The Reformation · 1517
The Ninety-Five Theses
Disputatio pro declaratione virtutis indulgentiarum
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
What it is
Ninety-five propositions for academic debate, questioning what indulgences can actually do, what the pope's power over purgatory amounts to, and whether a Christian's whole life is not meant to be repentance.
Why it lasted
A technical academic notice that, printed and translated within weeks, became the opening act of the Reformation. Few short documents have done more.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
This work is in the public domain and can be read in full, free, at the archives below. The Library catalogues it; it does not host the text.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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