The Role Of Martin Luther In The Fall Of Catholic Church And Reformation
Martin Luther would be the one to start the fall of the colossal Catholic Church. Greatly misunderstanding Luther’s position, his leaders sent him to a great city that is deep within the world history, Rome! Within this luxurious city a hidden hierarchy would come into Luther’s sights. He gradually wrote his 95 Theses because of the corruption he had found. After Luther wrote the 95 Theses, he would be called to the Diet of Worms, which was court in the 1500’s. This challenge changed Luther dramatically. Starting this unstoppable downfall was sending Luther to the epicenter of the Roman Empire.
Walking from Wittenberg to Rome, 700 miles of beaten and unbeaten paths, was a dangerous balancing point in Luther’s faith in the church. Luther was essentially a tourist in this great capital of ancient history. Beyond the entrance, workers had laid a lavish church on top of what was believed to be where Peter, one of Jesus’s apostles, lay dead. Frequently looking around, Luther noticed that the nobility ruled over everyone while the bishops became rich and powerful. The peasants were the laborers who had their money stripped from them work to build many important buildings. As Martin Luther discovered, corruption had wiggled itself into the church and the government.
From this corruption burst an anonymous hierarchy, which accommodated and consisted of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Pope, and many bishops. Although this corruption had been going on for quite a while, the leaders were able to hide it through simple things. People were taught that the forgiveness of sins were able to be obtained as paper indulgence. Paying for the document exclaimed that you, or someone else, could remain sin-free for an amount of time in life or death. This “truth” was a lie. In all reality, the money spent went into funding the building of churches, painting ceilings, sculpting statues. Bravely, Martin Luther called out the leader as fakes and liars, which pulled him further from the church. Afterwards he started writing about his beliefs and the problems he saw in the church, which are now the well-known 95 Theses.
On October 31, 1517, Martin hammered the 95 Theses into the church door, which acted as a community billboard. Martin Luther’s 95 Theses were printed and eventually brought him to a larger congregation of important men. When the Theses got printed, people read and started talking about the Theses. Leaders threatened Luther. Growing anger from the government officials caused a trial called the Diet of Worms. Courageously, Luther stated, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of scriptures or by clear reason… I am bound by the scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God”. The public was told to kill Luther on sight, although most agreed with Luther’s beliefs. Luther had to go into hiding, but what happened next changed the world for the better.
The world was heading into the Renaissance, which actually means rebirth. Originally Christianity was one church. After the Diet of Worms, Christianity was torn into two, as was Europe starting in Rome. Protestants lived to the north while Catholics lived to the south. Gradually the church discontinued indulgences and actually tried to understand Martin Luther’s writings. Although not much praise is given to Luther, he made the world a little less of a hierocracy and people began to believe in themselves. I would like to acknowledge that Martin Luther was the small stone… that brought the Catholic Church tumbling down.
Works Cited
- Hillerbrand, Hans J. “Martin Luther German Religious Leader.” ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc. 20/07/1998 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther
- Valiunas, Algis. “Martin Luther’s Reformation.” CRB, Claremont Institute 19/10/2017 https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/martin-luthers-reformation/
- Heal, Bridget. “Martin Luther and the German Reformation.” HISTORY TODAY, History Today Ltd. 03/03/2017 https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/martin-luther-and-german-reformation
- Luther and the Reformation. Dir. Rick Steve’s. Perf. Rick Steve’s. PBS, 03/08/2017. PBS. Web. 9 September 2019. https://www.pbs.org/video/luther-and-the-reformation-bf7smc/
