R115thand16th

Theme: Changes in Religious Thoughts and institutions.

Martin Luther's 95 Theses (1517)

Martin Luther’s concern for his salvation allowed him to reform the Christian Church and launch the Protestant reformation. Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses was a protest against the sale of indulgences and the corruption within the Catholic Church. Indulgences were church documents which were sold to people so their sins could be revoked from a monetary standpoint. The prices of indulgences depended on the sin. In the 16th century people believed that indulgences secured total remission of penalties for sin and that they ensured entry into Heaven. Many people even bought indulgences for dead relatives and family members. Luther was severely troubled by the people’s ignorance, as he believed salvation could only be granted by faith and believing in God. So he wrote the, “Ninety-Five Theses on the Power of Indulgences,” to Archbishop Albert. Luther argued that indulgences undermined the seriousness of the sacrament of penance, competed with the preaching of the Gospel, and downplayed the importance of charity in Christian Life.

MLA: McKay, John P. __A History of Western Society__. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003