Did Erasmus Lay the Egg Luther Hatched

Probably not. Martin's 95 thesis were there on the door to spark debate and he obtained many followers through these thesis. Copies of the thesis had spread like wildfire through Germany, and eventually everyone would know the feelings of Luther. A year later Luther was told that he needed to recant his 95 thesis, but he wouldn't. Luther thought that the papacy didn't have the power to interpret scriptures and didn't have the power to offer people freedom from sins through payment of money. Around 1520 Luther was threatened with excommunication by the pope for his constant bashing of the papacy power and later he was summoned by the Cardinal Cajetan who wanted him to recant, but Luther would not. After this time Luther had gained many followers and during his trial to recant he had something strong that I feel showed Luther's power. Luther said, “I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise, here I stand. May God help me. Amen”. These words were strong and showed how much Luther would stand to stop the papacy power, which was already overpowered. One of Luther's accomplishments was the translation of the New Testament from ancient Greek to German so that all people of the Holy Roman Empire could enjoy its words and inspiration. Jumping forward,

The story of Luther and the Reformation have been the topic of religious discussion for

Peter’s Basilica. Then on October 31, 1517 it is speculated that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses on the front doors of a university door. The reason for the massive spreading of the 95 Theses is because of the printing press. The printing press quickly spread the document throughout Germany. This was the start of what is known as the German Reformation. Martin Luther was eventually excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Luther would always refuse to take back what he has said in his documents against the Roman Catholic Church. At the Edict of Worms, Martin Luther was declared a heretic and made him a wanted man. Martin Luther is one of the most important figures of the medieval Europe. This may be another reason the 95 Theses and other doctrines spread so well throughout Europe. The Roman Catholic Church was ringing Martin Luther’s names all throughout the public’s ears. The old saying “any publicity is good publicity” applies in this situation. People could see that Martin Luther was onto something. The 95 Theses were put into vernacular so that anyone could read them for their selves. He gave a voice to many people that would never have a voice and spoke out against the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church. He gave way to reform throughout the church. Martin Luther and the 95 Theses also gave way to his own form of religion called Lutheranism.

The 16th century was when Christianity branched off into several divisions in Europe, which posed a challenge to the main religion of the world, Catholicism, as well as European politics. There are many historical figures who played a role in this transformation, but Martin Luther is one of the more significant figures. This paper is about how Martin Luther, a catholic German Monk, played a substantial role in influencing the religion of that time and initiated the Protestant Reformation.

There are approximately eight hundred million Protestant Christians currently in the world with it being the second largest Christian domination (Fairchild). However, there are over a billion followers of the Roman Catholic faith and it currently stands as the Christian domination with the most followers (Fairchild). If it were not for the German monk, Martin Luther, most Christians would have been Roman Catholic in the present. Martin Luther is famous for “95 Theses” that critiqued the practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church and it was written on Halloween Day, 1517 (Ellis and Esler 423-427). Other people agreed with him and shared their perceptions, which led to the birth of the Protestant Reformation (Ellis and Esler 423-427). In the documents written by people who either supported or were against the Protestant Reformation, the main idea of them is that the Catholic Church supported the idea of paying indulgences and competing with others for power.

Luther stated in his Ninety-Five Theses, “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,” (Document A). Luther was trying to say, all citizen could receive an Indulgence, however people would have to pay a great amount of money, but only the most perfect people will become granted. Luther also gave a sermon in Erfurt, Germany, in which he said, “But the papal dominion treats us altogether differently. It makes rules about fasting, praying, and butter-eating, so whoever keeps the commandments of the pope will be saved and whoever does not keep them belongs to the devil,” (Document B). This means if anyone does not follow the commandments made by the pope they shall go to hell.

