Martin Luther's Reformation Controversy

Introduction

There are very few people that leave their mark on the pages of history. The names of those people are always remembered as their actions make them immortal; Martin Luther is one of those names. Martin Luther was the pioneer and active member of the protestant reformation. The term Protestant is used to refer to both groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church due to a reformation in the sixteenth century. The protestant reformation is also known as Lutheran Reformation as it was initiated by Martin Luther in Germany following the protest and resistance against the imperial edicts trying to find the religious uniformity of Germany.

Protestant doctrine revolves around the idea that only the Bible is the sole authority in matters of faith for the Church. Martin Luther taught that God predestines some individuals to salvation and others to damnation. In his treatise The Bondage of Luther based his view on statements in Romans that God loved Jacob and hated Esau prior to their birth and apart from any merits or demerits of their autonomous free actions, also that the clay has no right to question the actions of the potter. Luther condemned human reason for holding that God, in order to qualify as good, 'may damn none but those who in our judgment have deserved it' (Daniel, Butler, 92).

Even if God should send all people to perdition, says Luther, he is nevertheless good. Still, God's hardening or working evil in people does not involve 'creating evil in us from scratch'. Rather, God allows a person's evil will to proceed according to its particular bent and confronts the person with words and actions with which this evil bent will clash. Departing from Luther's view of unconditional reprobation, the Lutheran Formula of Concord (1577) says that predestination causes the salvation of the elect, whereas the nonelected perish because of their own sinfulness, not because of God's will or foreordination (Mullett, 68).

Discussion and Analysis

History: The Pre-reform (1366-1517)

The existence of the reform was realized due to the unethical practices of the Catholic Church involving hoarding of material goods and a struggle for earthly power. The entire Rome was aware of the definitions of luxury and sinful life of the cardinals and bishops in the Europe. The population of Europe including the kings and emperors felt resentment toward the papacy that frequently interfered in the governmental affairs. However, in the thirteenth century, St. Francis raised his voice against the unethical practices of the Church; he suggested that the Church should not accumulate wealth; in fact it should be allocated among the poor (Hulme, 108). This era was known as the period of pre-reform movement and it was initiated by John Wyclif; who wanted that people could interpret the Bible for themselves instead of the Church to make decisions for them and amend their lifestyles.

The anticlerical ideas were spread widely due to the development of printing procedures in the middle of the fifteenth century. In 1517 Martin Luther published his 95th theses ...