Welcome to five minutes in church history hosted by Dr Stephen Nichols, where we take a little

break from the present to go exploring the past. Travel back in time as we look at the people,

events, and even the places that have shaped the story of Christianity.

This is our story, our family history.

Let's get started.

On this episode of five minutes in church history, we're looking at the Council of Trent.

The Council of Trent was the Roman Catholic Church's answer to the Reformation.

It met over the years 1545 to 1563. Now that's a long time

18 years. They had three working periods during that time period and actually somewhere in there they took a 10-year hiatus.

So they weren't working all of those 18 years, but the rulings that were handed down at

the Council Trent are crucial.

They're crucial not only to understand the Roman

Catholic Church, but they're also crucial because they highlight for us what

indeed were the emphasis of the Reformation. Well first a little context. Before we had the Council of Trent, we had the Diet of Regensburg.

This met in 1541. This was an effort to bring theological unity among the Lutherans or the Protestants and the Roman Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire.

It was called by Charles the 5th. He was the same emperor who oversaw the Diet of Verms and

there at the Diet of verms, and there at the diet of verms, this much younger Charles

the 5th heard a monk stand in front of him, Martin Luther, and say, here I stand.

Well now we fast forward to 1541 and at Regensburg we have some Lutheran

theologians we have some Catholic theologians and officials and they're looking at

various doctrines. The main doctrine they look at is justification by faith.

They think they've worked out a compromise, and they bring back the rulings to Luther,

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