Luther: Similar, Yet Deemed Very Different
             The Middle Ages were marked as a time of religious corruption within the Catholic Church. A scenario was created in which the church followers became very disenchanted. The Great Schism, as well as corrupt popes such as Alexander VI (1492-1503), led to an undermining of the Church. People saw in Luther a moderate leader that embodied their ideas for reform. His movement did away with the religious hierarchy that the people so dreaded, allowing a personal connection to God, without middlemen. Although many leaders of the time found his ideas radical, several of his beliefs were in fact very similar to those of the Roman Catholic Church.
             Luther's dissolving the seven sacraments down into two, was a radical act. The seven sacraments acted as one of the most fundamental parts of the Roman Catholic Church. They created man's spiritual link to God. Man was able to, both, eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ during the Holy Eucharist, according to the Catholic Church. In Luther's writings titled, "the Babylonian Captivity of the Church," from the Manifestos of the 1520s, he heavily challenges the Sacraments. He begins his passage speaking about the Eucharist and explains his opinion that on the altar, "there is real bread and real wine" (Documents Reader, Odin Reader no. 2454, pg. 40), hence denying the flesh and blood of Christ, the Catholic Churches' most holy sacrament. Luther's denial of the Seven Sacraments was radical for one reason. The Sacraments were tools in which everyone in the community found use. When Luther denied the power of the Pope, many attested, but still others exalted as several !
             disliked the tyrannical power the Pope held. When Luther denied the truth within the Sacraments, each separate denial affected and angered a different social area. All social classes, including the peasants, were able to reap the benefits...