On October 31, 1517 the world changed for ever due to the protest of a monk and theology professor who challenged the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther’s reformation opened the gates for free thinking, tolerance and modern world views.

A time of change

The beginning of the 16th century was a time of change. Around 1450 Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz, Germany, invented a printing press with movable letters, which revolutionised communication in a similar way the internet and mobile phones have done in the last two decades.

Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, which changed the world view and gave proof that the earth wasn’t flat. Around the same time, Nicolas Copernicus developed the heliocentric world view that the earth rotates around the sun though as the nephew and secretary of an influential Polish bishop he did not trust himself to publish his ideas until shortly before his death. Many other aspects of thinking were still stuck in the darkness of the medieval times.

Scholastic theology and superstitious thinking

In the Western church the scholastic theology of the medieval universities — and superstitions — created a dogma and practice around religious works. Life had been hard in the Middle Ages with plagues and famines, wars and other disasters.

The church interpreted those calamities and hardships as God’s punishment for sins, and concluded that even after death the punishment would continue in purgatory, until all “debts” were paid. Only then the souls of the deceased would travel on to heaven.

To reduce punishment good works were needed. For that reason thousands of people dedicated their lives to the church and entered monasteries and nunneries in a search for salvation. Martin Luther (1483-1546) did the same thing in 1505. He had just started law school when a lightning bolt almost killed him on his way home to Eisleben. He made a vow to become a monk. A few days later he joined an Augustine monastery.

“Good Works”

When we talk about good works today, we think of helping others or giving support to charities.

However, the church’s interpretation in the Middle Ages was much farther. Charity was surely a good work, but religious duties were counted as well and often valued even higher including repeatedly saying prayers, lighting candles, making pilgrimages, donating statues, entering a convent or donating money or goods toward church-building projects.

For those church-organised “good works”, which often involved a fee, believers received indulgence — a letter authorised by the Pope that would lower the years of punishment in purgatory by centuries.

In the late medieval times this system was abused in many places to the extreme to increase fundraising and to gain wealth. Professional “pardoners” travelled all through Europe selling indulgence.

The idea behind selling indulgences was that the “saints” had a surplus of good works which they left to the church. The Pope sold the merit of those good works of the saints to the sinners. Sometimes bishops and princes authorised the sale of indulgences in their territories and received a good portion of the collected money for their own benefit.

Indulgences of 1517 for St Peter’s Basilica in Rome

In 1517 Pope Leo X wanted to rebuild St Peter’s in Rome. He issued the sale of indulgences for this cause however the powerful kings of England, Spain and France did not allow the pardoners to enter their lands, as they did not want the drainage of funds from their countries. Thus, the sales were concentrated in Germany with its many smaller and less powerful principalities.

The Archbishop of Mainz was in need of money as well, as he had borrowed a huge sum from the largest bank house in Europe, the Fuggers in Augsburg, to pay for his (third) bishopric. Thus, he allowed the Dominican friar Johann Tetzel, the grand commissioner of indulgences in Germany, to sell indulgences within and around the churches of his bishoprics for 50 per cent of the proceeds. Tetzel used very aggressive and often unauthorised marketing practices for selling the indulgences including pardon for future sins and freedom from damnation for committing one of the so-called “deadly sins”.

Martin Luther and salvation by grace alone

Martin Luther studied theology as an Augustine monk and after becoming a doctor of theology became professor of biblical studies at the newly founded University of Wittenberg in Saxony. In his studies of the Scriptures he finally found comfort for his soul in its quest of seeking justification for sin. From the Gospel and the writings of Paul and the other apostles, he realised nobody could be justified by works, but by grace alone. Justification was not granted for anything the believer did, but by trusting that Christ had done already everything necessary for salvation.

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Thus, having faith in God’s promises in Jesus Christ was the key to salvation. Good works are only the fruit of such faith, not the condition, and should be performed for no other reason but to answer a need and to glorify God. The “good works” invented by the church were doing just the opposite, Luther stated.

Instead of putting one’s trust and confidence in God’s grace these practices insisted on earning and deserving salvation with works that God neither requested nor wanted.

Luther questioned the practice of the church because the Holy Scriptures taught differently. For him, the Bible was the only reliable guideline to salvation.

He asked: What good is it to babble and rattle on the Lord’s prayer or the rosary ten times in a row, or to travel to Rome kneeling before a relic or entering a monastery instead of taking care of your duties at home and in the economy?

If the Pope really was in possession of the merits of the saints, why would he not give them to sinners for free out of Christian love, and offer intercession for them?

The 95 theses

Luther formulated 95 theses regarding salvation, indulgences and faith, and published them on Hallowe’en (October 31st, 1517), the evening before All Saints Day, at the church door of the Castle Chapel in Wittenberg.

It was the scholastic method to discuss and debate such theses.

The normal reaction to the 95 theses would have been a disputation among scholars in the university, however somebody copied the theses, and had them printed and distributed to wider circles.

The effects were enormous. The sales of indulgences decreased dramatically, which caused the Archbishop and the Pope to panic. They tried to rein Luther with intimidation and threats. Instead of theologically debating the theses they just wanted to silence him. But the printing press made so many copies of it possible that the 95 theses were distributed all over Europe.

