Katolik Kilisesi ve Onun Yıkıcı Düşmanları: Rönesans, Reformasyon ve Mutlak Monarşiler

Before the modernization process, the Church had been shaping the daily life of ordinary people, intervening in important political decisions made by empires and dominating the subjects of the medieval intelligentsia, all at the same time. This article is about the transformation of this supposed “invariable” social power of the Catholic Church at the very beginning of the European modernization process. The article aims to present the transformative and staggering effects of the emergence of Renaissance, Reformation and Absolute Monarchies on the power of the Church. The qualitative study approach was adopted and the data obtained through accessing primary and secondary sources were subjected to descriptive analysis. The article reveals the followings: In the process beginning with the Renaissance, the fields of thought and culture began to distance themselves from the Church. The Church was not regarded as the sole institution for salvation and eternal happiness anymore and the concept of an intermediary institution between God and individuals became defunct for almost half of the continent. Over a period of approximately 200 years, the kings previously enthroned by the Pope either formed their own churches or declared their independence from the Papacy.