• Is Religious History of Any Benefit to You?
    The Watchtower—1987 | September 15

    • What the Sale of Indulgences Revealed

      “The Reformation started off with Luther’s fight against abuse in the sale of indulgences, seemingly a matter of practical significance only to the church,” remarks historian Gottfried Fitzer. “But in reality it revealed that ecclesiastical matters had become closely entwined with finance, economics, and politics.” Let us take a closer look.

      Prince Albert of Brandenburg acquired several influential positions in the church. He had to pay the Vatican the equivalent of about a quarter of a million dollars, financed by a bank loan. The pope appointed Archbishop Albert as his commissioner for indulgences for central Germany and allowed him half of the profits to repay his debts.

      Albert’s indulgence preachers canvassed effectively, assuring “total remission of all sins” and immediate release from purgatory. Strictly speaking, the church offered only remission from church penalties, but people believed that the indulgence letters would free them from all sin. Martin Luther was indignant and, in 1517, published his famous 95 theses, “out of love for truth,” as he wrote in the introduction.a

  • Is Religious History of Any Benefit to You?
    The Watchtower—1987 | September 15

    • a In modern times, Roman Catholic Church historians have asserted that Luther’s nailing of the theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517, is “a legend of history by the Protestant churches.” Uncontested, however, is the fact that he wrote a respectful letter to Archbishop Albert that day and enclosed a copy of the theses. Luther asked him to reprove his indulgence preachers and to cancel the instructions. The original letter still exists in the Swedish State Archives in Stockholm.