Introduction


Martin Luther
In 1517, Martin Luther intended to spark only a reform within the Catholic Church when he hammered his 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. However, the result was a revolution that permanently split Christianity into independent denominations. A monk and a scholar, Luther had become disenchanted with a Catholic Church that used its power to promote ignorance in the masses and raise wealth for itself. In his 95 Theses, Luther detailed these abuses and refused to be silenced. Violent controversy followed as he continued to attack the corruption of the Papacy and supported the translation of the Bible into the vernacular so that people could read it for themselves. In living his conscience, Luther changed the world.

Essential Facts

  1. Luther was a promising law student until 1505, when he underwent a religious conversion after being struck by lightning, crying at the time, “Help, St. Anne, I will become a monk.” He later joined the Order of the Hermits of Saint Augustine.
  2. The Bible verse that first inspired Luther to question the church was Romans 1:17: “For the justice of God is revealed from faith to faith in that it is written, for the just shall live by faith.”
  3. Many of Luther’s complaints about the church revolved around the sale of indulgences. Indulgences promised the purchaser the remission of sins and reduced his or her time in purgatory (a temporary hell where believers were to pay for their sins).
  4. Luther translated the Bible into German, publishing The New Testament by himself in 1522.
  5. On June 13, 1525, Luther married Katharine Von Bora, a former nun. She was one of a group of nuns that he had helped escape from a Cistercian convent by smuggling them out in herring barrels. They had six children together.