When Martin Luther pinned his 95 Theses to the Church's door, he would never have expected it to lead to the breakdown of Europe's unquestioned authority, the Catholic Church. Lutheranism would usher in a new religious age for Europe, breaking up the Catholic Church's centuries-old control and dividing Europe into religious factions. Luther's ideas would provoke centuries of religious wars and lead to massive amounts of religious persecution. At the same time, decades of warfare eventually gave way to some degree of religious pluralism - when that religion was a branch of Christianity, at least. So what exactly was Lutheranism and how did it gain such popularity?
Lutheranism Timeline
The below brief timeline indicates the key events that established Lutheranism in the 16th century whilst in conflict with the Roman Catholic church.
| Date | Event |
| 1517 | Martin Luther published the 95 theses on Wittenberg’s All Saints’ Church door. |
| 1520 | Pope Leo X warned Luther of excommunication. |
| 3 January 1521 | Luther refused to withdraw the 41 heretic sentences in his thesis. He was excommunicated. |
| 18 April 1521 | Luther appeared before the Diet of Worms who had the power to decide his fate. Prince Frederick III decided to protect Luther. |
| 25 May 1521 | The Edict of Worms declared Luther a heretic and an outlaw, calling for his punishment and apprehension. Anyone could kill Luther without consequence. Prince Frederick III intercepted Luther’s return journey to Wittenberg and gave him shelter at Wartburg Castle. |
| 1522 | Luther secretly returned to Wittenberg and began preaching his reformed theology, gaining popularity. Some government authorities supported Luther’s teachings and offered protection from Catholic forces. Lutheranism began to spread. |
| 1529 | At the Diet of Speyer, some German rulers supported Luther and voiced their opposition to the Diet’s majority Roman Catholic membership. Those who agreed with Luther’s proposal of Reformation were then known as Protestants. |
| 1530 | Holy Roman Emperor Charles V attempted to unite the religions of his subjects at the Diet of Augsburg. This failed, indicating that force was necessary. |
| 1546 | Charles V waged war on major Lutheran provinces, but he included his political authority with his religious motivation, which gained resistance from Lutheran princes. |
| 1547 | Charles V won the War of Schmalkald. |
| 1555 | Due to prince pressure and the growing Protestant movements, Charles drew up a treaty called the Peace of Augsburg. Charles agreed to establish the principle of 'cuius regio, eius religio' which meant that the ruler of a principality would determine its religion. |
Luther Catholic Church
Luther did not start out aiming to break away from the Catholic Church. On the contrary, Luther began as a devout Catholic priest. He joined a monastery aged 21 despite his family's disapproval. But despite his strong sense of faith, or perhaps because of it, Luther soon witnessed corruption within the Church and could not help speaking out about it.
Martin Luther Indulgences
His first target of criticism was the Catholic Church's sale of indulgences.
What were indulgences?
Indulgences were a way for Catholics to absolve their sins. Originally, it meant that if you did good deeds such as going on pilgrimage or giving charity, the pope would reduce the time they spent in purgatory. Purgatory was the place where Catholics believed the majority of people went to after death, waiting hundreds of years before they had been washed of their sins and allowed to enter heaven.
But in the 1300 and 1400s, indulgences changed from pilgrimage and charity giving to paying the Church. This commutation (paying in return for salvation) was heavily criticised by Luther.
Luther saw indulgences as a corrupt way for the Church to profit off religion. He argued that by selling salvation to the rich, the pope was profiting off something only God could control.
But what started out as suggestions for reform soon snowballed into a movement for a new type of Christianity. This would be Lutheranism.
Lutheran Beliefs
What did Luther believe in, other than not selling indulgences? Here are some core beliefs of Lutheranism.
| Belief | Explanation |
| Sola Scriptura | That only the Bible (the scripture) communicated God's word. This was in direct contrast to Catholicism where the pope was seen as a second source. |
| Sola Gratia | That humans could not buy indulgences or do charitable deeds to get salvation - salvation was in the hands of God. It was only through God's divine grace that humans could be saved. |
| Sola Fide | That faith in God alone was enough for humans to achieve salvation. Luther argued that if you had faith, charitable deeds came naturally, so there was no need for indulgences from the pope. |
| Holy sacraments | The sacraments were the holy rituals that all Christians were supposed to go through to deepen their bond with God. Luther only believed in 2 of the 7 sacraments, accepting baptism and the Eucharist. He rejected confirmation, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, marriage, and holy orders. Luther rejected them as they were not mentioned in the Bible, Luther's only source of God's command. |
| Priesthood of all believers | The idea that you did not have to be a special priest or bishop to understand the word of God. Luther argued that Bibles needed to be translated from Latin to more accessible languages, such as German, so everyone could access the word of God. |
| Rejecting the authority of the pope | As the Bible was the only source of authority, Luther rejected the power of the pope. He argued the pope and all the things 'wrong' with the Catholic Church were man-made superstitions, not grounded in the Bible. |
| Celibacy of the clergy | While Catholics believed that monks and nuns would never be married, Luther disagreed. He argued there was no Biblical basis for this idea. In 1525 he married Katharina von Bora. |
| Eucharist | This was the sacrament (ritual) performed during Mass (special prayers on Sunday, the holy day). Bread and wine would be eaten representing the body and blood of Christ. Catholics believed that this was literally and physically Christ's body, whereas Luther argued that it was through the act of eating that these foods became Christ's body. |
Luther worked with his colleague Philipp Melanchthon to develop the Protestant doctrine which formed the basis of the Protestant reformation. The recent invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press in 1440 allowed the two to distribute their theology quickly and widely. Lutheranism soon gained traction amongst critics of the Catholic Church.
