Lutherism:

Lutherism:

1. The sale of indulgences enraged Luther. He had preached against the practice before Tetzel's arrival and wrote the 95 Theses against indulgences in 1517, on all hallows eve. He nailed them to the Church door in Wittenberg which was the normal procedure for those wishing to start debate.

2. Luther:

   • Known as the Father of the Reformation
   • Spend this youth in Saxony, which in 1485 had been divided between two brothers of the ruling family.
     • The larger part, Ducal Saxony, was ruled by Duke George, who was to become one of Luther's greatest opponents.
   • 1505 - He abandoned the study of Law at Erfurt University to enter a strict Augustinian monastery and become a monk.
     • He claimed this decision was taken because he had been terrified by a thunderstorm and vowed to St Anne that he would become a monk if his life were spared.
     • Luther went on to become a professor and the University of Wittenberg, which had been founded in 1502 by the Elector Frederick as a rival to the much older and prestigious university of Leipzeig in Ducal Saxony.
       • Frederick the Wise:
         • Without the protection of Frederick, Luther would probably have been arrested and executed at an early stage in his career.
         • Frederick became Elector in 1486
         • He was highly respected in the empire for his sense of justice and wise government. He kept his state out of wars.
         • Frederick was one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor and the coincidence of an election of an emperor in 1519 meant that those wishing to silence Luther could not without offending Frederick.
         • Frederick never became a Catholic and died a Lutheran in 1525.
   • Wrote the 95 theses in response to the sale of indulgences that was launched in 1514 to pay for the building of St Peter's Basilica in Rome.
     • It had been agreed that profits from the sale of indulgences would be divided between Pope Leo X for the building and Albert, Archbishop of Mainz and head of the German Church who was heavily in debt, having paid to become an archbishop
       • Everyone who brought an indulgence would be granted full forgiveness of sins and indulgences could be applied to souls already in purgatory.
     • Indulgences:
       • Every one who brought an indulgence would be granted full forgiveness of sins and indulgences could be applied to souls already in purgatory.
       • In 1517 the sale of indulgences was entrusted to a Dominican friar, John Tetzel, whose preaching was that of the worst kind of salesman. He used emotional blackmain and was eager to persuade
         • "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs".
           • "Place your penny on the drum, the pearly gates open and in strolls mum!"
       • The sale of indulgences was banned in Electoral Saxony by the Elector Frederick because he did not want any competition for his collection of holy relics, which were also claimed to be able to reduce time in purgatory.
   • He was influenced by humanist ideas and used Erasmus' New Testament in Greek when it was published in 1516.

3. Believed that "Faith Alone Saves" - Sola Fide

   • This belief caused great controversy because it made much of the Church's teaching on salvation irrelevant
     • Good works such as pilgrimages, the cult of the saints and the Virgin Mary, the Sacraments themselves and indulgences were, according to Luther, of no help to gaining salvation.

4. Luther wrote 3 important works:

   • Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, 1520
     • An appeal to Emperor Charles V and the rulers of Germany to reform the Church
   • The Babylonish Captivity of the Church 1520
     • Most revolutionary of all the works, It focused on the teaching of sacraments
   • The Freedom of a Christian 1520

5. Lutheranism Believes in Scripture alone

6. Lutherism rejects Purgatory

7. The Outcome:

   • While Luther wrote the 95 theses hoping to fix the abuses of the church, not reform it, the Church was alarmed by Luther's protest
   • Many ordinary people were happy with the 95 theses. For some Germans, they provided evidence against the influence of an Italian pope, who just seemed to be making money out of the Germans
   • They were quickly translated from Latin into German and spread over Germany and Switzerland
   • Pamphlets were produced, giving views of both sides.
   • The Church authorities were quick to realise the importance of Luther.
     • The Archbishop of Mainz sent a file of his writings to Pope Leo X to read who saw the dangers at once. Leo X ordered decided to let Luther's Augustinian order deal with the controversy.
       • Leo X ordered Luther to Rome, but he refused to leave Germany, seeing what had happened to Jan Hus.
         • He asked Sylvester Prierias to prepare a case against Luther which explained that denying the authority of the Pope to issue indulgences was heresy. Luther rejected this
           • The Leipzig Debate 1519
             • Luther began questioning the authority of the pope over indulgences, Luther began to question the whole basis of the papal primacy. He studied the Bible intently and came to the conclusion that a general council of the Church should have supreme authority and that faith alone saves.
               • But because the Pope was anxious to get the Elector Frederick to vote for his candidate in the imperial election of 1519
             • A public debate on Luther's teaching held in the presence of Duke George was arranged at Leipzig.
             • It lasted 18 days
             • Jock Eck, Luther's opponent, while concerned about correcting abuses, was a dedicated defender of the teachings of the Church and considered the best debater in Germany.
               • Forced into a corner, Luther declared himself as a heretic, saying that Faith alone saves and that the authority of the Pope was based on a lie
                 • He claimed that there was no evidence for the Pope or Purgatory
                   • The Church had no choice but to excommunicated him from Christian society.
                     • 1520
                       • Finalized in 1521
                     • The bull of excommunication condemned 41 of Luther's views as heretical; it was forbidden to read his works and his books were burned in a public square.

8. The Diet of Worms

   • 1521
   • Charles V had been elected the new Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and decided to give Luther a hearing despite opposition.
     • His motives seem to have been his own sense of fair play, but he was not blind to the faults of the church
     • Pope Leo X formally appealed to the Emperor to take action to enforce his condemnation, but Charles could not upset the German princes and electors and public opinion was so pro- Luther that arresting him would be difficult