At the year 1524, Martin Luther, a significant figure in the Reformation and the founder of Lutheranism, had just finished hiding in Frederick the Wise’s Saxony castle after the Edict of Worms declared that he was an “outlaw” of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther’s action that led up to this event was the publication of the 95 Theses in 1517, which denounced indulgences and attacked the corruption of the papacy. Luther was able to remain hidden due to the extreme decentralization of the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Charles V could not devote much of his attention to Luther, as he was controlling Spain, The Holy Roman Empire, and the New World.
Throughout the centuries The Roman Catholic Church has come under attack by staunch opponents of its teachings and practices. Martin Luther a German theology professor and monk was one such opponent. Martin Luther forever changed religious history by writing and publishing the Ninety-Five Theses. Three core topics of the Ninety-Five Theses were selling indulgences to finance the building of Saint Peter’s Basilica was wrong, the salvation is through faith and God’s grace, and finally purchasing indulgences gives people a false sense of security. Of all the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church most offensive to Martin Luther was the selling of indulgences.
Martin Luther was a Catholic monk at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. Luther was unhappy with the practice of selling indulgences (a pardon releasing a sinner from performing a penalty in exchange for money), so, on October 31, 1517, he nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. These Theses were intended to encourage discussion about indulgences, but, with the help of the printing press, Luther’s 95 Theses gave rise to the Protestant Reformation (Document B).
In document 7 Selections from Martin Luther’s 95 Thesis, it described how Martin Luther said that one cannot buy forgiveness or their way into heaven, and that God will give them salvation for free if they ask. He also said that the Church only wants money and does not care about god. The Church was being immoral by selling the indulgences which led to the corruption of the Church. The people realized the Church was wrong and started to question their
Since Pope Leo X created indulgence system to finance the new St. Peter’s Basilica and Johann Tetzel collected the indulgences, he wrote the 95 Theses to indicate the pope’s abuses of power. He nailed this document to the church’s door in Wittenburg, Germany and expressed his opposition to the sale of indulgences. As Luther’s first public resistance to the papacy, this document argued that indulgences were sinful and did not grant salvation. The invention of the printing press spread his works and idea throughout Europe.
Theses, posted in 1517, criticized the sale of indulgences and called for a debate on issues of faith and authority within the Church. He emphasized the doctrine of justification by faith, rejecting the Catholic Church's teaching on the necessity of good works for salvation. Luther also advocated for the priesthood of all believers, asserting that all believers have direct access to God and the ability to interpret the Bible for
The purpose of these was to inform the illiterate population of Europe that the Church is
"95 Theses," a paper which spoke against the pope using Indulgences for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. His paper spoke of how the Bible should be the main guide for Christians and that faith rather than good deeds was the way to Heaven. He nailed the paper to the door of the Church, making the topic up for debate. Within years Luther had gathered enough followers to begin their own churches in Germany.
(Syllabus, 25). These two theses show the fraudulence that was occurring in the church, especially the Pope giving people “a key to heaven” if they were to purchase in indulgence. To sum up, Martin Luther helped spread the Protestant Reformation in order for a better and more fair, religious experience
Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole
By questioning the sale of indulgences and arguing that the pope does not have complete authority over forgiveness of sins and, to a larger extent, salvation, Luther established a precedent for the word of the Church to be called into question rather than it having absolute authority. Given that Luther opens his 95 Theses with “out of love and concern for the truth,” it is clear that his intentions are not necessarily to completely undermine the authority of the Catholic Church, but rather to open a dialogue between the Catholic Church and its faithful on what is actually true in regards to God. The collective judgment of the Catholic community, particularly those who did not have positions of power in the Church, would then have a much greater effect on the direction in which the Catholic Church took than it would have before Luther’s 95 Theses.
Luther's problem with the selling of indulgences was the fact that they were sold out of greed robbing people of their money and they were getting nothing out of it. Luther's problem with the people not being allowed to read the bible was that they needed to know what was said in the bible because back then the bible was in Latin and no one could understand it except for church officials. This also relates to the sale of indulgences because if every commoner were allowed to read the bible they would know indulgences were completely unnecessary and did absolutely nothing. Luther also thought the church had too much power which was true, they could persecute anyone because they weren’t Catholic and they had political power basically making the king's
They tried to get Martin to recant on what he wrote, but Martin, who was seeking peace with God, would not recant. Martin believed that his message should be heard, and it was. The reason Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-fives Theses is because the Church was no longer doing everything through God 's word like selling indulgences. Luther thought indulgences had no real base in the bible. An
Martin Luther, known as the father of the Protestant reformation, was famously known for his ninety-five long theses that explored the controversies of the Roman-Catholic Church. Martin Luther was an astounding author, able to convert many with his thoughts on paper. He was seen as a prophet and was one of the most popular authors in his time. The 95 Theses was composed in Latin and posted on the doors of the Castle Church of Wittenberg, on October 31st, 1517. Martin Luther uses the ninety-five theses to express his discontent with the church’s sale of indulgences and alert the problem of corruption in the church starting with the Pope.
These ideas prompted many Catholics into finally correcting the church themselves and seeking Reformation. Martin Luther became the leading figure of the Reformation because he had openly challenged the authority of the Pope and attacked the practice of indulgences in his “Ninety-Five Theses” letter. Several other prominent Theologians such as John Calvin and Huldrych Zwingli seized upon Luther’s beliefs and Reformation swept across 16th century Europe, leading eventually to
