Question

What document did Luther prepare in October 1517 for academic debate about indulgences?

Answer 1

Answer:

Ninety-five Theses

Explanation:

Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-five Theses against the contemporary practice of the church with respect to indulgences. In the Roman Catholic Church, practically the only Christian church in Western Europe at the time, indulgences are part of the economy of salvation. In this system, when Christians sin and confess, they are forgiven and no longer stand to receive eternal punishment in hell, but may still be liable to temporal punishment. This punishment could be satisfied by the penitent's performing works of mercy. If the temporal punishment is not satisfied during life, it needs to be satisfied in a Catholic belief of a place in-between Heaven and Hell, called Purgatory. By an indulgence (which may be understood in the sense of "kindness"), this temporal punishment could be lessened.Under abuses of the system of indulgences, clergy benefited by selling indulgences and the pope gave official sanction in exchange for a fee.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses against papal indulgences, or the atonement of sins through monetary payment, on the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany. Within less than four years, the Catholic Church would brand Luther a heretic, and the Holy Roman Empire would condemn him as an outlaw. These were the early years of the Protestant Reformation, a turning point in history that would transform not only the Christian faith, but also the politics and society of all of Europe.