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Who was Martin Luther? -

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben. Eisleben, a town in modern-day Germany, was then a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther became infatuated with religion at a young age, and was ordained as an Augustinian friar in 1507.

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Martin Luther and the Catholic Church -

It was against the wishes of his father, who wanted his son to become a lawyer, that Luther devoted himself to Christianity. As a friar, Martin Luther practiced intense periods of fasting and zealous prayer. Later, Luther would describe his monastic life as desperate and depressing, and as a period during which he lost touch with God.

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Martin Luther, the theologian -

Bothered by unshakable feelings of wrongdoing in the Augustinian Order, Martin Luther devoted himself to theology in the hopes of finding relief from his anxieties. He soon became an accomplished theologian, and was named Chair of Theology at the University of Wittenberg.

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Luther's grievances -

But still, Luther's conscience bothered him. Many practices of the Catholic Church and the way it answered the questions of worship, salvation, and the definition of a holy life pushed the young theologian further and further away.

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Luther's grievances -

Chief among Luther's grievances was the Catholic path towards heaven. At the point of Catholic history in which Martin Luther found himself, it was widely believed that salvation could be safely reached through monetary means; specifically, indulgences.

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What were indulgences? -

The fourth of the Seven Holy Sacraments in Catholicism is the Sacrament of Penance. Practically, this took the form of buying indulgences. Indulgences were physical documents sold by clergy members to the sinners of Europe who wished to absolve themselves. In Luther's mind, righteousness could not be bought, nor was salvation reserved for the wealthy who could take advantage of such exonerating leaflets.

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An indulgence for every occasion -

There was no sin on Earth that couldn't be swept away by an indulgence of the right price. In fact, even those already deceased could be absolved of their mortal sins with indulgences bought in their name. The advent of the concept of purgatory, a place after death and before reckoning, the denizens of which still had a chance at salvation, triggered a dramatic uptick in the popularity of indulgences.

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The question of repentance -

The Sacrament of Penance has two distinct parts. The first, which had existed since the earliest days of Christianity, was that of culpa, or guilt. For centuries, honest and genuine guilt was seen as enough as far as proper repentance went. In medieval Europe, however, a physical, temporal sacrifice, or poena, was also required. And thus, absolving indulgences were born.

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The treasury of merit -

The Sacrament of Penance was built on the Catholic concept of the "treasury of merit." This "treasury" consisted of the beliefs and sacrifices of Jesus Christ and the original saints. This treasury of merit could be accessed by any Christian, and its spoils could be used to absolve them of their sins.

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Sola fide -

Martin Luther categorically disagreed with these concepts. Instead, he believed in the concept of sola fide, or "only faith." As opposed to the Catholic belief of intrinsic righteousness and the expression of faith through "exterior works," such as the purchasing of indulgences, sola fide posits that it is only through true faith and belief, and righteousness earned and granted by God, that one can attain salvation. This idea was the precursor of the Calvinist concept of predestination, which took sola fide one step further by declaring that there was no "exterior work" one could do in their mortal life that would change the question of their salvation or damnation.

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The Ninety-five Theses -

Martin Luther described his problems with indulgences in great detail in one of the most important documents of Christian history, the Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, also known as the Ninety-five Theses.

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October 31, 1517 -

Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses on October 31, 1517. Luther's document was mailed to Albert of Brandenburg, the Archbishop of Mainz, whose responsibility it was to mediate the customs of the Sacrament of Penance. As is described in his letter, Luther sent the Ninety-five Theses to the Archbishop in good faith, assuming that Albert of Brandenburg was unaware that money-hungry priests under his authority were abusing their power of granting indulgences.

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The birth of the Protestant Reformation -

October 31 is now celebrated by countless denominations around the world as Reformation Day; that fateful day in 1517 that marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, a centuries-long upheaval of European society that changed the course of history.

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All Saints' Church -

It is commonly said, and even more frequently depicted in art, that on the morning of October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg. Despite being the central event in the mythology of Protestantism, experts are divided regarding the historicity of this moment.

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The Reformation and the printing press -

Martin Luther was turning Christianity on its head less than a century after the invention of the printing press, helmed by Johannes Gutenberg in 1450. Historians today believe that one of the primary reasons that Luther's dissenting beliefs spread so quickly throughout Europe, despite being far from the first person to try to reform the Catholic Church, was his use of the printing press to distribute his Protestant documents en masse.

