Martin Luther

Ninety-Five Theses

Luther wrote a list of ninety-five theses, or propositions, challenging the sale of indulgences in theory and practice. Luther being Luther, though, he went much further. He challenged the right of the pope to authorize indulgences in any form. He denied that popes or anyone else could remit or forgive anything to do with sin. He denied that penance had any power whatsover. The document does not contain all of Luther's thought, but he had not taken a timid first step but rather a bold stride.

He nailed the document to the door of the Wittenberg Church, which was the usual place for posting public notices, and offered to debate the theses with any churchman. The date was 31 October 1517.

This was a common practice. University professors, who were all clerics, would debate various propositions in a public forum. Such events were a form of entertainment in a college town, attended by the public with factions favoring this or that side. The issues debated, and which side came out the better, would be then argued among the attendees at taverns and on the streets for days or even weeks after.

Those who picture the Catholic Church as rigorously controlling freedom of thought and inquiry would likely be surprised by content of these disputations. These were regarded as a testing ground for ideas and topics were discussed that were sometimes quite radical. On the face of it, in other words, there was nothing about what Luther did that would immediately cause the Church to worry. Even so, Luther's sermons were already attracting a certain amount of attention, and the nature of the debate was one that would generate some interest.