GII THIU 95 LUN CA MARTIN LUTHER

Ngy 31.10.1517 Linh mc Martin Luther cng b 95 lun ci cch Gio Hi

trnh by thnh ng Wittenberg. 95 Lun ny l nhng lun im c
trnh by bng ting Lalinh m Luther mun tho lun trong mt cuc tranh
lun m ti trng i hc, theo ng quy tc ca gii hc thut thi . V
nhng lun ny gy ra tranh ci si ni trong Gio Hi v nhiu phng din,
nht l v vic mua bn bng n x trong Gio Hi thi .

T nm 1512 mi ngi tn hu Cha Kit phi n xng ti vi linh mc lnh

n tha ti, v c gim bt nh hnh pht qua lm vic thin, vic tt lnh. Nh
mua bn n x bng n x hnh pht trong l luyn ti c tha gim ty theo
im ga tin mua bn bng n x cho ngi qua i, v cho chnh mnh sau ny
khi qua i. V theo s tin tng trong Gio Hi thi , ai cng s phi tri qua thi
k l la luyn ti sau khi cht. Cu thc mc c t ra: Vy phi ni bao
lu mi c v nc thin ng?. V th Gio Hi thi t ra l mua bng n
x gii p cho vn nn thc mc ny cch d dng. Vic mua bn bng n x
cng tr nn dp cm d i n lm dng v mt vt cht. V cng khng ai c
th chc chn bo m c rng phi mua bao nhiu im, bao nhiu bng n x
mi mau thot khi hnh pht sau khi qua i trong l luyn ti hay ha ngc.

Vo thi im , Luther l mt nh thn hc kim cha x b n, rt tc gin

trc thi ca Johann Tetzel, thy dng dng Dominic ang bn php gii
ti kim tin cho k hoch tm huyt ca Gio hong Leo X: xy dng li
Php nh thnh Peter Rome. bt u cng vic bun bn, tu s Tetzel
vo cc gio ng, nhn danh Gio Hong ha rng h ai mua phiu x ti
s c tha ti, ti ln ln ti nh phm v s phm trong tng lai. Ai
mua phiu x ti cho thn nhn qu c th linh hn ca h ang b a y
Ngc Luyn ti c ln thin ng ngay. cho vic bun bn c thm
nhiu li nhun, tu s Tetzel qung co rm r khp ng ph l ai mua
phiu x ti ca ng bn th linh hn ca thn nhn Ngc Luyn ti c
bay ln thin ng ngay, nh bi th c truyn tng trong thi l: Tin
vng ri xung thng y. Hn trong ha ngc bay ngay thin ng (As the
coin into the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs). Luther cho l
mt hnh ng phn bi c tin v l mt du hiu r rng cho thy tnh cp
thit ca vic ci cch trn din rng.

V th, vi 95 lun , Martin Luther trc ht cng khai kch chng li vic mua
bn bng n x. y l cuc ci cch cch mng ln u tin trong Gio Hi, v t
ra vn nguy c mi, l Gio Hi phi t b ngun thu nhp quan trng t vic
mua bn ny.

KHI NIM BNG N X V L LUYN TI

Ba gii ti hay th n x

V tn gi th c th nhiu, nhng v bn cht th, ba gii ti l mt loi ba

c bn rng ri trong thi k Gio hong Leo X, v ngi trc tip by bn
khp ni chnh l tu s Johann Tetzel thuc dng Dominican.

Chi tit hn, ta cn hiu rng ba gii ti l mt hnh thc bin tng ca cc nghi
thc gii ti (indulgences) trong Gio hi Cng gio m ngy nay vn cn c duy
tr. C th, khi mt ngi c ti mun c tha th, ngi s i n gp v Cha
x v xng ra ht ti li ca mnh. Sau , Cha s nhn danh Cha tuyn b
rng ti ngi c tha. Tuy nhin mi chuyn cha chm dt , v theo
quan im ca Gio hi lc by gi, s tha th ch trn vn khi ngi c tha thc
hin thm mt hnh ng c th minh chng rng mnh thc s n nn, cng
coi nh l b p li li lm. V l do , sau khi tuyn b s tha th, v Cha x
thng c mt vi la chn sau yu cu ngi xng ti lm theo:

- Dnh thi gian cu nguyn cho Gio hong ng nhim

- i l nh th (cc gi l m h ngi lu nay hay b qua)

- i hnh hng (v Jerusalem)

- Ph gip mt cng tc no ca nh th, king n cu nguyn, king c mt th

vui no , hay b th cho k ngho,

- Hon ton dt b ti li, dt khot vi mt ham mun xc tht no

Sau khi ngi n xng ti hon thnh mt hay vi iu c Cha ch nh trong

nhng iu trn th mi k l ngi hon ton gii quyt c vn ti li.

