It is in this context that we must understand the publication of Martin Luther’s famous Ninety-Five Theses, an expression of outrage at the practice of indulgence selling that the author published in Wittenberg in the autumn of 1517. The Theses were a series of learned propositions pertaining to the state of the western church, prefaced with an invitation to all who disagreed to come and debate them with Luther.22 And they were designed for public consideration.
