Journalists and scholars join evangelicals in reading Luther’s 95 theses

One of the biggest auditoriums of Barcelona, the 'Caixa Forum', hosted a commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

More than 300 people, the full capacity, participated in the cultural, non-religious event. It began with a guided tour of the exhibition on Protestantism that is taking place in the same bulding until January 14.

The former Vice President of the government of Catalonia (2006-2010) and university professor, Josep-Lluís Carod-Rovira, led the event. Without ever having defined himself as a Protestant, Carod-Rovira has become one of the greatest experts of the evolution of the Reformation in Catalonia.

In the exhibition one can find there are graphic materials of evangelical institutions, hymn books, Bibles and other vestiges of the evangelical presence in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Valencia.

 

95 THESES IN CATALAN

The central act of the commemoration was the reading of the 95 thesesthat Martin Luther nailed in the cathedral of Wittenberg on October 31, 1517.

Each thesis was read by a different person.

 

Half of them were read by members of the Catalan Evangelical community, like Jaume Llenas, General Secretary of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance, Guillem Correa, President of the Evangelical Council of Catalonia, Ruth Giordano, President of the Baptist Union of Catalonia, as well as pastors and other representatives of evangelical entities.

The other half were representatives of Catalan society such as journalists, politicians and writers.

One of the theses was read in Occitan, since these people group were of fundamental importance at the beginning of the Reformation in Catalonia. Other theses were read in Spanish, German and English.

The commemoration ended by symbolically nailing the 95 theses on a wooden board and with a cello interpretation of several J.S.Bach pieces.

 

THE REFORMATION ON THE CATALAN TV AND BARCELONA STREETS

Meanwhile, the official regional television of Catalonia (TV3) showed the program “500 years of Protestant churches in Europe and in our house” about the history, identity and current situation of the Protestants.

During the months of October and November, the Barcelona City Council is supporting the commemoration of th 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation by placing around 500 banderoles throughtout the city, hosting several events, and publishing articles about the Reformation on its website.