Luther

Aziz Razakov 10/09/2009 History-121 Assignment (Essay) Martin Luther was a German Monk who questioned the Catholic Church about selling salvation in the early 16th century. He believed in contrary to the church, that salvation isn’t an item that can be sold, by the Church or anyone else. It’s a gift that can only be granted to one by God, in return for good faith in Jesus. In his writing, The 95 theses he addresses the Church with his beliefs, in a scholarly manner to attain change in the Church’s ways, not to break away from it. However the Church saw this as a threat and excommunicated him instead, leading Martin Luther to create his own Protestant Church with a different interpretation of the bible, which exists today. One may say that Luther’s Reformation came at a perfect time in a perfect place. The timing was right because the technological advancement of the printing press allowed ideas to spread fast. The placing was also beneficial because the Holy Roman Empire was surrounded by enemies looking to conquer the land, hence, the Emperor; Charles V had no time to interfere with “an argument between monks” as he called it. The 95 theses written in 1517, addressed many clergy abuses, but heavily focused on the sale of indulgences. He argued that letters of pardon from the church given to a man for money may release one from Church’s judgments, but not from god’s. A good Christian man if so intent on spending money, should buy food for the poor, otherwise he would be missing the point of possessing the grace of God. He also stressed that the bible is God’s words, not the Pope. This appealed to many people who were already dissatisfied with the Church; beginning with the common people, the laboring poor to the wealthy upper class. The common people and the laboring poor looked at Luther’s arguments as a way to rebel against the Church and the social order. The second wave of people were generally more educated, and their views against the Church were that “they wish to manage their own religious affairs as they did their other business, believing that the church hierarchy was too much embedded in a feudal, baronial and monarchical system, with which they had little in common.[1]” Finally, the third group was the ruling sovereigns and princes who had more financial disputes than any other type. The Church had many land possessions, so when it came to the ruling class, problems with property, taxation and legal jurisdiction came into play. Through these supporters there was a good deal of resentment in Germany against Rome. When the Church excommunicated Luther, he burned the bull. When Charles V banned him from the empire, luckily he was taken into protection by the Elector of Saxony and other German princes. While in protection, he was able to translate the bible and the 95 theses into several vernacular languages, through which he was able to communicate his ideas to many literate people. His ideas became mixed with social revolutions of the lower class and political upheaval of the upper class. Out of these events people hoped to enlarge their own territories by attacking the neighboring Churches and rid the properties of rent and tax regulation. Many even went beyond Luther’s interpretation of the bible and decided that each individual was able to understand what was right or wrong. However, since Martin Luther looked down upon peasants, as he thought power should come from the educated, the revolts were put down by the princes as Luther urged. ----------------------- [1] R.R. Palmer, Joel Colton, Lloyd Kramer. A history of the Modern World, 2007, 79.