The Protestant Reformation (1517–1648) was the European Christian reform movement that established Protestantism as a constituent branch of contemporary Christianity; it began in 1517, when Martin Luther published The Ninety-Five Theses, and concluded in 1648, with the Peace of Westphalia that ended one hundred thirty-one years of consequent European religious wars.
The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to doctrinally reform the Catholic...
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The Protestant Reformation (1517–1648) was the European Christian reform movement that established Protestantism as a constituent branch of contemporary Christianity; it began in 1517, when Martin Luther published The Ninety-Five Theses, and concluded in 1648, with the Peace of Westphalia that ended one hundred thirty-one years of consequent European religious wars.
The Protestant Reformation began as an attempt to doctrinally reform the Catholic Church, affected by Western European Catholics who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastic malpractice — especially the teaching and the sale of indulgences, and simony, the selling and buying of clerical offices — that the reformers saw as evidence of the systemic corruption of the church’s hierarchy, which included the Pope.
Martin Luther's spiritual predecessors included John Wycliffe and Johannes Hus, who likewise had attempted to reform the Catholic Church. The Protestant Reformation began on 31 October 1517, in...
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