Exhibit 398

Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (the Ninety-Five Theses)

Exhibit 398 · Academic disputation (theses)

Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences (the Ninety-Five Theses)

Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?

Ninety-five propositions for academic debate. Theses 27-28, 42-51, 56-57, 66-67 and 82-86 address money: the sale of pardons, the poor, the preachers and the pope's wealth. English translation by Jacobs and Spaeth, Works of Martin Luther (Philadelphia: A. J. Holman, 1915), vol. 1, pp. 29-38.

Source: Martin Luther, University of Wittenberg
Date: 31 October 1517
Quoted from: Thesis 86 (Holman/Jacobs-Spaeth transl., 1915, vol. 1, pp. 29-38)
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/274/pg274.txt
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit

Cited by

Finding REL-1.8: Primary record The Ninety-Five Theses of 31 October 1517 raise money questions: why the pope's wealth does not build St. Peter's (thesis 86), that giving to the poor does better than buying pardons (theses 43 and 45), that the pope, if he knew the exactions of the pardon-preachers, would rather see St. Peter's go to ashes than have it built with the flesh of his sheep (50), and that the treasures of indulgences are nets to catch the riches of men (66).