Martin Luther's Indulgences During The Reformation

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At the end of the middle ages the papal authority had been challenged by the rising power of monarchical states. The beginning of the Reformation had posed a greater threat to papal authority and church unity. Martin Luther had begun the reformation movement and his ideas had spread widely across Europe. Luther had been unsatisfied with the church because he began to recognize the sale of indulgences. During the reformation, Martin Luther’s 95 theses had an impact upon the people. It went against the church and caused the people to question the church’s selling of indulgences. The theses greatly affected peasants and rapidly spread throughout Europe. The ninety-five theses written on Martin Luther had been a positive thing for the people of…show more content…
Cathedrals were being built, and the Church had begun creating universities. The church bishops and archbishops made the main roles of the government and the decisions and laws made. During this time the pope had become the person with the most power and could even excommunicate a king. The people were completely controlled by the church their entire lives. Monks and nuns had been very well educated, they had often written on such topics as history and science. The nuns and monks of the church had to follow the strict rules of the church, which included doing manual labor and copying valuable manuscripts in different languages. Christian campaigns, led by bishops, had started against other religions the plan was to purify the church by getting rid of all the non-Christians. When Pope Urban II had proclaimed a holy war, the church had subtly told people their sins would be forgiven if they would fight in the holy war. “During the later Middle Ages, the law of Europe was governed by the Church. An entire jurisdiction was exercised by the church which protected the widows, orphans and helpless and also dealt with offenses. The church could exercise its jurisdiction in collaboration with the…show more content…
Luther had become especially angered with the church on the selling on indulgences. This had become the reason he had written his 95 theses. Luther also had separate beliefs from the church, such as priests being able to marry and priests to remain celibate (Although later on he had married Katherine of Bora and had 5 children), and that only faith alone could help a person achieve salvation. Luther’s biggest complaint about he Catholic Church was that it was selling indulgences and promising to relieve time amount of time in purgatory for someone. “…it was supporting a system that left sinners in sin - and this was the institution that was meant to save lost souls !!” (Chris Truman. Martin Luther. History Learning Site) Luther’s theses hadn’t been an attack on the church directly but it had been an attack on indulgences. Some of the statements in Luther’s 95 theses are “5. The pope does not intend to remit, and cannot remit any penalties other than those which he has imposed either by his own authority or by that of the Canons.” “21. Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope's indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;” “75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.” (Allen Mulvey. Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the

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