Kelsey

Protestantism is one of three main groups within Christianity. It has firm roots from the Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther's 95 Theses during the sixteenth century.

In the early years of the Reformation, the term Protestant applied to a group of princes and imperial cities who "protested" the decision by the 1529 Diet of Speyer to reverse course, and enforce the 1521 Edict of Worms.

Protestantism came to be used as the collective name for those individuals and churches who advocated a formal separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Earlier "reformers" such as John Wycliff and John Huss did not advocate such a separation but rather sought to purge what they saw as impurities within the Catholic Church. But they were seen as “reformers”.

However, following Luther's posting of the 95 Theses at Wittenburg, significant contributions to the Protestant cause were made by reformers like John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, Thomas Cranmer, and John Knox.

As an intellectual movement, Protestantism grew out of the Renaissance and West European universities, attracting some learned intellectuals, as well as politicians, professionals, skilled tradesmen, and artisans. The new technology of the printing press allowed Protestant ideas to spread rapidly, as well as aiding in the dissemination of translations of the Christian Bible in native tongues.

This continued and now Protestantism is currently the dominant religion of many first-world countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.