Western Civilization

Instead, the primary means of disseminating Luther’s

ideas was the sermon. The preaching of evangelical ser-

mons, based on a return to the original message of the

Bible, found favor throughout Germany. Also useful to

the spread of the Reformation were pamphlets illus-

trated with vivid woodcuts portraying the pope as a hid-

eous Antichrist and titled with catchy phrases such as “I

Wonder Why There Is No Money in the Land” (obvi-

ously an attack on papal greed).

Luther was able to gain the support of his prince,

the elector of Saxony, as well as other German rulers

among the more than three hundred states that made

up the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism spread to

both princely and ecclesiastical states in northern and

central Germany as well as to two-thirds of the free im-

perial cities, especially those of southern Germany,

where prosperous burghers, for both religious and sec-

ular reasons, became committed to Luther’s cause. At

its outset, the Reformation in Germany was largely an

urban phenomenon. Three-fourths of the early con-

verts to the reform movement were from the clergy,

many of them from the better-educated upper classes,

Luther and the Ninety-Five Theses

To most historians, the publication of Luther’s Ninety-Five

Theses marks the beginning of the Reformation. To

Luther, they were simply a response to what he

considered Johann Tetzel’s blatant abuses in selling

indulgences. Although written in Latin, Luther’s

statements were soon translated into German and

disseminated widely across Germany. They made an

immense impression on Germans already dissatisfied with

the ecclesiastical and financial policies of the papacy.

Martin Luther,Selections from the Ninety-

Five Theses

5. The Pope has neither the will nor the power to
   remit any penalties beyond those he has imposed
   either at his own discretion or by canon law.


6. Therefore the Pope, by his plenary remission of all
   penalties, does not mean “all” in the absolute
   sense, but only those imposed by himself.


7. Hence those preachers of Indulgences are wrong
   when they say that a man is absolved and saved
   from every penalty by the Pope’s indulgences.


8. It is mere human talk to preach that the soul flies
   out [of purgatory] immediately the money clinks
   in the collection box.


9. It is certainly possible that when the money clinks
   in the collection box greed and avarice can
   increase; but the intercession of the Church
   depends on the will of God alone.


10. Christians should be taught that, if the Pope knew
    the exactions of the preachers of Indulgences, he
    would rather have the basilica of St. Peter reduced

to ashes than built with the skin, flesh and bones

of his sheep.

81. This wanton preaching of pardons makes it diffi-
    cult even for learned men to redeem respect due
    to the Pope from the slanders or at least the
    shrewd questionings of the laity.


82. For example: “Why does not the Pope empty pur-
    gatory for the sake of most holy love and the
    supreme need of souls? This would be the most
    righteous of the reasons, if he can redeem innu-
    merable souls for sordid money with which to
    build a basilica, the most trivial of reasons.”


83. Again: “Since the Pope’s wealth is larger than that
    of the crassest Crassi of our time, why does he not
    build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own
    money, rather than with that of the faithful poor?”


84. To suppress these most conscientious question-
    ings of the laity by authority only, instead of
    refuting them by reason, is to expose the Church
    and the Pope to the ridicule of their enemies, and
    to make Christian people unhappy.


85. Christians should be exhorted to seek earnestly to
    follow Christ, their Head, through penalties,
    deaths, and hells.


86. And let them thus be more confident of entering
    heaven through many tribulations rather than
    through a false assurance of peace.

Q What were the major ideas of Luther’s Ninety-Five

Theses? Why did they have such a strong appeal in

Germany?

Source: FromMartin Luther: Documents of Modern Historyby E. G. Rupp and Benjamin Drewery. Palgrave Macmillan, 1970. Reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan.

306 Chapter 13 Reformation and Religious Warfare in the Sixteenth Century

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