He launched the Reformation in 1517, preaching “sola scriptura,” or only the Bible for belief and practice. It was read in Latin, a language the common people didn’t know.Ī change began when a priest named Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Germany. They only heard the Bible read at church even then, they couldn’t understand it.
In the Middle Ages, people didn’t own Bibles. Today, we have many Bible translations in English to choose from, but that wasn’t always the case.