Neither Catholic nor Lutheran. (Quaker, if it matters.) I notice they back off a bit, just he "affixed" them to a notice board. But the article cites no contemporary source for that (not surprisingly, since it is not a scholarly article and doesn't footnote much of anything.) Can you find a contemporaneous source to verify this? As we know, there are a LOT of things that history "knows" are true that, when really examined, turn out to be far from true -- either totally fictional or of doubtful provenance, neither proved true nor proved false.
For a delightful excursion in such things, I highly recommend Josephine Tey's "Daughter of Time."
OTOH, I can't remember where I read the article which said this was a myth. I remember it being a reputable source which was persuasive (maybe the New Yorker, maybe Atlantic Magazine, maybe something more scholarly -- I just don't recall). But the article was quite clear that there was no contemporary source which mentioned this, and that it seemed not to be mentioned until some time after the event, and then by those trying to elevate Luther.
Not that Luther wasn't an important figure, or that the evil (indulgences) he had been preaching against for some time weren't a true cancer on the Catholic church. But as to the nailing on the church door, well, where's the contemporary record? |
