How and Where Developed

Timeline of Protestant Reformation

The Protestantism movement began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology. German theologian Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-five Thesis on the sale of indulgences in 1517. Parallel to events in Germany, a movement began in Switzerland under the leadership of Ulrich Zwingli. The political separation of the Church of England from Rome under Henry VII, beginning in 1529 and completed in 1536, brought England alongside this broad Reformed movement, and therefore caused it to spread around the world.