A branch of the Christian Church founded in the early sixteenth century by Martin Luther. Luther was Professor of Theology at the small German University of Wittenberg. He grew outraged at the ChurchΓÇÖs abusive practice of allowing people to pay sums of money to obtain absolution from the punishment for sin which Christians believed was in store in the after-life. In 1517 he protested against this practice and other abuses which he perceived in the church at the time. the resultant revolution removed most of northern Europe from the control of the Papacy.
LutherΓÇÖs central tenet was that salvation was obtained, not by obedience to the doctrines of the church, but by GodΓÇÖs personal intervention in the life of an individual. Thus human beings have no part in their own salvation, except insofar as they must have faith in GodΓÇÖs love. This teaching is the basis of most Protestant doctrine.
Luther was himself a composer. He made the congregational singing of hymns a central feature in the Lutheran service, where it still holds equal importance with the sermon.
