Before the Reformation, medieval Christians all worshiped according to the same universal idea of ​​Christianity. The Catholic faith had existed for centuries (since 325 AD Constantinople, Council of Nicaea) without opposition to its legitimacy, but in the early 1500s new ideas about the Christian faith erupted across Europe causing a rift among the Church. Christianity before the Reformation was part of the daily life of the faithful. Their home, work, and social life were oriented around the Church, but many 16th-century pre-Reformation Christians did not fully understand why. Most 16th-century Christians were not sufficiently educated to understand the obligatory sermons and mass services preached in the medieval church because these services were in Latin. Only the upper echelons of society were sophisticated enough to understand the sermons. This upper band included the clergy, nuns, monks, monarchs, nobles and patricians who made up a small part of the medieval population. The clergy consisted of the Pope (top), Cardinals (princes of the church and electors of the pope), Bishop (overseers of the dioceses), and Priest (bottom and served in each parish). The clergy were the intermediaries between the laity and God and their most important task was to ensure the correct observance of the sacraments. The seven sacraments were the backbone of the medieval Church and were one of many beliefs that caused division between the reformers and the clergy. Many of the reformers came from the clergy. One of these reformers would later form the Lutheran church, his name was Martin Luther (1483-1546 AD). Luther became a reluctant radical during the Reformation, when he published his 95 Theses (one of Luther's disputations in 1517) as... half the paper... in what was missing in the Catholic Church, the knowledge of what made them Christians. Just as the Word of God is a guide for humanity, Luther led the 16th century Germans into the true Christian path with his many revolutionary reforms. Works Cited Brendler, Gerhard. Martin Luther: theology and revolution. New York: Oxford, 1991Catechism. “Book of Concord”. Accessed April 22, 2014. http://bookofconcord.org/lc-2-preface.phpLoewenich, Walther. Martin Luther: The man and his work. Minneapolis: Augusta, 1986Luther, Martin. "The German Mass and the Order of Divine Service, January 1526." The German Mass and the Order of Divine Service, January 1526. Hanover.edu, nd Web. 06 March 2014. .Mullett, Michael. Martin Luther. New York: Routledge, 2004Wandel, Lee. The Reformation: towards a new history. New York: Cambridge, 2011