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Protestant Reformation

What fuels reformation? Why would one even come to think of leading a revolution in

the first place? Responses to these mysteries are well handled from different media outlets. Many

scholars’ value understanding and drafting about history. Through history, the writers get to

obtain trends which in the end define the reasons behind the major revolutions that ever

happened. According to common logics, the whole idea of reformations is planted on the need

for change. I intend to confirm why most published outlets tend to explain a revolution as an

encounter that roots from certain movements and that the reformations changes people’s lives.

Different scholars who write about Protestant reformation have one common trend which I agree

upon as I define them in the adjoining content sources – they tend to use a historical experience

to define the revolution; they focus much attention on the pioneers of the reformation as well as

highlighting the impacts of the reformations to the people.

Many scholars focus on the life of the protestant leaders when writing on topics of

reformation and revolution. Martin Luther and the protestant reformation is one of the media

outlets published by the prints in regards to the topic of protestant reformation. According to this

source, Paul A. Bishop highlights the life of Martin Luther as the protestant leader an aspect

which another author Mercadal agrees to as it will be seen in this exploration. Bishop’s article
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therefore confines to the obvious trends that I mentioned back in the introduction. Martin Luther

dedicated himself to a simple life in early ages of his life. He grew up observing the doctrines of

the Roman Catholic Church according to Bishop’s article. His commitment to the Roman

Catholic Church awarded him a doctorate in theology and subsequent admission to the

University of Wittenberg (Bishop). He joined priesthood and was also a theology teacher. It was

here, at Wittenberg, that Luther began questioning the integrity of some of the doctrines of the

Roman Catholic Church. Luther started researching against the Catholic doctrines and began

developing what he called the doctrines of justification. Justification doctrines majorly involved

Luther’s own idea about religion and its impacts to the society. To this point, I get to discover

that leaders of protestant reformations were at one point in leadership positions of the claims

they protest against.

With time, Luther’s writings had been absorbed by people and waves of reformation and

revolt had started spreading across Germany and Europe at large (Mercadal). People began to see

how the doctrines of the Catholic Church brought about oppression and lack of freedom. They

divided into believers and Protestants with likes such as Luther being the leader of the

Protestants. Luther through gaining of popularity went beyond challenging corruption of the

church but indulged in challenging the church canons as well, this made reformation stronger

and the gap between Protestants and Catholic believers wider (Bishop). It is a result of the

separation that people divided into colonies and aim for a higher goal, the fight for

independence. It is here that I introduce my third article, the origin of the Massachusetts Bay

colony by Hillerbrand. The article highlights the life story a Puritan, John Winthrop and his

contribution to the protestant reformation and revolution of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

(Hillerbrand).
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Just like the source on the character of protestant leaders, the reasons for reformation also

have published sources that are well explained meaning that author’s agree to the inherent facts

of the protestant revolution. In the sixteenth century, European experienced a major movement –

the protestant reformation – that really changed how things were done in Europe. This movement

is well captured in Mercadal work of writing titled “Protestant Reformation” (Mercadal).

According to this source, the movement was a start up inauguration for reformation of beliefs.

Thus, the main reason for the Europe Protestant Reformation was to change the Roman Catholic

Church beliefs. The movement aimed to scrap off the Catholic Church beliefs which were

termed obsolete. The reformation led to division of believers into two, the Roman Catholics and

the Protestants (Mercadal). The breakage of the religious homogeneity made people start

thinking of their regional interests rather than one interest of the Catholic Church. With time,

people were more empowered, they begun ignoring their traditional canons and formed colonies

which served as power posts of authority. The need for change of the Catholic Church canons

forms the center reason for the reformation that spread across the entire Europe.

The source on the reasons for a protestant reformation stills goes ahead to explain the

results of the reformation which led to a change in the way people live. I however augment the

source with that of Hans J. Hillerbrand in explaining how the reformation brought change to the

way people lived. I will focus my attention on Massachusetts Bay colony which was developed

in the sixteenth century as a result of protestant reformation and revolution that followed. The

first colonies of Massachusetts came from the New England which settled in the region in 1620.

It was replaced by another colony – Plymouth colony – again from England which took shape in

1630 (Bishop). The 1630 regime saw a large scale migration of the Puritans to join the then

Massachusetts Bay Colony. Therefore, in the 1630s and years later, the Massachusetts Bay
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Colony was dominating and took control over the land. Though in power, the colony was in

repeated frictions with the natives over land and adoption of religion the friction reached the

epitome during the King Philip’s a time when the casualty numbers were so high. At this

moment the Puritan religion was so wide spread that deserters were exiled. The Puritan went

ahead clashing with the Anglican England religion over the issue of charter and dominancy.

The colonies in Massachusetts were headed by Kings which changed the way people

lived. The Kings controlled the royal authorities and provided instruction for the land. Before the

establishment of the Dominion New England in 1637, local governments were so powerful that

the central government was weak control authorizes (Hillerbrand). Leaders were elected by the

people. Most people in Massachusetts were farmers. There was cultivation of crops such as corn

and Squash which contributed immensely on the staple foods and diet. For this reason, business

developed around farming and its products. Farm produce were shipped to West Indies and

Europe to earn income for the colonies and in exchange of other products. It is also vital to

know that trade and political issues contributed to the revocation of the Massachusetts charter in

1684 (Hillerbrand).

In conclusion, I am left with a fulfilling inception after exploring this synthesis that the

three authors I have explored are in resonance. There are three facts on how the scholars choose

to write about Protestant reformation based on this research. One, they choose leaders of

pioneers of the protests and reformation and discuss about their early lives and how they came to

change and lead revolutions. Two, the leaders of the Protestants are in one time die hard

members of the organization they fight against as seen in the case of Martin Luther. Then three,

the reformation leads to a change in the way live and handle issues as seen in the development of

the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the colony was as a result of reformation and revolution. I like
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this approach by writers as it helps readers to chronologically understand the events behind any

reformation as well as the leadership of the reformation.

Works Cited

Bishop, Paul A. Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Print, 2017.

Hillerbrand, Hans J. The Protestant Reformation. Print, 2014.

Mercadal, Trudy. Protestant Reformation. Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2017.