October is my favorite month–maybe because the weather and the leaves change (and I celebrate another birthday). It’s also the month of the Protestant Reformation and Halloween. Martin Luther chose the date wisely for nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg.
“Martin Luther is said to have posted his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church (also called Castle Church) on October 31, 1517. This was the eve of All Saints’ Day, or All Hallows’ Day (the origin of the name “Halloween”). It was a time when Christians were particularly focused on their dead. The unfortunate thing was that, by Luther’s time, there was tremendous confusion about just what happened to believers after death – ultimately moving Luther to address the misconceptions associated with the afterlife.”
To learn more about The Protestant Reformation and its connection to Halloween, visit the Crosswalk link above.
Without printing, would there have been a Protestant Reformation?
“I was reminded of the importance of the Bible to the Reformation from an unlikely source several years ago. Victor Hugo wrote the following historical commentary during one of the rather frustrating plot lapses in The Hunchback of Notre Dame:
“The sixteenth century shattered religious unity. Before printing, the Reformation would just have been a schism; printing made it a revolution. Take away the printing press and heresy is enervated [weakened, destroyed]. Be it fate or providence, Gutenberg was Luther’s precursor.”
Find the complete article about Luther & Gutenberg at Church Works Media
“In light of the history of both Halloween and the Reformation, it seems appropriate during this time to remember and rejoice over those who have died in Christ, both heroes of the faith and loved ones – for in biblical terms, all Christians are called “saints” and the blessing of heaven awaits us after death (until God gives us new glorious bodies to live on a new earth).”
~from Crosswalk
As we head into the month of Thanksgiving and gratitude, from an author point of view, I’m so grateful for the printing press invention that allows our words to go out to the world.
Copyright 2022, Lynn U. Watson, Revised 2024
Photos from Pixabay