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Protestant Reformation Facts & Worksheets

A religious reform movement, the Protestant Reformation, swept through Europe in the 1500s. It led to the development of a branch of Christianity known as Protestantism.

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A religious reform movement, the Protestant Reformation, swept through Europe in the 1500s. It led to the development of a branch of Christianity known as Protestantism, a term used to refer to the numerous religious movements that separated away from the Roman Catholic Church owing to doctrinal disagreements.

See the fact file below for more information on Protestant Reformation, or you can download our 24-page Protestant Reformation worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

  • Between 476 and 1500, the Church ruled medieval Europe as the only source of information regarding spiritual matters. As it grew in power, it also impacted politics and society. Over time, the pope developed into an important political figure and, usually speaking, focused more on secular issues than religious ones.
  • The hierarchy of the Church, which includes the pope, cardinals, bishops/archbishops, priests, and members of monastic orders, started to use their position of power more for their comfort and convenience than for the spiritual welfare of the populace.
  • Reform movements began as early as the 7th century and, in some readings, even earlier due to the inaccessibility of church doctrine and the clergy’s outward show of luxury and comfort.

REFORMERS AND EARLY HERETICS

  • These movements were systematically put down, often viciously, as the clergy tried to hold onto their position of authority and dominance. The Church denounced them as heresy. The Paulicians, one of the earliest movements, pushed a return to the simplicity of early Christianity and the life of Saint Paul in place of the Church’s sacraments. Later, the Paulicians were deported, burnt at the stake, or stoned to death.
  • Although more movements followed them, other movements did, including the Bogomils in the 11th century and the Cathars in the 11th to 13th centuries.
  • John Wycliffe, an English theologian, philosopher, and cleric who lived from 1330 to 1484, opposed the clergy’s power, extravagant lifestyles, and arrogance. 
  • He argued that everyone should have access to the Bible and that it shouldn’t be controlled by a privileged few who often interpreted it in ways that only benefited the hierarchy.
  • Jan Hus, a philosopher, theologian, and the rector of Charles University in Prague was inspired by Wycliffe and worked to transform society by preserving Wycliffe’s teachings. 
  • Just as Wycliffe had been, he was particularly critical of the Church’s practice of selling indulgences, which are writs that purportedly shorten one’s time in purgatory.

INDULGENCES AND MARTIN LUTHER

  • There is no proof that these reformers initially had any impact on Martin Luther, the main reformer and a German monk who also opposed the sale of indulgences, despite the fact that today these reformers are acknowledged as the forerunners of the Reformation. 
  • Whatever year is chosen for the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther is at its core. His writings, charisma, and intellect ignited a movement that he neither intended nor could have possibly envisaged.
  • Luther published his Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, also known as his Ninety-Five Theses, on October 31, 1517. Tradition has it that Luther fastened this to the Wittenberg church’s door, but contemporary scholarship has refuted this.
  • Luther argued that if God had established purgatory, the pope lacked the capacity to reduce someone’s time there and, if he did, should use that power to ease the suffering of the souls, liberating them without payment:
  • According to Atkinson Fitzgerald, in his book “Printing, Reformation and Information Control”, reformers and their opponents made heavy use of inexpensive pamphlets and vernacular Bibles using the relatively new printing press, so there was a swift movement of both ideas and documents.
  • Luther questioned the authority of the pope and the entire Church hierarchy by opposing the sale of indulgences. Luther argued that there should be no mediator between the individual believer and God and that only the Bible, not church doctrines, should govern the Christian life, citing Romans 1:17 (which says, in part, “the just shall live by faith”).

START OF REFORMATION

  • In 1520, Pope Leo X threatened to excommunicate Luther if he didn’t retract his views after growing weary of sending envoys to talk with him. 
  • Luther was excommunicated in 1521, which meant that, by church doctrine, he was no longer in a state of grace with God and should be avoided by believers. He publicly burnt the mandate (also known as a papal bull) at Wittenberg.
  • Luther could have been executed after the Diet of Worms because he had been proclaimed an outlaw. Still, Frederick III had him abducted and hidden at Wartburg Castle, where he wrote some of his most well-known works, including the German translation of the Bible.
  • By his friend and associate Philip Melanchthon, who is also responsible for the account of the dramatic nailing of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses to the Wittenberg church door, Luther’s radical ideas were formalized, simplified, and made more acceptable to European intellectuals.
  • However, some reformers of this era arrived at their conclusions before Luther’s movement; one of them was the Swiss priest and philosopher Huldrych Zwingli, who began preaching church reform in 1519.
  • While Zwingli and Luther shared many beliefs, such as opposition to indulgences, saint veneration, fast days, and church icons, they were at odds over how to interpret the Eucharist. 
  • Zwingli believed that placing too much emphasis on the recreation of the Last Supper amounted to idolatry, while Luther saw it as crucial to the Christian life.
  • On the other hand, Luther directly impacted theologian John Calvin. Calvin, who was born Jehan Cauvin in France, was a lawyer whose friend Nicholas Cop, a reformer, had to quit his job at the College Royal in Paris and move to Basel, Switzerland, after being threatened by hostile Catholic partisans.
  • According to Calvin, the Christian message was centered on simplicity, and God himself had provided each person with the ability to communicate with the divine. 
  • Calvin transitioned from being a rebel-reformer to a defender of the faith, which at this time meant Christianity as defined outside the confines of the Catholic Church due to his conservative views, insistence on the authority of scripture, and persecution of those deemed heretics or libertines.

Protestant Reformation Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the Protestant Reformation across 24 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about the Protestant Reformation. A religious reform movement, the Protestant Reformation, swept through Europe in the 1500s. It led to the development of a branch of Christianity known as Protestantism, a term used to refer to the numerous religious movements that separated away from the Roman Catholic Church owing to doctrinal disagreements.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

  1. Protestant Reformation Facts
  2. Reformation
  3. Visual Vocabulary
  4. Who is that?
  5. Was the Reformation Justified?
  6. At Present…
  7. Mapping the Reformation
  8. Symbol of Reformation
  9. Reformation through Lens
  10. Minorities
  11. A Letter of Unity

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the Protestant Reformation?

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century movement that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church but resulted in the formation of new Protestant churches.

Who were the key figures of the Protestant Reformation?

The key figures of the Protestant Reformation were Martin Luther, John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and King Henry VIII of England. They each played a significant role in the development and spread of Protestantism.

What were some of the key ideas of the Protestant Reformation?

The key ideas of the Protestant Reformation were salvation by faith alone, the authority of the Bible, the priesthood of all believers, and the rejection of various Catholic practices such as the sale of indulgences and the veneration of saints.

How did the Protestant Reformation impact Europe?

The Protestant Reformation had a profound impact on Europe, leading to religious wars, political upheaval, and the establishment of new Protestant churches. It also contributed to the rise of individualism and the development of modern capitalism.

What is the legacy of the Protestant Reformation?

The legacy of the Protestant Reformation includes the establishment of Protestantism as a major branch of Christianity, the separation of church and state, the development of modern democracy and individual rights, and the emphasis on individual interpretation of religious texts.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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