2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Saint John’s Lutheran Church began this anniversary year with a special presentation on November 3, 2016: “Why the Reformation? Is it Still Relevant?”

Rev. Dr. Rod Rosenbladt (Ph.D. University of Strasbourg), professor emeritus of Systematic Theology and Apologetics (Concordia University, Irvine, California), co-host of the White Horse Inn radio program and author of works including Christ Alone and “The Gospel for those Broken by the Church,” shed light on the reasons for the Protestant Reformation and its ongoing significance for the Church today.

What started on the Eve of All Saints Day, 1517, with Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses Against Indulgences, would greatly impact Western culture, affecting and changing the economic, political and social landscape of sixteenth-​century Europe. However, the Reformers’ primary concern was seeking the pure and clear teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, setting it free from the shackles of medieval theology and practices that had obscured and distorted Jesus’ person and work.