The Reformation and the Catholic Church

            Reformation refers to movements which challenged the status of affairs of the Catholic church and gave birth to the number of protestant churches. In short, these essays agree with the fact that with or without Martin Luther, the sixteenth century reformation was inevitable in relation to forerunners, other reformers and Renaissance. To begin with, reformation of the Catholic church started in fifteenth century by the following people who were taken as the forerunners ;John Huss of Bohemia, John WY cliff of England, Girolomo of Italy and Desiderius Erasmas. These reformers paved the way for the religious revolution of the sixteenth century. It began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church by the priests who opposed what they perceived as false doctrines and ecclesiastical malpractices especially the teaching and selling of Indulgences and simony. In addition, the selling and buying of clerical offices which the reformer saw as an evidence of the systematic corruption of the churches hierarchy which included the Pope also prompted reformation. For example, Huss objected to some of the practices of the Roman Catholic church and wanted to return the church in Bohemia and Moravia to early Byzantine inspired practices like having lay people receive communion in both kinds like bread and wine, married priests and eliminating indulgences and the ideas of purgatory.[Oberman and Walliser,s.pp.54-55]. Hus rejected indulgences and adopted a doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. Finally Hus was condemned and was executed by burning. Wycliffe was also posthumously condemned as heretic and his corpse was exhumed and burned in 1428.Thereafter; their suggestions for reformation were then taken up by other reformers who introduced revolutionary in the church like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, Martin Bucer and Phillip Melanchthon.
             Secondly, although there had significant earlier attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church before Martin Luther such as John Huss, Peter Waldo and John Wycliffe ,Martin Luther is also widely acknowledged to have started the reformation with his 1517 work of the ninety five Theses.