OK. Let me state my position, as being Catlick, I'm no particular defender of Luther, but there's a huge amount of mythology about the events under discussion, but the pinning of the theses to the door is no part of that!
I think one has to sift the facts carefully. In the case of the Reformation, I think there's more myth-making going on than most realise, and that has distorted the question of the pinning of the theses, making something big of something relatively trivial.
But let me add this: In 2006 a document was found in a university library with a note by George Rorer, Luther's secretary, who mentions in a private note that the 95 theses were pinned "
on the folding-doors of the churches" (Franz Posset,
The Real Luther, p. 23). Rorer was not at Wittenberg in 1517 either, but I would say it safe to assume he asked Luther about the start of it all.
Consider:
From 1509, Luther taught philosophy and then theology at Wittenburg University.
In those days, there wasn't a fixed curriculum. Students chose which lectures they attended, and they paid to attend. Luther was a member of the Augustinian Order, but he would derive an income dependent on how many students he could attract. This went to his order, but the more students meant better posts at better universities ...
If you want to propose a lecture, you would post your thesis – the lecture subject – where the student body would see it. At Wittenberg, as elsewhere I think, you pinned it to the doors of the churches serving the Faculty of Theology. That was the way students found out who was lecturing where, on what. It was the equivalent of the university noticeboard or intranet.
Where the mythology kicks in:
Today people see this as the start of the Reformation. In fact it was nothing like that at all. Luther was a loyal Catholic who wanted to see certain abuses cleared up. This was brought to focus by the Dominican preacher Tetzel, who was selling indulgences, if the popular understanding is to be believed, like a 'get out of jail free' card. I'll not bore you with the fine detail, but suffice to say that while Luther was happy with the doctrinal position on indulgences, he was not happy with what Tetzel was saying, and indeed Tetzel was criticised by the Church authorities, and his crusade was brought to an end.
The point here being that Luther was not declaring war on Rome. Pinning the theses to the door was no big deal, no sensational event ... it was a commonplace. It's what you did. So common,
it was not worth talking about.
Timeline is all important:
Let's look at what M. says:
... venal indulgences were promulgated by Tetzel, a friar of the Dominican order and a most audacious sycophant; at the same time, Luther, who was ardent in the pursuit of holiness, being irritated by his impious and nefarious harangues, published his own propositions on the
subject of indulgences, which are to be found in the first volume of his works; these he affixed to the church contiguous to the castle of Wittemburg,
on the day before the festival of Allsaints, (sic) in the year 1517. (
A history of the Life and Actions of the Very Reverend Dr. Martin Luther, Faithfully Written by Philip Melancthon)
Read it, it's really interesting.
So what M is saying is that Luther
made public his position on the matter of indulgences against Tetzel's exaggerations, to bring about a debate and hopefully silence the Dominican. He was not against indulgences
per se – that is a popular myth (!) – he supported the official Catholic teaching on indulgences, but rather he was against what he understood to be Tetzel's far-from-orthodox preaching on the matter.
Luther wanted a public debate on the matter. He wanted the issue discussed at the university. If I were Luther I'd know that the pope's not going to do anything, because Tetzel is raising money for his pet project. And my archbishop isn't, because who wants to make waves? So either there is a public debate, or I shut up. (Reading on, it's Tetzel who escalates the debate by attacking Luther as well as pushing the sale of indulgences.)
Oct 1517: Luther 'pins his theses to the door'.
May 1518: 50 theses under Tetzel’s name (but composed by the theologian Konrad Wimpina) proclaimed against Luther.
Oct 1518: Luther questioned by papal legate Cardinal Cajetan (who had condemned Tetzel's errors!). Luther now stated that he did not consider the papacy part of the biblical Church because historistical interpretation of Bible prophecy concluded that the papacy was the Antichrist! This was way beyond the 95 theses! Luther's interpretation of prophecy re the Antichrist became the controversy and the hearings degenerated into a shouting match. The theses are forgotten, Luther is now an enemy of the Pope and the Church.
June-July 1519: The Leipzig Debate. Johann Eck OP challenges Andreas Karlstadt to a public debate concerning Luther's teachings on the doctrines of free will and grace.
Luther arrives in July at the invitation of Eck. Luther and Eck expanded the terms of the debate, to discuss purgatory, the sale of indulgences, the legitimacy of papal authority. Luther bested by Eck who ends up admitting heresy, rather than backing down. He also declares
sola scriptura (scripture alone) was the basis of Christian belief and that the Pope had no power as he was not mentioned in the Bible.
The debate led to Luther's excommunication from the Catholic Church by the Pope in June 1520.
That's the turning point.
1520: Luther publishes three books, all with an anti-Catholic sentiment.
Jan-May 1521: Diet of Worms invites Luther to recant, but Luther's journey to Worms was welcomed enthusiastically in all of the towns he went through. Suffice to say, he did not back down.
Luther and his supporters leave. The emperor imposes an Imperial Act declaring Luther an outlaw. On the trip home Luther is 'kidnapped' (he knew about it beforehand). This allows Luther to disappear for a while. This also allows Friedrich of Saxony to hide him away without himself coming under charges of protecting an outlaw and heretic.
I would say that Luther's heated debate with Cardinal Cetejan was the crucial turning point with regard to the Reformation, not his announcement of a theological discussion about a Dominican's sales patter ... his clash with Cetejan set Luther head-to-head with the Pope, hence the shouting match.
The content of the 95 theses was certainly a point of discussion, but pinning them to the door? Nah, that's not at issue. That's just the way the stuff got 'out there', there was no crime in that.
I think Juantoo3's finger and the moon analogy fits here ... too much is made of the pinning to the door as some kind of act of defiance. It never was, that bit, that the act was a declaration of war, that's a myth.
All history seems to be concocted round the fire, as far as you're concerned, I've never heard you talk of any other process.