Martin Luther was a revolutionary thinker born during the latter part of the fifteenth century in Catholic Germany. During this time the papacy in Rome was growing in stature and in corruption. Pope Leo X was working on the St. Peter's Basilica and was being creative in its financing. In order to accomplish his goals he needed more money and he received the answer to his prayers in the form of indulgences, and their sales. This is partly the trouble with the Catholic faith during this time. In order to accomplish earthly good the Pope believes that it's okay to be somewhat corrupt in its financing. This is seen by Martin Luther to be an atrocity of the church and he forms a very different opinion of indulgences than that of the Pope. Martin's ideas were radical for their time and place. He thought that salvation was a gift, everyone should read the Bible, and that the laity was just as important as the clergy in their worship. This was a very different view from the !
             standard Catholic's idea that the clergy was there to pray for and interpret the Bible and its rules for the common man. Another place where the Catholics and Luther differ is the idea of salvation. In his point of view Luther sees salvation as a gift bestowed on any man for his religious faith and not what he did and the Catholics believed that anyone could get to heaven be doing good things, buying indulgences, and by allowing the clergy to interpret the Bible. The Reformation takes place in the middle of these differences. Martin Luther affected society by changing the accepted ideas of leadership and power, the education of the common man, and what the people should expect for their faith and money. Luther did this in such a way that the consequences of this are still being felt in Europe and around the world.
             Luther took his view of how salvation and faith are determined right from the Bible. He said that the only way for a per...