Martin Luther Research Paper

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Martin Luther, a man of great change in the church and Renaissance society, was born on November 10, 1483 in the city of Eisleben in Saxony, Germany. The son of a miner and ore smelter, Martin was active in his education and attended the University of Erfurt in 1501 and got a Master of Arts degree, which entailed grammar, rhetoric, logic, and metaphysics. A life changing experience in 1505 altered the course of Luther’s life when he was caught in the middle of a violent thunderstorm. Luther prayed for his life and vowed to God that if he survived the storm, he would dedicate his life to him and become a monk. Martin Luther survived through the storm and followed through this his promise with joining a monastery, even though it greatly disappointed…show more content…
Around the same time that Luther started questioning the papacy, Henry VIII went above the Cathlolic Church and divorced his wife Catherine of Aragon. King Henry also declared himself the head of the Catholic Church. Also, John Calvin in Switzerland published his work “Institutes of the Christian Religion”, which emphasized God’s power and man’s predetermined faith. These three powerful men changed the Eastern hemisphere’s perspective on religion and the Catholic Church. Protestantism, the religion that emerged after Luther’s Ninety Nine Theses, is 25.4 percent of the Christian population in the United States today. Protestantism has the largest percentage out of all branches of Christianity. This section of Christianity has been accredited to Martin Luther. Another way that Luther changed society by unintentionally engaging Germany in two wars based directly and indirectly on religion. These two wars were Germany’s Peasant’s War and Thirty Years’ War. Luther bended and stretched the rules of being a monk when he got married to Katharina von Bora and had a family with her. This was not allowed if you were a monk because you vowed to devote your whole life to God and never focus on anything other than your Christian deeds. Martin Luther’s rebelliousness allowed changes in monasteries since he became equally devoted to his wife, his family, and

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