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The Reformation began in 1517 with the publication of Martin Luther’s 95 theses criticizing the practice of the Roman Catholic Church and in particular the sale of indulgences. A key moment was the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, which guaranteed the territorial lords’ right to choose the confessional identity of their realm.
Martin Luther, Ninety-five Theses As the historian Lyndal Roper notes, the "Reformation proceeded by a set of debates and arguments". Luther presented his views in public at the observant Augustinians' assembly in Heidelberg on 26 April 1518. Here he explained his "theology of the Cross" about a loving God who had become frail to save fallen humanity, contrasting it with the scholastic ...
- Early Life & The Vow
- Spiritual Crisis & Revelation
- 95 Theses
- Worms & Wartburg
- Peasants' Revolt
- Marriage & Lutheranism
- Conclusion
Luther was born in Eisleben, modern-day Germany, in 1483, a region then part of the Holy Roman Empire. His parents were of the upper peasantry as his father was not bound to the land as a farmer but owned a number of coppermines. Scholar Roland H. Bainton comments: Luther was the eldest of a number of children and his father saw to it he was well e...
Luther took his vow to Saint Anne so seriously because he was terrified of deathand credited the saint with saving his life that day of the storm. His fear of death came directly from his understanding of God as a divine being, all-powerful and all-knowing, who saw into people's hearts and punished them for their failings. Recognizing himself as a ...
Once he understood the nature of God as revealed in scripture, he began to seriously question the vision of that God encouraged by the medieval Church. If one was saved through faith alone, Luther reasoned, what was the purpose of all the policies and rules and tithes the Church imposed on believers? Where, in the Bible, was there any support for t...
He was excommunicated in January 1521, and his case was turned over to the secular authorities who called Luther to appear at the Diet of Worms, a hearing at the city of Worms. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, presided, and one Johann Eck (not the same man as above) represented the Church in again pressing Luther to recant. Luther was promised safe p...
The printing press, in fact, was Luther's "secret weapon" which allowed not only for the swift dissemination of his views but for illustrations picturing him as a heroic figure and "man of the people" challenging the authorities that maintained policies of inequality and kept the people in poverty. Earlier so-called "proto-reformers" such as John W...
Luther was married in June 1525 to Katharina von Bora (l. 1499-1552), a former nun who, in 1523, had written Luther asking for his help in freeing her and some of her associates from their convent. Luther arranged for them to be smuggled out in a wagon of herring barrels and found suitable homes for all of the womenexcept Katharina who wanted to ma...
Luther died of a stroke at age 62 on 18 February 1546 in his hometown of Eisleben. He was buried in front of the pulpit of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, the same Church whose doors he had posted his 95 Theseson years before. By the time of his death, he was an international hero to Protestant sects and an irredeemable devil to Catholics, who saw...
- Joshua J. Mark
The Protestant Reformation resulted in the creation of a new kind of Christian religion called Protestantism. It includes many religious groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church due to differences in their beliefs. Originated in Germany on Halloween The Protestant Reformation began in Wittenberg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. Martin ...
The Reformation started in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, when Luther may have nailed his famous Ninety-five Theses to the wooden doors of the Castle Church. (See Researcher’s Note.) The doors were destroyed in a fire in 1760, and the church, containing the graves of Luther and the Reformers, was seriously damaged then and again in 1813–14.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Wittenberg is where the Reformation began. Beginning as early as 1511, the Augustinian hermit Martin Luther taught at the recently-founded University and gradually developed a new theology. The indulgence controversy in 1517-18 made clear that his theology had the inherent potential to call into question many of the fundamental theological ...
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1517. October 31, 1517: Luther’s 95 Theses Appear. Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg is one of the iconic images of the Reformation. In this essay, historians Volker Leppin and Timothy Wengert examine the best evidence for and against this famous story. In either case, it is correct to say that ...
