Essay on Quest For Certainty

The Catholic Church during the early 16th Century was rooted throughout Europe. The Church influenced every country and its respective monarchs through the Church’s wealth and power. The Catholic Church placed a tight hold on the general populace with individuals who went against the Church being branded as heretics and excommunicated. The wealth and power of the Church eventually caused the quality of the clergy to deteriorate. Priests became corrupt and subjected to their physical desires. They frequented taverns, gambled and kept mistresses. The reputation of the clergy were horrid as the general populace was relieved that “their priest [kept] a mistress” because it “[secured] their wives from seduction” The knowledge of the clergy degenerated as well as they were no longer required to learn and teach the Holy Scriptures because the Church dictated their actions. The pinnacle of the Church’s corruption was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence was the “extra-sacramental remission of the temporal punishment” sold by priests as a temporary relief from sins. The indulgences were then sold to the general populace for money as the monetization of a priest’s services. Johannes Tetzel was a prominent preacher of indulgences who relied on the money from the sales to subsidize the rebuilding of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The corrupt sales did not go unnoticed as Martin Luther, in an effort to stop the corruption of the Church, posted the 95 Theses on the door of a Castle

With the article “Holy, Holy, Holy” by Peter Ackroyd shows how religion is interconnected to all levels of life during the 16 Century London. Religion is essentially emotional and community experience. If an individual does not go to Mass they are alienated from the community and are not part of the norm. When attending Mass, there are many rituals and experience from listening to a sermon or singing religious songs. For example, during a Mass a priest is giving "stray gestures and hear muttered words in a language most

Martin Luther’s Letter to the German nobility condemned many of the Catholic Churches practices that Martin Luther believed reflected a corrupt church and described his growing opposition to the pope. Martin Luther believed that the pope should not have any authority over the emperor unless it is for spiritual offices. He believed that the only time, out of religious situations, the pope should feel above the emperor is when he anoints and crowns him at the altar. Martin Luther also did not understand the point or agree with pilgrimages or supports the facts that priest were not allowed to marry. He believed that pilgrimages separated you from your family which you are suppose to protect, not leave and that by forbidding priest to marry you are going against God’s wishes. While Martin Luther does not agree with many of the Catholic Church’s practices, the purpose of this document is not to bring hate upon the pope and Catholic Church but rather bring light upon the early reformation and Luther’s new religious movement.

Marin Luther, regardless of his intentions, is one of the most controversial men in all of Christian history. The growth of Martin Luther and essentially the whole Protestant Revolution begins by Luther walking in a storm and getting struck by lightning. At this time, he prays out to the saints in hopes that he will be saved; he promises them that if they save him, he will stop everything a become a monk. Luther is saved and does just that, he quit studying law and took his vows, and he began studying the bible as a monk. While studying the bible, Luther comes across a line in Romans 1:17 stating, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” Luther’s interpretation of this is that no amount of pilgrimages, relics, or good deeds will save someone, what will save that person is his or her faith. At the same time that Luther comes to this conclusion, indulgences are being sold. An indulgence is a ticket to heaven which cleanses a person of all sins. A person pays for this certificate, which typically cost half a year’s earnings, and this will shorten the time in purgatory before going to heaven. The idea of what happened after death terrified some people so this gave those people a false sense of comfort.

Martin Luther grew up in a home with very strict parents. As a result, Luther’s childhood was plagued with anxiety at home and at school. Because his father planned for him to become a lawyer, shortly after receiving a Master of Arts degree from Erfurt University he returned to the university to study law. Consequently, after a life threatening experience in a storm, Luther left the university and joined a monastery. In 1505, Luther became an Augustinian monk and subsequently became a priest in 1507. According to John Dillenberger, “Luther was extremely sensitive to the problem of how to become worthy to receive the grace of God rather than the damning consequences of His righteousness”.

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.

