Who was Martin Luther and what he did to religion?
Martin Luder was a lawschool student who obtained a Bachelor
Degree.
The Catholic Church convinced him to become a monk in their new
monestary at Wittenburg's Castle Church; which spearheaded the
Catholic goal of an Evangelical movement throughout Germanic
tribes. The Wittenburg Seminary was founded by the Barefoot Monks
and The Order of Saint Augustine of Hippo. Upon obtaining his
Doctorate of Catholic Theology, the Catholic Church changed his
name to Martin Luther as part of their sainthood process for those
who were Doctors of the Church. Martin Luther served the Catholic
Church as professor of Catholic theology at Wittenburg seminary, as
an Augustinian Monk.
The Dean of Catholic Theology, Andreas Rudolph Bodenstein von
Karlstadt, lead the Catholic Evangelical movement out of Wittenburg
Seminary (Castle Church) and was asked to appear at Rome to address
concerns. He instead, sent his most prominent pupil, Dr. Martin
Luther in his place. Dr. Martin Luther was astounded by the
herasies that he witnessed at the core of Western Catholicism
surrounding the Church of Rome.
He realized contradictions in how Catholic theology was being
taught to him in the seminary vs. how it was actually being
practiced by clergy in local congregations. He wrote his 95 Thesis
in Latin so that only clergy would be able to translate them; and
take note of his concerns over the integrity of the Church.
Someone, Latin speaking, got to it first and published it's
concerns before the clergy were able to be its first observers.
The Electors of Saxony appointed by the Holy Roman Empire agreed
with Dr. Martin Luther's assesment. They began the legal process of
establishing a charter for independent Catholic Churches that
wouldn't be loyal to the Church of Rome. Dr. Martin Luther was
turned-down for debates at Rome with clergy there, but they did
send a local German clergyman John Eke to debate Dr. Martin Luther
instead. Karlstadt and John Calvin also participated in some of
these debates. Many members of clergy sided with Dr. Martin Luther
and began translating an authoritative German Bible, which Dr.
Martin Luther lead and is sometimes called the Luther Bible with an
Apendix (Apocrapha) containing in total 73-books, same in number as
the Latin Vulgate. Unfortunately, Catholic Answers, and many other
websites deliberately missrepresent this fact and often present
false information to forward their cause against Dr. Martin
Luther.
The Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) was officially chartered
in 1530 by the Electors of Saxony against the will of the Holy
Roman Empire. A Papal Bull ordered an inquisition of those who
refused to acknowledge the authority of Holy Roman Empire over the
Catholic faith. A 30-Years War broke-out in the chaos and
confusion, fracturing, and splitting Catholic congregations;
forcing them into schism between local civil loyalty and loyalty to
the Holy See of Rome. Evangelical Protestants emerged and Reformed
Reformationist also emerged to combat the inquisitions lead by the
military against its citizens. The Ottoman Turks became a more
important threat to deal with and the inquisitions had to be
haulted to preserve the Holy Roman Empire from Islamic domination.
The Reformed theology congregations began establishing provincial
charters in 1559.
Theology was argued over extensively between Catholic,
Protestant, and Reformed congregations; to also include some
Radical-Reformers. These four core doctrines were also joined by
the British Empire under King Henry 8th who established the Church
of England (Angilcan-Episcopal). Five core doctrines were
established from traditional Catholicism: Catholic-Latin Rite/Roman
Rite (Roman-Catholic), Anglican-Episcopal, Protestant, Reformed,
and Radical. The Protestants are the smallest of these groups as
they were geographically closetest to the strength of the Holy
Roman Empire and Papacy; and have been persecuted heavily by modern
era Socialists and Communists. The Reformed tradition became the
largest in much of Europe and managed to pass laws by the late
1800's-early 1900's prohibiting the publication of Bibles with an
Apocrapha or Deuterocanon, reducing Westernized Bibles to 66-books,
nearly 400 years following Dr. Martin Luther's death (Catholic
Answers dishonestly leaves this information out of their
publications). Even the original King James Version (KJV) contained
all 73-books accepted by Roman-Catholics. American Lutherans
continued to use their German Bibles through the Great Depression
and were largely unaffected by the 66-books, until English
translations became necessary following a generational lack of
German speaking congregations. American Lutherans today have an
Apocrapha available as a companion to their English Bibles: KJV,
NKJV, NIV, or ESV; which brings the 66-books up to the full
73-books.
