Discussion Assignment: The Reformation
Below are the questions you were asked prior to our discussion of the Reformation. After listening to the lecture and reading the selections providedfrom the writings of Martin Luther and John Calvin, your ideas about religion during the reforming period (Catholicism and Protestant traditions) may have changed. Pick two of the following five true/false questions and write a summary including your initial response and then why your opinion was changed (or confirmed). Please refer SPECIFICALLY to the sources provided in your response to questions 2, 3, and 5. Material for questions 1 and 4 will come from lecture.
1.Martin Luther was the first to call for reform of the Catholic Church which was, in the late Middle Ages, very resistant to new ideas, new faith communities, and new methods of prayer and worship.
2.The early reformers, Luther and Calvin, believed that everyone who opened their hearts to Jesus and followed the Bible would achieve eternal salvation.
3.Opposing the new ideas of Martin Luther which embraced free will, the Catholic Church rejected the idea of free will - man's ability to improve.
4.The European states/kingdoms that embraced the new Protestant traditions were ones that provided an overall climate of freedom for its subjects.
5.The Protestant Reformation initiated a period where churches in Europe were free of state control.
THEN - Write on paragraph on the following: If Luther could be brought back to life today, what would surprise hime? What would he be proud of? What would he be ashamed of?