The Influence Of Martin Luther's Imperial Diet Of Worms

His 95 Theses, which propounded two central belief that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds was to spark the Protestant Reformation. Although these ideas had been advanced before, Martin Luther codified them at a moment in history ripe for religious reformation. The Catholic Church was ever after divided, and the Protestantism that soon emerged was shaped by Luther’s ideas. His writings changed the course of religious and cultural history. The 95 Theses were quickly distributed throughout Germany and then made their way to Rome. In 1518, Luther was summoned to Augsburg, a city in southern Germany, to defend his opinions before an imperial diet. A debate lasting three days between Luther and Cardinal Thomas Cajetan produced no

He always felt that he did not do enough to receive salvation. He felt unworthy of receiving salvation and this left him unsure of his afterlife. He looked for ways to prove his worthiness to the Lord. He thought that no mere mortal could approach the majesty and holiness of God. There for he thought one couldn’t obtain salvation from doing many good works, but rather through faith in the almighty. This revelation of Luther’s gave him great relief. It told him that the God freely gives people his grace if only one has faith. So Luther stopped worrying about doing penance for his sins. He came to an understanding of salvation called “justification by faith';. As he meditated on his new philosophy he thought of all the ideas that would later pit him against the Catholic Church.

The 95 Theses were statements that argued against the sale of indulgences. Thanks to the printing press, printed copies of the 95 Theses were quickly distributed throughout Germany, causing the sale of indulgences to decrease. When Pope Leo X found out about this in 1520, he told Luther that he had to take back what he said (in the 95 Theses). When Luther didn’t, Pope Leo excommunicated him, but Luther literally didn’t care and publicly burned the excommunication paper. A while after Luther is “excommunicated”, a diet, or council, met in the city of Worms in Germany. The Council of Worms told Luther that if he apologized to the pope, they would let him back into the church. Luther still refused, and was charged with heresy, which is denying the thoughts of the

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 the early sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformation was started by Martin Luther. Martin Luther was not happy with the Catholic Church and wanted a reformation. What really angered Luther was the selling of indulgences. “Indulgences” was sold whenever a relative of a person died. If the person that died did not live a good life, that meant a relative could go to the church and could pay to have the their relative’s purgatory cut short. Luther was not happy with these practices. Luther strongly believed that one lived a life of humility in order to receive God’s grace. He was so angered that on October 31, 1517, he sent a list of “Ninety - Five Theses” to his church superiors. The Ninety - Five These were statements that were meant to defend and to dispute the abuse of indulgences. Luther hammered his theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg.

One of the most prominent of these reformists was Martin Luther a former catholic came to reject the teachings of the Catholic Church instead stating that salvation through faith instead of salvation through deeds. As Luther began to spread his radicalized ideas opposition grew within the Catholic Church. The 95 Theses authored by Luther himself were not written in Latin so those only of the church could read it but in the vernacular tongue of German so the common people could read and understand as well. Which at the time was uncommon for anything much less religious documents to not be written in Latin. Eventually Luther was called to defend his 95 Theses in front of the 1518 Diet of Augsburg where he debated for three days with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan without reaching agreement. Martin Luther was eventually excommunicated on January 3rd 1521 after refusing to recant after being given 120 days to

The Protestant Reformation was a large transition in the way people understood and thought of the Catholic Church as a whole. The Catholic Church had always had a sizeable amount of power over the people and way of life. The person who truly began the whole movement was Martin Luther. He began his public move when the indulgence controversy became apparent. An indulgence is a free ticket out of purgatory, and purgatory is the place one goes directly after physical death to undergo purification. That purification will determine whether one is suitable for Heaven or not. Therefore, every person wanted an indulgence so there was no chance of them not making it into Heaven. However, these indulgences were solely to gain funds for army, church, and others. Although it was only for money, people still wanted one because they did not want to take any chances with their personal afterlife. Martin Luther was infuriated that these indulgences existed. Luther believed that forgiveness is only given to those that are truly sorry for their mistakes. Therefore, he wrote the Ninety-Five Theses. These were documents arguing and criticizing against the indulgences. He posted these documents on the Cathedral door for the Pope to read. He wrote the documents in Latin originally, but the Printing Press translated them into German for everyone to be able to read. In response to these indulgences, Martin Luther

