CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE REFORMATION IN EUROPE

Paganism and Catholicism, which, in the fifteenth
century, might have shared their supremacy, have
ever since been kept apart by the solid wedge
driven by Protestantism into the spiritual and
intellectual life of Europe. —DAVID OGG

The Reformation in Europe was one of the most im-
portant results of the intellectual ferment which we witnessed
in the previous chapter. The all-sided changes that were
coming over the lives and minds of people were bound to
affect their religious views as well. In particular, the new
discoveries and astronomical observations were opposed to the
Biblical ideas of the universe, and1 the Renaissance stimula-
ted people to rely more on actual experience rather than on
authority. The Church, which had served European society
so well in the past, was rooted in Faith and founded on
authority. Hence, in the wake of new ideas and outlooks,
it was faced with a formidable force which appeared to be •
stronger than even the barbarians it had converted and
tamed. It had not merely survived all persecutions at the
hands of the old pagans, but derived considerable power out
of its struggles. In the coturse of the Dark Ages it had
become the one rallying centre of civilisation, and the home
and nursery of arts, industry, and learning. The Crusadfes
had been fought under its aegis and inspiration; and even
Emperors had1 been reduced to penitence and submission by