The Christians in the West

1) There were several reasons behind the inclination of the Christians in the West to embark on a dangerous journey to fight the Holy Land. It must be noted that Pope Urban's speech was infused with some primary allurements which ultimately instigated the Christians to wage the Holy War against the Muslims. Going through Robert Monk's account of Pope Urban II's call to crusade one is sure to find the economic reasons which enforced the Christians to embark on the perilous journey to fight against their Muslim adversaries in the name of Christianity. Primarily, through Monk's account it has been revealed how Pope Urban pursued the Christian warriors to wage the Holy War by stating that the Muslims were in possession of such a holy land which abounded in wealth and was abode of rich sources of food ("Church History: Pope Urban II's Speech Calling for the First Crusade", n.d.). The Muslim possession was such a huge landmass which was ideal for housing the innumerable Christians and which was an ideal place to stay in and flourish economically. The geographical confinements of their homeland, the limited sources of food, and the unsuitability of the land to provide shelter to the rapidly growing population of the Christians were some of the specific points highlighted by Pope Urban in his speech ("Church History: Pope Urban II's Speech Calling for the First Crusade", n.d.). And all these economic reasons enticed the Christian warriors to take on swords and shields and to wage the Holy War against their Muslim fiends. But it must be noted that, apart from the economic causes there was a major religion clause which Pope Urban did focus on to instigate the Christian warriors to carry on the crusade. Pope Urban called upon the knights of France wage the Holy War and "In return they would be granted an unprecedented spiritual reward - the remission of all their sins - and thereby escape the torments of Hell, their likely destination after lives of violence and greed" (Phillips, 2009). So, allured by such economic and religious rewards, the knights were convinced of their duty of waging the war against their Muslim adversaries.

2) Martin Luther's propositions in his 95 Theses were meant for engaging other theologians in a debate but through these propositions Luther actually tried to reveal the vices that were plaguing the Church of his day. The primary aspect which Luther emphasized on in his Theses was the relationship between money and religion - a relationship that was acting like a menace devouring the ethics which were meant to be followed by the Church and its authorities. The issue of selling 'Indulgences'