The Content Reader

This year, on the 31 October, it will be 500 years since Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses on the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg. He probably did not actually nail them on the door, but this is how the story goes. Martin Luther was influenced by earlier reformist but it was Luther who sparked the Protestant Reformation. It was not supposed to be a reformist movement, but started out as a protest. In 1516 a papal commissioner was sent to Germany to raise money to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It would be sponsored by selling indulgences, and it was this tradition that Luther objected against. He wrote to his bishop, Albert of Mainz, protesting the sale of indulgences and enclosed a copy of his " Disputation of Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences " which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses. It was initially not a rebellious act, but more a scholarly objection. However, once the dice was rolling it went rather fast...