ABSTRACT
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation, alike, represent the rebellion of less civilized nations against the intellectual domination of Italy. The three great men of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation are Luther, Calvin and Loyola. Philosophically, the century following the beginning of the Reformation is a barren one. Almost from the very beginning, there was a division among Protestants as to the power of the State in religious matters. But those Protestants who took seriously the individualistic aspects of the Reformation were as unwilling to submit to the king as to the Pope. The results of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, in the intellectual sphere, were at first wholly bad, but ultimately beneficial. The Thirty Years' War persuaded everybody that neither Protestants nor Catholics could be completely victorious; it became necessary to abandon the mediaeval hope of doctrinal unity, and this increased men's freedom to think for themselves, even about fundamentals.