Lutheranism is a branch of Protestantism that Martin Luther and his followers developed after Luther’s ex-communication from the Roman Catholic church in 1521. It favours the scriptures of the Bible over any other authority (such as the Pope).
Lutheranism became especially popular with the various princes who ruled the German lands. This was partly due to their faith, but partly due to the power they could gain by breaking off from the pope and the Roman Catholic Church. It meant religious taxes and affairs would be in their hands. It allowed them to indirectly reduce the power of the Holy Roman Emperor, then Charles V, who was appointed this title by the pope. As Emperor, he ruled over Germany as its monarch.
Fig. 1 Portrait of Charles V.
In 1555, after many years of fighting, Charles V was forced to tolerate Protestantism in his domain. He signed the Peace of Augsburg which allowed local princes or rulers to decide what religion their territory would follow. This helped Lutheranism spread across Germany, though the southern regions remained firmly Catholic.
Did you know? This divide exists even today in Germany. The northern region is mostly Protestant while the southern is mostly Catholic. However, the east side of Germany is firmly atheist. This is due to the Soviet Union's control of the region after World War Two.
Calvinism vs Lutheranism
Luther's radical message - that anyone could read and interpret the Bible - had unforeseen consequences. Other reformers agreed with Luther's message but came to very different conclusions about what the Bible said. This led to many splits within Protestantism, namely Calvinism in Switzerland.
Fig. 2 Portrait of John Calvin.
John Calvin was invited to lead the Swiss reformation in Geneva in 1541. Calvin’s preaching earned the Swiss branch of Protestantism the name of Calvinism. Calvin and Luther differed in their beliefs and so the Protestant cause in continental Europe was split between Calvinism and Lutheranism.
One of the key differences between Calvinism and Lutheranism was the issue of predetermination. Luther argued that everyone who was faithful to God could obtain salvation (meaning they could reach heaven). Calvin, however, took Luther's argument that salvation was not in the pope's hand but God's and took it further. If only God had the power to determine salvation, then human action had no consequence. Calvin believed that those who could be saved were pre-determined by God and no human action could change this.
Predetermination
The Calvinist belief that only those chosen by God were destined to go to heaven. This was predetermined before birth.
It took much longer for Calvinism to become accepted by the Holy Roman Empire. While Lutheranism was permitted by 1555, it was only in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia that Calvinism was tolerated. Lutheranism spread across Europe, mostly in Germany, the Baltics and Scandinavia. By contrast, Calvinism spread mostly to France, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, Poland, Germany and Eastern Europe.
Did you know?
Both Lutheranism and Calvinism reached America too, with the former arriving around 1620 with the Pilgrims and the latter in 1630 with the Puritans.
Anglican vs Lutheran
In many ways, the story of Protestantism in England was similar to Germany. The various German princes were drawn to Luther's ideas partly because it removed the power of the pope and boosted their own authority. Similarly, Henry VIII was drawn to Protestantism as it allowed him to get a divorce, which the pope had refused to grant him.
Did you know? Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had not produced an heir despite six pregnancies. She had only successfully given birth once, to Mary I.
In 1534, Henry VIII outlawed Catholicism in England because the Pope would not grant him an annulment for his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry was desperate for a male heir and so wanted another wife to produce a son. Henry VIII appointed himself the Supreme Head of the Church in England, starting the Anglican faith.
Fig. 3 Portrait of Henry VIII.
The Anglican church had similar Protestant beliefs as Lutheranism but came to be known as only half a Reformation in England. England had deep-rooted Catholic traditions and some of them remained, such as bishops and elaborate Church clothes.
Calvinists in England wanted to eradicate all traces of Catholicism in the Anglican church. When Henry VIII died in 1547 and was succeeded by his son Edward VI, these religious radicals became the Edward VI's guardians. This allowed the influence of Lutheranism and Calvinism to enter the English Church.
Did you know? When Edward VI died in 1553, his Catholic half-sister Mary changed the national faith back to catholicism. Elizabeth I took the throne in 1558 and reverted it back to Anglicanism.
So how Lutheran was the Anglican Church? Throughout this tumultuous period, Lutheranism was a model in Europe to observe but ultimately was not the starting point of Anglicanism. The English cultural adherence to Catholic traditions meant that the Anglican church was a reformation relatively separate to Europe at the time. The deep divisions between Protestant and Catholic Englishmen forced Elizabeth I to make a compromise between both traditions, shaping a church that was unique to England.
Lutheranism - Key takeaways
- Lutheranism began after Martin Luther published his 95 Theses in 1517. Though these Theses would later usher in the breakdown of the Catholic Church's authority over Europe, they originally aimed to reform the Church from within.
- Luther was excommunicated by the pope in 1521 for heresy. He began writing his own reformed religious ideas.
- Lutheranism followed the three principles of sola scriptura, sola gratia and sola fide, and emphasised the Bible as the only source of God's word.
- John Calvin led the Swiss reformation movement from 1541 and this branch of Protestantism became known as Calvinism.
- In England, Henry VIII created the Church of England in 1534. This branch of Protestantism had similar beliefs to Lutheranism but still had parts of the Catholic faith embedded.
Explanations 
Exams 
Magazine 
