THE REFORMATION.

The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. IX:

Creator: Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)
Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1953 [reprint]
Rights: Public Domain

• I. Theories of the Reformation.
• 1. The Historical View.
• 2. Views Antagonistic to the Reformation.
• Prelatical Assault on Reformers' Characters and Motives (§ 1).
• Minimising of Religious Element (§ 2).
• II. Principles of the Reformation.
• Its Basis (§ 1).
• Three Principles of Protestantism (§ 2).
• III. The Reformation in the Different Countries.
• 1. Germany.
• First Period (§ 1).
• From 1630 to the Thirty Years' War (§ 2).
• 2. Switzerland.
• 3. France.
• 4. Netherlands.
• 5. Bohemia.
• 6. Hungary.
• 7. Poland.
• 8. Sacandinavia.
• 9. England.
• 10. Scotland.
• 11. Italy.
• 12. Spain.
• 13. The United States.

The Reformation is the historical name for the religious movement of the sixteenth century, the greatest since the introduction of Christianity. It divided the Western Church into two opposing sections, and gave rise to the various Evangelical or Protestant organizations of Christendom. It has three chief branches: the Lutheran, in Germany; the Zwinglian and Calvinistic, in Switzerland, France, Holland, and Scotland; and the Anglican, in England. Each of these branches has again become the root of other Protestant denominations, notably in England and the United States, under the fostering care of civil and religious freedom. Protestantism has taken hold chiefly of the Germanic or Teutonic races, and is strongest in Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Holland, the British Empire, and North America, and extends its missionary operations to all heathen lands