Jan. 14: The Reformation

I think to first understand the reading we must know the history. We must know what was happening during the times that these text were written to get a better understanding. I know that there were many kings and queens during the 1400's through the 1600's. These people all had their influence in some way or another on literature.

The Reformation had a lot to do with the way english was written. The Reformation effected the way ideas were expressed. For example, Martin Luther, as we all may remember from our history classes was one of the founder of this event.

He pointed out that Europeans needed to look at religion differently. Where ideas and trends which had been "sugar coated" in Europe for several centuries, he shed light on the dark areas. Luther initially saw himself as a great reformer of the Catholic church, he was more than just a simple monk as people may say he was. He was a man who thought the force of his ideas would single-handedly redirect the Leviathan of the church. While making a change, he divided Christianity into two separate churches into Protestantism, where a lot of our churches come from. Luther, also among many other reformers saw themselves as returning Christianity to its roots. These reformers believed that this was a changed that WAS SO NEEDED. Their ideas irreparably changed the world and pushed it kicking and screaming, not into some ideal past, but into the modern era.