Martin Luther and the Reformation

“Martin Luther was born on November 10th, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. He was the son of Hans and Margareth Luder. His father worked in a copper mine, and through years of hard work they became fruitful.” Through his own personal struggles Hans Luder did not want the same life for beloved Martin. Education and faith played a huge role during Luther’s adolescent years as he learned Latin and law and continue to excel in these areas well into his adulthood. This development would continue to shape Luther’s beliefs and principles. In the early 1500s, Luther was able to continue his studies near Erfurt.

Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation when he nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517. It contained a series of 95 complaints that the once monk had with the church. He was steadfast in his efforts to get the church to change. Even refusing to repeal his complaints when threatened with excommunication.

The earliest most famous Protestant reformer, Martin Luther went to the school of Erfurt to study law in 1501, but he quickly became more interested in theology. Luther was exposed to recent humanist writings and read extensively in classical Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In 1505, he enrolled in an Augustinian monastery. He spent a decade educating and preaching and visited Rome. The Reformation was a religious uprising in Europe in the 16th century, prompted by dissatisfaction with the set Roman Catholic Church, which directed to the formulation of the Protestant branch of Christianity.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was born in Eisleben, Saxony he was Roman Catholic. His parents Hans and Margaretta. Luther became a monk after he got caught in a violent thunderstorm and vowed that if he survived he would become a monk. Martin Luther was appalled at the Catholic Church as he felt it was

Martin Luther was a man with a purpose. Born in 1483 in Eisleben, Martin Luther was a German Monk who started one of the greatest religious revolutions in the history of the Western world. Before discussing the impact of his revolution on the modern world, we must first establish some background information about the man and the Roman Catholic Church.

Baby Martin was born to Hans and Margaret Luther on November 10, 1483. At the age of 13, after enjoying a normal and loving childhood, he chose to leave the comforts of home in order to pursue a Catholic education. Eventually he joined an Augustinian monastic order where he studied the depths of his faith.

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany on November 10, 1483 to a middle-class family. During his childhood, two of his brothers died by a plague. Soon after his birth, his family moved to Mansfield because of his father’s work as a miner. His father, wanting more security for his promising young son, decided to do whatever was necessary to see that Luther could be a

Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk who believed the grace of God alone would justify fall humans. Luther one day translated the Bible into German unknowingly beginning the start of a radical religious revolution. Luther wanted to reform the Christian church of abuses. He wanted to return the church to its roots of Christianity and take away moderation. Luther believed in the reading of scriptures and finding the truth from within them. Robert Kolb believed, “Luther was filled with the dynamism that sprang from his spiritual conviction.” (267) He believed Luther inspired others to have a personal relationship with God and to inspire hope. Luther is depicted by many as a friend and a foe. People took his materials and thoughts and made them into ideas that could be used for their own purposes. Martin Luther has shaped the institutions and life of Christendom. He influenced his followers as a churchman and a teacher. Lutheran churches came to think of Luther as a prophetic hero and authority of faith. Some believed he was a servant of God, a prophet and the eschatological angel. Followers of Luther set about to change the institutions and ideas that were helping to keep the world together. Three conceptions of Luther’s emerged and grew even beyond his years.

In 1516, Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar and papal commissioner for indulgences, was sent to Germany by the Roman Catholic Church to sell indulgences to raise money to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Indulgences were pieces of paper issued by the Catholic Church that forgave sins so one’s soul could go to heaven instead of hell when they died. Indulgences implied that the rich could buy their way into heaven while the poor could not if they were unable to pay for indulgences. Upon hearing the news that Tetzel was preaching that people could be forgiven by paying for indulgences, Luther was deeply troubled and irritated. In response to the sale of indulgences, on October 31, 1517,

In the letter was a copy of his “Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences,” which later became known as “The Ninety-Five Theses”. In the Theses, Luther argued that indulgences were a violation of the intentions of confession and penance and that people were falsely being told that absolution (being forgiven of a sin) could be bought. On All Saint’s Day, October 31, 1517, Martin Luther took his ninety-five theses and nailed it to the front door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg.

Through his study in the Bible, Luther realized man is saved by faith in Christ alone, not through works, and so he started preaching against the sale of indulgences by the Catholic church. “On October 31, 1517, Luther served notice that

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

Indulgence was a payment to the Catholic Church by an individual to exempt that person from punishment for the sins they committed. Boldly, Martin Luther questioned the authority of the church and whether it could authorise the selling of indulgences. The church stressed that indulgences would exempt one from purgatory, a fear that was embedded within the minds of the vulnerable. The selling of indulgences arose during the period of construction of St Peters Basilica. In 1517, John Tetzel was commissioner of Indulgences in Germany . Through the sale of Indulgences, he would gather money to contribute to the building of St. Peters Basilica . Tetzel was accused of selling indulgences for sins not yet committed and openly became involved in a bitter debate with the eager Martin Luther who was preaching against him and the sale of Indulgences. Luther’s 95 theses would become the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. In October 1517, Luther wrote a letter to Archbishop Albrecht. This letter questioned the sale of indulgences and questioned the authority of the church to sell indulgences. Within this letter, Luther included a copy of his 95 theses, which included the concept of justification by faith alone. Formidably, Luther accused the Church of commercializing repentance for material gain. He stressed that the buying and selling of indulgences was an abomination. Notably, the day that Luther made his views public by

Martin Luther (Nov. 10, 1483- Feb. 18, 1546) was ambitious, stubborn, and strongly opinionated. He isn’t just known as one of the most influential individuals in Christian History, but also as the individual that started the Protestant Reformation in 1517 by publishing his 95 Theses, criticizing the Church’s corruption and establishing two beliefs: 1) the bible was “the central religious authority” and 2) people may “reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds.” With these beliefs, he translated the Bible from Latin to German, printed the first copy in 1534, sold over 100,000 copies of the Bible in 40 years. Martin Luther’s actions helped revise the structure of religion and culture in the Western Hemisphere, influencing other countries such as Switzerland and England with the establishment of Lutheranism and Calvinism.

Martin Luther, a monk and professor with the university at Wittenberg, is the legendary figure of the Protestant Reformation. This Reformation was a movement began in 1517 as Luther nailed his infamous ninety-five theses to the door of Castle Church. These theses that were meant to spark debate among his students circulated among an increasingly questioning population and kindled church and religious renewal across Europe. Other reformers, such as Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, and John Hus also took issue with the church and papacy and helped to begin the process of change.