PROFESSOR PRICE
  • Blog
  • Megaregions
  • Courses
  • Trip Info
  • C.V. & Research
  • Transformational Ministry
  • Contact
    • About
  • French
  • Missional Church
  • Gospel & Culture
  • Global Diversity
  • History | Church of the Nazarene

Letter to Albert on the 95 Theses - The Best of Bainton's Biography of Martin Luther

10/31/2017

0 Comments

 
"General dissemination was not in Luther's mind when he posted the theses. He meant them for those concerned. A copy was sent to Albert of Mainz along with the following letter:

'Father in Christ and Most Illustrious Prince, forgive me that I, the scum of the earth, should dare to approach Your Sublimity. The Lord Jesus is my witness that I am well aware of my insignificance and my unworthiness. I make so bold because of the office of fidelity which I owe to Your Paternity. May Your Highness look upon this speck of dust and hear my plea for clemency from you and from the pope.'

"Luther then reports what he had heard about Tetzel's preaching that through indulgences men are promised remission, not only of penalty but also of guilt.

"'God on high, is this the way the souls entrusted to your care are prepared for death? It is high time that you looked into this matter. I can be silent no longer. In fear and trembling we must work out our salvation. Indulgences can offer no security but only the remission of external canonical penalties. Works of piety and charity are infinitely better than indulgences. Christ did not command the preaching of indulgences but of the gospel, and what a horror it is, what a peril to a bishop, if he never gives the gospel to his people except along with the racket of indulgences. In the instructions of Your Paternity to the indulgence sellers, issued without your knowledge and consent [Luther offers him [p.85] a way out], indulgences are called the inestimable gift of God for the reconciliation of man to God and the emptying of purgatory. Contrition is declared to be unnecessary. What shall I do, Illustrious Prince, if not to beseech Your Paternity through Jesus Christ our Lord to suppress utterly these instructions lest someone arise to confute this book and to bring Your Illustrious Sublimity into obloquy, which I dread but fear if something is not done speedily? May Your Paternity accept my faithful admonition. I, too, am one of your sheep. May the Lord Jesus guard you forever. Amen.'


"WITTENBERG, 1517, on the eve of All Saints

"'If you will look over my theses, you will see how dubious is the doctrine of indulgences, which is so confidently proclaimed.'

"MARTIN LUTHER, Augustinian Doctor of Theology'"

"[Cardinal] Albert [of Brandenburg and Victor of Mainz 1514-1545] forwarded the theses to Rome. Pope Leo is credited with two comments. In all likelihood neither is authentic, yet each is revealing. The first was this: 'Luther is a drunken German. He will feel different when he is sober.' And the second: 'Friar Martin is a brilliant chap. The whole row is due to the envy of the monks.'

"Both comments, wherever they originated, contain a measure of truth. If Luther was not a drunken German who would feel different when sober, he was an irate German who might be amenable if mollified. If at once the pope had issued the bull of a year later, clearly defining the doctrine of indulgences and correcting the most glaring abuses, Luther might have subsided. On many points he was not yet fully persuaded in his own mind, and he was prompted by no itch for controversy. Repeatedly he was ready to withdraw if his opponents would abandon the fray. During the four years while his case was pending his letters reveal surprisingly little preoccupation with the public dispute. He was engrossed in his duties as a professor and a parish priest, and much more concerned to find a suitable incumbent for the chair of Hebrew at the University of Wittenberg than to knock a layer from the papal tiara."
(Chapter V, The Son of Inquity, pp. 84-85)
Bainton, Roland. 1978. 
​
Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Nashville:Abingdon-Cokesbury Press. 
Original publication date: 1952.
​Reprint 2013. Also available on Audible and Kindle.

Available for free at: 
https://archive.org/details/hereistandalifeo005163mbp
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture

    Bio

    teacher, writer,
    talker, do-er

    Type Seven.
    ​
    Supposed Strengths:
    ideation, activator, strategic, learner, positivity

    Tweets by @JaMaPrice
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    August 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2020
    November 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014

    RSS Feed


    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Asia
    Autobiographical
    Bible
    Books
    Church
    Coffee
    COVID-19
    Diversity
    Film
    Folk Beliefs
    Holiness
    Intercultural Studies
    Luther
    Megaregions
    Microchurch
    Ordination
    Organic Church
    Public Library
    Road Trip
    Sci Fi
    Sci-Fi
    Skeptics
    Suggested Reading
    Theology
    Training Video
    Urban

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • Megaregions
  • Courses
  • Trip Info
  • C.V. & Research
  • Transformational Ministry
  • Contact
    • About
  • French
  • Missional Church
  • Gospel & Culture
  • Global Diversity
  • History | Church of the Nazarene