March 11 - 95 Theses

March 11 – 95 Theses

Martin Luther wanted to challenge Teztel’s teachings about indulgences. In his fury, he wrote out a list of 95 topics for debate. He nailed that list on the chapel door in Wittenberg. At first, a few scholars were a little upset. Pope Leo X decided that Luther was drunk and would get over it.

Three years later, the pope published a bull called “Arise, O Lord” in which he said that “A wild pig (Luther) had invaded the Lord’s vineyard (the church). Martin Luther put Leo’s bull in a bonfire. Two months after this, Luther received a letter from the Holy Roman Emperor asking him to come to talk about the theses. The Latin word for an imperial meeting is ‘diet,’ the meeting would happen in the German city of Worms, so this was “The Diet of Worms.”

Luther planned to go and end up dead. He remembered the fate of Jan Hus, who had been promised safe conduct. When confronted with the theses, Luther admitted they were his, when asked if he would defend them that day, he asked for time to think it over. The next day he returned and announced that his conscience belonged to the Word of God. He couldn’t recant anything.

As he returned home, he was kidnapped, but it was by men who intended to keep him safe. They placed him in hiding for ten months. He had been excommunicated and his writings were banned. While in hiding in Wartburg Castle, he continued to write and began translating the New Testament into German.

Because of Luther’s daring, Germans began to oppose the pope. Certain nobles supported Luther while others supported Rome. In 1530 a meeting in Augsburg, a group attempted to bring reconciliation between Luther’s cause and the church, since their position was true to historic Catholicism. But the Catholics demanded concessions that couldn’t be made and the split was finished.