Martin Luther

             As the result of a personal religious struggle, a German Augustinian friar, Martin Luther, launched the Protestant reformation of the sixteenth century. Luther's wise and kindly confessor, John Stupitz, directed him to the study of St. Paul's letters. Gradually Luther came to a new understanding of the Christian doctrine and of the Pauline letters. He came to believe that salvation comes not through external observances and penance but through simple faith in Christ. Martin Luther was lucky in the sense that he happened to be at the right place at the right time. He was a religious radial, a social reformer, and political conservative.
             Martin Luther was a religious radical in the sense that his main goal was to reform the church, and he was going to use any means necessary to accomplish his goal. He rejected clerical celibacy along with the other doctrines of the old church. He formed Protestantism, which had four main ideas: That a person achieves salvation through faith alone, religious authority resides in scriptures, the church is the people, and the highest form of church life is everyone (there is a merit in each church vocation). Many of these ideas that Luther had, differed from the Catholic views, causing many conflicts. A well-known difference was seen in communion. Catholics were taught to believe that they were eating the body and blood of Christ, this was called transubstantiation. While Protestants were taught that communion was symbolic, not to be taken literally, he called this consubstantiation. .
             "Every encounter Luther had with ecclesiastical or political authorities attracted attention. Pulpits and printing presses spread his message all over Germany. By the time of his death, people of all social classes had become Lutheran." "Luther's ideas attracted many preachers, and in such towns as Stuttgart, Reutlingen, Eisenach, and Jena, preachers became Protestant leaders.