The Reformation is undoubtedly a controversial topic, regarding what it did and the responses to it from everyone across Europe. It was a time of criticism of the Church and of rediscovering what it truly means to be a Christian, starting with Martin Luther's ideas that spread like wildfire once he made them known to the public. There are many things to say about this, but one thing is clear. The Reformation was not a rejection of the secular spirit of the Italian Renaissance because the Renaissance was when people began to question their own authority, and that is exactly what Luther did; furthermore, Luther respected secular powers, and although his interests were primarily religious, many people who spread his ideas and responded to them did so for non-religious reasons. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe event that people believe marked the beginning of the Reformation was when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences to his front door. the castle church of Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. He was angry and upset at the Church which was becoming more and more corrupt, and his last straw was when the Dominican friar John Tetzel began selling indulgences so that Pope Leo work on the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. This led him to speak openly about such issues and to publicly question the Church and its authority. Not only that, but he, along with other religious leaders, began to question whether it was the pope or Scripture that had the ultimate authority. In the Italian Renaissance, numerous humanists had encouraged people to stop simply accepting the information they were given and to also educate themselves about their leaders and the Church. Questioning the Church was not a revolutionary idea thought up by Luther, it was a continuation of the secular spirit of the Renaissance. Although Luther was, indeed, very religious, he did not condemn others because they were not the same. He respected legally established secular powers and was strongly opposed to peasants who tried to oppose such powers. He did not like the peasants interpreting his ideas to justify their opposition to the nobles and secular princes. He wanted freedom from the Roman Catholic Church, and only them. He believed that all vocations were of equal value, whether religious or not. Now, it cannot be denied that Luther's interests were primarily religious, as were his motivations. He was extremely loyal and only wanted independence from the Church because, according to him, they were not true Christians and did not spread the word of God. He was only planning to reform the Church by taking it back to the times of Ancient Rome. However, many of the people who spread his ideas and established Protestantism in their states did not do so for religious reasons. Because the Holy Roman Empire controlled a vast amount of land, and the leaders of that land had to listen to the emperor and therefore did not have final authority, they supported Luther and Protestantism to break away from the empire. They could now legally confiscate various luxurious lands, monasteries, and shrines that they previously could not have because they were the property of the empire. Of course, there were some princes in Germany who were sincerely attracted to the new religion for its ideals and morals, but most were influenced by material benefits. Those who did not belong to the nobility or ruling classes, such as those of the middle class, also found Protestantism attractive for non-religious reasons. They were envious and disapproving of.