Martin Luther Religion Essay

Did you know that Martin Luther created a religion that now has around 72 million adherents? Martin Luther is a professor of theology, priest, monk, and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther had created many religious writings and significant religious advances through his life including 95 Theses and Lutheranism. Without Luther the way we look at the Christian, especially Catholic, religion would probably be significantly different. Martin Luther was a major leader when it came to reforming religion during the Renaissance. Martin Luther was born November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. Soon after Luther’s birth, his family moved from Eisleben to a small town in Mansfeld where his father could prosper in a local business.

He had followed all of the requirements a monk had to do and many thought that if any person were to go to heaven, it would be Luther. Yet, Martin was increasingly terrified of the wrath of God: "When it is touched by this passing inundation of the eternal, the soul feels and drinks nothing but eternal punishment,” -Martin Luther (Holman, Colin, et al.). Once early 16th century Europe started, many people, especially scholars and theologians, began to question Roman Catholic Church teachings. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church taught that salvation was possible through “good works,” or works of righteousness, that pleased God (History.com Staff.). This was something that not only puzzled scholars and theologians, but also made a church philosopher named Augustine questioned the Catholic Church. Augustine believed that humans could not reach salvation by their own acts, but that only God could bestow salvation by his divine grace (History.com Staff.). Luther later came to share Augustine’s central beliefs, which would later form the basis of Protestantism. Through the years 1513 and 1514, while listening to lectures on the psalms and studying the Book of Romans, Luther began to see the problem in Catholic teachings like Augustine had seen. “At last meditating day and night, by the mercy of God, I ... began to understand that the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God,

His teachings were spread not only by his faith in God, but from his education he had received and from the experiences he had taken throughout his life. Lutheranism, 95 Theses, the decrease of indulgences, and other Renaissance religious advancements were only possible because of Martin Luther. Luther’s life is extremely important in the history of the Renaissance or else the events spoken of may hav3 never taken place. Martin Luther, the father of Lutheranism, and revolutionizer of the Protestant Reformation changed the world for the