The Ninety Five Theses Summary Chapter 4

The ninety-five Theses were written by Martin Luther in response to John Tetzel selling indulgences to people. Indulgences were a thing that people paid the Church for that would limit their time spent in purgatory. Martin Luther was angry at John Tetzel but also at the Catholic Church who did nothing to stop the selling of indulgences or other things like simony, usury, and pluralism. In response to all of this Martin Luther wrote the ninety-five theses which spoke out and criticized the Church for all the wrong things it was doing to people. In the twenty-sixth these Luther states, “The pope does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession for them [1].” Luther gained support from many people who felt the same way Luther id which caused his ideas to spread throughout Europe. Martin Luther posting his ninety-five theses is important because; it started the Protestant

Reformation, allowed for more people to have access to and read the Bible, and sparked the Catholic Reformation.
Martin Luther posting the ninety-five theses started the Protestant Reformation.

The Protestant Reformation was started by people who believed in Luther’s ninety-five theses and were tired of the Church. This Reformation led to many new non-Christian churches like Mormons, Protestants, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and many more. The Pope and other highly ranked religious officials did not like Luther because he made public the immoral actions of the Church. Pope Leo X in response to Luther’s statements asked him to retract his statements and say he was wrong. However, Luther refused and in 1520 Pope Leo X excommunicated Luther from the Catholic Church. Another despiser of Luther was Charles V, who issued the Concordat of Worms. The Concordat of Worms said no one in the Holy Roman Empire was to provide Luther food or shelter and all his books were to be destroyed. However, Prince Frederick defied Charles V and sheltered Luther in one of his castles, and during his stay Luther translated the Bible into

German.
Luther translating the Bible into German may not sound like a big deal because much of Europe at that time still couldn’t read. However, that notion changed because a few years earlier Johann Gutenberg had invented the modern day printing press. Nate Silver had this to say about the printing press and Martin Luther, “Martin Luther's theses were reproduced about 250,000 times, and so you had widespread dissemination of ideas that hadn't circulated in the mainstream before [2].” This quote symbolizes the power of the printing press, with more written documents more people could learn how to read and absorb information. The mass amount of books also allowed the price of books to drop allowing even the poor to learn how to read. With the Bible being printed too more people learned about the Church’s teachings and didn’t need to rely on the priest’s idea of the Bible. This put an end to the Church using the Bible to steal money and other things from people, the Church now despite needed to start a reformation of their own.
The Catholic or Counter Reformation started in response to many people leaving and joining new Protestant Churches. One of the most important people of the Reformation was St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Ignatius became Catholic after he was injured in war, during recovery he thought about his sins and the life of Jesus and had a conversion to live out a daily life of prayer. He wrote a book called Spiritual Exercises in 1522 which laid out a daily plan of prayer, meditation, and contemplation for Christians. St. Ignatius also founded the Jesuits who promoted learning and did everything they could to stop Protestantism from spreading. The Catholic reformation reached its height with the Council of Trent. The Council of Trent was a gathering of Catholic bishops of cardinals in northern Italy who sought to instill new polices in the Church. These policies said the Church’s interpretation of the Bible was final, banned selling of indulgences and said Christians needed faith and good works for salvation. The next pope Paul IV intently carried out the new rules and even burned many Protestant Bibles which spoke out against the Church.
To conclude, Martin Luther posting his ninety-five theses is important because it started the Protestant Reformation, allowed for more people to have access to and read the Bible, and sparked the Catholic Reformation. Luther’s theses led to the founding of many new religious groups like Mormons, Protestants, Presbyterians, and Lutherans. Martin Luther translating the Bible into German and Johann Gutenberg creating the printing press led the way for more people learning how to read and wrote. Also, both Luther and the printing press allowed people to learn and think for themselves and not rely on someone else to do it for them. The Catholic Reformation changed the whole Catholic religion in a good way and took on a more welcoming spirt to new Catholics. Luther’s ninety-five theses shaped all of the Christian religion and made it what it is today.