on this day, 1517: Martin Luther nails the “Ninety-Five Theses” to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.
The “Theses” called for a reformation of certain decadent practices amongst the clergy including selling indulgences and ultimately served as the catalyst that initiated the Protestant Reformation in Germany and around the world.
Luther maintained in the same document that inner spiritual repentance was needful for the real forgiveness of sins and that the external sacramental Confession alone was not sufficient. He argued that the ability to purchase an indulgence led Christians to shirk bona fide repentance for sin. These indulgences, according to Luther, discouraged Christians from performing acts of charity like almsgiving under the pipe dream that a certificate granted in exchange for a modest sum could serve as authentic spiritual tender. Implicit in Luther’s objection to the practice of selling indulgences was a rejection of the pope’s authority to grant them.
Interestingly, in his later writings—notably his “A Treatise on Good Works” and “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church”—Luther would advance the view of sola fide, or “faith alone,” which held, against the traditional Catholic view of fide et opera, which is, being interpreted, “faith and works,” that spiritual repentance before Christ alone was the necessary and sufficient condition for salvation. Adding good works on top of faith to achieve fide et opera was unnecessary, in Luther’s mature position. On this view, that Christians were refraining from performing works of charity as a result of opting instead to procure an indulges from the clergy would fail to constitute a substantial argument against the practice because merit of indulgences could be decided only on the basis of the inner stance of the believer anyway.
The “Ninety-Five Theses” were swiftly reprinted (Guthenburg’s printing press was instrumental in the spread of Luther’s ideas), translated, and promulgated throughout Germany and Europe and Luther’s call for limited reformation served as the spark that ignited the Reformation proper and all of the subsequent turmoil and proliferation of denominations within Christendom.
Some other key tenets of the Protestant Reformation aside from a rejection of both the sale of indulgences and the authority of the pope were:
the doctrine of sola scriptura, or “scripture alone,” which substantially dismissed the authority of the contemprary clergy as well the tradition of Biblical interpretation extending back to the Church Father in the first centuries after Christ in favor of an immediate attempt to Biblical exegesis on behalf of each individual believer
rejection of the tradition of clerical celibacy
questioning and often outright rejection of the importance of the Sacraments
Ultimately, the Reformation represents a decisive episode in what appears to be an evolutionary march towards the consolidation of the existential self—as an individual locus of moral and spiritual autonomy and responsibility—which been advanced through the trampling into dust of traditional forms.
In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor saints. Soon after, “All Saints Day” came to incorporate some of the traditions of Samhain and then later, elements of El día de los muertos. The word Halloween or Hallowe’en (“Saints’ evening”) is equivalent to “All Hallows Eve.” The word hallowe[‘]en comes from the Scottish form of All Hallows’ Eve (the evening before All Hallows’ Day). Even is the Scots term for “eve” or “evening,” and is frequently contracted to e’en or een. The holiday represents a carnivalesque atmosphere in which object and phenomena ordinary relegated to the fringe are placed front and center to be exalted and celebrated. Philosopher and intellectual historian Charles Taylor observes:
The intuition supposedly underlying these [carnivalesque festivals] is that order binds a primitive chaos, which is both its enemy but also the source of all energy, including that of order. The binding has to capture that energy, and in the supreme moments of founding it does this. But the years of routine crush this force and drain it; so that order itself can only survive through periodic renewal, in which the forces of chaos are first unleashed anew, and then brought into a new founding of order. As though the effort to maintain order against chaos could not but in the end weaken, tire, unless this order were replunged into the primal energies of chaos to emerge with renewed strength. Or something like this; it’s hard to get it entirely clear.
This is an apt description of Halloween. Have a listen to Jonathan Pageau's YouTube recent YouTube video on Halloween symbolism. He is basically say just this.