Reformation Sunday Commemorates Luther's 95 Theses

Oct 13, 2010 Michael Streich

Reformation Sunday Recalls Luther's 95 Theses - Oswald Walser Photo Image

Traditional historical accounts teach that Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Church door on October 31, 1517, but questions remain.

Reformation Sunday is the 31st of October. It is the anniversary of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses nailed to the church door at Wittenberg. When October 31st falls on another weekday, Reformation Sunday is celebrated on the Sunday immediately preceding the 31st.

The history behind Reformation Sunday and the events that precipitated it are, however, a matter of controversy. Did Luther actually nail the theses to the church door? Why did he take the action on October 31st, the eve before All Saints Day?

Nailing the Ninety-Five Theses to the Wittenberg Church Door

Traditionally, historians accepted the story that Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk and professor at the University in Wittenberg, nailed ninety-five theses or points for discussion to the church door at Wittenberg.

Some scholars point out that the church contained many relics and by placing his theses on the door, people coming the following day to celebrate the All Saints Day Mass would take notice, especially since the theses focused on indulgences.

There are, however, several problems with this history. Although Wittenberg was a university town, literacy rates in Europe in 1517 were less than three percent of the total population. The assumption is that most people coming for a Mass would not have been able to read the document.

Secondly, those townsmen who could read would not have had the theological training to understand Luther’s points unless they were members of the clergy. Historian Mark Edwards comments that, “We are likely never to be able to determine whether the 95 Theses were actually posted.”

The Ninety-Five Theses Set Up a Debate on Indulgences and Purgatory

Luther’s intent was to provoke a debate within the church intelligentsia on indulgences and purgatory. As contemporary Luther scholars point out, rather than nailing the theses to the church door, Luther would have sent them to the church hierarchy, most probably Archbishop Albrecht of Maintz.

Luther’s mental inquiries regarding purgatory and indulgences, as expressed in the theses, may have also been timed to coincide with both All Saints Day and All Souls Day. These days not only honored all Christian saints, but reinforced the practice of praying for the dead.

Indeed, the indulgence sales by Johaan Tetzel that could be purchased for souls already in Purgatory led to Luther’s disgust over Tetzel’s message: “when the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”

Celebrating the Meaning of Reformation Sunday

Ultimately, Reformation Sunday is a reminder that faith requires frequent rejuvenation if it is to bear a vibrant witness to truth. Luther had been to Rome and witnessed the decadence and corruption that was so common during the pontificate of Julius II. Harvard historian Richard Marius writes that at the time Luther was writing the theses, he was reading Erasmus’ Julius Exclusus.

Reformation Sunday is also a challenge. The process of reformation is on-going and adaptable to a changing world. Even among Catholics, for example, few people hold to a literal Purgatory either as an extension of life or a separate sphere. Luther’s theses represented one of the first transitional events that brought the cosmology of Medieval thinking to an end and helped to define man in a more human manner.

Reformation Sunday Commemorates the Birth of Protestantism

Although scholars point out that Reformation ideology can be traced to earlier churchmen like John Huss and John Wycliffe, it was Luther who instigated the movement that split Christendom. The many branches and denominations of contemporary Protestantism exist today because one Augustinian monk in Saxony published his Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517.

Sources:

Paul Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther (Fortress Press, 1966).

Mark U. Edwards, Jr., “Martin Luther,” Reformation Europe: A Guide to Research, edited by Steven Ozment (Center for Reformation Research, 1982).

Richard Marius, Martin Luther: The Christian Between God and Death (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1999).

Steven Ozment, The Age of Reform 1250-1550 (Yale University Press, 1980).

Copyright Michael Streich. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.