2.1 & 2.2: The Protestant Reformation

The next questions refer to the passage below.

“Albeit we have at all times borne with that which we could not amend in this book [the Anglican Book of Common Prayer]...yet we must needs say as followeth, that this book is an unperfect book, culled and picked out of that popish dunghill, the Mass book full of all abominations. For...many of the contents therein be such as are against the word of God [the Bible], as by His grace shall be proved unto you....By the word of God, [ministry] is an office of preaching, yet they [the Anglicans] make it an office of reading. In the Scriptures there is attributed unto the minister of God the knowledge of the heavenly mysteries, and therefore as the greatest token of God’s love they are enjoined to feed God’s lambs, and yet with these [Anglican clergymen], such as are admitted and accepted...are only mere readers [of the Book of Common Prayer] that are able to say service and minister a sacrament. And that this is not the feeding that Christ spake of, the scriptures are plain.... These are empty feeders... [and] messengers that cannot call.”

Petition by English Puritans to Parliament, 1572

The petitioners’ accusation that Anglican preachers are “mere readers [of the Book of Common Prayer]” is a reflection of which of the following Protestant beliefs?

• The doctrine that some individuals are predestined for salvation and others are not

• The belief that the Bible conveys the message of salvation

• The condemnation of corrupt practices, such as the sale of indulgences

• The position that only baptism and the Eucharist are valid sacraments

A major difference between Calvinism and Lutheranism relates to

• emphasis on predestination

• infant baptism

• monasticism

• clerical marriage

• the place of women in society

“The European reformation was not a simple revolution, a protest movement with a single leader, a defined set of objectives, or a coherent organization. Yet neither was it a floppy or fragmented mess of anarchic or contradictory ambitions. It was a series of parallel movements; within each of which various sorts of people with differing perspectives for a crucial period in history combined forces to pursue objectives which they only partly understood.

First of all, the Reformation was a protest by churchmen and scholars, privileged classes in medieval society, against their own superiors. Those superiors, the Roman papacy and its agents, had attacked the teachings of a few sincere, respected academic churchmen which had seemed to threaten the prestige and privilege of clergy and papacy. Martin Luther, the first of these protesting clerics, had attacked ‘the Pope’s crown and the monks’ bellies,’ and they fought back, to defend their status. The protesting churchmen—the ‘reformers’— responded to the Roman counter-attack not by silence or by furtive [hidden] opposition, but by publicly denouncing their accusers in print. Not only that: they developed their teachings to make their protest more coherent, and to justify their disobedience.

Then the most surprising thing of all, in the context of medieval lay people’s usual response to religious dissent, took place. Politically active laymen, not (at first) political rulers with axes to grind, but rather ordinary, moderately prosperous householders, took up the reformers’ protests, identified them (perhaps mistakenly) as their own, and pressed them upon their governors. This blending and coalition—of reformers’ protests and laymen’s political ambitions—is the essence of the Reformation.”

Euan Cameron, historian, The European Reformation, 1991

Which of the following does the author most directly use as evidence of a shift in political attitudes toward authority?

• The attack of scholars against their superiors

• The demands of lay people for their leaders to adopt Protestant reforms

• The Church attack against dissenters

“Our sins have their source in Adam, and because Adam ate the apple, we have inherited sin from him. But Christ has shattered death in order that we might be saved by His works and not by our works. Christ says: I am your justification.”

Martin Luther

Which of the following best describes Luther’s meaning in the excerpt above?

• Faith means nothing without good works to demonstrate belief.

• Good works are necessary for justification, but only faith in Christ will bring salvation.

• Only faith in Christ will bring salvation, not good works.

• “Justification” is different from “salvation.”

Martin Luther initially criticized the Roman Catholic church on the grounds that it

• reduced the number of sacraments

• sponsored translations of the Bible into vernacular languages

• formed close associations with secular rulers

• used indulgences as a fund-raising device