Reformation Day History - Part 1

To bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, one needs to have several ingredients and mix them in the right quantity and order.  To bring about a large scale revival in biblical thinking, even more ingredients and preparations are in order.

Let's consider three crucial ingredients that led to the Protestant Reformation.

1. The Great Schism 
2. The Fall of Constantinople
3. Humanism

1. The Great Schism
The head of the Roman Catholic Church is the Pope.  You may remember that the Cardinals elect the Pope.  At various times in history, other groups have tried to elect their own Pope but to no avail.  What would happen, however, if the same group of Cardinals elected more than one Pope, setting one against the other?

Well, in 1378, this happened.  The cardinals, under pressure from the masses to elect a Roman pope, elected Urban VI as Pope in Rome.  In the same year, unsatisfied with their choice, they elected Clement VII in Avignon.  Thus, there were two heads of the church--one in Rome and one in Avignon.  The populace was now left with the decision of which Pope to follow.  Some nations followed the Roman Pope (now the official lineage) and some followed the Avignon Pope.

The details of this story continued into the next century... eventually even having a third competing Pope.  By 1418, the schism had ended and the Roman line of Popes was re-legitimized.  Though the problem was over, the headship of the Catholic church took a major blow in the eyes of many people under the Church's authority.  Ingredient #1 (Visit Western Schism for a much more detailed history.)

To be continued...