Martin Luther

MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY
PROF. M. M. NINAN
Luther drafted a set of propositions for the purpose of conducting an academic debate on
indulgences at the university in Wittenberg. He dispatched a copy of the Ninety-five Theses to
Tetzel’s superior, Archbishop Albert of Mainz, along with a request that Albert put a stop to Tetzel’s
extravagant preaching; he also sent copies to a number of friends. Before long, Albert formally
requested that official proceedings be commenced in Rome to ascertain the work’s orthodoxy.
Meanwhile, it began to be circulated in Germany, together with some explanatory publications by
Luther.
An indulgence was a payment to the Catholic Church that purchased an exemption from
punishment (penance) for some types of sins in a temporary hell called purgatory after death. You
could not get an indulgence to excuse a murder, but you could get one to excuse many lesser sins,
such as thinking lustful thoughts about someone who was not your spouse. The customers for
indulgences were Catholic believers who feared that if one of their sins went unnoticed or
unconfessed, they would spend extra time in purgatory before reaching heaven or worse, wind up
in hell for failing to repent.
The sale of indulgences was a byproduct of the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries. Because
they risked dying without the benefit of a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies, Crusaders
were promised immediate salvation if they died while fighting to "liberate" the Christian holy city at
Jerusalem. Church leaders justified this by arguing that good works earned salvation, and making
Jerusalem accessible to Christians was an example of a good work. Over time, Church leaders
decided that paying money to support good works was just as good as performing good works, and
it evened things up for people who were physically incapable of fighting a Crusade. Over several
centuries, the practice expanded, and Church leaders justified it by arguing that they had inherited
an unlimited amount of good works from Jesus, and the credit for these good works could be sold
to believers in the form of indulgences. In other words, indulgences functioned like "confession
insurance" against eternal damnation because, if you purchased an indulgence, then you wouldn't
go to hell if you died suddenly or forgot to confess something.
In later years, the sale of indulgences spread to include forgiveness for the sins of people who were
already dead. That is evident in this passage from a sermon by John Tetzel, the monk who sold
indulgences in Germany and inspired Martin Luther's protest in 1517.
“Don't you hear the voices of your dead parents and other relatives crying out, "Have mercy on us,
for we suffer great punishment and pain. From this, you could release us with a few alms . . . We
have created you, fed you, cared for you and left you our temporal goods. Why do you treat us so
cruelly and leave us to suffer in the flames, when it takes only a little to save us? “[Source: Die
Reformation in Augenzeugen Berichten, edited by Helmar Junghaus (Dusseldorf: Karl Rauch
Verlag, 1967), 44.]
Martin Luther taught at a Catholic university in the German town of Wittenburg (located southwest
of Berlin). Like many others, he feared that the Roman Catholic Church had become too corrupt to
provide people with the guidance they needed to obtain salvation. Luther thought that individuals
could seek salvation on their own, without relying on priests. On October 31, 1517, he attempted to
provoke a debate on reform by nailing a list of 95 questions to the door of the Wittenburg university
cathedral. The debate became public when some unknown person reprinted his ideas in a
pamphlet which was eventually distributed throughout Germany.
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