Protestant Reformation Dbq

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Plan of Investigation This investigation seeks to identify the qualities and characteristics of Martin Luther, which are truly indicative of The Protestant Reformation in Europe. The body of the investigation describes the significant events in the life of Martin Luther, that impacted the era. The specific characteristics that he exhibited will be identified, examined and analyzed. During the Protestant Reformation society started to question the ideas of the church. Reformers started to expose the church for their acts such as the selling of indulgences, insisting that the Pope had no authority over purgatory and much more. One philosopher that exposed the church was Martin Luther. Martin Luther exposed the church by writing the 95 …show more content…

This made Luther create a document called the the 95 Theses. The 95 Theses exposed the church in 95 different ways. Luther took this document very seriously. He even nailed the document to the door of the church so everyone could see. Some scholars raised some doubts about Luther and how this was disrupting the peace. Martin Luther soon was able to spread his ideas rapidly due to the printing press. Now people started to listen to Martin Luther and what he had to say. Luther's new criticism started backlash toward the church throughout northern Europe and directly sparked the religious reform movement that came to be known as the Protestant Reformation. This resulted in the split between the Catholics and Protestants in Christianity. This was a significant turning point in history for the Europeans because it had an impact on religion and social history of the Christian …show more content…

Luther believed that the church did not have any power over the bible. For example, in the 22nd and 23nd statement he says “As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very Few” (Martin Luther: Ninety-Five Theses). In the 95 Theses Luther challenges common beliefs about purgatory. He denies that the pope has any power over people in purgatory through the 95 Theses. Martin believes that the bible is the only thing that holds the value. God has ultimate power in forgiving punishments in purgatory. The Reformer Martin Luther explicitly shows characteristic of the Protestant Reformation when he takes action against the church's ideas of purgatory by exposing them. He shows that he isn't agreeing with the core foundations of the church making him a reformer during the

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