Martin Luther was a German theologian and religious reformer. He initiated the Protestants reformation and had a crucial role in the history of Europe.
Luther was born in Germany in 1483 to a low class family. He
studied law but finally became a monk. He entered the monastery of the Augustinian hermits at Erfurt and became a priest in 1507. Luther studied
Theology and became a theology professor in 1510; he went to Rome on the behalf of seven Augustinian monasteries and was shocked by the worldliness of the Roman Clergy. As a theology Doctor he studied the bible and reached to a conclusion that Christian belief needs a change.
Luther found that the way of teaching is all traditional beliefs of Roman Catholic
Church; he got to the conclusion that Christ was the sole mediator between God and man and that forgiveness and
salvation are received only by faith alone (
sola fide). This was canceled the necessity of the church for salvation, and claimed that salvation is also possible outside the church. The sale of indulgences by the church and the
view of sin, and the money and property that the church holds aroused Luther indignation, in 1517 Luther published his famous 95 thesis, where hi express his ideas, but the Catholic and Augustinian churches condemned him and his ideas, and he was charged with heresy. In 1520 Luther completed three of his works where he stated his view and called for a reformation of the church and attacks the papacy. In 1529 he publishes "
The small catechism", a book of questions and answers on religious issues and his point of view.
Luther ha a great influence over the Christian world then and today, he created Protestantism, and rebelled the Roman Catholic Church. He changed the attitude to the relationship between man and God, he also newly defined the words sin, indulgence, confession, redemption and salvation for the Christian world. He died in 1546 in Eisleben.
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