The 95 Theses: Martin Luther And The Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation caused outbreak in war, which showed the demand for reform to take place. Martin Luther and John Calvin considered the church to be corrupt due to the fact that one could purchase indulgences. They believe that you have to earn God’s forgiveness. This was only one of the many reason that The Protestant Reformation took place. Martin Luther also

Luther Legacy pg 35) helped to replace the authority of the Church. His reason was always the bible and reason, that your salvation was yours and not that of the clergy. Traditional authority began to change, the imagination of people became more radical and there was a call to initiate reform in the Church. However, popes refused to concede anything that could weaken the power of Rome. This helped to continue the decline of the teachings and authority of the Catholic Church.

In northern and central Europe reformers challenged authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice. They argued for religious and political distribution of power into the hands of the Bible. The reformation was important because it hindered economic activities, and literary and artistic developments. It helped to put an end to the age of blind faith and brought in modern thinking, helping to form the modern world. Two important reformers were Martin Luther and King Henry Viii.

While the church believed that the Pope could grant grace to the people through the sale of indulgences, Martin Luther had a strong belief that grace could only come to one through an individual’s faith. He strongly believed that all people should turn back to their Bibles and find answers for themselves (Sayre 2010). The sale of indulgences, along with the ritualistic pilgrimages and people leaving money to the church on their deaths to speed up their arrival into heaven all worked together to move Martin Luther to rebel against the Catholic Church.

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. In his ninety-five theses, Martin Luther states, “Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam

Reformation was a movement where reformists condemned the condemned the corruption of the Catholic Church. In the beginning did the Ninety-five These trigger the Reformation. Plus, the Blach Death and Catholic Church division discouraged people to follow the absolute rule of the Church. Renaissance followers began to delve into the research and re-understand the Bible and Christianity, forming Protestant. The Reformation was a further discovery of the humanity, continuing the path of the Renaissance.

Martin Luther went to the bible for salvation and confession. They were mainly questioning than accusing. Most of them were attacking the idea of indulgences. Pope leo told him to drop his beliefs. Luther

In every period of history, critics have called for reform of the church. Clerical immorality, clerical ignorance, absenteeism are only a few problems presented in the Roman Catholic Church. It was only a matter of time before someone would take notice. That someone just happened to be Martin Luther. He ignited the further events of the Protestant Reformation.

Firstly, annihilating the unity of religion in Europe resulted in the division of Christendom into Catholic and Protestant. It weakened the Church and its oppressive clergy, while restoring the pure form of early Christianity. Additionally, the Reformation helped to separate the Church and state. Secondly, empowering monarchs by sacrificing church officials facilitated the movement towards the modern centralized worldly state. Although absolute monarchy was a significant factor of political liberty, Protestantism also contributed to this growth.

C. S. Lewis noted: "We need intimate knowledge of the past. Not that the past has any magic about it, but because we cannot study the future, and yet need something to set against the present." The journey of the Church was changed for the better, due to the aftermath of Martin Luther’s Thesis. Luther believed in a more active role of Christians in their walk with God and that the rules set by the Catholic Church were not based from Biblical rules that are required of them. From the time of Jesus, the search for the freedom to worship freely had been a struggle, with many followers of Jesus losing their life.