The Idolatry In Martin Luther's Catechism

Throughout the centuries The Roman Catholic Church has come under attack by staunch opponents of its teachings and practices. Martin Luther a German theology professor and monk was one such opponent. Martin Luther forever changed religious history by writing and publishing the Ninety-Five Theses. Three core topics of the Ninety-Five Theses were selling indulgences to finance the building of Saint Peter’s Basilica was wrong, the salvation is through faith and God’s grace, and finally purchasing indulgences gives people a false sense of security. Of all the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church most offensive to Martin Luther was the selling of indulgences.

Martin Luther Martin Luther was one of two of the greatest leaders of the reformation along with John Calvin. The Reformation was the period in the 16th century (1571-1648) where the was a cultural upheaval the divided the European catholic population. Not only did it create a cultural upheaval it created political and intellectual disruption. Luther believed that the Catholic church was corrupt, his 95 Theses was a list of 95 arguments about the catholic church which he wanted to resolve.

Martin Luther was said to begin the Protestant Reformation after he wrote his “95 Theses.” This book explained Martin’s beliefs that the Bible is the center of religious authority, and that humans can achieve Heaven if through their faith, disregarding the good or bad deeds they have done in the past. The church on the other had, was getting too involved in politics and losing its focus on religion and faith. The combination of political manipulations and the rising of church power and wealth lead to a drastic downfall in the church. This lead to the vulnerability of church leaders and caused them to make poor decisions.

Another example of accidents of history in Luther’s life is the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses. When studying the protestant reformation everyone will at some point encounter Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, which was posted on his church on the eve of All Saints. This document articulated questions Luther had about the catholic faith, in a way that seemed to him to invite scholars and priests to debate these issues.

As a leader of the German Reformation and a vanguard of Protestantism, Luther’s attitude toward Jews is a matter of great concern. Some scholars, including Paul Johnson, an English journalist and famous historian, believes Luther is a brutal anti-Semite. Paul thinks Luther was not content with verbal abuse – “he got Jews expelled from Saxony in 1537, and in the 1540s he drove them from many German towns.” However, some German theologians believe that Martin Luther does not hate Jews and think that Luther’s attitude toward Jews is a matter of religious discrimination rather than racial discrimination.

Martin Luther had many different beliefs than that of the Roman Catholic Church and the church did not, however, respond well to them. Luther first attacked the selling of indulgences because the put and unnecessary strain on the people not to mention he thought it to be a sin. The Roman Catholic Church did not favor this one because that is how the received most of their money for building things. He believed that you could go to heaven by faith alone. This, however, was not a principle of the Roman Catholic church believes once you are saved you go to heaven.

Martin Luther, a German professor and monk, made a large impact on society in the fifteen hundreds. His new ideas of Christianity changed the concept of how religion was viewed and practiced in the 16th century. Within his Ninety-five Theses, he questioned the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and brought to light the corruption surrounding the church while stating how Christianity should be practiced in different ways rather than what is being taught. It is important to understand his stances on religion to explain how different groups reacted to his ideas. While some parts of Europe accepted his ideologies into practice, others reject Luther for many different reasons.

Martin Luther was a Protestant reformer who criticized the Church’s ideas of selling indulgences in 1517 (Textbook). Luther believed that people could only be saved through faith in God. Protestantism encouraged people to choose their own religious beliefs, that led to the formation of Calvinist, Anglican, and Presbyterian churches alongside the Lutheran church, which had already existed. Luther nailed his

“Why does not the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?” This was one of Luther’s most popular statements within the document. The church seen Luther’s words as heretic and gave him 120 days to recant in Rome but he refused. He was later excommunicated from the Church. In all of Luther’s accomplishments, he never gave in.

Luther challenges this by saying that the only way to make individual judgments is through “the doctrine of justification by faith alone”. He believes this doctrine was the only thing you can know, God has merited you with his grace and you can’t know anything else. We can’t make judgment but only to follow faith in God by living a good life and hoping for the

In 1517, Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the doors of Castle Church, in protest of the traffic in indulgences and the church’s falling away from the truth; this was an invitation for others to come and discuss the issue in regards to

Starting from the statement that Christians receive salvation through faith and the grace of God. Luther also stated, “The churches rituals did not have the ability to save souls. ”Also Luther talked about how the Church and the Pope make errors often. This had gone from a need for reforming indulgences to a whole

Spending their wealth on luxurious items was seen to be disrespectful to God and as a result people expected to pour their earnings into their callings. This has close ties with the capitalist ethic. From this ethic, according to Weber, a system of capitalism emerged that no longer required ascetic values to sustain itself. These became the capitalist spirit. Working hard and worshiping, activities held in high regards by Protestants contributed to what we seen in contemporary society as being the capitalist ethic.

On All Saints Day, October 10th, 1517, Martin Luther wrote a lengthy letter named as “The Ninety-Five Theses” to the Bishop Albert of Mainz (“Martin Luther”). This letter stated that the Bible is the central authority of the Protestant religion and one can attain salvation by their loyal faith to God. “The Ninety-Five Theses” letter became a huge impact for the Protestant Reformation, and it was one of the major reasons why this religion was spread around Europe; however, it also focused on practices from Catholic churches about baptism and absolution (“Martin Luther”). The Protestants used the letter to form their ideas about God and to start their own church denominations. In addition, Protestantism helped a lot during this movement because its belief is that God saved everyone by His faith to Jesus Christ, himself.

One day while mining a deadly storm began, Martin feared for his life and promised Saint Anne he would worship God if he survived. When Martin survived, he dedicated his life to God, he became a monk. As a monk Martin Luther began to study the bible and learn about the Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church had extraordinary power, no man wished to oppose the church and therefore the church was rarely challenged and when there was a brave man to stand tall and proud, there was a tall and proud punishment, which followed. The Roman Catholic Church became so driven by power and riches, as a result they began selling indulgences.