Martin Luther Dbq

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Martin Luther’s reasons for challenging the Catholic church changed after he translated the New Testament. Before the New Testament was translated (document A), Martin Luther had a very respectful tone displayed through his writing. In document A, Luther was bothered by the practice of indulgences, but continued in his letter to say that he was not blaming anyone. 18 years later in Document B, Luther had translated the New testament and realized that the Pope was misinterpreting the scriptures. He was then very disrespectful through his words and blamed the Pope for taking people’s money and by so believing that the person who paid for the indulgence was saved. Martin says in Document A,“ The unhappy souls believe that if they have purchased …show more content…

But in Ephesians 2:8-9,“ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” The verse completely contradicts what the purpose of indulgences were.In Document B, Luther expresses his words freely in this, unlike Document A. “The main reason I fell out with the pope was this: the pope boasted that he was the head of the Church, and condemned all that would not be under his power and authority.” “Those who, against God's Word, boast of the Church's authority, are mere idiots.” Again, Luther is freely expressing his words here and obvious shows the harsh tone to the audience. Document B is written by Luther’s Table Talk (followers that began to write things down that Luther said in private). In this document Martin completely blames everything on the pope, and is very negative in his words. He uses words like “idiots” showing that Martin’s tone is harsh. Luther’s table talk Some may say document B was less reliable, because it was not directly written by Luther. It’s like playing the game of telephone. The person who starts clearly says a phrase into someone’s ear, and by the end of the game a completely opposite phrase comes out. The documents claim to blame the pope for misinterpreting the Bible and tricking the people to believe that