Event · 1517

Reformation

The sixteenth-century movement in Western Europe that sought to reform the church and led to the Protestant churches. It is usually dated from Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses in 1517.

Its main principles were Sola Scriptura and justification by faith. It produced the Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican and Anabaptist traditions. Reformers disagreed among themselves, most visibly over the Lord’s Supper. The Roman Catholic Church responded with its own reforms and the Council of Trent.