Martin_Luther;_Reformer_Or_Revolutionary

Martin Luther; Reformer Or Revolutionary Since October 31, 1517, Martin Luther has been the object of much scrutiny and controversy. Many have called him the father of Protestantism; others have coined him the destroyer of the Roman Catholic Church. However grave these accusations have been, none have been as extreme as the debate of Martin Luther as a Reformer as opposed to a Revolutionary. Unfortunately, there is no single answer. All conclusive evidence supports that Martin Luther, as far as issues of the 95 Theses are concerned, was both a Reformer and a Revolutionary. In order to assess the value of the two words, Reformer and Revolutionary, one must accurately understand the meaning of each. A reformer, by all meanings of the word, is one who aims “to reconstruct, make over, or change something for the better; improve; to abandon or give up evil ways” (Webster 232). Similarly, but not identically, a revolutionary is one who incites “a sudden change in a system” (Webster, 235). Basically, as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, a reformer would have aimed to change objectionable practices for the better, whereas a revolutionary would have intended to completely change the way the Catholic luther, church, catholic, revolutionary, reformer, reform, practices, martin, indulgences, daniel-rops, change, biblical, priests, one, christian, began, been, without, wall, salvation, priesthood, practice, pope, people, new, man, luther’s, issues, history, faith, both, basis, alone, 529, worthy