Watching the film ‘The Matrix,’ it is natural to question whether the world we live in is real or not. Neo, the hero, comes to know that the world he lives in is not real thanks to Morpheus. In the future world, the computer rules humans, who are, in turn, born to grow in an incubator. Further, human cerebral nerves are connected to a computer networks, which implies men cannot help living in another incubator till death although they cannot recognize they live in the incubator. Plato’s allegory of the cave is analogous to the story line found in ‘The Matrix.’ People live in a cave, looking at their shadows reflected on the cave wall. They never realize they are in a cave. Plato’s allegory of the cave assumes key words leading the story

By the 1500’s many issues shows signs of disorder within the Church. The idea of selling indulgences (forgiveness for sin) for clergy benefit began to negatively spread throughout the people, along with opposition to pluralism (holding more than one office). This sparked many attempts to reform the church through individual groups, one of which being the Brotherhood of Common Life. One of their accomplishments was starting schools for the poor, in which educated none other than Martin Luther. By the time he became a priest, many people had already failed to reform the church. When Martin Luther entered Rome, he briefly supported the church before realizing the hidden

P5: Explain the influences of two predictable and two unpredictable major life events on the development of an individual

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.

More often than not, the outcomes of events that occur in a person’s life is the product of the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy. It is that which “occurs when a person’s expectations of an event make the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been true” (Adler and Towne, Looking Out, Looking In 66). Or restated, as Henry Ford once put it, “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right!” This brief research paper touches on the two types of self-fulfilling prophecies, those that are self-imposed and those that are imposed by others. Additionally, it gives a discussion on how great of an influence it is in each person’s life, both positively and negatively, and how it consequently helps to mold

Predestination, in the dictionary, is said to be "the doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation." Scripture has 2 very good passages for defining what predestination is: Jeremiah 1:5 which says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." God is talking about Jeremiah in this passage and how God chose him before time; he was predestined for his job. Romans 8:28-30 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed

(pg 31) Luther was one of three professors who were sent to Wittenberg when the elector there asked the Augustinian and Franciscan orders to send them. Luckily for Luther for at this time his inner conflict was so great he, ‘would have sunk into hell,’ had it not been for Dr. Johann von Staupitz Vicar of the Augustinian Order. (pg 34) It was to Dr. Staupitz Luther continually went to in order to find guidance and solace. Dr. Staupitz tried all manners of reasoning and consolation in order to help Luther. Until finally he seemed to say, according to the author, “Physician, cure thyself by curing others…” and Luther was to be commissioned as a ‘teacher, preacher, and counselor to sick souls.’ (pg 42) It is at this point Luther started studying and expounding the Scriptures which lead him, eventually, to a confrontation with the Catholic Church. (pgs 43,44) His study of Scriptures built a foundation of knowledge in Luther which he was soon to find did not line up with the practice of the Church. His work was time consuming to the point where he wrote in 1516, “I could use two secretaries. I do almost nothing during the day but write letters. I am a conventual preacher, reader at meals, parochial preacher, director of studies, overseer of eleven monasteries, superintendent of the fish pond at Litzkau, referee of the squabble at Torgau, lecturer on Paul, collector

In The Stranger, Albert Camus establishes uncertainty to diffuse the tension surrounding Meursault while in Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad creates uncertainty to intensify the tension around Marlow. Both authors use a first person narrator, which limits the information the reader receives. Also both lead characters miss information though Meursault does so intentionally while Marlow does so unintentionally. Camus enforces the correlation of uncertainty and tension in The Stranger when Meursault gains certainty and the tension that then flows from the book. While the correlation in show in Heart of Darkness when Marlow is uncertain and the tension around him heightens.

Martin Luther, born in 1483, comes from a poor upbringing. Religious as a boy, Martin Luther earns his wages by singing hymns. He later enters the Augustinian monastery and becomes a monk. However, he fails to acquire the solace from this lifestyle as his fellow monks do (Project Gutenberg