Protestantism is one of the 3 main currents in Christianity, along with Catholicism and Orthodoxy, covering numerous religious practices and doctrines dating back to the ideological and religious movement of the Reformation, which unfolded in Europe in the 16th century. Initially the term “Protestantism” was associated with the statement (protestatio in Latin) of April 19, 1529 with which the German princes (6 electors) and imperial free cities (14 towns) who supported Martin Luther, opposed the resolution of the II Speyer Reichstag (March 1 – April 25, 1579) on the restoration of the Catholic worship everywhere, claiming that in the matters of faith and conscience one cannot be subject to the majority decision. Subsequently Protestants were called all those who had broken from obedience to the Vatican.
Protestantism is one of the movements in Christianity, along with Orthodoxy and Catholicism, that emerged in Europe in the 16th century; Protestants are often referred to as movements in other religions that offer simplifications of doctrine and worship. For example, the Karaites are sometimes called Protestants in Judaism. Nietzsche has been called a Protestant in philosophy.
To the question of what Protestantism is, the easiest answer is a stereotypical one: Protestantism emerges as a protest against the domination and monopoly of the Catholic Church in the spiritual and intellectual life of Europe at that time. In this context one necessarily thinks of the Middle Ages: it was during this period that the hegemony of the Catholic Church was absolute, and “therefore the ages are Middle Ages” because they are between “light antiquity” and “light revival”, which brings us back to the light ideas of the ancient period. “The Middle Ages,” on the other hand, were perceived as times dark and impenetrable. What did it mean to return to antiquity? In fact, it was a return to the ideals of pagan culture.
The ideals of the Renaissance were embraced, including by the clergy, moreover, by the higher clergy. What exactly was embraced? Sensuality and its extreme manifestation, hedonism (the pursuit of sensual pleasures). The official church view of sensual pleasure did not change, it continued to be considered a sin, and when John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Girolamo Savonarola protested against total depravity, and called for repentance, they were not only heard, but they received wide support, both among the general masses of people and among the clergy, including the highest.
The English thinker John Wycliffe (1320-1384) was the first to radically raise the issue of church reform and theology. The church, Wycliffe believed, must be as poor as it was in the days of the apostles. It is first of all an assembly of believers, who are all equal before God, and consequently the church hierarchy has no special spiritual status. Wycliffe also opposed monasteries and the monastic way of life because he considered monasteries a breeding ground for vice.
