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Martin Luther Essay

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Martin Luther

Martin Luther was a German theologian and religious reformer, who started the
Protestant Reformation, and whose vast influence during his time period made him one of the crucial figures in modern European history. Luther was born in
Eisleben on November 10, 1483 and was descended from the peasantry, a fact that he often stressed. Hans Luther, his father, was a copper miner. Luther received a sound primary and secondary education at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach. In
1501, at the age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Erfurt, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1502 and a master's degree in 1505 . He then intended to study law, as his father had wished. In the summer of 1505, he abandoned his studies and his law plans, …show more content…

Both the exact date and the location of this experience have been a matter of controversy among scholars, but the event was crucial in Luther's life, because it turned him decisively against some of the major tenets of the Catholic church. Luther became a public and controversial figure when he published his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517.
His main purpose of writing the theses was to show his opposition for the corruption and wealth of the papacy and to state his belief that salvation would be granted on the basis of faith alone rather then by works. Although it is generally believed that Luther nailed these theses to the door of All Saints
Church in Wittenberg, some scholars have questioned this story, which does not occur in any of his own writings. Regardless of the manner in which his propositions were made public, they caused great excitement and were immediately translated into German and widely distributed .
Luther's spirited defense and further development of his position through public university debates in Wittenberg and other cities resulted in an investigation by the Roman Curia that led to the condemnation of his teachings and his excommunication. Summoned to appear before Charles V at the Diet of
Worms in April 1521, he was asked before the assembled secular and ecclesiastical rulers to recant. He refused firmly,

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