Luther sees a vengeful God within the pages of the Holy Bible. He confesses even the smallest sins in hopes of cleaning his soul. Luther focuses on sin. He reads Erasmus’ Greek Bible and garners a new understanding of Scripture within its pages. Luther subscribes to Sola Fide (by faith alone), Sola Gratia (by grace alone), and Sola Scripture (by Scripture alone) view of teaching. Luther was very critical of the Church for selling indulgences to fill the coffers of the Church. Luther is so disgusted by this he writes down his 95 Thesis and pounds them onto the door at the University of Wittenberg. Luther wanted a discussion on the wrongdoings of the Church, but someone printed multiple copies of the 95 Thesis and passed them around. Although Luther never accused the papacy of wrongdoing, the damage was done. Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, in early 1521 called a diet at Worms. Luther appeared to face charges on his writings about the Church and stood by his words, refusing to repent. Charles V issued the Edict of Worms, in May 1521, declaring Luther an outlaw, banished his writings, and called for his arrest. Luther, however, walked out of the Diet unmolested, walked out of the city gates, and rode toward home. Luther was abducted on his way home and taken to a castle to hide out. While in hiding, Luther translates the Bible into German. Luther’s public absence, some

It explained that the quality of the evidence to faith is significant because that is one of the reasons his reformation succeeded. It talked about how Martin Luther got married and it allowed him to stay close with the Catholic Church, which gave him an advantage when it came to the Reformation. It also stated that the Lutheran Church held onto some of the Catholic traditions that allowed Martin’s view of Catholics to stay the same. It stated that at the Diet at Worms in 1521, Luther would have been killed but he had the support of the princes, which allowed him to continue to share his beliefs with others around

Martin Luther rejected several teachings and practices of the church. He believed that freedom from sin didn’t have to be bought. Luther proposed his discussion of the usefulness of the indulgences in his 95 theses in 1517. In 1520, he refused to retract his writings by the commands of Pope Leo X and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, at the Diet of Worms in 1521. He was excommunicated by the pope and condemned as an outlaw by the emperor.

Many view Martin Luther as "a man destined to confront the Catholic Church." At the age of 21, he leaves his family to become an Augustinian monk. Eventually, the church began to sell indulgences, or "a declaration by church authorities that those who say certain prayers or do good deeds will have some or all of their punishment in purgatory remitted." Martin Luther knew that something had gone wrong in the church, so he created the 95 Theses, which were a list of propositions for debate. His theses "challenged the teachings of the Catholic Church on the nature of penance, the authority of the Pope and the usefulness of indulgences." Many historians today say that on October 31, 1517 Luther disobiediently nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to

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).

He wrote these theses as a proposition for discussion and debate amongst the public. Some of his thesis included repentance by penance, sin will stay on ones soul until one forgives oneself, corrupt priest will pay in purgatory, heaven, hell, and purgatory all exist, indulgences will not get one to heaven, everyone’s main focus should be on the Word of God not on money, and the true treasure of the church is the Gospel and the Grace of God. Martin Luther had started a complete reformation within the church. These theses started a division in the only religion in Europe at this time. This type of separation was unheard of, but not long after, others began to fight for what they believe in.

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.

Martin Luther, was born on the 10th of November in 1483 in the Holy Roman Empire. He was baptized as Catholic, but he became a significant figure in the Protestant Reformation. He was a professor of theology, writer, and a monk who dedicated himself to the Augustinian order. He died on the 18th of February in 1546 and was buried in Wittenberg.