Vy ba gii ti nm u trong cc hnh thc gii ti trn???

Ta ch n gch u dng th 4, phn b th cho k ngho. Hiu rng ra th

hnh ng ny l s dng ti chnh ca mnh cho vic ngha, ch li, ch khng
hn ch ring v chuyn em tin i b th. Chuyn l vo thi , Gio hong Leo X
ban b mt s ku gi rng ri, l dng hin xy dng Vng cung Thnh ng
Peter ti Vatican. Vic dng hin ny c hiu l mt phn ca nghi thc gii ti,
tc l thay v dng tin ca mnh b th cho k ngho, con dn ca Cha c th
ly tin m dng vo qu xy dng thnh ng, v nhng ngi lm vy cng
c k nh l c tha ti. Ni cch khc, vic tu s Johann Tetzel mang ci thng
tin i khp ni v bn s tha ti c xem nh l mang hp tin dng i khp
ni v ku gi dng hin cho qu xy dng ca Hi Thnh. Mt khi ngi ta b tin
vo hp th, va lm c iu tt m ti ca mnh v ngi thn cng c tha c,
v tm ba gii ti cm trn tay l minh chng cho iu , cng nh sau khi i
ng tin th c a t ha n vy. Hn na, mt trong s nhng iu lm cho
tn ngy y lo s l s trng pht ngc luyn ti (s c gii thch k hn
phn sau). Cc nghi thc gii ti tht ra l gip rt ngn thi gian mt ngi phi
tri qua ngc luyn ti, ngha l ti cng t th qu trnh luyn ti cng mau kt
thc, v linh hn mau bay ln thin ng. Chnh ni s ny lm cho bi th ca
Tetzel:

Tin vng ri xung thng y, hn trong ha ngc bay ngay thin ng.

cng ng chm c nhiu tm lng, v khin ngi ta hng hi mua ba hn.

Nhiu ngi ngy nay vn cho vic lm ny ca Gio hi l ng n, v lun gii

rng chnh s ging dy thiu cn thn ca cc Cha lm cho hnh ng dng
hin ny tr nn ging nh mt cuc bun bn, ni cch khc y ch l mt s
hiu lm v mt t ng ch v bn cht th khng c g sai tri.

Indulgence, a distinctive feature of the penitential system of both the Western medieval and
the Roman Catholic Church that granted full or partial remission of the punishment of sin.

The granting of indulgences was predicated on two beliefs. First, in the sacrament of penance
it did not suffice to have the guilt (culpa) of sin forgiven through absolution alone; one also
needed to undergo temporal punishment (poena, from p[o]enitentia, penance) because one
had offended Almighty God. Second, indulgences rested on belief in purgatory, a place in the
next life where one could continue to cancel the accumulated debt of ones sins, another
Western medieval conception not shared by Eastern Orthodoxy or other Eastern Christian
churches not recognizing the primacy of the pope.

From the early church onward, bishops could reduce or dispense with the rigours of penances,
but indulgences emerged in only the 11th and 12th centuries when the idea of purgatory took
widespread hold and when the popes became the activist leaders of the reforming church. In
their zeal, they promoted the militant reclamation of once-Christian landsfirst of Iberia in
the Reconquista, then of the Holy Land in the Crusadesoffering full remission of sins,
the first indulgences, as inducements to participation.

Papal pronouncements, oral and written, were often vague, however, and raised many
questions among the pious. To clarify all these issues, the Scholastic theologians of the 12th
and 13th centuries worked out a fully articulated theory of penance. It consisted of three parts:
contrition, confession, and satisfaction. The debt of forgiven sin could be reduced through the
performance of good works in this life (pilgrimages, charitable acts, and the like) or through
suffering in purgatory. Indulgences could be granted only by popes or, to a lesser extent,
archbishops and bishops as ways of helping ordinary people measure and amortize their
remaining debt. Plenary, or full, indulgences cancelled all the existing obligation, while
partial indulgences remitted only a portion of it. People naturally wanted to know how
much debt was forgiven (just as modern students want to know exactly what they need to
study for examinations), so set periods of days, months, and years came gradually to be
attached to different kinds of partial indulgences.

