Arthur H Bishop

Creating Religious Freedom: 16th Century Revolution That Sparked Christian Dispersion Arthur H Bishop

Publisher Marketing: Today there are hundreds of Christian denominations around the world but 500 years ago there was only one in Western Europe--the Roman Catholic Church--that had become a powerful monolithic system in which the Bible was secondary to its own laws, traditions and authority. From the 12th century forward there had been attempts by priests within its own church to reform its theology and practices. But each of these attempts had been met with stiff resistance resulting in intimidation, torture and heresy trials ending in execution. However, in the 16th century a man by the name of Martin Luther with the support of German princes resisted the power of the Roman Church and began a revolution to renew Christianity in Western Europe. That protest was initiated by Luther when he issued to the Roman Catholic hierarchy his 95 statements of protest against its theology and practices. This is the story of that Protestant Revolution that spread across Western Europe in a continuing battle between the protesters and Catholics for one hundred and fifty years ending in 1648 with the Thirty Years War. 2017 will mark the 500th anniversary that Revolution, and the legacy it has brought to contemporary Christians.