- Mar 24, 2003
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The Protestant faith originated in a time of scandal, when Johann Tetzel, a Dominican monk, appeared in Germany and went from place to place selling certificates of indulgence. It was in the fall of 1517 that the scandal began. Tetzel promised his listeners that they could obtain remission for their sins and for the sins of loved ones who had died and gone to purgatory. Consequently, pious people collected their savings and rushed to Tetzel to purchase his documents, for that seemed to be the requirement of Christian charity that loved ones might be released from the torments of purgatory and admitted to heaven itself. In fact, Tetzel led people to believe that they could obtain forgiveness merely by dropping their coins in his box and taking the certificates he offered. In order to popularize the sale, Tetzel recited a jingle: So bald der Pfennig im Kasten klingt, die Selle aus dem Fegfeuer springt! (As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul out of purgatory springs.) People seemed to come from everywhere, seeking to liberate loved ones from the flames of punishment. Purgatory, in the teaching of the medieval church, was portrayed as a place of temporal punishment for sin; the length of time a soul would spend there would be determined by the number and severity of his offences, and when one had been purged fully, he would be released to go to heaven.
Word of Tetzels activities soon reached Wittenberg University, where Dr Martin Luther, Professor of Theology, received it with consternation. Rather than react with the joyous hope that characterized the people who were purchasing Tetzels documents, Luther became enraged. He spoke out vigorously and denounced the entire affair as a scandal of immense significance and contended that the church must be saved from the wretched traffic in indulgences. Luther went to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, a document in one hand, a hammer in the other, and fastened to that door a list of ninety-five protests against the sale of indulgences. He likewise told the souls under his care that they had been deceived cruelly. The certificates of indulgence did not promise the remission of sins and did not assure salvation either for them or for the departed. The poor German peasants and common townspeople, however, could not read the Latin language of the certificates, and Tetzel had preyed upon their ignorance by encouraging them to believe that they had obtained benefits which the documents themselves did not promise.
According to Roman Catholic teaching, the church had custody of a Treasury of Merits which were acquired by great saints who had exceeded the good works required for their salvation. The excess of merit became a source from which the church could dispense merit to those who were deficient, and an indulgence became a means by which needy sinners could obtain merit from the Treasury. In the 1460s Pope Sixtus IV declared that benefits gained through indulgences could be transferred to departed believers who had gone to purgatory.
Luther, aflame with indignation, challenged the sale of indulgences and demanded that the entire matter be discussed by the scholars of the University. He invited his academic colleagues to a public disputation to consider the Ninety-five Theses, or objections, which he had raised against the sale. Luther thereby launched a protest which attracted supporters, and soon those who had joined in his protest became known as Protestants.
(snip)
http://www.the-highway.com/principles.html
=======================================
McGoldrick then goes on to talk about Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, and Sola Fide as the three Principles of Protestantism.
He ends his article with the sentence (emphasis mine):
Word of Tetzels activities soon reached Wittenberg University, where Dr Martin Luther, Professor of Theology, received it with consternation. Rather than react with the joyous hope that characterized the people who were purchasing Tetzels documents, Luther became enraged. He spoke out vigorously and denounced the entire affair as a scandal of immense significance and contended that the church must be saved from the wretched traffic in indulgences. Luther went to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, a document in one hand, a hammer in the other, and fastened to that door a list of ninety-five protests against the sale of indulgences. He likewise told the souls under his care that they had been deceived cruelly. The certificates of indulgence did not promise the remission of sins and did not assure salvation either for them or for the departed. The poor German peasants and common townspeople, however, could not read the Latin language of the certificates, and Tetzel had preyed upon their ignorance by encouraging them to believe that they had obtained benefits which the documents themselves did not promise.
According to Roman Catholic teaching, the church had custody of a Treasury of Merits which were acquired by great saints who had exceeded the good works required for their salvation. The excess of merit became a source from which the church could dispense merit to those who were deficient, and an indulgence became a means by which needy sinners could obtain merit from the Treasury. In the 1460s Pope Sixtus IV declared that benefits gained through indulgences could be transferred to departed believers who had gone to purgatory.
Luther, aflame with indignation, challenged the sale of indulgences and demanded that the entire matter be discussed by the scholars of the University. He invited his academic colleagues to a public disputation to consider the Ninety-five Theses, or objections, which he had raised against the sale. Luther thereby launched a protest which attracted supporters, and soon those who had joined in his protest became known as Protestants.
(snip)
http://www.the-highway.com/principles.html
=======================================
McGoldrick then goes on to talk about Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, and Sola Fide as the three Principles of Protestantism.
He ends his article with the sentence (emphasis mine):
- Like Luther, Cranmer and other martyrs believed in the three principles of Protestantism and knew that they could not renounce them without renouncing Jesus Christ. May God give us courage to live by the same faith and to die in that faith.
Thank you for that little tidbit, Ksen! I love reading about the history of the church whenever I can {Though I admit I don't know as much as I should}.
