Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses: An Analysis

The modern world would be different without the importance of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses, which confronted the powerful Catholic church with criticism of which he disputed that salvation could only be from faith of God rather than from good works, denied that the Pope was not the heir to Saint Peter, and reformed the Catholic Church doctrine.

Living in Western Europe before 1517 was different before the Protestant Reformation. There was only one type of Christianity, the religion we refer today as Roman Catholicism. For 15th century Western Europeans, it was a simpler time because they had one choice with religion besides the few rare exception of Jews and Muslims. Since there was nothing to distinguish it from, the Roman Catholic

The Church was immersed in everyone’s everyday life, through the sacraments they yearned to receive God’s grace and secure a place in Heaven. The sacraments included baptism, confirmation, communion, penance, marriage, last rites and ordination for priests. The pope would be tremendously significant because only he could lead the way to salvation, to Heaven, as stated by the Catholic tradition. Although there were numerous priests for the everyday person to go to, the Pope in Rome would be regarded at as the definitive authority on Earth. The pope in 1517 was Pope Leo X. “The reign of Pope Leo X was conspicuously important... under his patronage, Rome became the center of the High Renaissance, attracting some of the most famous artists and writers of the period… it was during his reign that the Protestant Reformation began, which was to split Western Christendom for the next five centuries” (Minnich). Pope Leo X had the aspiration of reconstructing the Church of Saint Peter’s but the principal problem would be how costly it was to rebuild and where to get the finance. The common way the Church would get its capital was by peddling indulgences, which was a record paper

It seemed to him that the church was corrupted organization that seemed more concerned with political and global power rather than with the salvations of souls. The Pope at the time had more political power than even the Roman government. The main reason of the Catholic power was that of the Church of Saint Peter’s. The Church is believed to be built above Saint Peter’s grave, who is traditionally considered to be the head of Jesus' Twelve Apostles and the first pope of Rome. It was believed all popes after had the only direct access to God through the Saint Peter’s. This did not sit to well with Martin Luther, he truly believed one should be able to get to Heaven through faith alone not through good work, especially the transaction of the Church’s ticket to Heaven. Salvation was a gift granted by God not to be brought and faith should be all they needed to get to Heaven. Through faith alone was the central idea of Luther. This belief is what Luther stood by and sparked the revolution of Protestant. It at was at the time of Protestant Reformation that we get this explosion of diverse varieties of