During the middle ages, society viewed women as submissive and lesser than men. During the Reformation, views became slightly skewed as religions developed different opinions towards the issue of women in society. 16th and 17th century Europe portrayed different religions such as Lutheranism and Calvinism that changed views on women in society, while the Anabaptist kept previous views.
Lutheranism, a branch of Protestant religion showed a shift in view towards women being equal to men. Martin Luther, the founder of Lutheranism, believed that views and rules written in Bible were what life actions should be lived and based off on. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them,” Genesis 1:27. This passage from the Bible states that both men and women were created in the same image and likeness by God. Being written in the Bible, Luther believed and preached the idea that men and women are equal, based off of the image of their creator, God. “...husband differs from the wife in no other respect than in sex; otherwise the women is altogether [as] man… If the wife is honorable, virtuous, and pious, she shares in all the cares, endeavors, …show more content…
Another German agreeing with Luther’s mindset shift is painter Ambrosius Holbein. In 1516 Holbein painted The Schoolmaster, a painting that depicts a Protestant schoolmaster and his wife (document 7). What makes this painting unusual from others before it is that both the schoolmaster and his wife are teaching the students. In the Middle Ages, only men were allowed to be educated therefore