Protestants: Obedient Rebel

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Armed with his new-found under standing of faith, Luther began to criticize the theology of indulgences in his sermons. His displeasure noticeably increased during 1517, when the Dominican John Tetzel was preaching throughout much of Germany on behalf of a papal fund-raising campaign to complete St. Peter's Basilica. In exchange for a contribution, Tetzel boasted, he would provide donors with an indulgence that would even apply beyond the grave and free souls from purgatory. "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings," went his jingle, "the soul from purgatory springs." To Luther, this was bad theology if not worse, and he promptly drew up his 95 theses.-Among other things, they argued that indulgences cannot remove guilt, do not apply to purgatory, and are harmful because they induce a false sense of security in the donor.

Boar v. Bull. Within a short time the German Dominicans denounced Luther to Rome as a man guilty of preaching "dangerous doctrines." A Vatican theologian issued a series of counter-theses, arguing that anyone who criticized indulgences was guilty of heresy. Initially willing to accept a final verdict from Rome, Luther began to insist on Scriptural proof that he was wrong—and even questioned papal authority over purgatory. During an 18-day debate in 1519 with Theologian John Eck at Leipzig, Luther blurted out: "A council may sometimes err. Neither the church nor the Pope can establish articles of faith. These must come from Scripture." Instead of offering him Biblical proof, Pope Leo X issued a bull demanding Luther's recanting—on pain of excommunication—that began: "Arise, O Lord, and judge thy cause. A wild boar has invaded thy vineyard."

In reply, the boar burned the bull. Luther had attacked indulgences with more than theological argument. In a calculated appeal to the growing spirit of German nationalism, his treatises complained that a soft and corrupt Rome was robbing Germany of its wealth. Within weeks after he wrote them, Luther's latest polemics were printed and circulated throughout the Holy Roman Empire. By 1521, when he was invited by Emperor Charles V to answer the charges against him at the Diet of Worms, the unknown friar had become a folk hero. There, Luther once more insisted that only Biblical authority would sway him. "My conscience is captive to the Word of God," he told the court. "I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither honest nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."

Revolt Against Rome. Excommunicated, Luther was saved from arrest and death by Elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, whose domains included Wittenberg, and given sanctuary at the lonely Wartburg Castle. Luther stayed for nearly a year, during which he translated the New Testament into German. Meanwhile, the revolt against Rome spread; in town after town, priests and town councils removed statues from the churches and abandoned the Mass. New reformers, many of them far more radical than Luther, appeared on the scene—Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich, the ex-Dominican Martin Bucer in Strasbourg, Thomas Munzer in Zwickau. More important, princes, dukes and electors defied the condemnation of Luther by giving covert support to the new movement.