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Reformation the religious movement that began with the protest of Martin Luther against the sale of indulgences in Germany in 1517. It led to the creation of independent Churches that renounced the claims of the Papacy and sought to return to a thoroughly Biblical Christianity. The Reformers taught that the Bible is the only source of faith and doctrine, rejected transubstantiation, indulgences, the worship of saints and Mary, emphasized justification by faith and proclaimed the priesthood of all believers.

Known as Protestants, because of Luther's protest against widespread corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, the Reformation quickly spread throughout Northern Europe and made significant inroads into Southern European countries where it was eventually defeated by the Counter-Reformation and the Inquisition which ruthlessly persecuted Protestants as heretics who were burnt at the stake. The movement broke into several branches led by Martin Luther, and Ulrich Zwingli, Menno Simons and the Anglican Tradition originating in England.

REFORMED CHURCH: a member of a family of Churches which trace their roots to that branch of the Protestant Reformation associated with the work of John Calvin. They include Presbyterians, the Dutch Reformed Church, and to a limited extent the Anglicans.