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Johannes Tetzel -

The distribution of the Ninety-five Theses sparked what could be seen as one of history's first-ever press wars. Johannes Tetzel, a peddler of indulgences who operated near Wittenberg, immediately called for the execution of Luther and procured the help of another theologian to write their own 106 theses against the Protestant leader. Some 800 copies of these pro-indulgence theses were printed and sent to Wittenberg, but followers of Luther seized every copy in the city and burned them.

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Pope Leo X -

It should be noted that it wasn't Martin Luther's plan to separate entirely from the Catholic Church. In fact, Luther tried tirelessly to express his loyalty to the Pope while still affirming his issues with indulgences. Nevertheless, Luther made a quick enemy of Pope Leo X (pictured), who, coming from the influential Medici family, was just as much a businessman as a spiritual leader.

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Emperor Charles V -

Martin Luther was also condemned by the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, Emperor Charles V. At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Charles V effectively banished Martin Luther from the empire and labeled him an outlaw.

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The Diet of Worms -

The Diet of Worms was an assembly called by Charles V in 1521 in the city of Worms, now in present-day Germany. Its purpose was to give Martin Luther a final chance to dismiss and denounce his dissenting ideas of salvation that were quickly spreading throughout the empire.

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The Edict of Worms -

Martin Luther, who was nothing if not principled, steadfastly defended his beliefs. This led to the passing of the Edict of Worms, in which Charles V labeled Luther a "notorious heretic," and forbade any of the empire's citizens to spread Luther's teachings. The order of Luther's excommunication that was handed down by Pope Leo X, one year before the Diet of Worms, still stands in effect to this day.

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Luther in Exile -

The Edict of Worms also forbade anyone in the empire to house or feed Luther, and even gave citizens the legal right to kill him on the spot. Luther was able to escape from hostile territory with the help of Frederick III, a prominent politician who staged a kidnapping and kept Luther safe in hiding in Wartburg Castle.

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The Lutherans -

Despite his exile and excommunication, Luther's followers continued to grow in number by the day. They soon became known as Lutherans, as they are still known today.

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The teachings of Martin Luther -

Now officially divergent from the Catholic Church, Martin Luther began to develop the Lutheran belief system in earnest. This included doing away with the concept of purgatory and restoring belief in the importance of hymns, as well as many other reforms.

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Bible supremacy -

One principle tenet of Lutheranism, as the man himself taught it, was the idea that the Bible was the one and only true source of divine knowledge. This went against the teachings of the Catholic Church, which taught that many priests could also act as direct messengers and translators of God's word.

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The Luther Bible -

Luther's full translation of the Bible from Latin and Greek into German, known today as the Luther Bible, was essential in the dissemination of his ideas and the expansion of biblical literacy amongst laypeople. The mass printing and distribution of the Luther Bible also stood as a physical symbol of the success of the Protestant Reformation, a proof of victory that Protestants around Europe could hold in their hands.

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Luther's revolutionary marriage -

Another notable deviation from Catholic tradition undertaken by Martin Luther was his marriage to Katharina von Bora, a marriage completed without Luther giving up his priesthood. This precedent has lasted throughout the centuries, and stands as the reason members of Protestant clergies around the world are allowed to marry and build families to this day.

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Katharina von Bora -

Luther's wife, Katharina von Bora, commonly referred to in her time as die Lutherin, or "the Lutheress," was also a prominent figure of the Reformation movement. She started her spiritual career as a Benedictine nun, but was soon devoted to the beliefs of her husband. As a nun, wife, and mother, she was essential in setting the precedent of clerical marriages.

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Martin Luther, the bigot -

For being such a widely influential figure in history, whose thoughts and ideas were commonly treated as gospel, it should come as no surprise that Luther disseminated his fair share of hate, bigotry, and harmful ideas into European society. While his most famous ideas concern the conduct of Christians, there were many more proclamations that were excessively hateful, even for 16th-century Europe.

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Luther and the rise of anti-Semitism -

During his time, Luther and the Reformation became inextricably linked with German heritage. Thus, according to historians, his loud and vitriolic hate against Muslims, Jews, and even other Christians of other races, kick-started a new era of racism and bigotry in Europe. Specifically, historians and other experts agree that Luther's influence in shaping German identity, in hand with his anti-Semitism and ideas of white supremacy, were direct precursors for the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, and fascism in Europe at large.

Sources: (Britannica) (National Geographic) (World History Encyclopedia)

See also: Common misconceptions about different world religions

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