The Wild Boar in the Vineyard Summary and Analysis

There is a delay in Luther's trial for a year and a half. In the summer of 1520, his "primary works" are delivered to the printer: The Papacy at Rome, The Sermon on Good Works, The Address to the German Nobility, The Babylonian Captivity, and The Freedom of the Christian Man. It is The Babylonian Captivity that is the most radical and asserts that the Church is enslaved by sacraments. Luther says a sacrament must have been directly instituted by Christ and be distinctively Christian in order to count. He wants to see eliminated the rituals associated with confirmation, marriage, ordination, penance, and extreme unction. Luther endorses only two sacraments: the Lord's supper and baptism. Luther does look at Confession as useful as long as it is not institutionalized.

Luther also believes...