The age of the Reformation in the 16th century was the dawn of new religions and the reforms of the old Catholic Church. The Reformation began as a movement devoted to returning to biblical scriptures. A prominent religious leaders of this period was Martin Luther. Luther blatantly disagreed with the Catholic Church over the doctrine that allowed the selling of indulgences to lay people. While studying the Scriptures, Luther came to the conclusion that salvation was achieved not by indulgences or only good works by faith alone.
Luther came from a working class background and for those reasons he did not want to see the laity taken advantage of by the clergy. Luther hoped to initiate reform within the Catholic Church. To accomplish this goal …show more content…
In his attempt to reform within the Church, Luther began by publishing his 95 theses on the subjects of indulgences and salvation through faith. He then spent a vast amount of time researching the history of the papacy, eventually denying that it had any authority. Luther, unlike the leaders of the church, believed that God was the only one great enough to offer such a great gift. The more Luther began to research and seek answers the more he was finding flaws within the Church’s every day practice. The pope, bishops and priests of that time also thought it was acceptable to sell a person's remittance from purgatory. Luther disagreed with this practice and he hoped no one would find out about what they were doing. This led him to heavily attack indulgences. Luther also attacked the lavish lifestyles of the Pope. In his first of three tracts, Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate (1520), Luther defined for the first time the signature doctrines of the priesthood of all believers and the two kingdoms. He published this after he was convinced that a break with Rome was both inevitable and unavoidable at the time. In it he attacked what he regarded as the "three walls
Luther came from a working class background and for those reasons he did not want to see the laity taken advantage of by the clergy. Luther hoped to initiate reform within the Catholic Church. To accomplish this goal …show more content…
In his attempt to reform within the Church, Luther began by publishing his 95 theses on the subjects of indulgences and salvation through faith. He then spent a vast amount of time researching the history of the papacy, eventually denying that it had any authority. Luther, unlike the leaders of the church, believed that God was the only one great enough to offer such a great gift. The more Luther began to research and seek answers the more he was finding flaws within the Church’s every day practice. The pope, bishops and priests of that time also thought it was acceptable to sell a person's remittance from purgatory. Luther disagreed with this practice and he hoped no one would find out about what they were doing. This led him to heavily attack indulgences. Luther also attacked the lavish lifestyles of the Pope. In his first of three tracts, Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate (1520), Luther defined for the first time the signature doctrines of the priesthood of all believers and the two kingdoms. He published this after he was convinced that a break with Rome was both inevitable and unavoidable at the time. In it he attacked what he regarded as the "three walls