Arguably, western civilization began many years ago and traces its main roots to Mediterran and European classical Antiquity. As a matter of fact, the Western civilization that was witnessed many years ago has tremendous influence in the life of people today. The western civilization has a crucial link with the western roman empire, which emerged from feudalism. There are various historical episodes and events that took place in the Western nations that marked the occurrence of western civilization. This occurrence include the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, as well as religious wars. It is worth noting that the western civilization has led to the development of dominant cultures in North America, South America, as well as other countries in the world. The protestant reformation, the Renaissance and religious wars have a lot of significance, purpose, as well as function in the society and the entire world. In general perspective, these events changed the life of many people and continues to influence the world in one way or another.
Protestant reformation is one of the significant event that marked the occurrence of western civilization (Hillerbrand, 2007).The catholic church had dominated the religious issue in Europe, but there were various issues that were practiced by the Catholic church that brought out the disagreement. Protestant is one part of the three denominations of Christianity, which also includes Roman Catholic and orthodoxy, otherwise referred as eastern orthodoxy. Its beliefs and doctrines are the same in that they believe in the holy trinity, also belief that Jesus died to save humans and that sins have consequences. It was split from Roman Catholic during the reformation which occurred around the 16th century.
The reformation was led by Martin Luther king among other reformers. It is commonly held that this division was due to the abusive malpractices such as the selling of indulgences, as they perceived this to selling of salvation. They also cited theological differences between them and the popes; among them they questioned why the catholic bible had 46 books while the Hebrew had 36. They rejected various forms of Roman Catholic worship. Some Protestant denominations such as the Anglican Church have maintained most forms of worship from the parent church, while others such as the Presbyterian have ignored it altogether (Hillerbrand, 2007). The protestant reformation is very significant because it eliminated the corrupt activities carried out by officials in the Catholic church. The 16th century reformation, helped in reforming the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church.
The reformations started in Germany and spread to other parts of the world. This is mainly because it is in Germany, specifically the city of Wittenberg that martin Luther king public posted his thesis, thus attracting a huge following. Martin Luther king argued that his true intentions for publicly posting his 95 thesis, which highly criticized the Roman Catholic teachings, were to reform the church. Although he did not intent to start a new Christian denomination, or break away from the Roman Catholic Church, which is what exactly happened. A new denomination evolved called “the Protestantism” with deep roots to Luther’s ideas and theological arguments attracted a huge following. The reformation also grew following the church’s rejection of the ideas, with critics terming it anti reform.
The intention of the protestant reformation as portrayed by Martin Luther King and other reformist was mainly to split from the Roman Catholic due to disagreements. This was mainly theological differences which arose from the roman catholic using a bible that contained more books than the Hebrew Bible which Luther king and his reformists insisted on using (Hillerbrand, 2007). The reformation had many significant impacts, as many experts term this period to be the start of modern civilization and democracy. With the occurrence of the reformation, Europe was transformed entirely and most historians argue that were it not for the reformation, this could not have happened.
Maybe because of its complex history, the whole concept of Renaissance has received more criticism than credit. Some critics argue that Renaissance is not an important part of history, and that it should not be glorified the way it has been. The great historian Erwin Panofsky argued that the concept of the Renaissance was a very important part of art, as manifested in the 14th-16th century period (Patrick, 2007). Among all other forms of renaissances, the Italian Renaissance is one which has received the greatest criticism. The critics question whether the Renaissance was really advancement from the stone ages to modern civilization.
The Renaissance period was very significant and played a major role in the development of cities, architecture, art, literature and science. That’s why it is argued that the Renaissance period was the bridge between the middle age and the modern civilization. It brought a lot of changes with the development of cities, governments and kingdoms/ countries (Patrick, 2007).
These were a series of wars across Europe which were as a result of protestant reformation in Western and Eastern Europe, mainly Germany. The conflicts were mostly influenced by the change that was sweeping the land which witnessed a lot of protests against malpractices practiced by the church. The significance of the religious war is focused in establishing the truth on issues that pertains to religion. Moreover, individuals and nations have found an avenue to call for recognition of various issues.
The conflicts started in Germany around 1524 AD, in what came to be referred as the peasant’s war. This war arose because of radicals who wanted the reforms of the church to be carried out in the society at large. Peasants and town folks decided to use this opportunity to demand economical reforms (Adams, 2004). This gave rise to radical political reformers such as Thomas Muntzer, who was executed later when his followers were defeated. Surprisingly, Martin Luther king supported the German authorities in suppressing the uprisings which in turn led to many peasants to reject his teachings.
The protestant reformation led to the religious wars, as radicals seized this opportunity to demand political and economic rights as is in the case of peasant’s war (Adams, 2004). The most uprisings and revolts were witnessed in Eastern Europe around Germany and Switzerland. This war brought a lot of change across Europe as more people became agitated and more aware of their rights. It also had an impact in the life’s of people as some were killed trying to fight for their rights. This led to a lot of suffering among the population as the wars brought destruction of property. The religious war is also experienced in the world today, and it is believed to be the main cause of conflict in the world today.
In conclusion, western civilization has become part of the society today. The events that took place during the western civilization played a crucial in molding the nations to what it is today. The protestant reformation, Renaissance, and religious wars have changed the life’s of people in one way or another. The lives of people are not the same any more; this is because the Western civilization under the Renaissance, protestant reformation and religious wars has educated people in one way or another. People in the world have come to comprehend the importance of freedom and human rights in society. The issue of oppression is no longer the trend. Perhaps, the social, political, economic, as well as cultural issues have been influenced tremendously.
References
Adams, S. (2004). The religion war. Kansas City, Kan: Andrews McMeel.
Hillerbrand, H. J. (2007). The Protestant Reformation. New York: Harper Perennial.
Patrick, J. (2007). Renaissance and Reformation. New York: Marshall Cavendish.
