The Spark that Ignited the Reformation: Leo, Albrecht, Luther, and the Ninety-Five Theses (original) (raw)

The Protestant Reformation was an event that began long before Martin Luther wrote his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. Voices of criticism against the established Church grew into a chorus during the centuries leading up to the Ninety-Five Theses. The key complaints were the Avignon Papacy, the doctrine of infallibility, papal avarice, simony, the Papal Schism, the sale of indulgences, veneration of the saints and of relics, and ideas regarding the Eucharist and the Church’s emphasis on works rather than faith. Luther’s writing of the Ninety-Five Theses simply provides historians a convenient starting point, if one can exist, of what we now call the Protestant Reformation. However, Luther’s bold action was actually a reaction. Rather than credit, or blame, Luther for starting the Reformation, one might more accurately place such credit or blame on the Church itself. It was the fundraising plans of Leo X and Albrecht of Brandenburg, the salesmanship of Johann Tetzel, and the reaction Luther received for questioning their actions that sparked the Reformation. Luther’s introduction of the Ninety-Five Theses by nailing them to the church door in Wittenberg on October 31, according to the traditional account, was a reaction to an ecclesiastical and political situation that caused the opposing sides to unavoidably collide. Church officials painted themselves into a corner, which in turn cornered Luther, who struck back.