Ninety-five Theses

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/ninety-five-theses

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. Who wrote Ninety-five Theses?Martin Luther
2. What is the date of disputation?October 31, 1517
3. What is the location of disputation?Castle Church, Wittenberg, Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany)
4. What were the Ninety-five Theses and why did Martin Luther write them?The Ninety-five Theses were a list of complaints about the sale of indulgences. Luther wrote them in 1517 to challenge the Church’s practices and spark a debate.
5. Why did Luther put the theses on the church door?He nailed them to the door to start a public discussion and make everyone see his ideas, especially on All Saints' Day when many people were gathered.

Indulgences: Certificates issued by the Catholic Church, promising remission of temporal punishment for sins.
Sola Fide: Latin for 'by faith alone,' a core Protestant doctrine asserting salvation through faith in God.
Sola Scriptura: Latin for 'by scripture alone,' a Protestant doctrine asserting the Bible as the sole infallible source of Christian doctrine.
Protestant Reformation: A 16th-century religious, political, intellectual, and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place the structures and beliefs that would define the continent in the modern era.