d developed his ideas and shaped them into a formal set of beliefs that influenced most of the subsequent variations of Protestant Christianity. These doctrines have remained the basis of Lutheranism ever since.The influence that this first Protestant Church was to exert on all of European life was immense. The idea that all believers were equal in the eyes of God inspired revolutionary changes in though and society. It justified anitmonarchical constitutional theories, it allowed people to feel that all occupations were equally worthy and that there was nothing wrong with the life of the merchant or even the money-lender and it undermined the hierarchic view of the universe. Lutheranism made people more self-reliant, because independent and pioneering behavior was far from new. ...
