How Is Martin Luther Similar To The Roman Catholic Church

In the sixteenth century, the Roman Catholic Church had become the most dominant establishment in Western Europe. A majority of regions and providences had Roman Catholicism as their official faith. Even Heads of States found themselves inferior to the Church and Bishop of Rome, Leo X. Unfortunately, at this time the Roman Catholic Church was plagued with corruption, at every level of the hierarchy. During this time, both priests and bishops gave many instructions during their sermons to parishioners and while they followed Roman Catholic Doctrine, these lessons were used specifically to benefit the Church and its hierarchy. The most infamous of them all was indulgences.
When a parishioner purchased an indulgence from the Church, he or she

For Luther, salvation could not be found in a membership within any institution, nor bought or influenced by the hands of mortal men. Much rather, he saw it as a spiritual gift, given to us by our Lord in Heaven. Martin Luther was a scholar from the University of Erfurt and received a Masters of Arts degree in Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, and Metaphysics. As a priest, he understood that grace was a gift that had only been bought on the cross by the death of Jesus Christ. On the thirty-first day of October in 1517, Luther nailed his ninety-five theses Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences on the front doors of the Church in Wittenberg. The Bishop of Rome, Leo X dismissed Luther’s theses as subversive and demanded that he rebut all of his previous statements which questioned the absolute authority of the pontificate. Martin Luther refused to do so and in consequence, was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Thereafter, he was summoned before the Diet of Worms, an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire which addressed his actions and effects of the Protestant

During this time, the printing press started to change the world dramatically and made it possible for reformers to do what had been previously considered impossible. This new invention was not only quick, but also an effective way to reach large audiences at once with a message. By creating a large-scale media campaign, reformers hoped to not only gain support for their cause but also provide the common man access to the Holy Bible. Previously, it was only made available to clergies in either the Hebrew or Greek language. Europe began to see more published work by Luther being printed and reprinted than any other publicist at the time. Remarkably, the German news media printed substantially more work, authored by Martin Luther during the crucial years of 1518-1525 than any other major Evangelical publicist. Out publishing his Catholic adversaries nearly five to three paved the way for Protestant