Can you say "dark ages?"
Are you somehow trying to credit Protestantism with the Renaissance and other cultural advances?
Let's look at a few facts (and please note that these are undisputed historical FACTS not opinion and conjecture):
- The rise of the middle class started with the Black Death in the 14th Century. The death of a quarter or more of the people in Europe totally reorganized society because it forced the wealthy to increase wages in order to get workers. ALL societal change in Europe can be traced to the decline of feudalism.
- The printing press (without which the Reformation COULD NOT have happened) was invented by Gutenberg who was a Catholic several decades BEFORE the Reformation and the Gutenberg Bible is a Catholic Bible. It is worth pointing out that, though German became largely Protestant, the printing press was the last major technological development to come out of Germany until the Autobahn nearly five centuries later.
- The Renaissance started in Catholic Italy BEFORE the Reformation and spread from there. Other areas copied and expanded on these ideas, but Italy was the catalyst.
- The exploration of the Americas and other parts of the world was first undertaken by the Catholic Spanish and Portuguese. The English, Dutch and others followed, but the major discoveries had already taken place.
- The only major Protestant world power from the start of the Reformation until the 19th Century was England. However, it needs to be recognized that the English Reformation was ENTIRELY POLITICAL there was no theological basis for it. Henry VIII and his successors broke with Rome, destroyed Catholics who resisted, but made no real theological changes.
I think it would be fair to say that the Protestant Reformation was ONE, and perhaps even a predictable, result of Europe's dramatic changes that began in the 14th Century. However, it is IMPOSSIBLE to credit Protestantism with these changes, far too many of them occurred prior to the Reformation and far too many of the later changes occurred in Catholic countries.
Thank you! You have something almost right. Changes occurred much earlier than you have stated. In fact, there were small changes constantly being created by those who would not accept nor bow down to either Kings or Popes all through the centuries. The 13th century, after the real dark days of religious attempts to conquer the world, was somewhat of a catalyst leading to a complete overthrow of papal supremacy in 1870 in Italy. It also led to men examining the scriptures more deeply because of the Greek manuscripts that were surfacing from the Eastern libraries that were not destroyed by the Moslems.
Trying to bring up all the history in this sort of media is doomed to fail, for it requires a person to study many, many years to glimpse what happened and put it together in one's mind. All one can do it bring up bits and pieces, and apply them to the current discussion for points, not scholarly discussion. You know what I mean?
Anyway, it's great to see someone realize at least a little part of the total history involved. However, in England, prior to Henry VIII's break with Rome, there were many churches in England that had nothing to do with either Rome or Henry's new church, and they were also established before the Reformation of Luther or Calvin.