new church life: november/december 2017
no number of indulgences or good
works, could change that.
It is often said that Luther’s goal
was not to dismember the Roman
Catholic Church, but to repair
doctrinal errors and abuses. But the
Church saw his teaching as an attack on
the core doctrinal values: that a person
is saved by attending the sacraments,
by performing good works, and by
submitting to the authority of the
Church.
In 1521 Luther was called on to
recant. Instead he demanded Biblical
proof that his position was heretical.
He reiterated his doctrine and uttered
the famous line: “Unless I am convinced
by Scripture and plain reason – I do not
accept the authority of the popes and
councils, for they have contradicted each
other – my conscience is captive to the
Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience
is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.” The final schism in the Catholic
Church was inevitable.
The events of the Reformation, precipitated 500 years ago, led to a radical
change in the path of European and world religion. Europe divided into
Protestant and Catholic camps, frequently at war with each other, culminating
in the Thirty Years War between 1618 and 1648, arguably the bloodiest conflict
in Europe until World War I.
Within Protestantism, Luther’s declaration opened doors for further
religious dissent and division. He was followed in short order by Anabaptists,
the Church of England, Jo hn Calvin, and the host of different interpretations
of religion that have fragmented the overall Protestant movement even to the
present.
The Roman Catholics, realizing the need for reform, gathered at the
Council of Trent in the 1540s and codified Catholic doctrine, eliminating some
of the more serious medieval innovations, and developing some new ones. The
two religious camps have stood in mutual opposition from then onwards.
The story of the Reformation is recounted in different ways, depending
on the historian’s point of view. Protestant scholars see Luther as a hero,
the Catholics as villains. Catholics, of course, take the opposite point,
In Luther’s eyes, selling
indulgences amounted
to selling salvation.
He was appalled at the
assumption that the
pope had any right to
forgive sins, something
that can only be done
by God. He was even
more appalled at the
commercialization
of forgiveness.
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