what was the protestant reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a religious and political movement that swept through Europe in the 16th century. It was initiated by the German monk Martin Luther, who posted his ninety-five theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg in 1517. The Reformation challenged the authority of the Catholic Church and posed a religious and political challenge to it. The essential tenets of the Reformation were that the Bible is the sole source of Christian faith and that salvation in Christianity was a completed status based on faith in Jesus alone and not a process that could involve good works, as in the Catholic view. The Reformation movement within Germany diversified almost immediately, and other reform impulses arose independently of Luther. The Reformation had far-reaching political, economic, and social effects and became the basis for the founding of Protestantism, one of the three major branches of Christianity. The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. The English Reformation began as more of a political affair than a theological dispute.