Martin Luther Research Paper

The purpose of my paper will reflect the life of Martin Luther during the Reformation period and the changes brought forth as a result of his teachings and writings. Luther’s findings not only transformed his own actions, but change the thought process of millions. The study of Martin Luther is the key that unlocks the background of the Protestant Reformation and it’s origins.

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.

Martin Luther, born in 1483, grew up in a devout Roman Catholic household, where the church stood at the center of his world. However, he suffered at the hand of his parents’ harsh criticism. His father had emerged from the feudal system into the new middle class as a successful Coppersmith. His desire was for his son to also climb the social ladder. To assist with his son’s success, Luther’s father was a fierce judge of the character of his son, and often punished him severely for his failures. From these experiences, Luther developed a low self-esteem and fear of failure, which encroached on every aspect of his life, including his theology.

Martin Luther King Jr. is a familiar name to the United States. Many remember him as a hero for his non-violent ways of protesting against racial discrimination. Martin Luther sought equality for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice. What led to King becoming a hero is unknown to many people. Also, what many people do not know that while he had a good side, he also had a hypocritical side.

Martin Luther's contribution to the Church could easily be dismissed because he is well known as anti-Semitic. In truth, he was, as most people are, more complicated than this. Luther is a wonderful example of the Grace of God using imperfect people. Luther is history's best proponent of justification by grace, yet some of his views did not always reflect God's love. God has not changed, He still chooses the average person to advance His kingdom. And why shouldn't He, we are all He's got!

You don’t need a sociology degree to understand movements calcify into institutions, then decay and crumble. So as we near the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing 95 thesis to a church door, why is the Reformation still a global movement?

Two significant social and political changes Martin Luther helped bring about is the creation of local governments and the emphasis of families as a cornerstone to society instead of the church. After being excommunicated in 1520, Martin Luther was called to trial at the Imperial Diet of Worms on April 15th where he said the words “Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me. Amen” (Atkinson, 2004). In Wittenberg Luther’s stand at Imperial Diet of Worms was a symbolic importance to the people and incites them to act. This is one of the first glimmers of a social, economic, and political revolution. Luther’s teachings, just like a rumor, change slightly from one person to the next taking on a life of their own. When Luther decreed that the people should be free and not subject to the authority of human beings on the matter of faith, the people saw it as a call to arms for social change and perceived it to mean they should be free from their lords and restructure society. Communities across Germany took control of issues that was previously in the grasp of the church such as social discipline, relief of

In 1508 Luther was ordained into the priesthood and began teaching the same year. He was awarded a doctorate in 1512, and was appointed into the theological faculty at the University of Wittenberg. It was there that he spent his career and began to explore the many problems he saw infesting the Catholic Church. In Wittenberg Luther began to question several of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. His convictions of penance and righteousness, as well as salvation started to change from what his instruction had led him to believe. This became the foundation of his “new conversion”. At this point, Luther began to propagate and formulate his own ideas and formulate them into a doctrine of justification. It is this doctrine of justification that opened the divide between the Roman Catholic Church and Martin Luther. The Roman Catholic Church in 16th century had established and linked “membership” in the Church with salvation. The threat of “excommunication” was used as a weapon to keep members in line and to punish those that had move outside the boundaries of conduct and actions set by the Church hierarchical authority. The Roman Catholic Church believed that “it alone” was God’s instrument and representative on Earth and salvation could only be found through the means church

Luther was a monk from Germany who began the Protestant reformation. Luther was born on November 10th 1483 in Eisleben Saxony. Luther was well on his way to becoming a lawyer but then he encountered a life changing event. Luther was caught in a horrific storm in which he feared for his life. Luther screamed out to the patron saint of miners, St. Anne “Save me, St. Anne, and I’ll become a monk!” As soon as he said this the storm subsided and he was saved. Luther’s decision to become a monk was very difficult and it hugely disappointed his father. When Luther became a monk he discovered all the false information that the catholic church was preaching and was very unhappy with this. Luther wrote the 95 thesis and thus disagreed with what the catholic church was breaching. This act of defiance caused the church to move in and on in October 1518 they held a meeting with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan. Luther was ordered to recant but Luther refused unless he was proven wrong by scripture. Throughout 1519 Luther continued to write about the wrong doings of the church. Luther declared that the pope had no exclusive right to interpret scripture. This was the popes last straw and the pope issued an ultimatum which threatened Luther of excommunication, Luther burned this letter. During 1521 Mart Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. During this time Luther was summed by the Diet of Worms and again

In order to get a better understanding of the motives behind Luther’s actions we first need to know more about him. Martin Luther was born on November 10th, 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, which is now a part of modern Germany. Having grown up in poverty himself, Luther’s father “urged Martin to seek a law degree, hoping that Martin would continue to elevate the family status” (Linder, page 16). While attending law school he faced death during a terrible storm, and made a promise to St.Anne that if she saved him then he would become a monk. Having been spared he went to the local monastery two weeks later to fulfill his promise, and was ordained as a minister in 1507. He continued his devotion and “proceeded to take up the academic focus of his order, becoming doctor of Sacred Scripture in 1512 and, at the same time, assuming a professorship of the bible at the newly founded

Martin Luther was a very important theologian. Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. Martin died on February 18, 1546 in his birthplace of Eisleben, Germany. Martin Luther began the protestant reformation in the 16th century. Martin’s parents were from the pheasant lineage. His father had some success being a miner and ore smelter. In 1484 they moved to Mansfeld where Martin’s father held some ore deposits. At age 7 Martin started school in Mansfeld.

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany in 1483 and went to become an important person who shaped religion in our society today.He was struck by lightning near a tree, which made him become a monk. He did this because he that that was a sign from God .He grew up to be a professor at the University of Wittenberg, Germany.He taught a lot about the Bible at the university.During this time, many people began to question the teachings of the Roman Catholic church.The church believed that you could only reach salvation, entrance to heaven, by doing good deeds of righteousness.Also this time, the teachings of the Bible were more aware from the early philosopher Augustine.Augustine’s teachings were that only God could give your salvation if you had faith in him, or bestow grace upon him, not by making God pleased in doing good deeds.Luther had an agreement on two of the philosopher’s beliefs.The Roman Catholic church took advantage of people who have committed bad deeds by making them pay money for

Now it was time to get down to the business of studying the law and, in that quest, he was caught in a storm near Stotternheim a village near Erfurt. Luther had a great fear of storms, he believed storms came from the devil and good winds were sent by angels. So in his fright he cried out “Help, St Anne I will become a monk”. In those days a vow such as that was a huge commitment and to break it was a mortal sin. Upon celebrating at his valedictory dinner at Erfurt he falsely prophesied, “Today you see me but nevermore.” 1 He ignored the pleas of his classmates to continue studying the law; he had a vow to keep.

During the early 16th century, Martin Luther who was an Augustinian monk and a university lecturer, tried to tell people that the pope is not saying the right things of bible to the people. They are selling the words of bible and are not being honest about its sayings. He translated the bible into German language so that the people understand its real meaning and not fall for the false sayings by the preachers of the church. He believed the way the church was punishing the people for their sins was not right and it was not in their hands to punish them so severely. He tried to reform this system and protested against it in a vast way. He tried to make others understand by using pamphlets and other sources so that they

So in 1517, Martin Luther first protested to the Catholic church about the sale of indulgences. His attention was called to another instance of the indulgence traffic