17: Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the
Castle Church; the Reformation begins.' In 1961, however, a catholic Luther researcher, Erwin
Iserloh published a study in which he relegated to
the world of fantasy the fact that Luther nailed
his Thesis to the door of the church. He had several arguments to do so. It was Luther's friend and
successor Philipp Melanchton who mentioned this event in one of his writings. But we also know
that Melanchton was not an eyewitness of the event.
He came to Wittenberg only in 1518 to
become a professor at the university. The story was
only told for the first time after Luther's death.
Luther and his friend John Agricola had never spoke
n about the publication of the Thesis in this
way. It is true, an announcement of upcoming disputes was regularly hung on the door of the
Castle Church. So the publication of this document
would be an invitation to a public debate as
well. But no original copy of the Thesis has been found and the debate was never held. It is also
highly unlikely that Luther would have done so. Publication of the Thesis in this way could have
been interpreted as an open provocation of his superiors. And that was never Luther's intention, he
only wanted to dear up some misunderstandings. With
out realising however, his words stabbed the
roman superstition to the heart.
One thing is sure: Luther wrote a letter to Albert,
the archbishop of Mainz on 31 October 1517,
enclosing a copy of the Thesis, protesting about th
e instructions Albert had given to the sellers of
the letters of pardon. Today, the majority of Luther researchers agree that Luther did not nail his
Thesis to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on that day.
--Previous Message--
: Catholic World News
: Catholics should learn from Luther, Pope
: says in new interview
:
: http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=29780
:
: “Luther took a great step in putting the
: Word of God into the hands of the people.”
:
: The ignorance of Pope Francis is all too
: often displayed, as in that distortion.
: In reality, Johann Gutenberg, a Catholic,
: produced the first printed Bible, with the
: Church’s approval, in 1455. Luther was not
: born until 1483. There were 18 German
: editions of the whole Bible before the
: Catholic monk Luther posted his 95 theses in
: 1517, and there were German, Flemish,
: Italian, Spanish, and Polish editions before
: Luther left the Church. The first English
: edition appeared in 1525. James I in England
: authorised the “King James” version only in
: 1604.
:
:
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