Martin Luther and the Reformation Flashcards
Who is Martin Luther?
He was a Roman Catholic monk who lived in Germany
What did Martin Luther do in 1517?
He nailed the 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenburg
What church did Martin Luther nail the 95 theses to?
Castle Church/All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany
What is the 95 theses?
A list of 95 things about the Catholic Church that Martin Luther was unhappy about
What were the 3 main things in the 95 theses?
-indulgences
-relics
-corrupt priests
What are indulgences?
-pieces of paper that people were encouraged to buy
-were believed to release souls from purgatory
-the more money you spent, the quicker the souls of lost ones were promised to get to heaven
What is purgatory?
a place where the souls of sinners spend suffering for their sins before going to heaven
What are relics?
-holy objects. eg. material from the shroud of Jesus or bones from the skeletons of saints
-Martin said that this was a scheme by the church to make money
-most of the relics were fake
Why did Martin say that the priests were corrupt?
-as they were more interested in money and land than teaching people about God
-he said that you don’t need priests to worship God and you just needed a bible and your faith
What happened to Martin Luther for protesting to the Catholic Church?
He was exocommunicated from the Catholic Church
After Martin Luther was excommunicated what did he do?
He formed one of the first protestant churches - Lutheranism
What was the name of Martin Luther’s church?
Lutheranism
Who did Henry the 8th believe Martin Luther was and why?
A heretic because he started the Lutheran Church.
What is a heretic?
A traitor who moved away from the Catholic Church
Why did Henry the 8th form his own protestant church?
-the pope refused to grant him a divorce with Catherine of Aragon so that he could marry Anne Boleyn
-he also found himself disagreeing with the practices ad beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church
