Happy Reformation Day
10/31/2005 21:15 Filed in: Faith & Reason
On this day in 1517, German Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg touched off the Protestant Reformation. Nine times in the theses he repeated, "Docendi sun Christiani!" ("Christians must be taught!").
And on this same day in 1999, official representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Worldwide Lutheran Federation culminated a two-decade dialogue by signing a “Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification." The document set forth areas of new-found accord regarding the nature of justification as well as areas where disagreements still exist between the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions. In addition, both sides officially lifted anathemas pronounced upon one another over four hundred years ago.