The Real Reason Christianity Split

They told us the Reformation was about faith. It wasn’t.
It was about money.

In the 1500s, the Catholic Church wasn’t just a religion — it was the world’s richest financial system. It owned land, collected taxes, sold forgiveness, and monopolized trade routes through papal decree. When Martin Luther challenged indulgences, he wasn’t just questioning theology — he was questioning the business model that ran Europe.

What followed was the first true financial revolution.
Luther’s defiance ignited a war of belief, money, and power — one that would shatter the Church’s monopoly and give birth to modern capitalism. And in England, Henry VIII turned that same rebellion into a full-scale economic coup: seizing Church lands, nationalizing faith, and transforming religion into revenue.

This wasn’t just a crisis of faith. It was a hostile takeover of the Middle Ages — and its logic still runs the modern world. The Reformation didn’t end the economy of belief; it simply replaced God with credit.

History doesn’t repeat — but money does.

This is The Financial Historian — where money, power, and history collide… and nothing is ever as simple as it looks.

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