history essay martin luther – Flashcards

The action of Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses was an important event in history. Martin Luther was monk who had new ideas about God. The 95 Thesis established new theologies and challenged the Catholic Church's teachings. Martin Luther posted hid theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church on 31st of October, 1517.

Several causes of this action included Martin Luther's own changing theological perspective, the wrongful selling of indulgences, and the way the Catholic Church conducted funds for the re-building of St Peters Basilica. This action also had many consequences. Martin Luther was trialed and excommunicated, it sparked the German Peasant war and it began the Protestantism faith.

Firstly, this action was caused by Martin Luther's own changing theological perspective. Whilst studying at Wittenberg, Luther found life as a mink very difficult. He couldn't understand his relationship with God and felt that every attempt to prove his worthiness seemed to fail. Why would God create humans with sin, only to punish them for it? He felt God had abandoned him and became furious with God and himself. These feelings of anger and confusion compelled him to read deeper into scripture. He read Matthew 11:29-30, "For I am gentle and humble and you shall have rest for your lives. The burden I ask you to accept is easy; the load I ask you to carry is light". This taught Luther that you didn't have to bear your sins alone. God frees you from your guilt and doesn't want you to hold onto it. However this was not what the church was implying which caused Luther to post the 95 theses. This was a cause because it made Luther want to establish key principles that he and others could actually understand and live by. It was also a cause because it made Luther want to demolish the Church's tradition of bearing the guilt of sins, which he could achieve through the theses.

Another cause was the wrongful selling of indulgences. Indulgences were slips of paper people bought to free themselves and others from sin. When people paid money, the Church leaders would grant their loved ones time off purgatory. Again through scripture, Martin Luther realized this was wrong. Ephesians 2:8, "Salvation is granted from grace through faith, and that is not from yourself, it is God's gift". Martin Luther now knew that the Church's actions were corrupt. This was a cause because Luther needed people to know God didn't endorse these payments. The Church's teachings were wrong an people shouldn't fell obliged to take part in them.

The posting of the 95 theses was also caused by the way the Catholic Church was conducting funds for the rebuilding of St Peter's Basilica. Pope Julius ordered the old one to be knocked down and a grander one to be built to make Rome famous. John Tetzel was a monk that was assigned to raising funds in Saxony. He scared people into purchasing indulgences and holy relics. He threatened them with the idea that their relatives would "burn in the flames of purgatory". Martin Luther despised this technique and his sayings like, " when a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs". Martin Luther thought this was corrupt and how could he possibly do it supposedly in the name of God? This was a final cause as he felt morally obliged to tell people God was not to be feared like John Tetzel said. Also a cause because he knew people needed to be given the chance to worship a kind and merciful God rather than an unforgiving one.

Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses had both positive and negative consequences of himself and the society. One of the more immediate consequences was the Martin Luther was trialed and excommunicated. On the 10th of October, 1520, he received a papal bull from Pope Leo X. It said his theses were heretical and he would be excommunicated if he did not recant them. Luther knew his theses were true as they were based off scripture therefore he felt he couldn't recant them. Consequently he was officially excommunicated on the 3rd January, 1521. This was a consequence because the Church saw the theses as going against them which in their eyes was cause for excommunication.

The German peasant war was another consequence of the 95 Theses. At this time peasants lives were hard and many were forced to be slaves. All the land was owned by royalty.The theses led to the German peasant war because many peasants saw them being posted as an opportunity t break free from authority and gain more control over their lives. They trashed monasteries and churches claiming the same divine right Martin Luther did when posting the Theses. The German Peasant War was also a consequence because they say Luther's challenging of the Church as an attack on the social heirachy. Luther's action was a final trigger and deeply affected the lives of many peasants.

A final consequence of the 95 Theses was the beginning of Protestantism. This affected groups in society who agreed with Martin Luther's ideas because they now had a faith to belong to. Protestantism included the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church and the Baptist Church. The Lutheran Church masses were in German so that they could be understood. They also worshiped scripture above anything and had two main sacraments. This was a consequence of the 95 Theses because the theses formed the basis of the protestant faith. The new church was not supposed to challenge the old church but allow a personal relationship with a merciful God.

These were all important parts of Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses. The causes wee more personal and included.... The consequences not only affected Luther but also the German society, these included...