3.3 Land Based Empires: Beliefs

A historian interpreting the views expressed in the passage would likely explain that those views were most strongly influenced by Protestant desires to

• promote religious war against fellow Christians

• encourage the creation of a united German state free of papal influence

• demonstrate that an individual’s destiny was predetermined by God

• reform Christian society by adhering more closely to Biblical teachings

A historian could best explain the arguments made in the passage regarding the pope and the clergy in the context of Protestant claims that the Catholic Church

• had not adequately supported earlier Crusades against Muslims in the Holy Land

• had become corrupted by power

• had become too heavily influenced by Renaissance Humanism

• had failed to convert Muslims living in Europe to Christianity

A historian interpreting the passage would most likely explain that the audience of the sermon is an illustration of the fact that

• papal alliances with the Holy Roman emperors led to widespread religious persecutions in Germany

• the Protestant German nobility was wary of confronting the Ottomans without Catholic support

• political support from the German nobility aided in the development of the early Protestant community

• the Protestant German nobility adopted pacifist attitudes during religious disputes with their Catholic and Muslim opponents