Reformation:
The Reformation was the start of Protestantism and the split of the Western Church into Protestantism and what is now the Roman Catholic Church. At the beginning of the sixteenth century it was universally admitted that the corruption of Western Christendom was appalling and that "reformation in head and members" was urgently needed, but vested interests made it extremely difficult.
Three Reformations:
Three different Reformations were carried out based on fundamentally different principles: 1) The Continental Reformation, 2) The English Reformation, and 3) The Counter-Reformation.
1. The Continental Reformation
The Continental Reformation took three forms:
i) the German under Luther,
ii) the French under Calvin (with which the Swiss under Zwingli was ultimately amalgamated;
Geneva did not belong to Switzerland till 1814), and
iii) the Sectarian, (which reached its fullest development in the United States of America).
2. The English Reformation
The English Reformation made the national church independent of Rome and gave the Crown the power to make reforms. The English Reformation split the Church in England from the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. The Protestant Church of England was established and the English monarch became its supreme head not the Pope.
3.The Counter Reformation
The Counter-Reformation, also called the Catholic Reformation or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. The Counter-Reformation cleansed and strengthened the Papacyand by the power of the Pope removed practical abuses but retained and carried further the doctrinal developments against which the Reformers had protested.The founding of the Jesuits, reform of the papacy, and the Council of Trent. They were important because they unified the church, help spread the gospel, and validated the church.
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