Martin Luther King Jr. :: essays research papers

Martin Luther King Jr. The reformation began within the Catholic Church . On Oct. 31, 1517 , Martin Luther a professor and a monk of theology, posted his 95 Theses on the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany . This theses were series that attacked the sale of indulgences . Luther criticized what he considered other abuses in the church . Luther taught that God justifies human beings . What Luther meant was that God makes them righteous through His kindness to the people . In Jan. 1521, Pope leo X excommunicated Luther and declared him a heretic . Emperor Charles V and the members of the imperial diet ordered Luther to appear before the diet in the Worms, Germany .In May 1521 , the emperor signed the Edict of the Worms , a document which declared Luther to be an outlaw whom anyone could kill without protest . Frederick the Wise protected Luther. Luther continued to the Protestant movement until his death in 1546. Reformation Reformation was a religious movement of the 1500's that led to Protestantism . This movement had an impact on social, political, and economic life . Before the reformation , Europe had been held together by the universalism of the Catholic Church and the claim of the Holy Roman emperor . After the reformation Europe had several large Prostant churches and smaller Protestant religious groups . From the result of the Reformation ,Europe was divided btwn the Catholic counties of the south and the Protestant countries of the north. This diversity of religious life created a mood of religious toleration and the respect for the importance of individual conscience . The Reformation also stimulated many reforms within the Catholic Church . Martin Luther believed that he can change something that he believed in .