Alex Linton Mrs.

Fleming Euro AP October 14, 2013 Luther and the Ninety-Five Theses Martin Luther was born in Germany in 1483, and originally planned on studying law. However, after being caught in a thunderstorm, he vowed to become a monk and joined the monastic order in Erfurt. Soon he began to notice a significant number of glaring issues in Catholic religion, from confession to justification to the sale of indulgences. Upon viewing these faults of current practice in Catholic religion, Luther began his composition of his Ninety-Five Theses, addressing the abuses by the Catholic church. Luther allegedly stapled the paper containing his ninety-five theses to the church door in Wittenberg. The pope was alerted to Luthers activity, yet merely dismissed his activities as those of some drunken German who will amend his ways when he sobers up. The controversy only grew because of this papal dismissal, and the use of the printing press spread Luthers theses quickly. In his document Selections from the Ninety-Five Theses, Luther addresses the issues he sees as most blasphemous in the church. Claiming in his fifth theses that The Pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those he has imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law. In this statement, Luther essentially calls for a check on the power of the pope, who he finds should not be able to punish others solely by his discretion. Luther also addresses the issue of indulgences in the church, pointing out that they are false and provide a false sense of security for those that spend all of their savings to buy them. Also in his publication, Luther addresses the

selfish neediness of the church and the fact that the clergy has become excessive in spending and paying for the lavish lives of their own clergymen. The significance of Luthers Ninety-Five Theses cannot be overstated, as this publication of his ideals essentially manifests into the cornerstone for the foundation of Lutheran religion. By bluntly pointing out the wrongdoings of the church, Luther provides the platform to really reform the church to the state it needs to be in. In saying preachers of Indulgences are wrong when they say that a man is absolved and saved from every penalty by the Popes Indulgences, Luther directly challenges the authority of the pope, providing the basis for the eventual splitting of Christianity between Catholicism and Lutheranism. It is the basis of Luthers Ninety-Five Theses that result in the Protestant Reformation.