Martin Luther. The voice of the outspoken.

After Martin Luther published his infamous 95 thesis, German-speaking lands began to change. The changes affected everyone religiously, culturally and politically in Europe and, eventually, the rest of the world.

Let’s discuss the religious changes first. Martin Luther is well known for his 95 thesis which criticizing the unbiblical acts of the Roman Catholic Church, the religious power of the time, for abusing indulgences, the act of selling redemption of sins. For Example, the church would offer time out of purgatory if charitable acts were done. The Church responded with the eventual excommunication of Luther.

This image depicts the act of selling indulgences. (A woodcut by Jörg Breu the Elder of Augsburg c1500)

However, this act did not stop Luther. He continued to publish his beliefs and created a large following. He went on to translate the Bible from Greek and Hebrew to German so that anyone could read it. This was one of the biggest points in the reformation because it enabled faith to become personal. This ultimately led to the formation of the Protestant church’s formation and the inspiration of Calvinism.

This is the cover of Martin Luther's translated bible. Printed around 1545

Another way that Luther affected German-speaking lands was through the culture. With the reformation, society began to function on its own, without instruction from the church. Welfare systems started as people started to divert the money that they would give to the church to programs to help the poor.

During the Reformation, several influences came into place. This is called the counter-reformation. This brought the influences of southern Europe into Catholic Germany where theatre, painting and architecture began to flourish. To the north, Protestant Germany began to focus on music, language and literature. Many of these influences are still present today!

Finally, the reformation affected the politics of German-speaking lands. People began to question the place of religion in Politics. Eventually kingdoms grew after taking full control of their lands as the church often acted to stop absolute control. This enabled Europe to become fragmented with kingdoms that identified as catholic or protestant. Within those kingdoms, capitalism, science and democratic ideals were growing into what would become the modern day Democracy.

This map shows how fragmented Europe was during the Reformation.

Overall, Martin Luther played a very major role in what made German-speaking lands what they are today. His works affected religion, politics and the very culture of the lands that it reached. Without Luther, the world would be predominately Catholic today. We can thank Luther for setting in motion for what made Europe, and consequently the rest of the world, what it is today.