October 31

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Did Martin Luther Really Nail His 95 Theses to the Door? Probably Not.

Posted by on October 31, 2013 in General | Leave a comment

Not, anyway, according to the massive biography of Luther by Martin Brecht (3 volumes).  And not according to Luther or anyone who was there in those early days of the Lutheran Reformation (to always be distinguished from the Reformed Reformation commenced by Zwingli).  Indeed, as Alexander Schmidt points out, no one even suggested that the theses were nailed to the Church door before 1544.

As Alexander tweets

Oldest record that Luther nailed his 95 theses on church door is by his publisher Georg Rörer c 1544#Reformation pic.twitter.com/sdcTtwFgFT

church_door

So, the facts are, Luther never said he nailed anything to any door; and no one else said he did either, until decades later, when his publisher (and you know how publishers are- always interested in stirring interest in the latest tome) made the claim.

Real. History.

HT