Martin Lindberg's The Late Medieval Church

The Late Medieval Ages are characterized as a series of events occurring concurrently that expressed a crisis of the symbol of security pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church. The Medieval Church had total control over the people who, regardless of social standing, believed in the existence of God, heaven, and hell. According to the document Lindberg provided, the people were instructed from an early age that only through the Roman Catholic Church were they allowed to be received into the light of God and entrance into heaven (The European Reformations Sourcebook, 9). Lindberg’s The European Reformations Sourcebook identifies contemporary accounts or documents, which express the late Medieval Church, the Church’s problems, and the fulfillment of reforms. Martin Luther, with his radical
writings, spawned the reformation that would separate Europeans for centuries to come and beg the question was the church hierarchy and organization truly necessary if everyone had a God given right of salvation by God alone and not the clergy or even the pope? These documentations help formulate the subsequent problems with the Late Medieval Church, Martin Luther’s proposals to fix these ensuing issues surrounding the Church, and the changes that Luther believed would ensure better guidance of ordinary Christians.
The arrival of the Black Death around 1350 C.E. instigated the calls for a church reform as the common view of the time was that the plague was a judgement by God upon the sins of humankind. Various other issues arose during this time such as famine, rapid social changes, urban development, and ecclesiastical corruption. In response to the plague and the mass amount of deaths, it was evident that there was an erosion of the social and religious customs or norms such as the traditional religious rites that allowed for the church’s development of purgatory. The development of purgatory, an exit to heaven that one had to endure for a specific time to pay penance for sins committed in the temporal world, established demoralization amid the Medieval Church. The church allowed the purchase of indulgencies to supplement papal financial insecurity, wherein people would pay to get relieved of purgatory quicker, thus increasing church profit and enabling corruption within canon law. Lindberg provided the document Vadiscum oder die Romishe Dreifaltigkeit, which bestowed a representation of the corruption that Rome exemplified “… things that Rome holds dear: the authority of the pope, … and the indulgence trade.” (The European Reformations Sourcebook, 8).
Another huge problem that the church faced was the western schism and conciliarism, both of which helped to perpetuate religious insecurity. These issues facilitated religious ambiguity due to there being two popes, Pope Urban VI and Pope Clement VII, both of which were simultaneously elected and considered to hold Papal authority concurrently. The church was considered an agency concerned with leading their people to salvation. The belief of the time, instigated by the church, was that pilgrimages to holy places or heavenly cities and the collection of Saints’ bones or other relics would reduce the time a person spent in purgatory thus allowing for secure salvation of people in an intensely uncertain temporal world. Reforms were not considered doctrinal, however, the calls for said reforms were based on anticlericalism and salvation insecurity due to the ever-increasing corruption that was evident within the church and those who had church authority along with social and religious changes that arose within Medieval Europe. Martin Luther proposed to amend the expanding malfeasance and problems associated with the church and inevitably with religious life and guidance of the ordinary Christian people. Luther’s movement of a reform within the church was in response to the sale of indulgencies and the claims of salvation that the church provided as Luther believed, according to Luther’s Conversion, that salvation derived from justification by faith (The European Reformations Sourcebook, 25). Luther wanted to separate from the church’s religious fanaticism that was exemplified by ritual, symbolism, and the corrupt dogma of church authoritarians. Luther produced his Ninety-Five Theses as a theological or academic debate on the sale of indulgences and other grievances against the church such as Papal abuses of church finances for personal gain or esteem. Luther proposed to address the authority of the Pope as the main issue within the church given that the Pope had complete temporal power over the laity, churchmen, and the entirety of Christendom, which can be seen in the document Luther: The Ninety-five Theses that Lindberg provided within his work The European Reformations Sourcebook. Luther states within his theses the dangers of total power of the pope where he expresses that no pope or agent of the pope has authority over heaven and therefore can only assign temporal penance for sins committed. Luther further stated within the theses the authority of the Pope is only extended to the living as only God has total authority following death, and Luther warns against the errors of the indulgences given that man is absolved of all penalty according to the indulgence, which according to Luther is a factitious belief. Luther also suggested that the pope should use his own money in the continued building of St. Peter’s Basilica rather than using the money of the laity (The European Reformations Sourcebook, 30). Martin Luther, as a reformer, established changes in regards to the guidance that the church provided to ordinary Christians. Luther believed in a universal education of scripture. This belief is evident by his translation of the Bible into German that was published. Although his translation was not the first, it was superior to the other translations given that Luther made sure to have the translation as close to its original context as possible. Luther also denied the seven sacraments of the Roman Church and declared there to only be two sacraments within scripture, thus the church had been insisting upon unnecessary religious ceremony that had no relevance in Holy Writ (The European Reformations Sourcebook, 37-39). In conclusion, the late Medieval Church enabled the reforms proposed and eventually executed by Martin Luther and his followers by allowing the purchase of salvation via indulgences, ecclesiastical corruption, and the overpowering authority of the pope that included vast control over all of Christendom.
Martin Luther made radical statements challenging Papal authority, the deliverance of relief of purgatory via a monetary gain by the church, and exposing the corrupt dogma that exemplified the Roman Catholic Church. Luther, after stating the errors of the church, established what he believed was justification by faith. Luther reduced the amount of sacraments to those that were plainly supported by scripture verses the church’s use of sacraments by conjecture, he denounced the sale of paradise, and propounded that the Bible was the true religious authority, whereas, the church gave authority to a fallible man. Furthermore, Luther’s original intent was not to initiate a reformation, but was to allow for academic debate. Luther found questions regarding the church and theological misconduct that would force him to separate from the church in Rome and establish
Protestantism.