At the time of the Reformation, the Catholic Church was the main and universal church of England and differed in belief and doctrine from the new Protestant churches that arose on account of Martin Luther and his criticism of The Church. At that time, the Catholic Church was the center of everybody’s daily lives and they made known their authority through the teachings of the clergy and the selling of indulgences, which was paying money for the pardon of sins. In 1517, Martin Luther was so fed up with the corruption of the Church as evidenced by the selling of indulgences that he wrote a list of 95 theses that challenged the Catholic Church and made known his intention of changing or modifying the Church. Because Martin defied the Church, he was eventually burned at the stake for …show more content…
For example, as shown in the German woodcuts from the late 15th century, the people who show up and listen to the Protestant teaching are shown as poor and mediocre class. They look like they are actually listening and wanting to change their personal lives as well as they are also wearing nice, but humble clothing. Also, they look like they are meeting in the street or some other isolated place. However, unlike the Protestants, the Catholics are shown as rich and wealthy people who actually meet in a building designated for Church teachings. Also, the pope looks pompous and he looks like he doesn’t believe or care what he is saying. He probably just cares for the money and trying to weasel more money from the unsuspecting congregation. Furthermore, as quoted from a hymn from the Catholic prayer book, the Catholics believed that you could go to heaven by works, but the Protestants believed that once you accepted Christ, you would go to Heaven regardless of what you did, but you had to ask forgiveness for the sins that you did when you did