Why the Reformation Matters.

The same day when little ghosts and goblins haunt the neighborhoods, the Protestant
World commemorates Reformation Day. The rest of the world may not celebrate, but it should
take note of an event that started a process that shaped the Western World. Best historical
evidence is that on the 31st of October 1517 in the tiny German university town of Wittenberg,
population about 2,000, the university beadle attached a printed announcement to a church door.
In accordance with university conventions, the announcement, in Latin, the language used by all
European universities at the time, proposed to discuss 95 statements on theological issues. It was
intended for academic colleagues, for students and friends. Its author was the Reverend Father
Martin Luder, a 34 year old professor of Bible studies, and mendicant Augustinian monk. He
changed his name several years later from the name he was born with to Luther. As an obedient
Augustinian brother, Luder had sent a copy of the theses to the bishop of the diocese and to the
archbishop.
The disputation never took place, but within weeks the 95 theses were read throughout
the Holy Roman Empire. Quickly translated into German and thus accessible beyond the
academic world, they ignited a debate that thrust the obscure professor at a university on the
eastern fringes of the empire into the limelight. Several factors came together to fan the flames
of the controversy. On the surface, the disputation was to focus on hotly debated issues, among
them penance, forgiveness of sins, andcruciallythe authority of the church, that is of the
pope, through his representatives to grant indulgences in return for the payment of money.
These certificates of indulgence promised to shorten or ameliorate punishment in the afterlife.

Dubious practices and excesses by indulgence preachers were a public controversy

throughout Christendom as Europe was then called. The Archduke of the Electorate of Saxony,
who had founded the University of Wittenberg in 1502, simply forbade the indulgence sellers to
enter his territory. On the other hand, the church establishment needed to raise funds for various
projects, from buildings in Rome to amortizing huge debts that some church officials had
incurred. A challenge to one of the churches major fund raising strategies was not to be taken
lightly.
The speed with which the theses spread was aided by improvements in printing
technology recently developed by Mr. Gutenberg. Printing shops had sprung up throughout the
land and eager printers reprinted and sold the theses throughout the realm. A network of
humanistic scholars and intellectuals helped in the distribution. What had begun as an academic
exercise, escalated within several weeks into a fundamental challenge of the authority of the
church.
This was not what the Reverend Father Luder had intended. His wish was to reform, not to
destroy the church he had grown up in. Not surprisingly, the establishment tried to silence the
professor. His Augustinian order summoned him to the university of Heidelberg, to urge him to
be silent, reminding him of his vow of obedience. Next a papal emissary, debated with Luther for
three days in Augsburg and threatened him with arrest in case he would refuse to recant. Luther
refused and escaped in the dark of night.
The controversy went on and in the meantime Professor Martin Luther finding his footing as
a reformer published some of his most important books, key among them in 1520: On the
Freedom of a Christian. In that same year a papal decree threatened Luther with

excommunication. But by now a defiant Luther, with the support of the students and at least
some of the faculty at the university, defiantly burnt the papal document in December 1520.
Excommunication followed in January of 1521. This normally had lethal consequences.
But the church underestimated the support Luther had gained, most importantly by the leader
of the Electorate of Saxon, Archduke Frederick the Wise. Frederick was the ruler of the wealthy
realm, whose economic strength was based on silver and copper mining and production of
natural dyes. He was also a favorite of the papacy, owner of an impressive collection of relics, a
devout and lifelong catholic. And he shielded the faculty at the university he had founded, even
including the uppity reverend father professor.
By the time the case of Luther rose again to the top of the agenda of pope and emperor,
Luther had become a sort of media star. In April 1521 an Imperial Assembly, the highest
authority of the Holy Roman Empire was staged in Worms. The 34 year old professor faced the
newly elected 21 year old Emperor Charles V, emissaries of the papacy, and other secular
authorities. Charles V did not want to be distracted by what he saw as a squabble among some
monks in the hinterlands. His goal was to consolidate the vast empire he had inherited, which by
now included parts of the New World. Luther, who had expected a debate with fellow
theologians was curtly asked to repudiate what he had published. Again he refused, ending with
the now famous words I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to
go against conscience. May God help me. Amen. And again he got away with his life.
With historical perspective we can say that both emperor and reformer failed in their basic
goals: Luther did not reform the church, but caused its break-up, and Charles V did not
consolidate and stabilize the Holy Roman Empire. In the following decades it tore itself apart,

culminating in the next century in the disastrous 30 Years War. For better or for worse, Europe
and arguably the rest of the so-called first world was profoundly altered by forces Luther and his
adversaries unwittingly unleashed.
Michael Bachem
October 21, 2014