The Doctrines Of Martin Luther, Reformation And The Reformation

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

He did this because he felt that he would never earn his eternal salvation otherwise. He didn't feel that all of the prayer, studying and sacraments were enough and felt that he would never be able to satisfy such a judgmental God. After entering the religious life he later became a monk and entered the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt in July of 1505. While there, Luther became a well-known theologian and Biblical scholar. Luther took his religious vocation very seriously. This led him into a severe crisis in dealing with his religion. He wondered, "is it possible to reconcile the demands of God's law with mankind's inability to live up to that law?" Luther then turned to the New Testament book of Romans for answers. He realized that everyone is burdened by sin because it happens as a result of our weaknesses. He concluded that man could never earn his salvation by leading a blameless life or by performing Holy acts. Instead, man's salvation was a divine gift from God resulting from faith in Jesus, especially the saving power of His death and resurrection. This was known as the protestant doctrine of "justification by faith alone." The fact that Luther believed this led him into his first confrontation. The leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo X, was trying to raise money in order to build St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. In order to do this, the Pope offered the sale of indulgences, which were donations of money that would give

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.

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 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 Protestant Reformation began during the Renaissance time period, it was the attempt to reform the Roman Catholic church. It led to the creation of Protestant churches. This reformation began after multiple church leaders started demanding individuals to supply them with such large quantities of goods, food, and money that individuals did not have much left to provide to their own family. Several believed if they did not contribute and present the church with what they asked, they would be denied entrance to heaven once they passed away. People saw how the church thrived while those who contributed were ravenous and penniless. Martin Luther, a monk, noticed several inaccuracies between what the Roman Catholic Church practiced and the Bible as he studied the Bible. He decided to speak out by creating the 95 Theses, and nailing it on the entrance of a catholic church. Protestants who had similar view as Luther’s began Luther-ism. John Calvin, had very similar views as Luther and was even inspired by him to reform the Catholic Church as well. I most admire Martin Luther because of how he spoke up and protested against the Roman Catholic church when he knew it could put him in danger, but I am most similar to John Calvin because of how he believes in predestination and how faith is revealed by living a righteous life.

In document seven, Martin Luther criticizes the pope and the Church for their use of indulgences. Luther claims that people are falsely being forgiven for their sins with the use of money. He thinks this is teaching the false doctrine of money being more important than ethics. People should be forgiven by God, not by money, and should do so through helping the needy instead of buying the indulgences.

In 1527, King Henry VIII of England filed for divorce from his wife, Catherine. As insignificant as this event may seem, it actually marked the beginning of a religious and political reform from the corrupted Roman Catholic Church: the English Reformation. The English Reformation wasn’t the only movement that led to the separation from the Catholic Church, though. The Protestant Reformation, starting only ten years before the English Reformation did, first recognized the corruption of the Catholic Church. The English Reformation noticed the corruptions of the Catholic Church, but was more focused on creating new political and religious authority. Both of these reformations relate to one another greatly, but are still considered to be individual movements. Papal authority was stripped during these reformations, and all of Europe lived differently afterwards. While Catholicism still existed after the reformations and is still practiced today, many new religions exist today as an effect of the reformations. The political power that the Church held diminished and was replaced by the English state. Both the Protestant Reformation and English Reformation impacted the political power and religion of the Catholic Church and all of Europe. Without these movements, Christian religion would not be what it is today.

“When the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs”, as Friar Tetzel would claim. Clergymen advertised that buying indulgences will rid you of sin and reduce the time you spent in purgatory. A religious movement known as the Protestant reformation brewed in 16th century Europe over the absurdity of indulgences. The sale of indulgences posed a major issue prior to and during the movement. Martin Luther sparked the movement with his publication of his The 95 Theses, a series of points which displayed the corruption of the church. As his 66th point states, “The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of men.” Luther is arguing that indulgences only serve as a means of generating wealth for

