The Reformation: Blessing or Curse?

Exactly 492 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg – or so Philipp Melanchthon tells us three decades later. This event is commonly seen as the spark that ignited the Reformation.

I’ve often asked myself whether the Reformation was mostly a curse or a blessing. Reformation was necessary at that time, yes, but the way it came about and all the horrors that followed …

I think it’s good to remember all of this and not celebrate Reformation Day as if it had been the only light after centuries of darkness. Such a picture, which is not unheard of in some Protestant circles, is certainly a very sad distortion of the past and does not bode well for the future.