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The Reformation is the schism that divided the Roman Catholic Church and ended the old unity of Christendom. The origins of the Reformation were in an attempt to reform the Church, there had been many attempts in the past to reform the Church, but they had all failed. By the early sixteenth century there was a growing crescendo of calls for the reform of the Church and an end to the immorality and corruption of the clergy.<ref> Payton Jr. James R. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0830838805/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0830838805&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=481bb527660cabcfa29a3544bfc3e59f Getting the Reformation Wrong: Correcting Some Misunderstandings]</i> (IVP Academic, 2010), p. 78</ref> The Reformation was not an attempt to divide the Roman Catholic Church, but it was an effort to reform it. The failure of the Catholic Church to reform and its attempts to suppress the Reformers meant that it drove many to establish their churches. The Reformation was an attempt to return to the original teachings and values of the early or ‘Apostolic’ Church.<ref>Payton, p. 113</ref> It claimed that only the Bible could teach and instruct men about the Word of God and had little regard for the received wisdom and authority.

The Reformation was not an attempt to divide the Roman Catholic Church, but it was an effort to reform it. The failure of the Catholic Church to reform and its attempts to suppress the Reformers meant that it drove many to establish their churches. The Reformation was an attempt to return to the original teachings and values of the early or ‘Apostolic’ Church.<ref>Payton, p. 113</ref> It claimed that only the Bible could teach and instruct men about the Word of God and had little regard for the received wisdom and authority.  Anything that was not in the bible was not to be regarded as the Word of God and should be rejected. The Reformation placed more emphasis on the individual and in the words of Luther, people could not be saved by good works or sacrament but by ‘faith alone.’<ref> Payton, p. 118</ref> This meant that the reformers rejected much of the traditional teachings of the Church. This resulted in at first a theological dispute between the reformers and the Church, especially in Germany, that later led to a schism in the Catholic Church and the formation of separate Protestant Churches. The causes of the Reformation were manifold, but the Renaissance and the Humanist movement were crucial and indeed decisive.<ref>Patrick, James. <i>[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761476504/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0761476504&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=726ee3624ddfc9cdbaca7053f02c12bc Renaissance and Reformation]</i> (New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2007), p. 113</ref>