In order to assess the value of the two words, Reformer and Revolutionary, one must accurately understand the meaning of each. A reformer, by all meanings of the word, is one who aims “to reconstruct, make over, or change something for the better; improve; to abandon or give up evil ways” (Webster 232). Similarly, but not identically, a revolutionary is one who incites “a sudden change in a system” (Webster, 235). Basically, as far as the Catholic Church is concerned, a reformer would have aimed to change objectionable practices for the better, whereas a revolutionary would have intended to completely change the way the Catholic Church was run. Luther’s motives must be carefully exam

Naturally, when his protest originated, Luther intended only to reform tainted practices of the Catholic Church (Daniel-Rops, 565). In his addresses, he questioned formally accepted practices, such as what people were eligible to be priests, and what made the priesthood any different from the common man (Luther, 529). He accused the Church of deceiving people by allowing them to believe that buying indulgences would free them from their sins (Luther, 524).

Obviously, there were other practices of the church that were worthy of some scrutiny, but for the most part, Luther condemned the sale of indulgences as the Catholic Church’s most despicable practice (Daniel-Rops, 554). In the early sixteenth century, the Church was in shambles. Church officials were practicing pluralism, in which they held more than one ecclesiastical office at once, and required funding, which they acquired from selling indulgences; a practice fully endorsed and supported by Pope Leo X (History, 461).

ined to determine not only what his intentions were, but what the outcome actually was.

In his address to the Christian nobility of the German nation, Luther compared the battle against the Catholic Church to the Biblical battle at Jericho. He assessed that there were three walls that needed to be torn down in the Catholic Church (Luther, 528). The first, he claimed, was the hypocrisy of the German papacy. He attested that although Priests were held in the highest religious esteem, they were not necessarily “Christian or ‘spiritual’” men (Luther, 529). Additionally, he argued, using strong Biblical facts, that anyone

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