The Reformation started with the ideas and concepts of Martin Luther, all explained in his Ninety-Five Theses. Luther believed that God’s gift of faith was freely given to the unworthy, and the righteousness is passive and is not active or based on our good works or deeds. These ideas clashed with the Roman Church, which in turn created the “Indulgence Controversy.” To raise money to help rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Pope Leo X issued the offer of indulgences as a penance for parishioners to buy. This penance acted as a way to pay as a remission of temporal punishment due to the sins of the person whose guilt has already been forgiven. Luther caught wind of the issue of indulgences happening within his own church and went ballistic

This fundamental difference from the Catholic dogma that one could buy salvation to Luther’s new ideas as way to Heaven began to transform many people’s beliefs. Supporters of Luther adopted the concept of faith and knowledge of God as a way to repent their sins, and eventually, it reshaped the Christian culture. As Luther personally struggled to be a “perfect” monk, he discovered that faith in the gospel was the only way to be “made righteous by God”(roper 78). In response to his distress for his laity’s desire to buy indulgences, Luther wrote the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences.” He knew he was attacking the pope and the values of the church, but records show that he felt “...not fully in control of his actions, but handed over responsibility to a higher power”(84 roper). Cleary, Luther felt a spiritual connection with God and indulgences were in direct opposition to faith. His revolutionary claims in the “95 Theses on the Power of Indulgences” caused a conflict that would eventually be known as the Protestant Reformation.

A long history of corruption caused people to view the Catholic Church as a for-profit organization rather than God’s voice on Earth. By the Renaissance, the Catholic Church had already lost much of its power over secular rulers but still held leverage over the masses. This authority naturally paved the way for corruption. The most outrageous form of corruption practiced by the Church was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment still due for a sin that has been sacramentally absolved. One of the ways the Church would generate income was by selling them. The notion started off innocently enough; it stemmed from the idea that punishment for crimes could be converted to payments of money, in essence, a fine (Simon 35). However, it soon spiraled out of control as the Church used indulgences simply to gain money, as when Pope Leo X needed money for the construction of St. Peter’s basilica (Duiker and Spielvogel 429). People began to view salvation as something that could be bought; they could go out and sin on Saturday night, then simply pay for it monetarily Sunday morning. To encourage people to buy more indulgences, the Church even claimed that indulgences could be bought on behalf of those already dead and in purgatory (Sporre 378). This blatant victimization was what spurred Martin Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses,

The Lutheran Reformation is particularly associated with the German territories and the pervasive personal influence of one charismatic individual Martin Luther. Luther’s concern was the doctrine of justification, which formed his central point of his religious thoughts. The Lutheran Reformation was initially an academic movement, concerned primarily with reforming the teaching of theology at the University of Wittenberg (McGrath 2007). The Lutheran began in 1822 this happen after Luther’s return to Wittenberg from his enforced isolation in Wartburg. Luther was condemned for “false doctrine” by the Diet of Worms in 1512 (Noll 2000).

Archbishop Albert needed someone to sell indulgences for him, so he hired Dominican friar John Tetzel. Tetzel made this into a business and even began to heavily advertise the sale of indulgences. He came up with catchy slogans to lure people into buying them. He even came up with a chart price to persuade people to buy the "best" or most expensive indulgences. Luther did not agree with this because people no longer saw the need for repentance and felt they could buy away their sins. He was greatly troubled that people were buying into these advertising gimmicks. Since, at the time, the church did not have an official doctrine on indulgences, Luther decided this entitled him to discuss the subject critically. In doing so Luther wrote Archbishop Albert a letter on the subject and enclosed in Latin "Ninety-five Theses on the Power of Indulgences." He argued indulgences made people believe repentance was not important, it downplayed the importance of charity in Christian life, and it competed with the preaching of the Gospel. (Boehmer, 198) Once Luther died, his disciple Philipp Melanchthon reported that the theses were also posted on the door of the church at Wittenberg Castle on October 31, 1517, although not all modern scholars are completely convinced this ever took place. (Erikson, 142) By December of 1517, the theses had all been translated to German and were read throughout the empire.

with his 95 Theses. A strict father who most likely did not accept “no” as an