and were now known as the Protestants. Melanchthon, a religious reformer and a German scholar in 1530, wrote the Augsburg Confession. This was a Lutheran tenet’s conciliatory statement to the Roman Catholic group and Emperor Charles V (Michalski, 1993).
Unfortunately, this conciliatory statement failed to resolve the differences between the two factions but all the same, it was taken as the root of the new Lutheran church and the creed. Following these incidents were wars in France. In addition, Emperor Charles V was prevented by the Turks from rising against the Lutherans. Although the forces of the Roman Catholics prevailed, the Emperor had an obligation to bring forth peace. In 1555, the religious civil war came to an end through the religious Peace of Augsburg (David, 2003). In this agreement, three hundred German rulers were at freedom to choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism. This was followed by the enforcement of the faith chosen by each of the German rulers upon their subjects. By this time, the Protestants had formed almost half the religion of Germany’s population (Levene, Roberts, 1999). This was a clear indication that the Protestants had gained certified acknowledgement. On the same note, the concept of a single Christian community religious unity, which was an ancient concept under the Pope’s supreme authority in Western Europe, was unreservedly destroyed. This reformation brings into focus the appeals of the Hussites figures for inspiration and justification, despite being of old. Additionally more emphasis is placed on the continuity of the reveals of the extent to which the Prague preachers can unintelligible light up the reformation story (Mengel, 2010).
Saint Bartholomew Day Massacre, that took place in 1572 is marks one the bloodiest religious war. This is as per the French history. For quite a lengthy period of time, both Protestantism and Catholicism within France found themselves in series of interlocked disagreements. These French religious Wars gave birth to high levels of violence amongst the supporters of the two re...