Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicism

Martin Luther 

Biography

Martin Luther was born 10 November 1483, in Eisleben, Saxony - modern day Germany. His father was relatively wealthy and paid for his son to gain an education in Magdeburg and Eisenach.

In 1501, Martin Luther became a student at the University of Erfurt. At the request of his father, he took law, but he soon abandoned law, preferring to study Aristotle and the subjects of philosophy and theology. Despite admiring aspects of Aristotle and the classics, he was unsatisfied with just reason and intellectual studies and decided to become a monk so he could devote his life to God.

His time as a monk was challenging. Luther engaged in severe austerities fasting, long hours of prayer and frequent confession, but he felt an inner spiritual dryness. He became very critical of his own failings and felt his sinful nature becoming magnified rather than transformed. Sharing his difficulties, his spiritual director gave him more work so he wouldn’t become so introspected.

As well as being aware of his own failing, he became increasingly concerned about malpractice within the church, which he felt was not in keeping with Biblical scripture. In 1510, he visited Rome on behalf of Augustinian monasteries and was shocked at the level of corruption he found.

In 1517, Martin Luther first protested to the Catholic church about the sale of indulgences. Martin Luther argued that is was faith alone that could provide the remission of sin and not monetary payments to the church.

Lutheranism is based on the teachings of Martin Luther, a German monk and professor who has been called the "Father of the Reformation." In 1517, he famously protested against the Roman Catholic Church and their sale of indulgences. In his sermons and writings, Luther stressed the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the authority of scripture alone.

John calvin

John Calvin  was a French theologian who was instrumental in the Protestant Reformation and who continues to hold wide influence today in theology, education, and even politics. 

calvinism Calvinism is a denomination of Protestantism that adheres to the theological traditions and teachings of John Calvin and other preachers of the Reformation-era. Calvinists broke from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century, having different beliefs of predestination and election of salvation, among others.
Calvin believed that salvation is only possible through the grace of God. Even before creation, God chose some people to be saved. This is the bone most people choke on: predestination. Curiously, it isn't particularly a Calvinist idea. Augustine taught it centuries earlier, and Luther believed it, as did most of the other Reformers. Yet Calvin stated it so forcefully that the teaching is forever identified with him. Calvin said it was clearly taught in the Bible. For Calvin, God was above all else sovereign. Like all the Reformers, he hated the way Catholicism had degenerated into a religion of salvation-by-works. So Calvin's constantly repeated theme was this: You cannot manipulate God, nor put Him in your debt. If you are saved, it is his doing, not your own. He believed God alone knows who is elect saved and who isn't. But, Calvin said, a moral life shows that a person is probably one of the elect. Calvin himself was intensely moral and energetic, and he impressed on others the need to work out their salvation - not to be saved but to show they are saved. This emphasis on doing, on acting to transform a sinful world, became one of the chief characteristics of Calvinism.

Anglicism