Sárospataki Füzetek 21. (2017)
2017 / 2. szám - ARTICLES-STUDIEN - INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE SINCE THE AGE OF THE REFORMATION-INTERKULTURELLER DIALOG SEIT DER REFORMATION - Gosker, Margriet: Erős vár a mi Istenünk: 500 years of protestantism in the netherlands in ecumenical perspective
Erős vár a mi Istenünk: 500 Years of Protestantism in the Netherlands in Ecumenical Perspective Luther nailed his famous 95 theses17 18 to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. Probably he never did so literally, because no historical evidence of it has ever been found. But the 95 theses were published immediately after Luther wrote them, and they rapidly spread throughout Europe. And so — to Luther’s own surprise — a crisis arose. Luther wrote his 95 theses in Latin in order to start a discussion with his colleagues at the University of Wittenberg about the indulgences trade, a practice which brought the church of the 16th century a great deal of money. Ecclesiastical punishments were imposed on the people, and no one could escape this regime. Many people thought by buying indulgences they could save their souls and secure a place in heaven. Luther knew very well that this was not the official teaching of the church. No Pope could impose or waive punishment other than that which he himself had imposed. But Luther criticised anyone who claimed that fines for the dying were valid in purgatory. In his theses he stated: “Ignorant and wicked are the actions of those priests who impose canonical penances on the dead in purgatory” (thesis 10). “This changing of the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory is quite evidently one of the tares that were sown while the bishops slept” (thesis 11). “In former times the canonical penalties were imposed not after, but before absolution, as tests of true contrition” (thesis 12). So in fact Luther was defending the church’s authority, and he was deeply disturbed that the ecclesiastical authorities thought differently. Division in the church was the last thing he wanted. He wanted to renew the church from within. In his own specific and pertinent way, Luther protested loudly against the trade in indulgences and other abuses in Roman Catholic theology and practice. Ordinary peopwle still had the idea that they could earn their eternal salvation with good works or buy it with money, and so they paid promptly. Luther knew that our eternal salvation is only in God’s hands and that it is impossible to pay an amount of money for it. But Luther also saw quite sharply how greed is the twin brother of money. Money is a good servant but a bad master, and the love of money is the root of all evil, even within the church. Three important texts Who was Martin Luther (1483-1546)? What was it that drove him? He was a gifted writer, that is for certain. In April 1518, he wrote a pamphlet about the indulgences: A Sermon on Indulgences and Grace.1* Within two years it was printed 22 times. This sermon has been seen as the start of the Reformation movement. In 1520, Luther produced twenty titles. Three of them were the most important and fundamental treatises — in Latin as well as in German — that characterized his theology of the Reformation. In August 1520, an open letter appeared: To the Christian Nobility of the 17 H. J. Selderhuis: De95 Stellingen (1517), in H. J.Selderhuis:LutherVerzameld, Deel I, Utrecht, Uit- geverij Kok, 2016,35-45. Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum, WA 1,233-238. 18 C.-J. Smits: Een preek over aflaat en genade: Stellingen over de vergeving van zonden (1518), in Selderhuis: Luther Verzameld, 1,112-121. Ein Sermon von den Anblass und Gnade, 1518, WA 1, 243-246, WA 1 630-633. 2017-2 Sárospataki Füzetek 21 33