In Switzerland, Huldric Zwingli had taught in a similar manner already; in Bohemia, where the reformer Johann Hus was burnt on the stake for similar teachings 101 years earlier, the Hussites came out of hiding.

More and more princes and towns saw their chances to gain more autonomy from the dictation of Rome and the emperor and joined the so-called “reformation”. Instead of an intellectual debate there was a war of words.

Consequences of the Reformation

Luther did not want to start a new church, he wanted to reform the church where it was in error.

However, the hierarchy of that church was not interested in such change. Even though many theologians, bishops and even cardinals sympathised with Luther’s theological conclusions, they did not want to give up the power and influence which the old system offered.

The Pope threatened Luther with excommunication.

The emperor was pressured to send Luther to trial as a heretic. At the Diet of Worms, Luther was supposed to recant his books.

However, he made the famous statement:

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the Pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

“ I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience.

“Here I stand, I can do no other. May God help me. Amen!”

Luther left the Diet of Worms in a hurry. On his way home to Wittenberg he disappeared.

His sovereign, Fredrick the Wise, had secretly arranged to have him “kidnapped” and taken to the Wartburg castle in Thuringia.

There, Luther translated the New Testament from Greek sources into German.

Later he translated the Old Testament as well. One of his students in Wittenberg, William Tyndale, inspired by Luther’s German Bible started a translation of the Bible into English.

Names for the churches

of the Reformation

Because Luther emphasised the importance of the Gospel (Evangelium in Greek) with its message of salvation by grace alone, his movement was first called the “Evangelical Church”. This term was used in the 19th century in North America for a fundamentalist church movement as well, which causes some confusion today as the Lutheran Church is “evangelical” in a different way.

Luther’s opponents called his followers “Lutherans”, a term Luther did not appreciate, but it stuck with his movement as well. When six princes and 14 Imperial-free cities wrote a protest letter at the Imperial Diet at Speyer in 1529 against the Imperial ban against Luther, the movement was also called the “Protestants” a term later used for all churches that had their origin in the Reformation.

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The Reformation movements

in other countries

Henry VIII was first an enemy of the Reformation, a position the Pope honoured with the title “Defender of the Faith”; a title the kings and queens of England still hold today. However, when Henry was denied his divorce by the Pope, he separated the Church of England from Rome as well. Over the years the theology of the Church of England (Anglicans) was reformed by the works of the Reformation as well.

The Reformation in Switzerland started with Huldric Zwingli at the same time as it did in Wittenberg. Luther and Zwingli met once, in 1529 in Marburg, Germany, to discuss their differences and were able to agree on 14.5 points out of 15, however Zwingli was killed in a war in 1531.

John Calvin continued the Swiss Reformation, which is often referred to as Reformed Theology to distinguish it from the Lutheran Theology. The Reformed Church spread from Switzerland down the Rhine valley to the Netherlands, and John Knox brought it to Scotland where the Presbyterian Church started.

John Wesley had his conversion experience while reading Martin Luther’s commentaries on the Letter of the Romans and introduced Lutheran Theology to the Methodist Church.

The Moravian movement, founded by John Hus, incorporated Luther’s theology as well. When Moravians had to flee their homeland in the 18th century they often found shelter with Lutherans in Germany like in Herrenhut under Count Zinzendorf.

Even though many countries in Europe were intolerant of dissenters, new ways of believing had become possible. In France the Protestants were called the Huguenots, who were persecuted to the blood for more than a century.

For many who felt oppressed because of their Protestant beliefs North America became a safe haven.

The pilgrims and persecuted religious minorities from all over Europe started settlements there.

Most Protestants today still think very highly of Martin Luther and his theology. Luther risked his life for his believers.

If caught, he would have burnt on the stake. The King family for example, a family of baptist pastors in Alabama, named their oldest sons for generations “Martin Luther” King. Martin Luther King Jr demonstrated the same courage in his fight against racism and discrimination.

Today over 800 million Christians — 37 per cent of all Christians — are Protestants; about 73 million of them belong to a Lutheran Church and another 100 million belong to a “united” church with Lutheran history and tradition. Worldwide, Lutheran Churches are committed to ecumenical relations and to have full communion with other churches where possible.

The ELCA has agreements to share pulpit and sacraments among others with the Episcopalian Church (Anglican), Reformed Church in America, Presbyterian Churches (USA), United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church and the Moravian Church. With many other churches the ELCA is in ecumenical talks and partnerships.

The Catholic church today

In almost 500 years (the 500th Reformation anniversary will be in 2017) the Roman Catholic Church has changed in a lot of ways as well. Many of the points Luther criticised have been worked on and resolved. Others still are seen differently. Especially since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, great progress took place in the Roman Catholic Church. In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church signed a joint declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

Peace Lutheran Church, on South Road, Paget was founded in 1964 and is the only Lutheran church in Bermuda.

It is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. When Reformation Day (October 31) is not on a Sunday, the last Sunday in October is celebrated as Reformation Sunday.