to what extent did Martin Luther create the Protestant Reformation?

Answer 1

From what I recall there were all kinds of rumblings happening throughout Europe before Luther.
John Wycliffe in England, John Huss in Czechoslovakia, and John of Wessel in Germany were all martyrs against the Catholic Church

The Five Solas of the Reformation were estableshed by
Martin Luther, John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, John Knox

Sola Scriptura -- Only Scripture
Sola Gratia -- Only Grace
Sola Fide -- Only Faith
Solus Christus -- Only Christ
Soli Deo Gloria -- Only the Gloria of God

Not to mention the printing of Bible in the vernacular. They all had stuff they majored in. Martin Luther seems to be known more for the Sola Gratia and Sola Fide.

I guess you could check to see who was born first or who became more famous first. But they all kinda sprung up around the same time.

Answer 2

Actually, he never meant to start it--it came about because of a series of events he set in motion while still a loyal son of the Catholic Church, essentially the ONLY church in Europe at the time.

Luther nailed his famous 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg in order to debate them. One of the big problems at the time was the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church, a practice with which Luther disagreed, and this was the accepted way at the time to challenge your intellectual adversaries to hash out the matter.

Luther felt that salvation wasn't a matter of works, but one of faith and, most especially, the grace of God. Buying indulgences, to him, was like trying to purchase a place in heaven--either for yourself or a loved one, living or deceased.

This challenge caused a mighty stir, needless to say. Martin Luther was fortunate to have the protection of some powerful men in Germany, then a major part of the Holy Roman Empire, which enabled him to translate the Bible into German. Since he'd been declared a heretic for openly opposing the Catholic Church, he proceeded to work actively for reforms, and one of these was that the Bible should be available to all people in their own language, not Latin (John Wycliffe, an Englishman, had also espoused this idea about 150 years before, translating the Bible into English and sparking the "Lollard" movement in England).

Eventually Luther married and had six children, thus giving the precedent for a married clergy in what came to be called the Protestant churches.

Interestingly, though, Luther never wanted his followers to call themselves "Lutherans;" he preferred that they simply identify themselves as "Christians."

Answer 3

The concept of reformation began centuries prior to Luther, probably back as far as the 12th century. Dante was certain a reformer. Luther was nothing more than an implementer, implementing many of the thoughts of people like Erasmus

Answer 4

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