Martin Luther's Role In The Protestant Reformation

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Imagine living in a society in which individuals were taught to believe that the imminent ending of the world would soon be upon their doorsteps. Now, imagine that their government is run through religious doctrine, and through individuals charged with “informing” the people of the word of their Lord. Alas, this may seem difficult to imagine, and even more difficult to understand, but in the opinion of scholars and historians across the globe; this background scenery accurately reflects the era in which the man accredited with igniting the Protestant Reformation lived in; this man is known as Martin Luther. He would go on to become one of the most notable religious pioneers and is still highly regarded by both the secular and scholarly. The…show more content…
The society in which he lived was acutely zealous in their religious beliefs, and governed by those individuals also controlling the religious fervor of most of Europe; the Catholic Church. Martin Luther saw the Catholic Church as a corrupted institution, one in which Luther deemed needed desperate reform. In particular, Luther was highly upset by the selling of indulgences by the church; he saw this practice as “contradictory to scripture”, and as a result, a moral sin committed by the church (Sayre, 2015). Luther contended that the selling of indulgences was inherently great for the clergy, and other church officials, whom could afford such acts of “forgiveness of the church”, yet the sale of indulgences to the lower class were economically unobtainable without causing the poorer individuals family to suffer economically (Sayre, 2015). He was most displeased with not only the church in its entirety, but specifically angered by the abuses committed by Johannes Tetzel. Tetzel was notorious for his selling of indulgences, and Luther was disgusted by his actions. Luther, along with the lower socioeconomic classes of Europe began to believe that the church had “become lax, corrupt and immoral”, and sought reformation for both himself, and those who could not afford the corrupted “pardons” offered by the church (Kreis, "Lecture 3: The Protestant
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