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Religious Studies & Theology vocabulary · History of Religions

Reformation

Meaning in religious studies & theology, with examples

/ˌrefəˈmeɪʃən/nounCommon term

In religious studies & theology, Reformation means: The sixteenth-century religious movement in Western Christianity, usually dated from Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, that led to the creation of Protestant churches.

In Turkish: Reform, Reformasyon, Protestan Reformu

How it is used

Usually with the and a capital R (the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation). Key figures include Luther, Zwingli and Calvin. Historians also speak of the English Reformation and of the Catholic Reformation or Counter-Reformation that responded to it.

Example sentences

  1. The Reformation divided Western Christianity into Catholic and Protestant churches.

  2. The printing press helped spread the ideas of the Reformation very quickly.

Common collocations

  • the Protestant Reformation
  • the English Reformation
  • the Counter-Reformation
  • Reformation theology
  • ProtestantismThe branch of Christianity that grew out of the sixteenth-century Reformation, stressing the authority of the Bible and salvation by grace through faith.
  • schismA formal split within a religious community into separate groups, usually over doctrine, authority or practice.
  • CatholicismThe faith, teaching and practice of the Catholic Church, the largest Christian church, which is led by the Pope as Bishop of Rome.
  • salvationBeing saved or set free from sin, suffering or their consequences, and reaching a final state of well-being with God or ultimate reality.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: History of Religions

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