Although many Historians may argue that Erasmus was the biggest promoter of change during the Reformation it was actually Luther that was the biggest promoter of change during the Reformation because he was the one that found the things wrong with the church and everyone else was influenced by him. According to Document C it states eight of the 95 things Luther found wrong with the Church. The six thesis states “ The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or to be sure, by remitting in cases reserved to his judgement...Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences” This is pretty much stating that the pope

Martin Luther faced many criticisms within the church. It was noticed that the popes were too concerned with worldly affairs rather than focusing on their church responsibilities and duties. Some had children, which were breaking the vows. Some popes in addition, were poorly educated. Without this proper education, they wouldn’t have a reliable source of knowledge and could

Martin Luther was a German professor of theology at Wittensberg. He later left his studies to peruse monkhood. In doing this, Luther had a lot of time to think about his relationship with God and realize the flaws in the church. Luther disagreed with many teachings/ ideas of the Roman Church, which he than acted upon. He strongly disputed the idea that one can obtain freedom from God 's punishment for committing sin by purchasing an expensive piece of paper from the church called an Indulgence. He wrote all about the usefulness of indulgences in community in a very sarcastic tone in Theses Ninety-Five in 1517. Although demanded, Luther refused to rid of his writings at the request of Pope Charles V.

Martin Luther’s Concerning Christian Liberty and Desiderius Erasmus’ The Praise of Folly are about the different lines of attack on the Catholic Church. Martin Luther was a North German Augustinian friar, a Catholic priest, and a professor of theology who protested the abuses in the Church and called for reform. Erasmus was German by birth, interested in acts of good, wanted to find common factors between reason and Christianity, focused on the bible in its original papal form, believed in human correct ability, and did not believe in original sin. He highly criticized the Catholic Church at this time and called for reform, as well. They both attacked the Roman Catholic Church in their works; however, Martin Luther wanted reformation in practice and doctrine, while Erasmus wanted a moral reformation in the Church. Concerning Christian Liberty and The Praise of Folly were written in the early 1500’s and they both focused on the subject area of religion.

Erasmus wrote to awaken the church from only going through the motions. He says that the monks and Papacy at the time were conducting church services and practices as if they were conducting a mathematical problem (Erasmus, Praise of Folly, 155). An example of Erasmus issue with the Papacy was that they were “twisting the gospels to serve their earthly appetites” (Erasmus, The Handbook of the Christian Soldier, 139). Erasmus’s goal is to get rid of the rituals, practices, and wrongdoing that had been happening within the church. Erasmus writes that the monks and Pope’s, as well as Christian’s in general should “correct the erring gently, teach the ignorant, lift up the fallen, console the downhearted, and support the needy” (Erasmus, The Handbook of the Christian Soldier,150). Erasmus used satire as a way of telling the Catholic Church of the wrongdoing of the church. An example of this is done by a story about Pope Julius who is trying to get into heaven, but is told that he is a devil (Erasmus, Julius Excluded from Heaven, 216).

Luther’s belief that scripture alone is the sole authority for principle enable him to question the Church. Scripture said that “Christ’s death fully

In the Introduction of this document, Luther tried to coax the German aristocracy that the Pope was evil and that they should reliance in God. Martin spoke with anger when he proved his point about the pope and the church. Luther said, “Their malice and wickedness I will now, by the help of God, expose, so that, being known, they may henceforth cease to be so obstructive and injurious.” Luther tried to prove that the Church and the

In Rome, cardinals saw Luther's theses as an attack on papal authority. In 1518, at a meeting of the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg, Luther set out his positions with even more precision. In the Heidelberg Disputation, we see the signs of a maturing in Luther's thought and new clarity surrounding his theological perspective—the Theology of the Cross.

Luther penned a document attacking the Catholic Church corrupt practice to absolve sin and this is how The 95 Theses was made.The 95 Theses written in 1517 were 95 things Martin Luther didn’t like about the church.The 95 Theses were quickly distributed throughout Germany and then made their way to Rome.The 95 Theses which later became Protestant Reformation were written in a remarkably humble and academic tone,accusing and questioning.