How The Scientific Revolution And The Reformation Were Revolutionary

1. Discuss whether the Scientific Revolution and the Reformation were “revolutionary”.

What does it mean to be revolutionary? To be revolutionary is to be, as defined by dictionary.com as “markedly new or introducing radical change”. It is my educated opinion to believe that the scientific revolution and the reformation were both revolutionary without a doubt. A revolution involves change, mass amounts of change which affects nearly everything. It’s not a change of wardrobe, or a new car, it is much, much greater than that. A revolution changes the way people view themselves and the universe in which they are living in and it doesn’t come easily. Revolution is usually brought about as a very last option. People do not welcome change; they
It is my opinion that the Protestant Reformation dealt more with religion while the Catholic Reformation dealt more with the “politics”. The major goal of the Christian humanism was the reform of Christendom. The Christian humanists believed in the ability of human beings to reason and improve themselves and thought that through education in the sources of classical, and especially Christian ancient times, they could instill an inner godliness or an inward religious feeling that would bring about reform of the church and society. Simply stated, they wanted change. Corruption in the Catholic Church was another reason why people wanted reform. Many high church officials were also concerned with money and used their church offices as opportunities to advance their wealth and careers. Martin Luther was a monk and a professor who lectured on the bible. He believed that humans are not saved through their good works but through faith in the promises of God made possible by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This doctrine became the primary doctrine of the Protestant Reformation, because Luther had studied the Bible and arrived at this doctrine by doing so it became the chief guide to religious truths for all Protestants. Luther was outraged at the idea of selling indulgences and issued the Ninety-Five theses which were printed and quickly distributed all over
Calvin placed much emphasis on the absolute sovereignty of God or the all-powerful nature of God, he also believed in predestination. The English Reformation was rooted in politics, not religion. The Protestants were especially important in developing a new view of the family. The family could be placed at the center of human life because Protestantism had eliminated any idea of special holiness for celibacy and had abolished both monasticism and a celibate clergy, a new stress on “mutual love between man and wife” could be celebrated. A woman’s role however was obedience to her husband and to bear children. By the mid-sixteenth century, Lutheranism had been established in Scandinavia and Germany and Calvinism was established in Scotland, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe. In England, the split from Rome resulted in the creation of a national church. The Catholic Church also