CATHOLIC REFORMATION RESEARCH IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Keywords:
CATHOLIC REFORMATIONAbstract
The Catholic view of Martin Luther had been marked by polemics for
centuries. Approaches to a re-evaluation are only apparent in the 20th
century. They are connected with a discovery of Luther’s renewal of
the Church by Catholic theologians. A milestone was the study by
Joseph Lortz on “The Reformation in Germany” (1939). 1961
controversy triggered, when Erwin Iserloh deconstructed the myth of
the fixing of the 95 theses. In the 1970s and 1980s, research focused on
the development of religious denominations in the 16th century that led
to different forms of life and religious cultures. Today Luther is seen
and evaluated in ecumenical perspective in his spiritual dimension.
The beginnings of the Reformation are therefore important landmarks
for a theological view of Luther and his fundamental concerns, which
are common to the Catholic and Protestant Churches.
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