Martin Luther And The Protestant Reformation

Martin Luther is a ruler that was from Saxony. He had begun the Protestant Reformation in 16th-century Europe. The way he began the Protestant tradition is by taking his followers and soon splitting from the Roman Catholic church. Europe had split into two, the north and the south. People closer to Rome were more catholic. Those for whom was further were not as catholic. Charles the fifth came along and created peace. He created peace by beating them to be Christians. Charles didn't have enough power so he made power with the Lutherans. He later then gave up because he saw himself as a failure and stepped down from

Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career by James M. Kittelson is a biography of the famous German monk turned theologian and reformer, Martin Luther. This is one of the most influential men in history, and as a matter of fact, “In most big libraries, books by and about Martin Luther occupy more shelf room than those concerned with any other human being except Jesus of Nazareth” (Kittelson 9). This fame of Luther’s isn’t only postmortem, “This extraordinary interest in an extraordinary man reaches back almost half a millennium. Even in his own time Luther was a ‘media personality’ the first of such in three thousand years of human history” (Kittelson 9). Luther was a subject of great controversy in his own time, as well as in our, and it has only driven his name and message into the spotlight. No matter or what one aligns himself with, “People still find themselves taking sides on the question of Luther” (Kittelson 9). It is for this reason that James M. Kittelson wrote this survey. He tells us that “The primary purpose of this book is to tell the story of Martin Luther to readers who are not specialists in the field of Luther studies” (Kittelson 10). This book is a general overview of all aspects of Luther, not just a precise dissection of one aspect, which allows for “as faithful a picture as possible of the whole man” (Kittelson 11).

The Protestant Reformation was in the early sixteenth century and was started when 95 theses were nailed to the door of the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther was the man behind the 95 statements professing all that is wrong with the church and its members. Each thesis pointed out a part of the corruption that the Catholics had been taking part in. After being persecuted and thrown into jail, Luther started translating the Bible from Latin into German. The church disapproved because they wanted to keep the Bible only accessible to high ranking persons of the church. All of this led to the reformation which set a foothold for advancements in freedom in religion and culture.

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

The Protestant Reformation was a pivotal time of European history that occurred during the 16th century. The Protestant Reformation was comprised of people called “reformers” that challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church’s ability to define Christian practice (“The Reformation”). The Protestant Reformation was revolutionary due to the fact that the reformers preached against everything the Catholic Church had been teaching. Some famous reformers are John Calvin and Martin Luther. However, Martin Luther-- to some--- is named the most successful and influential reformer of the 16th century. Martin Luther was tremendously effective and influential due to how resourceful he was, and his teachings spread across Europe swiftly.

Martin Luther was already questioning his catholic fate and this became worse when the pope allowed John Tetzel to sell indulgences. Luther strongly believed that the Catholic Church was conning the people of Wittenberg into believing they could pay off their sins. Indulgences are a remission of the purgatorial punishment due for sins according to the Roman Church. In acknowledgement to Tetzel’s actions, Luther wrote the “95 Theses”. The 95 Theses was a criticism of indulgences and it had ninety five points attacking the churches practices selling indulgences.

The Reformation was a religious movement when many people broke away from the Catholic Church and joined Protestant churches changing Europe. In between the 1500s and 1600s, many new Protestant churches were established. The weakening of the Catholic Church, call to reform and Martin Luther’s actions led to the many changes in Europe.

During the 1500’s a movement away from traditional Catholicism started to take hold. The most notable figure during this time was Martin Luther. He had ideals that, at the time, were extremely radical. As Gerald Strauss put it, “His doctrine of the two realms- the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the world, derived directly from Augustine – entailed the strictest segregation of things spiritual and things material” (22). He did not believe that the people of the church had any right to control the population at large. He believed that they were meant to be spiritual guides, not rulers, and that they wielded way too much control over the common people. One of the most radical things that he did, which was also the most influential

Martin Luther: German friar who believed that only the Bible was God’s word and started Protestant Reformation

Using the Ninety-Five Theses, Martin Luther almost single handedly lead the reformation of the Protestants in 1520. Although his father was strict, Luther followed his own path by questioning the limits of the church. Because of this, the church shunned Luther and punished him accordingly. Luther spent most of his time studying writings by Augustine which he used these ideas to influence the way Christianity is practiced today. Creating Lutheranism as well as the basic concepts for many branches of religions today.

Martin Luther was born on November 10th, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany (Michael J. O’Neal/Sydney Jones, 225). According to a legend, Martin Luther was riding a horse when a storm struck and he was hit by lightening. He said: “Help, Sainte Anne! I’ll become a monk.” He was saved and made an Augustinian monk (Michael J. O’Neal/Sydney Jones, 226). Two years later, Luther was ordained and began teaching at the University of Wittenberg. In 1512 he earned a doctorate in theology (Lutheranism).

Martin Luther was arguably one of the most important figures in the entire history of Christianity. If the creation of the Lutheran Church was not enough of an accomplishment, he can also be credited with orchestrating the division of the Catholic and Protestant churches. Even as a young Augustinian Monk Martin Luther was convinced the Catholic Church had lost its way. He obsessed over his purity and relationship with God, and strongly believed the Catholic Church had lost its way over the selling of “Indulgences”. Essentially, how the Church misinterpreted and taught the concepts of sin relative to temporal and eternal punishment. He was destined to confront the Catholic Church which he did and ultimately led to the separation events that are still highly relevant to this day. This was the primary driver for the first phase of his rebellion. The second was his German translation of the New Testament, which he used to both teach anyone to read and learn the holy book.

Written in his theses was the debate and criticism of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope. Luther concentrated upon the selling of indulgences, which are extra-sacrament remission of the temporal punishment due in God’s justice, to sin that has been forgiven, which remission is granted by the Church in the exercise of the power of the keys (Knight 1993, 2009) the indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early church. The theses also included the debate of doctrine policies about purgatory, judgment, devotion to Mary the Mother of Jesus, the intercession of and devotion to the saints and the authority of the Pope there are others that were not mention in this paper.

A German Augustinian friar, Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. Luther grew up the son of a miner, but he did not maintain that lifestyle for himself. He lived in a period that had a widespread desire for reformation of the Christian church and a yearning for salvation.

“Unless I am convinced by proofs from scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract anything I have written, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen.” Martin Luther stated these words in 1521 when he was asked whether he still believed what his works taught. The Protestant Reformation was a movement during the 16th century, which aimed to reform some beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The reformation was led by a German monk named Martin Luther and was further modified by John Calvin, a French theologian and Henry VIII, the king of England. The ideas bought forward by these individuals started the Protestant Reformation, which triggered wars, prosecutions and the Counter-Reformation.