It may be Halloween…but October 31 is also Reformation Day. On this day in 1517 a monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Thesis to the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. Luther was challenging what he saw as abuses in the selling of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church. Many think that by nailing his thesis to the doors of the church Luther was calling for a schism in the church. Actually his protest was not that nefarious. He was actually participating in the method of how issues were discussed in the day – sort of like blogging in the 1500′s. He intended his protest to reform the church not to split it. The result was the birth of the Protestant movement.
If you’d like to learn more about Luther, here’s a link to a great biography. If reading isn’t your thing there’s a movie out that does a pretty good job of summing up Luther’s life as a monk and his role in the reformation.
To celebrate this auspicious occasion, I’m sporting a “Luther is my homeboy” t-shirt and wishing folks a “Happy Reformation day”!
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