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A COMPARISON OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: MARTIN LUTHER, JOHN CALVIN, AND JAN HUSS

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MARTIN LUTHER, JOHN CALVIN, AND JAN HUSS

The protestant reformation remains the most significant division to have occurred in the Christian religion. The event. Which occurred in the 16th century It led to the splintering of the Catholic church into two factions. These factions comprised the catholic church and the protestant church. The Reformation was initiated by Martin Luther King. However, over the years, there arose several modifications to the principles propagated by King. These principles, forwarded by the theologians John Calvin and John Hus, were an extension of King’s doctrines. Nonetheless, despite the shared origins, the theologians differed on several principles. [Need an essay writing service? Find help here.]

Similarities
Jan Hus lived long before Martin Luther King and John Calvin were born. He is thus considered to be one of the first church reformers. King, Calvin, and Hus were all against the authority and liberties of the pope. As proponents of the schism, the theologians argued that it was not in the pope’s power to wield arms in the name of the Lord (Bates 1047). According to Protestants, the Pope should not have been allowed the authority to prevail on what happened to dissidents of the Biblical principles. Furthermore, King Calvin and Hus were all against the concept of indulgences. The pope convened indulgences based on deception. The concept called for the adherents of the Church to remit coins to the church to atone for their sins. The Catholic Church sold indulgences to the adherents in the promise that the remitting party’s sins would be forgiven. Both in the present life and the afterlife. This was against the doctrines set forth by the Bible. According to the Protestants, one should only be justified based on their faith. The justification process should be based on internal components of the soul rather than the assertions of external parties. .  [“Write my essay for me?” Get help here.]

Likewise, both Luther and Calvin drew the foundations of their principles from the theological position of Augustine of Hippo. It is these fundamental principles that empowered them to counter the assertions of the church. The theologians also converged around the assertions that the Bible was to be applied directly (Bates 1052). Protestants also shared similar views on the concept of the Pentecost. The Protestants prevailed that everyone should be allowed to participate in the Holy Communion irrespective of their position in the society. Lastly, all these theologians refused to recant on their initial assertions that baptism by water in infancy should be allowed.  < Click Essay Writer to order your essay >
Differences 
However, John Calvin and Jan Hus incorporated human and civil issues with theological concepts. This group comprised the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists were radical and very vocal in their denunciation of the political forces and the link between these forces and the Catholic Church. Luther, on the other hand, had taken a more conservative approach to the propagation of the reformist principles. He did not incorporate political sentiments in his reinforcements. Instead, he called for a bloodless reformation which was denounced by John Calvin. Likewise, despite the reformists convergence around the concept of baptism, the Anabaptists were against the concept of infant baptism. They prevailed that the mode of baptism was just as important as the act itself. Calvin, unlike his predecessors also called for the termination of celibacy. He advocated for marriage amongst the priests (De Greef, 66). This had not been addressed either Luther or Huss.

Conclusion
Martin Luther King, Jan Hus, John Calvin are notable parties in the reformation. They are the pioneers of the schism between the Catholic church and the Protestant church. Even though they shared a common origin, over time the views that were initially propagated by Luther and Hus were reviewed to incorporate humanist views. Consequently, there was a significant change in the position propagated earlier by these two theologians in comparison to the views of John Calvin.

 References

Bates, Lucy. “The Limits of Possibility in England’s Long Reformation.” Historical Journal 53.4 (2010): 1049-1070.

De Greef, Wulfert. “Calvin’s writings .” McKim, Donald K. The Cambridge Companion to John Calvin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

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