The interpretation timeline

The Ninety-Five Theses

Luther's theses on indulgences, the document from which the Reformation is conventionally dated.

1517 Wittenberg

Reformation

c. 1500 – 1650
1517
Event
The Ninety-Five Theses

Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses against the sale of indulgences — the remission of the temporal punishment of sin, drawn from the treasury of the Church's merits — and the practices bound up with purgatory. The dispute became the spark of the Reformation.

Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.