Individuals and groups of a society can promote change of the status quo. Many people took action and spoke out against issues within society during the Reformation. The Reformation was a movement in the 16th century where people called out the Roman Catholic Church on its unjust teachings. These people include John Wycliffe, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Martin Luther. The Church did not approve of this criticism and aimed to eliminate those who defied the Church. In the first document, John Wycliffe claims that the Church is contradicting itself. He claims that the Church is engaging in behavior that does not comply with what they preach. John also claims that the pope is wrongly considering himself the head of the Church. Wycliffe speaks out against …show more content…
The popes believe that the indulgences are positive because they provide an opportunity for those to have their sins forgiven. In document seven, Martin Luther criticizes the pope and the Church for their use of indulgences. Luther claims that people are falsely being forgiven for their sins with the use of money. He thinks this is teaching the false doctrine of money being more important than ethics. People should be forgiven by God, not by money, and should do so through helping the needy instead of buying the indulgences. Document eight, Pope Leo X’s response to Martin Luther, states that Martin Luther’s comments and motive is the work of the devil. He thinks Luther is a threat to the Church and orders him to stop preaching. Pope Leo X realizes that Luther is a legitimate threat and tries to undermine his credibility. In the ninth document, Luther claims that the pope’s response shows that he is the Antichrist. He claims that the pope has no real evidence to prove he is heretical. Luther is getting the attention of his followers and is showing that the corruption within the Church is no joke. Despite threats of punishment, Luther shows resilience in his pursuit for the improvement of the
The letter written by Martin Luther to the Archbishop of Mainz stated simply, clarifies why indulgences should not be sold. Martin Luther implores with the Archbishop to have pity on him for being so opinionated to a person so holy and significant, as ordinarily he would not dare, but he must tell the Archbishop his thoughts. To be specific, his long-time disagreement with the selling of indulgences, but he can stand it no longer. The Archbishop is warned that St Peter’s is selling the indulgences under his name. The letter then explains that the obtaining of these indulgences causes the people to believe that they and their loved ones are saved from Purgatory. No matter how appalling the crime a person has committed, if they purchase these
Martin Luther faced many criticisms within the church. It was noticed that the popes were too concerned with worldly affairs rather than focusing on their church responsibilities and duties. Some had children, which were breaking the vows. Some popes in addition, were poorly educated. Without this proper education, they wouldn’t have a reliable source of knowledge and could
Luther strongly disagreed with the selling of indulgences. He challenges the Church with a debate using a document he calls the “95 theses”. The 95 theses was a result of two points: the Bible is the central religious authority and
In the early fifteenth century Martin Luther appealed to Pope Leo X to settle the Indulgence Controversy. This controversy extended far beyond the original appeal. It hosted a wide spectrum of theological debates concerning doctrine, the sacraments, abuse of authority within the clergy and many other essential issues of the Church. These issues required answers, the demand for moral reform. At all levels the Church was experiencing moral lapses that caused the people to lose trust in the Church and the clergy. A deep dissatisfaction and skepticism was widespread throughout the Church. Luther original request, extended far beyond struggles within the Roman Catholic, to an unofficial permission giving recognition to all those who follow. Of our rights and obligation to bring forth
The Catholic Church by the 15th and 16th century was closely aligned with state and was largely corrupt. Many of the Popes, Bishops, and Priests of this time exhibited immoral behavior and their activities in the church opposed scripture. These Catholic priests sold indulgences that represented full or partial remission of sin (Bettenson, 1). Taking into consideration this perceived fraudulence, it was not surprising that a lot of people became disillusioned with the Catholic Church. One of the main characters of this time period who had the courage to go against the Bishop and Catholic Church was Martin Luther, who did not agree with all of the Catholic Church’s doctrine (Unknown, 6). He also did not entirely believe that the bishop and the pope were always authoritative as the church claimed because he believed only the Bible is infallible.
Luther decided to speak out against what the Pope was teaching, but instead of going straight to his face to speak up, Luther wrote a paper that had ninety-five theses about what the Pope was teaching was wrong. It included arguments against Luther’s original issue: that “Unhappy souls believe that if they have purchased letters of indulgences they are sure of their salvation.” The letter
In the 15th century, Luther looked into the practices of the church, specifically their indulgences, and was outraged by what he found. Luther strongly believed that the Bible was the religious authority and that faith was responsible for the results, not humans. One may not rely on the Pope to fix their salvation, but must rely on God and the Bible. Luther believed that the Pope was overreaching his authority and by selling indulgences, society, and the political and economic organizations were challenged.
Because of these things, Martin Luther was “raged with a fierce and agitated conscience”. 4 After intense study, Luther followed the traditional method of protesting within the Catholic church—he nailed his complaints to the Church door and invited them to meet with him. Because of his refusal to take back these complaints, and despite his intention to stay in the church, he was excommunicated in 1521.
In The 95 Theses, Luther had three main points. The first point suggested how St. Peter’s used the selling of indulgences to finance the building was wrong. The second point stated how the Pope has no control over Purgatory. Lastly, the third point clarified that buying indulgences
The use of indulgences were shown be a scam of by the Church which then mislead Christians generating fear among of not being accepted into heaven or their sins being absolved. martin Luther found his answer in Saint Paul's epistles, specifically in “the just shall live by faith”, It can not be shown through any action but through the love of God. Martin Luther changed the view of indulgences as salvation was only achieved through faith and not by money or gifts to the
Pope Leo X desired to build a great basilica (Gonzalez 445). To do so he needed money and thus in March 1517 he promulgated a most famous indulgence (Durant 337). In response to extravagant salvific claims made by the monk Tetzel, Luther developed in Latin, the Ninety-Five Thesis. Four years later, he declared opposition to the authority of the church during the debate with Eck.
Indulgence was a payment to the Catholic Church by an individual to exempt that person from punishment for the sins they committed. Boldly, Martin Luther questioned the authority of the church and whether it could authorise the selling of indulgences. The church stressed that indulgences would exempt one from purgatory, a fear that was embedded within the minds of the vulnerable. The selling of indulgences arose during the period of construction of St Peters Basilica. In 1517, John Tetzel was commissioner of Indulgences in Germany . Through the sale of Indulgences, he would gather money to contribute to the building of St. Peters Basilica . Tetzel was accused of selling indulgences for sins not yet committed and openly became involved in a bitter debate with the eager Martin Luther who was preaching against him and the sale of Indulgences. Luther’s 95 theses would become the catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. In October 1517, Luther wrote a letter to Archbishop Albrecht. This letter questioned the sale of indulgences and questioned the authority of the church to sell indulgences. Within this letter, Luther included a copy of his 95 theses, which included the concept of justification by faith alone. Formidably, Luther accused the Church of commercializing repentance for material gain. He stressed that the buying and selling of indulgences was an abomination. Notably, the day that Luther made his views public by
Indulgences: according to Varicana "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains
The Reformation is not only recognized by Protestants as their spiritual liberation from the oppressive rule of the clergy and from man-made traditions but also by secular liberals as their stepping stone for individualism, capitalism, and modern science. Martin Luther’s protest against authoritarianism paved the way for new and liberalizing forms of political organization. Nevertheless, others have argued that the Reformation destroyed the foundations of community, forcing the individual to identify himself solely as a subject to the Church and state. Modern feminists even suspect the Reformation further reinforced the cultural and social subjugation of women.
Catholic Church. He created his 95 Thesis and posted it on the Church doors, which would