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Why Martin Luther Write the 95 Theses
People who start off their search for why did Martin Luther write The 95 Theses are led down the road that talks about the reasons why Martin Luther wrote the 95 theses and this road then splits up in to little diversions and alleys that delve in to issues such as did Martin Luther nail his 95 theses, did Martin Luther post his 95 theses or why did Martin Luther create the 95 theses, why did Martin Luther copy the 95 theses, why did Martin Luther save the 95 theses etc.
Inspiration Behind The Ninety Five Theses
So now I try to explain the question that starts this investigation frenzy; why did Martin Luther write the 95 theses? Martin Luther lived during the 16th century, was a priest from the lands of Germany which at that point in time fell within the realm of the Holy Roman Empire and is dubbed the father of the Protestant Reformation. It all started when a friar of Dominican ancestry by the name of Johann Tetzel was by the Roman Catholic Church to Germany in a bid to raise funds for the renovation of the Rome based St. Peter’s Basilica by selling indulgences; the mission embarking commencing in 1516. Come the 31st day of October the next annum in 1517 and Martin Luther would write to the Archbishop of Mainz & Magdeburg – Albrecht – objecting to the selling of indulgences; his intention being to merely question the nature of the church practices at the time rather than confronting the entire institution.
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Tone of The 95 Theses
Even historians have noted that the tone of his letter (The 95 Thesis) was not one that looked to doctrine but rather one that seeks and searches for the truth. This notion is supported by the 86th theses that asked why did the Pope – who was extremely wealthy and had ample personal assets of his own – have to ask the poor for funds for the reconstruction and why did he not present his own assets for the good cause. Martin Luther’s simple claim was that forgiveness could not be bought through monetary assets but had to be asked for from God Himself.
Summary of the Ninety Five Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses also acclaimed as the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences is a lean of an academic debate authored by Martin Luther who was a famous professor and taught moral theology at a renowned institution – University of Wittenberg, Germany. Ninety Five Theses summarized the abuse of practice of ministry of Catholics by selling certificates of plenary indulgences (believed to reduce amount of punishment). Martin Luther asserted in his theses that repentance as obligated by the Christ requires spiritual repentance rather than a meagre sacramental confession. Martin argued that these indulgences are causing the Christians to lose their spiritual guidance and sorrow for sin, by purchasing immoral indulgences.
According to Martin Luther, these indulgences caused a loss of sympathy, affection and the will to spend on poor and needy. He also argued that ultimate salvation could be achieved through strong faith and divine grace only. The Disputation on the Power of Indulgences must be viewed as a matter of debate amongst the academic circles rather than accusation and devising a revolution, nevertheless, the tone of the thesis was humble and literary. The Ninety-Five Theses later became the accessor to the Protestant Reformation.
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Plot of the Ninety Five Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses, aimed to be an academic debate, written in Latin, was hang on the doors of Schlosskirche (Castle Church) in Wittenberg, in the fall of October 1517. The exact date is a debatable topic but believed to be the 31st of that month. The work by Martin Luther turned out to be the basis of the Protestant Reformation.
During that era, printing was recently invented, and not only the professional theologians, but other religious and political circumstances, spread the manuscript across Germany. It was argued that Luther did not distributed the copies to the people and sent his work to Archbishop of Mainz and Bishop of Brandenburg. This became the manifesto to one of the largest protests and became one of the evident crisis in Western Christian Church’s history.
The immediate outburst of the scandal was the re-construction of the St. Peter’s Church in Rome during 1517. Half the proceeds of the sales were directed to pay a huge debt encountered by the archbishop and elector Albert of Mainz to the money they owed the Fugger Family (a banking dynasty of Germany during the 15th and 16th Century). These signatories went into debt by paying the Pope huge amounts of money for appointing him to high offices. Outraged, Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-Five Theses.
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Martin Luther Biography
Martin Luther was born on 10th November 1483 to Hans Luder and Margarethe in Eisleben, Mansfeld., part of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was baptized and brought up in a Catholic Family. He was an avid learner went to University of Erfurt at the age of seventeen, which he profoundly describes as a whorehouse and beerhouse. Luther used to take an early morning walk at 4 am as part of his routine exercise and describe it as “day of rote learning and spiritual exercises”. As he grew up, he devoted himself to Augustinian order, and fasted, prayed and often confessed.
He grew up to be a professor of theology at University of Wittenberg in 1508.
Significance of His Work
Martin Luther is hallmarked as one of the most influential figure in the history of West. His early life was spent in obscurity being an academic and a monk. But later in 1517, Martin Luther penned his work against the corrupt and immoral practices of the Christian Church. His work on the Disputation on the Power of Indulgences or the Ninety-Five Theses promulgated two popular beliefs at that time, one was the Protestant Reformation and the other was that the Bible was the final authority, hence people can only gain ultimate salvation through strong belief and not by deeds. His work coded these beliefs as a significant reality, and the Protestantism soon emerged through is ideas.
according to my understanding on this topic, I found that the theses of Martin Luther was not a doctrine but He search for the truth. that means he did not want to form another church but to correct the error he saw in that church.But why did people said that he was the founder of the Lutheran Church??
It’s true that he aspired to bring the Christian faith back in line with the original teachings and doctrines. However, his efforts led to the formation of a smaller faction of believers that came to be known as the Lutherans
i hav no idea can you please just answer why he posted them ??
Marae: The Church was even more political (and tied to the State) than it was today. Remember the “Divine Right of King” concept. Luther (who had is Ph.D. by the way)was concerned for his people as well as his own person salvation. At the Diet of Worms (Worms being a city in Germany) he was told to explain himself, and eventually to recant. This led to his “Here I Stand” statement saying he could not recant God’s Truth. Politics, again: certain German Princes put Luther under their protection since, as a result of all this, Luther was excommunicated and a wanted/hunted man. Luther’s advisers convinced him the only way to correct the errors was to “reform”, vis-a-vis, start a new church. So while Luther did not go in wanting a reformation, change of events brought him to that end.
I love the way how you hit upon those events in a sequential manner Karl. Thanks for your input =)
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wow i really like how u recaped on every thing
To bad he never did go far enough and denounce the entire institutional church. But that leaves room for the new reformation.
it is well written, but content does not satisfy me. more elaboration is needed.
I have to do a paper on this and I feel this was really helpful.