Rebellious Religions

Words: 1373
Pages: 6

Rebellious Religions In the beginning to the middle of the fifteen hundreds religion played a big part in the way of life because everyone felt the need to fight for their own/unique beliefs. These documents share a common theme of making sure that God’s will comes before the people’s will. Majority of these articles is from one person’s perspective looking from the outside in at either a church or a certain person’s life and criticizing it in order to restore peace or stability in their beliefs. The document “Instructions for selling indulgences Albrecht of Brandenburg” was written by Albrecht of Brandenburg in 1517. Albrecht was the elector of Brandenburg was later pronounced the archbishop of Mainz from 1514 through 1545 and he was also …show more content…
Martin Luther wrote these ninety-five theses in Western Europe during the time the German Reformation was being introduced. Luther wrote these theses after being excommunicated from the church because of his difference his religious belief and how they did not line up with what the Pope and church believed. Luther had it out for the Pope after they got into it about their personal beliefs and the Pope cut him down right there by enforcing the excommunication. Martin decided to either call out the Pope directly or the church as a whole in each and every thesis that he wrote. The fifth theses states, “The Pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties except those which he has imposed by his own authority, or by that of the canons” (Document pack, 2). This is saying that the Pope has no authority to enforce any form of a penalty except for what he sees fit or that shows up in the canon catholic law. Luther is arguing at the fact that what the Pope sees fit does not always align with God’s punishment and is just heresy on the Pope’s part. The original catholic church gave the Pope free reign to say whatever he wanted and he abused that power by adding his own beliefs to God’s laws. One of the other thesis says, “Christians should be taught that while they are free to buy pardons they are not commanded to do so” (Document pack, 2). This is Luther calling out the Pope for him telling the people that giving money to the church is part of the law and will allow God to give grace to the people that do so. Luther is saying that giving indulgences is nowhere in the law and is the Popes way of asking for money to be given to the church. These points all relate back to the original argument stated in the beginning due to the fact this document supports free will to create their own idea and beliefs with the theme that God is above