Founder of the German Reformation
Ordained
a priest in 1507, Luther became in 1508 professor of moral philosophy
in the faculty of the arts at the recently founded University of Wittenberg.
Ten years later under the influence of Luther, the Wittenberg faculty
of theology was committed to a program of theological reform based on
"the Bible and St. Augustine."
Luther had come to believe that man is unable to respond to God without divine grace, and that man can be justified only through faith (per solam fidem), by the merits of Christ imputed to him, works or religious observance are irrelevant.
On 31 October 1517, Luther posted his 95 theses on indulgences on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg. Although purely academic and stating little that was exceptionable given the range of opinions of the day, the theses came to be viewed as a manifesto of reform.
In 1520, Luther’s program of reform was further consolidated by a direct appeal to the German people to take the initiative in reforming the Church.
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Luther,
Martin, 1483-1546 |
Luther,
Martin 1483-1546 |
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| [Augsburg
Confession] Confessio fidei exhibita invictiss. Imp. Carolo V Caesari
Aug. in Comiciis Augustae, anno 1530; addita est Apologia confessionis Hagaonoae: Np, 1535; bound with Luther, Martin, 1482-1546, Catechismus, legtu dignissimus..., Haganoae: Petri Brubachii, 1536 |
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Confession of Augsburg (1530)
The Lutheran confession of faith, the Confession was mainly the work of Philipp Melanchthon, who, after receiving the approval of Martin Luther, presented it at Augsburg to the Emperor Charles V. To make the Lutheran position as inoffensive as possible to the Catholics, the confession’s language was studiously moderate. A considerably revised text issued by Melanchthon in 1540 was accepted by the Reformed (Calvinist) churches in Germany.
