Martin Luther

When the late medieval period of the thirteenth century began to merge with the revival of classical learning and opened, by the time of the sixteenth century, into the Renaissance, a whole range of reforms and innovative thought had begun to emerge in the European culture. Hayes, et al., refer to "what modern historians often call the 'renaissance of the twelfth century'"(Hayes, et al. 239). The later Renaissance--more exactly the late Middle Ages that culminated in what is now considered the Renaissance--can be interpreted partly as a response to the strands of thought that emerged in the earlier period. This is not least because the Renaissance was coincident with the Protestant Reformation, which marked the departure from the unitary Age of Belief, culturally and religiously dominated by the Roman Catholic Church.

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n. Until it is paid soul and salvation are not reconciled, i.e., the soul and God are not reconciled. Accordingly, the indulgence is meant to relieve that punishment. Given the soteriological implication of indulgence, to grant an indulgence is to intervene in what stands between sinner and God. This intervention option was appropriated by the Church as its "spiritual treasury," a means of "giving us a share in the merits of the Blessed Virgin and of the saints" (Kinkead 193, 195). One does not have to be an opponent of the very concept of institutional intervention in the divine mystery of salvation to appreciate Luther's view of the market orientation of such intervention and his refutation of what had become the routine sale of indulgences (as well as the doctrinal concept of a spiritual treasury) by specific reference to scripture, not such sales, as the ground of salvation. Oberman quotes from Theses 62-66 in this regard: The true treasure of the church is the most holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God. But this treasure is naturally [merito] most odious, for it makes the first the last. [Mark 9.34; Matt. 20.16] The treasure of indulgences, on the other hand, is very acceptable, for it makes the last the first. Therefore
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Approximate Word count = 4006
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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