Unit III - Long Essay Question

Suggested writing time: 45 Minutes

Directions: Answer the Question Fully
In your response you should do the following.
● Respond to the prompt with a historically defensible thesis or claim that establishes a line of reasoning.
● Describe a broader historical context relevant to the prompt.
● Support an argument in response to the prompt using specific and relevant examples of evidence.
● Use historical reasoning (e.g. comparison, causation, continuity or change over time) to frame or
structure an argument that addresses the prompt.
● Use evidence to corroborate, qualify, or modify an argument that addresses the prompt.

1. In the period 1450–1750, the established world religions, like Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism were
experiencing periods of challenge and change.

Develop an argument that describes and explains the political, cultural, and/or social effects of religious change
during this period.

Global religions went throught many changes in the period 1450-1750, such as Christianity becoming 2
branches of Catholicism and Protestanism, the scientific revolution decreasing the significance of Christinaity,
and Muslims and Christians looking for different ways to solve problems. All of these things helped Europe
finally not need to rely on other countries as they had in the past, and even became stronger politically than
some of the other areas.

Martin Luther was a firm believer in Christianity, but one day he decided that he thought Catholics were
deciphering the word of god, which was believed to be the Bible back then, wrong. He didn’t like how
Catholicism had just a few religious figures, and how it was difficult to become a priest, which was one of the
only ways to be able to read and decipher the bible. With the support of many others and the invention of the
printing press, Luther was able to amass a decent amount of followers of this new branch of Christianity.

One of the ways Christianity went through change is with the invention of the printing press. Before the printing
press, all books and works of literature had to be copied by hand word for word, which took large amounts of
time. The printing press was able to make copies of books much faster than a human hand was able to. This
invention allowed more common people and peasants to have access to the Bible more easily, and sometimes
own one in their own home, because before this the only way to communicate with god was through a priest,
listening to their sermon.

Another way Christianity went through change is during the scientific revolution. Many people in Europe
started to look to science for ways to explain things they didn’t know about instead of mythical creatures or
gods. People like Galileo and Isaac Newton were some of the big names who discovered major things about our
world, and because people started to realize why things were happening Christianity lost some amount of faith.
When an earthquake would happen people would now know it was because of tectonic plates and not because
the gods were mad at them, which also caused a decrease in the amount of people praying and sacrificing things
for gods, because a good amount of that happening to try to appease the gods. Many people still believed in God
and Christianity, but now they had other reasons to explain their problems, and better ways to solve them.

A difference between Christianity and Islam was that during this time period while Christianity was being
slightly looked away from as they found other reasons for things, Muslims found themselves looking even more
toward Islam whenever they were faced with a problem, instead of trying to use science like the Europeans had
begun to do. Although the Islamic people used the practical applications of the Scientific revolution, like map
making, they still wholeheartedly believed that Islam and Allah were the only reason for everything. This
thought began to weaken Islamic empires as a whole, and Europe started emerging as a global power, and
politically stronger than other areas like the Middle East and India.

In conclusion, worldwide religions went through many changes from 1450-1750, like the scientific revolution
decreasing the importance of Christianity, Christianity breaking into 2 main branches, Protestanism and
Catholicism, and Islam leaning more into their faith while Christianity leaned toward Science.