What was the original cause of the Protestant Reformation?

Answer 1

There is not one original cause. The Protestant Reformation was the culmination of a whole menagerie of complex and interdependent ideas, events and leaders. However, the short answer is that most put it down to Martin Luther and, even more single-mindedly, his 95 Theses.

If you want the long answer then I advise you talk to a scholar on the subject, but other areas you might look into are:

- Renaissance Humanism

- Huldrych Zwingli

- Conflict with the Ottoman Empire

- The development of the printing press

- The Peasants' Revolt

.Catholic AnswerAn argument can be made the the original cause (aside from sin, which is always the root cause of any one leaving the Church, especially to make their own religion) is rooted in the "appalling catastrophes of the fourteenth and fifteen centuries when the "medieval synthesis" (the harmony between Faith and reason, the balance of power among nation-states as parts of Christendom, the balancing of the authority of the king wih local self-government, harmony between the goals of individual self-fulfillment and those of society, and the equilibrium between Church and state) and its collapse. Diane Moczar, in her book, What Every Catholic Wants to Know Catholic History From the Catacombs to the Reformationlists:

famine and plague

social friction

rebellions

the Hundred Years War

Turkish Attacks

The Papacy in Distress

- all as causes which deeply affected society and were the root causes of the sins of individuals which led to the protestant revolt from the Church.

from

A Catholic Dictionary, edited by Donald Attwater, Second edition, revised 1957

The Protestant Reformation: the revolt from the Catholic Church in Western Europe begun and carried to its height in the 16th century. It differed from all previous heretical movements in that it was not concerned with one or a few definite points of doctrine but was directed against the whole complex and system of Christianity as then understood; it gave licence to the human self in the spiritual and religious order. Its principal causes were: the excessive temporal power, wealth and privilege which accrued to the higher clergy, the wicked, worldly and careless lives of many of the clergy, secular and regular, and the decay of philosophy and theology (these resulted partly from the Renaissance) with consequent low standard of spiritual life among the people generally; the weakening of the authority of the Holy See, following the Great Schism, increased by the humanistic corruption of the papal court; the parallel insurgence of secular princes. Its principal motives were: desire for the purity of religion and godliness of life which, from the state of the clergy, precipitated a violent and unreasoning anti-clericalism which degenerated into contempt for all spiritual authority; the national ambitions of secular princes which flourished in the break-up of the Catholic integrity of Europe; an appetite for spoil and, as in England, fear of having to give up looted ecclesiastical wealth; in some, a hatred of the Church and Faith which can be attributed only to the direct working of the Devil. The principal results of the Reformation were: the true reform of the Church "in head and members" effected by the Council of Trent and the revivification of Catholicism so thoroughly achieved that it remains vital to this day (The Counter-reformation); the putting of countless souls, notably in Great Britain, Scandinavia and the German parts of the Empire, in enmity to the Church and consequently outside those means provided by Christ for man to know and attain to God; the disappearance of any "higher unity" holding together the diverse peoples and nations of Europe, the inoculation of men with naturalistic and humanitarian (as opposed to theocentric) philosophy which is now the chiefest enemy of Christianity.

AnswerLong Term Causes of the ReformationThe 15th Century was a period of change, in many ways an early modern "Information Age," as innovations like movable type allowed for the mass printing of books and pamphlets, many of which addressed secular topics. Although illiteracy remained well above 95% even through the next century, more people than ever were exposed to ideas. This was most true in the growing urban centers.

These ideas, associated with the Renaissance, held than individual man had value beyond the life and death cycle taught for generations by the medieval church. As can be seen in art, music, and philosophy, social and cultural patterns began to challenge old assumptions held dear by the hierarchical Church. In some areas, the need for immediate reform was addressed before men like Luther, Thomas More, and Erasmus began their criticism of the religious status quo. In Spain, priests were forced to end female relationships that conflicted with celibacy. Seminaries were refocused in order to produce spiritual men. Religious orders became more spiritually centered under the leadership of intelligent men and women such as Teresa of Avila.

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Answer 2

The reason he started the Protestant Reformation was because he started to doubt his catholic faith and didn't agree with certain things that in reality were actually true, but he didn't want to hear that or accept that fact. And the reason as to why there are so many different versions of The Bible is because of him also. What he did was he read the bible, verse by verse, and whenever he found a verse that didn't go along with his theory, he literally ripped that whole book out of the bible (the reason i say book instead of chapter is because the bible is really made out books collected over hundreds and thousands of years). So those were the central causes.