Throughout history, individuals have risen up and become powerful figures in different aspects of life. Martin Luther, creator of the Protestant religion in 16th century, was one of those individuals. In addition to Martin Luther, another admirable individual was Jean Baptiste Colbert in the 17th century, creator of a branch of mercantilism, colbertism. Both individuals impacted the cultural and historical development of the region that they were in.
To begin, Martin Luther, a German monk, showed opposition to the Roman Catholic Church in many of his actions. He was compelled to reform the Roman Catholic Church soon after seeing Tetzel sell indulgences. In 1517, he posted the 95 theses, or in other words, 95 problems that the church had previously failed to correct in their practices. He displayed the church as extremely corrupt, and discussed how priests exhibited inappropriate behavior. This action of Luther’s sparked the Protestant Reformation, when Europeans broke away from the Catholic Church and created new churches as a part of a new religion, Protestantism. One of Luther’s main beliefs was, “Faith alone will save you.” In contrast to the church, Luther believed that people could only reach heaven by having faith in God. The Bible was the only source of religious truth according to Luther. Luther’s differing beliefs from the Catholic Church marked a new period of religious questioning, and the occurrence of new religious ideals in individuals.
Another important figure in history was Jean Baptiste Colbert, of France, minister of Finance under Louis XIV. He created an economic and political policy called colbertism. It is a branch of mercantilism and can be defined as having colonies produce goods in order to benefit the
