Martin Luther (1483-1546) is a familiar figure to many in the West. He was the first of the Protestant Reformers, reacting against the excessive practices of the Roman Catholic Church. This was the first challenge to Rome's authority in its more-than-1,000-year history.

    The church had begun to sell indulgences to finance the construction of a new church (St. Peter's, the Church's headquarters) in Rome. In Catholic theology, although one's sins are forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ, one must still be punished in a place called "Purgatory" (from the base word "purge," to cleanse or remove the negative things).

    Properly speaking, one can reduce one's punishment through good works. But in Luther's time, the Church had decided that cash donations were good enough, with a fixed price for each sin.

    Luther felt (as the Church does today) that this was wrong. So he made a list of 95 propositions or "theses" outlining his objections, and sent them to his bishop. (More dramatically, tradition says he nailed them to the door of the church at Wittenberg, though modern scholars doubt this.)

    This is the Luther that most people know of today. But his writing of the "The 95 Theses" hints at another Luther: a prolific writer. He wrote sermons, tracts, theological papers, a translation of the Bible into German (still used in a revised version today), and, perhaps surprisingly, poems which were set to music as hymns. He even played along with them on the lute!

    In his day, the primary language of the Church was Latin. By translating the Bible, teaching and writing, and encouraging the singing of hymns all in German, Luther brought the Church's teachings to the masses.

    Luther's church today has split into many "bodies"--on some lists, nearly 200, with around 40 in the U.S. alone. Some of these are "national churches," official state churches of countries like the Church of Denmark, the Church of Norway, the Church of Sweden, and the Church of Iceland. Lutheranism is the third largest Protestant denomination.

    Vocabulary: Which word above means:

    1. disagreements, complaints

    2. religious (or political) pamphlet

    3. pay for

    4. group of churches which agree on main points

    5. main offices of a business or other institution

    6. too much

    7. statements to be discussed

    8. an old stringed instrument, similar to a guitar

    9. teachings given during a church service

    10. songs sung in church

    ANSWERS: 1. objections 2. tracts 3. finance 4. denomination 5. headquarters 6. excessive 7. propositions 8. lute 9. sermons 10. hymns