How Did Martin Luther Contribute To The Reformation

Martin Luther played the most important role in the Reformation. His actions not only changed Christianity, but also had a huge effect on Europe, which we can see even today. To understand why Luther wanted reform we must look at what happened before the events of 1517, when he protested the sale of indulgences (an indulgence was the act of praying or giving money to the church, so you would spend less time in purgatory). Around the 1500’s the Church was very powerful due to the money they collected from taxes and also the land they owned, because they owned 20 per cent of all the land in Germany and 25 per cent of all the land in England. Since the church was this rich many people wanted to become priests or monks to gain control of the Church’s
wealth rather than to serve the people. This led to four main abuses in the church: Simony, Nepotism, Absenteeism, Pluralism. Simony was the act of buying or selling church positions. Nepotism was the act of appointing relatives to important Church positions even if they were not suitable for them. Absenteeism was when a bishop or priest wasn’t living in the place he was appointed to serve. Pluralism was the act of holding more than one church position at the same time. Also many priests were not suitable for their role, because they didn’t know basic things about their Christianity. Because of this people were disappointed with the Church, that’s why they started questioning the Church and their actions. All it took now was one man with strong principles to take action and change the fate of Christianity forever.