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JOHN CALVIN : LIFE, LEGACY AND THEOLOGY -<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
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The Reformation Movement<br />
The reformation within the Catholic Church was started when Martin Luther (1483-1546) an<br />
Augustinian monk who was a university lecturer in Wittenberg when he composed his “95 Theses,”<br />
<strong>and</strong> pinned it on the door of of the Wittenberg Castle church in 1517. This was essentially a call for<br />
debate <strong>and</strong> rethinking of the status of tradition <strong>and</strong> practices of the Catholic Church . This was<br />
prompted by the pope's sale of reprieves from penance, or indulgences where pardon for sin was<br />
granted on payment of money to the Church. The movement took momentum <strong>and</strong> several cities soon<br />
joined the new way of thinking.<br />
The movement picked up essentially because of the invention of the printing press which allowed<br />
faster dissemination of ideas <strong>and</strong> teaching.<br />
On November 9, 1518 the pope condemned Luther’s writings as conflicting with the teachings of the<br />
Church. One year later a series of commissions were convened to examine Luther’s teachings. The<br />
first papal commission found them to be heretical, but the second merely stated that Luther’s writings<br />
were “sc<strong>and</strong>alous <strong>and</strong> offensive to pious ears.” Finally, in July 1520 Pope Leo X issued a papal bull<br />
(public decree) that concluded that Luther’s propositions were heretical <strong>and</strong> gave Luther 120 days to<br />
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