Martin Luther (10 November 1483-18 February 1546) was a German priest and monk who began the Protestant Reformation with his Ninety-five Theses in 1517. His followers became known as "Lutherans", the first major sect of Protestants.
Biography[]
Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, Saxony, Holy Roman Empire, the son of Hans Luder. He received his master's degree from the University of Erfurt in 1505, and he decided to drop out of law school in favor of becoming a priest and monk after he survived a thunderstorm and swore to serve God. In 1508, he began teaching at the University of Wittenberg. Luther would be alienated from the Catholic Church when friar Johann Tetzel was sent to Wittenberg in 1516 to collect indulgence money (money paid to the Pope or his archbishops in exchange for forgiveness of sins). Luther came to the conclusion that he needed to be the voice of true Catholicism, and he wrote the Ninety-five Theses in protest against the church. He nailed these papers to the All Saint's Church in Wittenberg, and he became the leader of the new faith of Lutheranism when the Pope excommunicated him. Luther proceeded to question the scriptural authority of the pope to grant indulgences, and his faith broke away from Catholicism, becoming the first Protestant church. He considered all baptized believers to be holy priests, that the Bible was the only source of divinity (and not the pope's words), and that eternal life and salvation are won through God's graces and not only through good deeds. His teachings began the Protestant Reformation, and Protestantism would spread to England, Scandinavia, and parts of Germany before his 1546 death.
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