1.  The Catholic Church was gaining political influence to a point where some bishops and popes were subject to corruption on a grand scale.  Indulgences (forgiveness for sale) was becoming spreading throughout Europe around the 1400’s.  The Inquisitions from the 1100’s as well as the Witch Hunts of the 1400’s also contributed to the unrest

2.  There were a growing number of people who wanted to put the power of the church back into scripture and not to the oft corrupt members of the church at the time.  1517- Martin Luther publishes the “95 Theses” in mass and demarcates the beginning of the reformation when Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar and papal commissioner for indulgences, was sent to Germany by Pope Leo X to sell 'indulgences' to raise money to rebuild St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

3.  John Wycliffe, John Huss spoke against: pilgrimages, purgatory, worship of saints, authority of the pope and relics during the 1300’s. Huss was burned at the stake as a heretic.  The Renaissance of the 1500’s also brought new ideas of humanism and equity to religion. Leaders like John Calvin wanted reform and simplicity within the Catholic Church.

4.  John Calvin  John Calvin (1509–64) — Calvin was a French theologian and reformer who fled religious persecution in France and settled in Geneva in 1536. He instituted a form of Church government in Geneva which has become known as the Presbyterian church. He insisted on reforms including: the congregational singing of the Psalms as part of church worship, the teaching of a catechism and confession of faith to children, and the enforcement of a strict moral discipline in the community by the pastors and members of the church. Geneva was, under Calvin, essentially a theocracy. John Calvin Presbyterian

5.  Henry VIII  Henry VIII (1491–1547) — In 1533, Henry was excommunicated by the pope for marrying Anne Boleyn and having the archbishop of Canterbury sanction the divorce from his first wife, Catherine. In 1534, Henry had Parliament pass an act appointing the king and his successors supreme head of the Church of England, thus establishing an independent national Anglican church. Henry VIII

6.  Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation. Strang Communications, 2005. Winner of the 2004 Wolfson Prize for History, and of the 2004 British Academy Prize, as well as Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. Justo Gonzales, The Story of Christianity: The Reformation to the Present Day, vol. 2. San Francisco: Harper, 2010. Lewis W. Spitz, The Protestant Reformation: Major Documents. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1997. Robert Kolb, Confessing the Faith: Reformers Define the Church, 1530-1580. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1991. William R. Estep, Renaissance & Reformation. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986. David Bagchi & David C. Steinmetz (Editors), The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology. Cambridge University Press, 2004The ReformationThe Story of Christianity: The Reformation to the Present DayThe Protestant Reformation: Major DocumentsConfessing the Faith: Reformers Define the Church, 1530-1580Renaissance & ReformationThe Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology