Martin Luther publishes his theses against indulgences at Wittenberg; the Reformation begins.
Tagged: Catholic Christian Lutheran Reformed and Presbyterian
The Event
- Date
- 1517 (exact)
- Also called
- The 95 Theses
- Era
- Reformation; Standard ecumenical periodization
- Location
- Wittenberg
- Traditions
- Christianity
- Streams
- Lutheran, Reformed and Presbyterian, Catholic
- Key figures
- Martin Luther, Johann Tetzel
- Key texts
- Ninety-Five Theses
How the Tradition Tells It
The theses were a Latin academic disputation about indulgences, not a general protest against the church; the traditions read Luther's intent in 1517 very differently, from reformer within the church to founder of a new one.
Connections
- Jan Hus Burned at Constance; preceded_by_a_century
Primary Sources
- Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses
Secondary Sources
- MacCulloch, A History of Christianity (Allen Lane, 2009)
- González, The Story of Christianity, vols. 1–2 (Harper, 2010)
Provenance: HIST-0032; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-26.
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