and the Protestant Reformation Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation

There are three types of Christians Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox Russian and Greek Orthodox and others Protestant

Within Protestants

It all started with Martin Luther

Young Luther Luther started his career as a lawyer. When he was riding home one night, he was struck by lightening. If God would save him, he promised to be a monk

Luther grew dissatisfied with the Catholic Church Complaint #1: People should have a personal relationship with God and not have to go through priests and the Pope.

Complaint #2: It is this personal relationship with God, not good works that should determine whether you go to heaven.

Complaint #3: some priests were illiterate and unfamiliar with the Bible, because so many priests died during the Bubonic Plague. Complaint #4: People should read the Bible, not in Latin, but in their own language

Complaint #5: bad Popes! It was pretty normal for Popes during the Middle Ages and Renaissance to assassinate cardinals or the current pope. Also they would have illegitimate children, whom they would call nephews or nieces. They would also buy and sell the papacy One example: Alexander VI (1492-1503), presided over more orgies than masses, wrote Edward Gibbon. A career highlight was the 1501 “Joust of the Whores,” when 50 dancers were invited to slowly strip around the pope’s table. Alexander and his family gleefully threw chestnuts on the floor, forcing the women to grovel around their feet like swine; they then offered prizes of fine clothes and jewelry for the man who could fornicate with the most women. Alexander’s other hobbies included watching horses copulate, which would make him “laugh fit to bust.” After his death — quite possibly poisoned by his pathological son, Cesar Borgia — this pope’s body was expelled from the basilica of Saint Peter as too evil to be buried in sacred soil.

Complaint #6: Indulgences When you pay money for the priest to forgive your sins.

So Luther took action Luther wrote all his complaints in the 95 Theses. In 1517, he posted the 95 Theses on the door of his local church in Wittenberg, Germany.

Printing press and literacy The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1439 Luther could publicize his 95 Theses and his German Bible Because there was more material to read, people started to learn to read.

The result was . . . Luther is excommunicated by Pope Leo X during the Diet of Worms. He marries a former nun. He starts the Lutheran Church

In the Lutheran Church There’s singing. Luther wrote hymns. The mass is not in Latin; it’s in the vernacular There are two sacraments: baptism and Eucharist. You are encouraged to read the Bible. You should focus on a personal relationship with God, not good works. Lutheran pastors can be married