On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

"The Babylonian Captivity of the Church" is a treatise by Martin Luther published in 1520. In it, Luther argued that the sacraments had been wrongly interpreted and controlled by the church. He reduced the number of sacraments from seven to two: baptism and the Eucharist. Luther also challenged the doctrine of transubstantiation, asserting that Christ's body is present with the bread and wine, rather than the bread and wine transforming into Christ's body. This challenged the church's hierarchical structure and the intermediary role of the priest. The title references the Babylonian Captivity of the Jews, a period of forced exile, to symbolize the church's perceived subjugation to human invention rather than divine scripture.123