Martin Luther was a monk and a professor at the university of wittenberg. This is where he lectured about the bible. Martin Luther's 95 thesis was an act against the selling of indulgences. He thought that the selling of indulgences was a harm to the church and he acted against it. He did not think of it as rebelling, but he sent letters to the high bishop and the rest of the church counsel. With the printing press thousands of copies of the 95 theses were made and handed out. When the pope himself heard about the 95 theses he said that Martin Luther was just a drunk and that when he sobered up he would take back everything he had said. But that was not the case.
Assignment 1: 1. The sources of religious discontent that preceded the Reformation was the people’s unhappiness with the selling of the offices of the church, clergy members holding more than one office, the selling of indulgences, church taxation, absenteeism, the literate and uneducated priests, and nepotism among the clergy. Additionally, the fact that most clergy was exempt from tax but could own property upset the people. 2. Luther’s intentions and actions of the 95 thesis to the Peace of Augsburg was to tell the Archbishop Albert that the indulgences were making penance insignificant, going against what was in the Gospels, and taking the importance of charity out of Christian’s lives.
1. The Ninety-five Thesis is a list of things that Martin Luther made to complain about the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a german priest who lived during the Protestant Reformation era. During that time all power was held by the Roman Catholic Church who were corrupt and would sell “indulgences”. On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther responded to the corrupt practice to selling indulgences by posting a copy of The Ninety-five Thesis to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church.
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 Luther Martin Luther was one of two of the greatest leaders of the reformation along with John Calvin. The Reformation was the period in the 16th century (1571-1648) where the was a cultural upheaval the divided the European catholic population. Not only did it create a cultural upheaval it created political and intellectual disruption. Luther believed that the Catholic church was corrupt, his 95 Theses was a list of 95 arguments about the catholic church which he wanted to resolve.
How Martin Luther Has Impacted His Time Period Before Martin Luther became a Catholic monk, his family had him learn to become a lawyer. His family soon became disappointed when he gave up becoming a lawyer and a Catholic priest because he wasted their hard earned money when he dropped out of law school. While he was working under the care of one of the Church’s Fathers, he went to Rome. When he saw how much Rome and the Roman Church had strayed from God's teaching he had to speak up against what was going on. While the Holy Roman Church saw him as a Heretic but, the people of his time saw him start to impact his time period socially, politically, and economically.
A map from 1500 showed that Europe was covered in mainly Catholics and how an outburst occurred in 1560 when the protestants were projected to almost half of the population. (Doc. C) As a result the Church authorities began to slowly lose their powers and their followers which proves that a wide range of people are aware and agreed to Martin Luther thoughts. It is displayed that between 1518 and 1525 in Germany, there were about a million of books made and ⅓ of them was written by Martin Luther which is approximately 300,000 books printed and sold in a time frame of a year by Martin Luther. (Doc. B)
The 95 Theses, which were courteously written to the Pope, denounced the sale of Papal Indulgences and attracted the attention of German aristocrats who were tired of paying so much to the Church. Due to the printing press, Luther’s 95 Theses were printed quickly and translated into many different languages so that his writing became available and popular throughout Germany. The Pope responded to Luther’s accusations by mandating that Luther recant. Luther then realized that the Church was far more corrupt than he thought, so he announced that the Pope and Catholic Church had been wrong in the past and were wrong again at that time.
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
Luther believed the church was corrupt. He challenged the church by producing the 95th
Instead, Luther went for the roots of the theological aspect of the church. He claimed that the church was not teaching the correct materials and that he was. In his book “95 Theses,” Martin Luther attacked the theory of the selling of indulgences, stating that only God had control of souls in Purgatory, and no human figure himself. It was Luther’s statement about how scripture and faith were the only assets needed to attain Heaven that really put the church authority over the edge. He was not planning on breaking from the church with thus statement, but the pope had enough and finally decided to excommunicate his from the church
He published the 95 theses protesting against various clerical abuses such as the sale of indulgences. When the Rebellion arose Luther originally said that both sides were wrong and needed to come to a peaceful agreement in “Admonition to Peace: A Reply to the Twelve Articles." Luther later published "Against the Murdering and Robbing Hordes of Peasants," which was his most notorious pamphlet. In this article, he took a strong stance against the peasants and condemned them as traitors who had violated their oaths of obedience. Luther made it clear that he did not condone the rebellion and he was not to be faulted for the peasants misconceiving his works as an encouragement to rebel.
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
Martin Luther was a German monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg in Germany. He is one of Western history’s most significant figures as his actions began the Reformation, a movement for religious reform. He lead a religious revolution that challenged the Church’s power. Martin Luther did more good than harm to the Church and European society as a whole because he sought truth about the Church, recognized that the selling of indulgences was unacceptable, and inspired the people of Europe. Luther recognized that the selling of indulgences was unacceptable and inspired others to speak up in what they believe in.
Various religions have made a great turning point on European history. One of the most notable figures of European history, a German theologian and religious reformer named Martin Luther, had so much passion about his faith of God. This man leaves a mark on European history for having the courage to lead a revolution against the Catholic Church. He felt that the Catholic Church’s practices were impractical. Martin Luther made a great, positive impact as a religious leader during the Protestant Reformation by his successful achievements as a theologian, starting and spreading the Protestant Reformation to many parts in Europe, and creating his own Lutheran Church.
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.