Martin Luther

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Controversy MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY PROF. M. M. NINAN The doctrine of indulgences was a major source of controversy in the Western church, leading to the start of the Protestant Reformation. The ability to grant full or partial pardons from the punishment of sins had been used by members of the Catholic hierarchy for many centuries. In the middle Ages, however, a growing sense of ecclesiastic corruption, coupled with various political and socioeconomic factors, created a volatile situation, in which the sale of indulgences would spark a major revolution. In 1294, Pope Celestine V issued a bull of pardon in L'Aquila, Italy, offering plenary indulgences to sincere Christians entering the basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio. In 1476, Pope Sixtus IV decreed that a person still living could obtain an indulgence for someone in purgatory. In 1517, Pope Leo X offered indulgences for those who gave alms to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The aggressive marketing practices of the German monk Johann Tetzel in promoting this cause provoked Martin Luther to write his 95 Theses, protesting what he saw as the purchase and crass sale of salvation. In thesis 28, Luther objected to a saying attributed to Tetzel: In thesis 82, he questioned the spiritual value of indulgences. 16
MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY PROF. M. M. NINAN “Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial.” Julius II (b. 1443, r. 1503–1513). [Indulgence for Raising Funds for the Basilica of St. Peter, in Latin]. Universis presentes litteras inspecturis pateat. Quod propter contributionem elimosinariam factam in subsidium favrice Appostolorum Principis in Romana Urbe: Concessum est. Rome: Johann Besicken, ca. 1507. Broadside, printed on paper. (BRA1993) Bridwell Library holds the unique copy of this indulgence printed circa 1507 to raise funds for the rebuilding of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Purchased by those seeking remission of their sins, indulgences came to be severely criticized by the early sixteenth century. Abuses of indulgences, such as their unlimited promotion without need for penance, led Luther to condemn their sale entirely. The only thing that indulgences-for-money guaranteed, Luther declared, was an increase in profit and greed, because the pardon of the Church was in God's power alone. While Luther did not deny the pope’s right to grant pardons for penance imposed by the Church, he made it clear that preachers who claimed that indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments were in grave error. From this controversy the Protestant Reformation was launched. Luther's critique of indulgences had a tremendous impact on his world. The 95 Theses gained enormous popularity over a very short period of time. Leo X demanded that Luther recant 41 purported errors, some from the 95 Theses and others from other writings and sayings Luther, which Luther famously refused to do before the Diet of Worms in 1521, thus symbolically initiating the Protestant Reformation. 17
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Published Books by Prof.M.M.Ninan w
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Martin Luther

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