When, as tradition has it, Martin Luther ( 1483–1546 ) nailed his theses on indulgences to the door of the castle church of Wittenberg in 1517 , the hammer blows appeared to usher in a new era for the church. Luther’s act is often considered the beginning of the Reformation. However, a close look at the theses will make it clear that they do not condemn indulgences as such, but only the misuse of them. When it comes to content, Luther’s first act of reform was therefore more medieval than has commonly been assumed. But the form of this important act in the history of the church also must be seen against a medieval background. Nailing theses to a door was not an unusual thing to do, since theological disputations were regularly held on theses that previously had been made known. When Luther nailed those famous theses to the door, his intention was to enter into a theological disputation . The disputation genre had developed in the medieval schools and formed an important part of the scholastic method . Luther’s hammer blows may have drawn the curtains on the Middle Ages and heralded a new era in church history, but as such his first act of reformation was entirely medieval.

“The Method of the Schools: Medieval Scholasticism” by Pieter L. Rouwendal in WILLEM J. VAN ASSELT, INTRODUCTION TO REFORMED SCHOLASTICISM, 79.