Lutheranism

The German friar Martin Luther, whose Ninety-five Theses of 1517 attacked abuses such as the sale of indulgences, began the Reformation. Johann Eck first used the name Lutheran as an insult at the Leipzig Debate of 1519.

Lutherans hold that a sinner is justified by grace alone through faith alone. They keep much of the older liturgy and give the Eucharist a central place. Their doctrine was set out in the Augsburg Confession of 1530.

Prussia made Lutheranism its state church in 1525. Gustav Vasa of Sweden took the national church under the crown at the Diet of Västerås of 1527, and Denmark–Norway under Christian III adopted it in 1536. After the Schmalkaldic War of 1547, the Peace of Augsburg of 1555 secured Lutherans legal recognition in the empire.