Martin Luther
Martin Luther (German reformer who sparked the Protestant Reformation with the Ninety-Five Theses): Martin Luther was an Augustinian monk and professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg whose 1517 Ninety-Five Theses against papal indulgence sales ignited the Protestant Reformation. Experiencing his 'tower discovery' (Turmerlebnis) in Romans 1:17 , Luther realized that the righteousness of God is not an active standard that condemns, but a passive gift given freely by grace through faith in Christ (*sola fide*). It is closely linked with Philip Melanchthon (Intellectual systematizer of Lutheranism and author of the Augsburg Confession): Philip Melanchthon (*Praeceptor Germaniae*, 'Teacher of Germany') was professor of Greek at Wittenberg and Martin Luther's closest theological collaborator. He published the first systematic theology of the Reformation, *Loci Communes* (1521), and authored the foundational *Augsburg Confession* (1530) and its *Apology* (1531).
