The Reformation began with a discontent for the Catholic Church. People began to look for new religions which led to the Protestant Churches. Many Christians converted to the Protestant religion because the disagreed with the ideals of, and the corruption in, the Catholic Church. The Protestant religion is a branch of Christianity which holds many of the same rituals and ceremonies. Starting with Luther, there were many new religions that began to form, including Calvinism. They all tried to make reforms to what they saw was wrong with the standing Catholic church. From Luther to Calvin many people were influential on the church during the Reformation.
The need for a revision of the church was ignited in 1517 when Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on a church door. Almost immediately after the theses were found, they were translated into German and brought to the printing press. The theses were spread throughout Germany extremely fast. Luther was also against the selling of indulgences, so after he nailed the theses he began to burn indulgences in public. In 1520, Luther stated that money did not aid in salvation. Luther believed that God saw everyone as equal. He believed that man could only achieve salvation through true faith in God. Good works could only help a person, but it is faith that God will judge to grant salvation. By 1521, 30,000 copies of the theses were printed. At this point, the Holy Roman Emperor told Luther to come to a meeting. The Emperor told Luther to take back what he had said, but Luther said no because he did not feel it was right if he didn't follow his conscience. The Catholics became infuriated at Luther and tried to kill him. Saxony came to help him, and with their safety, Luther began to start his new church. He had the Bible translated into German. This translation of the Bible became a milestone in the production of modern German language.