How did the Protestant Reformation begin?

The Reformation is traditionally dated to 31 October 1517, when Martin Luther, a monk and professor at the University of Wittenberg, is said to have posted his Ninety-Five Theses criticizing the sale of indulgences. The theses were rapidly printed and spread across German lands. Historians stress that the movement drew on a much longer history of criticism of the Church. [1] [2] [3]

According to OpenStax, the medieval Church had grown rich, and critics said its higher offices were dominated by people seeking wealth and power. Popes were accused of acting like secular princes, and some clergy lived lavishly, bought offices, or held several bishoprics at once. Rulers jealous of Church power sometimes welcomed chances to reject its authority. [4]

Intellectual currents mattered too. Northern European Christian humanists such as Erasmus wanted to make people better Christians through study of classical and early Christian writings, and hoped this would reform the Church. A sourcebook from Palomar College adds that universities, recovered classical texts and rising literacy encouraged people to examine institutions critically, and that many critics wanted to restore the Church to its original mission rather than abandon Christianity. [4] [2]

Indulgences were a way to reduce the time a person had to suffer in purgatory after death. In 1517 the Dominican friar Johann Tetzel began selling them near Wittenberg, authorized by Albert, archbishop of Mainz. Luther was horrified at the idea that sinners might think they could reach heaven by paying rather than through repentance and God's mercy. He wrote ninety-five arguments against the practice and sent a copy to Archbishop Albert, who passed it to Rome. [4] [5]

The theses were not a break with Rome. They were meant as an invitation to academic debate, and one Zondervan Academic account says they did not reject papal authority, penance or indulgences as such, and that Luther's doctrine of justification came later. [2] [5]

The popular image of Luther nailing the theses to the church door as an act of defiance is debated. OpenStax says that, according to many historians, he did post them at the Wittenberg castle church, while the Palomar sourcebook notes that historians debate the details. The Oxford essay argues the posting was routine: university statutes required disputation theses to be posted on church doors, and the earliest mention, by Philip Melanchthon, names only one church door. On this view the act was ordinary academic practice, not rebellion. [4] [2] [3]

The printing press turned a local dispute into a wide controversy. Luther's theses were reprinted throughout German lands in 1517 and 1518, which the Oxford essay calls an unprecedented display of print's power to spread dissenting doctrine. The conflict over salvation and Church authority eventually led to Luther's excommunication and the rise of Lutheranism and other Protestant traditions. Dates for the Reformation's end vary, from the 1555 Peace of Augsburg to the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. [3] [2] [6]