Martin Luther's Use Of Music During The Protestant Reformation

Showing weakness, the Catholic Church struggled to provide theological clarity, causing anxiety and doubt among believers (Plopeanu 117). The Pope began to remit sins for people’s relatives that had already passed into the hereafter and were thought to be in purgatory, awaiting Judgment. It was a scheme that became a source of easy money for the Pope to feed on the church members’ guilt and the claim of the Pope to cancel dead people’s sin (Freeman 14). This outrageousness illustrated the weakness of the Church that Luther attempted to point out in his Ninety-Five Theses. Nevertheless, despite this Church deficiency, it continued to be the core of Christian faith. Very few believers viewed salvation as possible without the intervention

The Protestant Reformation had a major impact on music in the world. The way that music was viewed changed and differed in each protestant church. The usage of music within the church was changed completely. Out of all the Reformers, Luther appreciated music the most and he intentionally included music in church services as a means of worship (Tickler 1). Martin Luther strongly believed that with music one could glorify and grow closer to God, and that it was a natural outpouring of praise to God. Knowing of Christ’s salvation should bring us joy and cause us to sing about it according to Luther (Tickler 2). Luther composed music in the vernacular and Latin, as well as in German to help the people to understand what they were singing. The singing of hymns became part of the proclamation of the word in which everyone proclaimed. This also became the biggest visible difference in the Christian community (The Division of Christendom 421-423). Luther attempted to make worship more personal by composing music in languages and forms that people could truly understand. This places a much more individualistic view on worship because people were more likely to be able to relate to the hymns that were being sung and able to put much more emotion and feeling into the act of

Luther thought it important to note that parents were responsible to give their children a good education in God’s eyes. He would argue that it was essential to obey God’s word and teach the children from home at an early age in order to have secure spiritual leadership positions in the future. The importance of education solely lied in the teaching the children to serve God and mankind according to Luther (Androne 82). Reformers eventually emphasized the importance of education and that it be moved from church to state, but the connection between church and school remained strong (The Division of Christendom 430). Knowing the classical languages was a very vital tool in the ability to read, explain, and defend the Bible. In addition, a solid culture is a proposition to a happy life. It would ensure that happiness to which a natural aspiration and Christian faith to knowing God, also depends on attending school and becoming educated (Androne 85). The Protestant Reformation brought the importance of education into light. Whether education today be specifically for the Christian faith or for other passionate reasons, it exists today because of the movement. Without the movement, people today may not have ever seen or been able to read a