Ninety-five Theses

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The Ninety-five Theses or Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences is a list of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther, then a professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany. The Theses are retrospectively considered to have launched the Protestant Reformation and the birth of Protestantism, despite various quasi- or proto-Protestant groups having existed previously. The Theses aired contemporary theological misgivings about the theory and practice of indulgences and their relation to repentance, penance and papal authority. This was triggered by Catholic clergy who were selling plenary indulgences, which were certificates supposed to reduce the punishment in purgatory required for sins committed by the saved purchasers or their loved ones. In the Theses, Luther claimed that the repentance required by Christ in order for sins to be forgiven involves inner spiritual repentance rather than merely external sacramental...

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