I am asking this provocative question: If there had been no reformation, what would the world, especially Europe and the Americas be like? Had there been no reformation, there would have been no religious dissenters (Catholic and Protestant) in England. Those dissenters would not have sought a haven in north America, and the religious freedom we all enjoy would likely not have happened. Would there have been independent states using a common document (the US Constitution) to frame governments and become a model for future governments around the world? Would a later movement break off from the Catholic Church in ways we can only speculate about?
Would anyone else care to comment on this hypothetical question?
If the Reformation had not happened when it happened, there would still have been some kind of reaction against the obvious abuses that had infested the RC church at the time.
It could have been in one of these ways (or another!)
1: Leo X was not elected Bishop of Rome, and the See of Rome was instead occupied by…yeah, I don’t want to go into a name-debate, so let’s say a Reform Catholic of some kind
With one of those people in the Vatican, and not the power-hungry, money-grabbing Leo X, some of Luther’s concerns would have been dealt with. Not all at once, and some would probably not have been altered noticeably, but the initial reaction would have been a lot more pious than that of Leo, who felt his purse empty - and the Reformation would not have taken place. Karlstadt and the Radicals would probably not have gone away, but they’d have had no support from authorities, and with the peasants not believing Luther on their side in a revolt (which they did, however falsely), the peasant riot would probably not have taken place.
2: The Emperor betrayed his promise of safe passage for Luther to and from Worms.
If Luther had been executed, it would probably not have had the intended effect: To snuff out the Reformation in its infancy.
The Reformation would probably have taken a slightly less radical route, though.
By 1521, Philipp Melanchthon was already one of Luther’s close associates. And although he’d not have taken his mentor’s death (and the Emperor’s broken word) lightly, he did have less of a temper than Luther, and was also more of a realist and more willing to compromise in matters of adiaphora.
So we would probably have seen a Lutheran (if it had still come to be known by that name) church which was closer liturgically to the RC church, as well as more RC clergy joining, due to Melanchton’s better temper and more diplomatic attitude.
This
could (although would not neccessarily!) have meant that the “Lutheran” church, in the view of the RC church, would have retained valid (although illicit) ordination, because Melanchton was, to my knowledge, a lot more conservative on changing for the sake of changing, than Luther was.
Who knows? Over time, when Leo X died, reunification might even have been possible…
Now, Karlstadt and his bunch would not have gone away either, but they would, at best, probably be no better or worse off than they were in the real timeline. In fact, since the RC church and the “Lutheran” was even closer than they were RL, the Radical Reformers might have found themselves even further isolated, and their movements gaining less momentum.
There are probably a lot of other possible scenarios, but I’m tired, it’s 2.60 AM, and I have classes tomorrow, so I should really get to bed.
Now, to those that say “We’d still be in darkness, mysticism and theocratic tyranny”, I say: Baloney.
The Renaissance was coming, and had been coming from the 14th century in Northern Italy. The Renaissance and the birth of humanism was more of a breeding ground for the coming liberalizations than the Reformation. The Reformation was partly a consequence of the Renaissance and of humanism.
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