One did not, however, have to do it all by oneself. Medieval Christianity was a vast
community of mutual help through prayer and good works, uniting the living and the dead in
the Church Militant on earth, the Church Suffering in purgatory, and the Church Triumphant
in heaven. The good works of Jesus Christ, the saints, and others could be drawn upon to
liberate souls from purgatory. In 1343 Pope Clement VI decreed that all these good works
were in the Treasury of Merit, over which the pope had control.

This highly complicated theological system, which was framed as a means to help people
achieve their eternal salvation, easily lent itself to misunderstanding and abuse as early as the
13th century, much sooner than is usually thought. A principal contributing factor was money.
Paralleling the rise of indulgences, the Crusades, and the reforming papacy was the economic
resurgence of Europe that began in the 11th century. Part of this tremendous upsurge was the
phenomenon of commutation, through which any services, obligations, or goods could be
converted into a corresponding monetary payment. Those eager to gain plenary indulgences,
but unable to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, wondered whether they might perform an
alternative good work or make an equivalent offering to a charitable enterprisefor example,
the building of a leprosarium or a cathedral. Churchmen allowed such commutation, and the
popes even encouraged it, especially Innocent III (reigned 11981216) in his various
Crusading projects. From the 12th century onward the process of salvation was therefore
increasingly bound up with money. Reformers of the 14th and 15th centuries frequently
complained about the sale of indulgences by pardoners. And as the papacy weakened in
this period, secular governments increasingly allowed the granting of indulgences only in
return for a substantial share of the yield, often as much as two-thirds. The princes got most
of the money, and the popes got most of the blame.

People also wondered whether they could gain an indulgence for someone who had died and
was presumed to be in purgatory. If so, in acting out of charity for someone else, were they
then obliged to confess their own sins, as they would if they sought to obtain an indulgence
for themselves? Although these concerns were surfacing as early as the 13th century, it was
only in 1476 that Pope Sixtus IV declared that one could indeed gain an indulgence for
someone in purgatory. Sixtus, however, left unanswered the problem of the necessity of
personal confession. This profound uncertainty surrounding penance threatened to sever
completely the nexus between the confession of sin and the achievement of salvation.

That is precisely what happened in the early 16th century. In northern Germany a Dominican
friar, Johann Tetzel, was credited with hawking indulgences for the dead by saying, When a
penny in the coffer rings, / A soul from Purgatory springs. The system was finally killed by
a young Augustinian friar in a neighbouring territory, Martin Luther. He was not (as is widely
thought) moved originally to a critique of the system by these abuses but rather by his own
terrible spiritual suffering. In any case, he drew up a devastating document, the Ninety-five
Theses of October 1517. In number 82 he blew the lid off the system. Cleverly reporting the
keen criticisms of the laity, he vitiated papal control of the Treasury of Merit by writing
that the laity
ask, for example: Why does not the pope liberate everyone from Purgatory for the sake of
love (a most holy thing) and because of the supreme necessity of their souls? This would be
morally the best of reasons. Meanwhile he redeems innumerable souls for money, a most
perishable thing, with which to build St. Peters church, a very minor purpose.

With this blast, Luther began to knock down the house of cards, and by 1520 he came to the
full realization of his immensely liberating theological message: salvation is free, and one
does not have to do anything, much less pay anything, to obtain it. Virtually all forms of
Protestantism would reject all or most of the penitential system, including indulgences.

The Roman Catholic Church conceded very few points to Luther or the other reformers. One
of the points was justification by faith (but not by faith alone, as Luther insisted in his
rendering of Paul), and another was the fateful connection between money and indulgences.
While reasserting the place of indulgences in the salvific process, the Council of Trent
condemned all base gain for securing indulgences in 1563, and Pope Pius V abolished the
sale of indulgences in 1567. The system and its underlying theology otherwise remained
intact. Exactly 400 years later, in 1967, Pope Paul VI modified it by shifting the stress away
from the satisfaction of punishment to the inducement of good works, greatly reducing the
number of plenary indulgences and eliminating the numerical system associated for so long
with partial indulgences.

Lawrence G. Duggan