<P> The beginning of the Protestant Reformation is generally identified with Martin Luther and the posting of the 95 Theses on the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany . Early protest was against corruptions such as simony, episcopal vacancies, and the sale of indulgences . The three most important traditions to emerge directly from the Protestant Reformation were the Lutheran, Reformed (Calvinist, Presbyterian, etc .), and Anglican traditions, though the latter group identifies as both "Reformed" and "Catholic", and some subgroups reject the classification as "Protestant ." </P> <P> The Protestant Reformation may be divided into two distinct but basically simultaneous movements, the Magisterial Reformation and the Radical Reformation . The Magisterial Reformation involved the alliance of certain theological teachers (Latin: magistri) such as Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and Cranmer, with secular magistrates who cooperated in the reformation of Christendom . Radical Reformers, besides forming communities outside state sanction, often employed more extreme doctrinal change, such as the rejection of tenets of the Councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon . Often the division between magisterial and radical reformers was as or more violent than the general Catholic and Protestant hostilities . </P> <P> The Protestant Reformation spread almost entirely within the confines of Northern Europe but did not take hold in certain northern areas such as Ireland and parts of Germany . The Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation is known as the Counter-Reformation which resulted in a reassertion of traditional doctrines and the emergence of new religious orders aimed at both moral reform and new missionary activity . The Counter-Reformation reconverted approximately 33% of Northern Europe to Catholicism and initiated missions in South and Central America, Africa, Asia, and even China and Japan . Protestant expansion outside of Europe occurred on a smaller scale through colonization of North America and areas of Africa . </P> <P> The protests against Rome began in earnest in 1517 when Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, called for a reopening of the debate on the sale of indulgences . Luther's dissent marked a sudden outbreak of a new and irresistible force of discontent which had been pushed underground but not resolved . The quick spread of discontent occurred to a large degree because of the printing press and the resulting swift movement of both ideas and documents, including the 95 Theses . Information was also widely disseminated in manuscript form, as well as by cheap prints and woodcuts amongst the poorer sections of society . </P>

Christianity was shaped in its first two centuries within the confines of what