Dr. Pothana's Teaching

1. History of Christianity-II
COACH Institute of Intercultural Studies
Hyderabad

2. The Protestant Reformation
1300 – 1570 CE

3. Martin Luther – the Accidental Revolutionary

4. Martin Luther was born
in Saxony, Germany in
1483.
Martin Luther
Click on the pin to view Saxony
to Margaret and Hans Luder. He
was raised in Mansfeld, where
his father worked at the local
copper mines.

5. Hans sent Martin to Latin school and then, when Martin
was only 13 years old, to the University of Erfurt to study
law. There Martin earned both his baccalaureate and
master's degrees in the shortest time allowed by university
statutes. He proved so adept at public debates that he
earned the nickname "The Philosopher."
Then in 1505 his life took a dramatic turn. As the 21-year-old
Luther fought his way through a severe thunderstorm on the
road to Erfurt, a bolt of lightning struck the ground near him.
"Help me, St. Anne!" Luther screamed. "I will become a monk!"
The trustworthy Luther fulfilled his vow: he gave away all his
possessions and entered the monastic life.
Background

6. Augustinian monk
• Taught at the University of Wittenberg

7. Luther was the author of 400 titles, over 60,000 pages of original work.
Martin Luther
Captive to the Word of
God

8. Johan Tetzel, a German Dominican,
was authorized by Pope Leo X to sell
indulgences: “As soon as a coin in the
coffer rings, the soul from purgatory
springs.” The pope was using this
money to finance the building of St
Peter’s in Rome.

9. His bold stand, 31 October 1517, nailing The 95 Theses
to the church door, launched the Great Reformation.

10. 1.When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he
willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
2.This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance,
that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
3.Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is
worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.
4.The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner
repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
5.The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those
imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
6.The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has
been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to
his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded,
the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.

11. The Diet of Worms (1521): This is not referring to a
weight-loss program
– the all worms diet. A “diet” is an imperial court
assembly. Worms (pronounced “Vorms” is a city in
Germany).

12. On 18 April 1521, Martin Luther stood firm before the emperor of the
Holy Roman Empire and the assembled princes, bishops and
archbishops, who were intimidating him to recant his writings.

13. Luther's courageous response: "Unless I am convinced by Scripture,
or by clear reasoning, that I am in error – for popes and councils have
often erred and contradicted themselves – I cannot recant, for I am
subject to the Scriptures I have quoted; my conscience is captive to
the Word of God.

15. It is unsafe and dangerous to do anything against ones conscience.
Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. So help me God. Amen!"

16. The selling of indulgences was the trigger for Martin Luther’s first open
expression of his disobedience of the teaching of the church.
Luther’s purpose was to contrast the Bible’s teaching with what the church
requires.
Nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral (or perhaps sent to his
resident bishop) – nevertheless, they were heard loud and clear, and can be
summarized under the following two points:156
1) The sale of indulgences was exploitative of the economy of the German
nation. Luther accused the pope of building St Peter’s out of the “skin, flesh,
and bones of his sheep.”
2) The pope had no authority over purgatory, and even if he did, forcing
people to pay their way out was contrary to Christian charity.

17. Luther inspired freedom of conscience, freedom of thought, freedom of
religion, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
and Scripture alone as our ultimate authority.

18. Before the council could
burn him for heresy, he
was “kidnapped” by
bandits and held captive in
Wartburg Castle for ten
months, a kidnapping
arranged by Frederick the
Wise of Saxony to allow
Luther to continue his
work, including his
massive work of
translating the Bible into
vernacular German

19. The theology of the cross: This
was the ground of all of Luther’s
theological work and the focal
point of his understanding of the
Christian faith.
As one theological historian has
said, “If we are to understand
Luther’s continuing appeal it must
be with his theology that we begin
and end.”

20. The Foundation—“The righteous will live by faith”
Luther—“By the one solid rock we call the doctrine of
justification by faith alone (sola fide), we mean that we
are redeemed from sin, death and the devil, and are made
partakers of life eternal, not by self-help but by outside
help, namely by the work of the only-begotten Son of
God, Jesus Christ alone” (solus Christus).

21. The Bible is the
ultimate
foundation of all
Christian belief
and practice.
The text of the
Bible, and all
preaching based
upon it, should
be in the
vernacular.
The fundamental themes of Luther’s reforms

22. Salvation is a free, unmerited
gift of God, received by faith
alone.
There is no fundamental
distinction between clergy
and laity – “the priesthood of
all believers.”

23. The reform of
the church’s life
and though was
not about
beginning from
scratch; instead,
the foundation of
his thought was
the Bible read
through the eyes
of the great
religious heroes
of the past

24. Luther smashed the chains
of superstition and tyranny
and restored Christian liberty
to worship God
in spirit and in truth.

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