31.10.

14
Sample Essay Question
SAMPLE QUESTION: Luther did not ask new questions, but offered new answers to old questions. What were
these questions? What were Luthers answers and how did they contradict Roman Catholic answers.
Around the time of the Reformation, the Catholic Church and the faith that it offers were the central power of
society. As people were mostly devoutly religious, they were concerned about salvation. Questions such as how
is salvation granted, what are the sacraments, and who has religious authority, and what miracle occurs during
mass rose greatly. Martin Luther, an ordained priest and theologian repudiated the Roman Catholics answers to
these questions and proclaimed his own that greatly contradicted the Church and its believers. His and Zwinglis
beliefs clashed with the Churchs ultimately lead to the Protestant Reformation.
The Roman Catholic Church taught that salvation was attained through faith in the Holy Trinity and good works.
According to their beliefs, one could achieve salvation by donating to the Church or buying indulgences. We can
see this as Johann Tetzel was authorized by Pope Leo X to sell these indulgences which guaranteed to cleanse
sins in order to finance his plans to rebuild the St. Peters Church in Rome. Though the general people accepted
this doctrine and followed it, Luther interpreted it as act of corruption by the Church along with simony (sale of
church offices), and lack of morality among the clergy. Luther contradicted the Church as he believed that
salvation came from faith alone. He came to the conclusion that devout faith and following the Bible was
enough to attain salvation. Luthers unwavering credence impelled him to write his 95 Theses. In this text, he
listed 95 things he sought was wrong with the Church including the selling of indulgences.
Another question that Luther and the Roman Catholic contradicted each other was on the question of what the
holy sacraments were. Martin Luther following the Bible, stated that the sacrament of the altar, baptism, and
absolution were the only acts that were truly sacraments. However, the Roman Catholic believed that there were
four other sacraments which were confirmation, anointing of the sick, Holy Orders, and matrimony. Luther
radically rejected those four external sacraments as he thought they were not mentioned in the holy words of
God himself.
The third contradiction between of Luther and the Roman Catholics was about who had religious authority.
Roman Catholicism taught that religious authority came from the bible and papal decrees. Luther on the other
hand stated that religious authority came from the Bible alone. In his debates with Jane Van Eyck, he stated that
unless there was a place in the Bible that justified papal or religious decrees, he would stick with following the
Bible alone. He strongly believed that he could only trust the pure words of God.
The fourth disagreement Luther made with the Church and Roman Catholicism was the viability of
transubstantiation and consubstantiation. Roman Catholicism agreed with transubstantiation, a process during
the Eucharist when the bread and wine become the actual body Christ. Luther sought things differently for he
taught consubstantiation, in which the spirit of Christ lies with the bread and wine. The Church took this act of
Christ literally whereas Luther understood it figuratively.
Before Luther and other radical thinkers came along, the Church rested as the dominant power in Western
Europe. Martin Luthers declaration of his answers that contradicted the biggest religion, Roman Catholicism,
created a revolution impacting Europe. Though initially his moral beliefs seemed ridiculous, he pushed on
forward. Luther burned a papal bull, an official proclamation that demanded his recantation and so, was
excommunicated by Pope Leo X. From the Diet of Worms to the German Peasants War, Luther persisted on his
contradictory morals against Roman Catholicism and the Church.