AP European History

Crash Course

The Reformation

II. Calvinism

• A. John Calvin’s Key Beliefs
  • 1. Calvin’s doctrines are clearly and systematically explained in his landmark book, The Institutes of the Christian Religion.
  • 2. Calvin asserted that while God is just, perfect, and omnipotent, humans are corrupt, weak, and insignificant.
  • 3. Since men and women are by nature sinful, they cannot actively work to achieve salvation. Because God is all-knowing, he has “determined, both whom he would admit to salvation and whom he would condemn to destruction.” This “terrible decree” constitutes the theological principle called predestination.
  • 4. By God’s grace, a very few people will be saved from sin. Calvin called these people the “elect.”
  • 5. Calvin taught that the elect have a duty to rule society so as to glorify God. The ideal government should therefore be a theocracy in which church leaders dominate civil authorities.
  • 6. Calvin and Luther agreed on many fundamental points of theology. However, they disagreed on the emphasis placed upon predestination and the relationship between church and civil authorities. While Luther believed that the church should be subordinated to the state, Calvin stressed that the elect have a duty to Christianize the state.
• B. Geneva, “City of Saints”
  • 1. In 1541, Protestants in Geneva, Switzerland, asked Calvin to transform their city into a model Christian community.
  • 2. Calvin and his followers regulated all aspects of life in Geneva. They suppressed frivolous activities such as playing cards, dancing, and attending the theater. At the same time, they strictly enforced a high standard of morality that included regular church attendance.
• C. The Spread of Calvinism
  • 1. Protestant reformers from France, England, and Scotland hailed Calvin’s Geneva as “the most perfect school of Christ since the days of the Apostles.” Geneva thus became both the center of Calvin’s reformed church and a compelling model for other Protestant leaders.
  • 2. In the late 1550s, John Knox brought Calvinism to Scotland. Within a decade, the Presbyterian Church founded by Knox and his followers became the basis for Scotland’s established religion.
  • 3. Calvinism soon spread to France, where followers were called Huguenots.
  • 4. Calvinists also founded Puritan churches in England and later in New England.

III. Anglicanism

• A. Henry VIII (Reigned 1509-1547)
  • 1. The “Defender of the Faith”
    1. Henry VIII was a devout Catholic who detested Luther.
    2. Henry wrote a pamphlet calling Luther “a great limb of the Devil.
    3. Impressed by Henry’s loyalty, the pope gave him a special title, “Defender of the Faith”
  • 2. The problem of succession
    1. Henry’s political needs proved more important than his loyalty to the pope.
    2. Since Henry was only the second king of the Tudor I dynasty, he was determined to have a male heir. When his wife, Catherine of Aragon, failed to give birth to a son, Henry asked Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage.
    3. The pope would normally have granted Henry’s request. However, Catherine of Aragon was the aunt of the Holy ( Roman Emperor Charles V. At the time of Henry’s request, Charles’s armies controlled Rome. Caught between the plea of a distant English king and the immediate presence of a powerful Holy Roman emperor, the pope delayed and finally refused to annul Henry’s marriage.
  • 3. The Act of Supremacy, 1534
    1. Thwarted by the pope, Henry turned to a radical solution to solve his marriage problem.
    2. In 1533, Henry defied the pope and married Anne Boleyn.
    3. The following year, Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy. This landmark act declared the English king to be the “Protector and Only Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England.”
    4. Although Henry VIII rejected papal supremacy, he remained a devout Catholic. In 1539, Parliament approved the Six Articles defining the doctrine of the English Church. With the sole exception of papal supremacy, the Six Articles reaffirmed Catholic teachings while rejecting Protestant beliefs.
  • 4. Dissolution of the monasteries
    1. Beginning in 1536, Parliament passed acts closing all English monasteries and seizing their lands.
    2. Henry sold much of the land to nobles and to members of England’s increasingly prosperous merchant class.
    3. Enriched by the monastic lands, these groups became loyal supporters of the Tudor dynasty.
• B. Making Comparisons: Henry VIII and Martin Luther
  • 1. On first glance, Henry VIII and Martin Luther had very little in common. Henry rejected Luther’s core doctrines, and the two exchanged derisive pamphlets filled with insults. Guided by his faith, Luther wanted to reform and then change the Catholic Church. Guided by his dynastic interests, Henry wanted a male heir in order to avoid a potentially bloody succession.
  • 2. Henry VIII and Martin Luther had very different religious beliefs and motives. Nonetheless, they shared similar political attitudes. Both believed that the church should be subordinate to the state. Both Henry VIII and Martin Luther rejected papal authority. In addition, both followed policies intended to strengthen the nobility. As we have seen, Luther supported the nobility by encouraging them to suppress the rebellious peasants. Henry supported the nobility by allowing them to purchase monastic lands.
• C. Elizabeth I (Reigned 1558-1603)
  • 1. Religious issues
    1. Elizabeth I inherited a difficult religious problem. Since Henry VIII’s break with Rome in 7534, royal religious policy had changed direction several times.
    2. Protestants gained strength under Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553). Catholics experienced a renewal under Mary (reigned 1553-1558).
  • 2. The Elizabethan Settlement
    1. Elizabeth was a politique who placed political necessities above her personal beliefs. She therefore strove to find a middle course that moderate Catholics and moderate Protestants would accept.
    2. The Elizabethan Settlement restored the Church of England. Also known as the Anglican Church, the Church of England allowed priests to marry and to conduct sermons in English. However, the Church of England retained archbishops and bishops who wore elaborate robes and conducted services that remained formal and traditional.
    3. Although Protestant in tone, the Church of England instituted dogmas that were deliberately broad and often ambiguous.
• D. Making Comparisons: Isabella of Spain and Elizabeth I of England
  • 1. Both Queen Isabella of Spain and Queen Elizabeth I of England shared the goal of ruling over a united country. However, they followed dramatically different religious policies to achieve this goal.
  • 2. Isabella was a devout Roman Catholic who decreed that in a Christian state, there could be only “one king, one law, one faith.” She revived the Inquisition, conquered Muslim-controlled Grenada, and forced Jews and Muslims to become Christians or leave Spain. Her actions created religious unity but at the price of harming Spain’s economy.
  • 3. Elizabeth was a politique. Although raised a Protestant, her religious views are largely unknown. What mattered most to
  • 4. Elizabeth was not the religious beliefs of her subjects but their loyalty. She wanted to avoid destructive religious civil wars. It was not her intention, she said, to pry windows into men’s souls.” Elizabeth’s reign marked the beginning of a cultural golden age and a period of sustained economic growth and prosperity.

IV. Anabaptism

• A. Anabaptist Beliefs
  • 1. Anabaptists, or rebaptizers, opposed infant baptism, insisting that only adult baptism conformed to Scripture....
  • 2. Anabaptists advocated complete separation of church and state.
  • B. Anabaptist Leaders
    • 1. Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists all condemned Anabaptist leaders as radicals.
    • 2. Modern historians have labeled Thomas Münzer a “left wing” Anabaptist leader because he advocated the overthrow of the existing political and social order. Münzer was executed in 1525.
    NOTE: Most texts focus on comparing and contrasting the religious views of Luther and Calvin while devoting little attention to the Anabaptists. Don’t neglect the Anabaptists. APEURO test writers expect you to know that the Anabaptists advocated the complete separation of church and state.

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