"Im Jahr 1517 am Vortag des Allerheiligenfestes hat Dr. Martin Luther in Wittenberg an den Türen der Kirchen seine Ablassthesen bekannt gegeben."
An accurate translation would be:
"In the year 1517 on the eve of All Saints Dr. Martin Luther had made his indulgence theses known at the doors of the churches."
This statement is ambiguous, not dispositive.
At no point does it say "were nailed to the doors."
Assuming that Luther carefully read Roerer's notes to this volume (it was a German language edition of Luther's own translation of the New Testament which he apparently used for reference at some point in the late 1530s - so I doubt he was focused on Roerer's annotations more on the text itself), and expressed personal approval of their historical accuracy, it really wouldn't prove that the theses were dramatically nailed.
And there really isn't any evidence that the church doors of Wittenberg were used as bulletin boards.
Tetzel was not awarded his doctorate until 1518, a year after the posting of the 95 theses.
Actually I believe it was awarded in early 1518, so just a few months after the 95 theses.
it displayed it's disagreement with Tetzel's sale of indulgences by awarding him a doctorate and keeping the money
The Magisterium does not grant doctoral degrees. The local faculty did. The Church kept the donations for the rebuilding of the basilica, because it is perfectly legitimate to request donations for the restoration of churches.
The reality is that when the Council of Trent was convened and the Magisterium clarified ambiguity on the doctrine of indulgences, Tetzel's expressed position and Luther's expressed position were both at variance with the Church's teaching.
However, Karl von Miltitz (the papal nuncio) had already evaluated Tetzel's 106 theses on indulgences in 1518 and told him that they were of questionable orthodoxy, and that he should refrain from characterizing his views as the Church's teaching. He did so refrain.
Ummm, find any German dictionary and look up the word "tur" or its plural "turen". Better yet, try any one of the on-line German-English translators and type in "turen der kirchen". The phrase quite unambiguosly means: doors of churches.
There really isn't any evidence that the church doors of Wittenberg were used as bulletin boards.
Someone should have told Pope Leo. Article VII of the Papal Bull excommunicating Martin Luther ordered that it be published by nailing to church doors.
The correct German phrase for that would have been "auf den Turen".
In the big picture whether Luther nailed his theses to the doors or adjacent to the doors is of little consequence. Most churches had and have bulletin boards, The church at Wittenberg was no different.
wideawake, you wrote:
“And there really isn’t any evidence that the church doors of Wittenberg were used as bulletin boards.”
I’m not sure about that. On the one hand, Iserloh made an absolutely conclusive case that there was no contemporary evidence whatsoever that Luther nailed anything on the church doors of Wittenberg: http://books.google.com/books?id=9HBIAAAAMAAJ&q=erwin+iserloh&dq=erwin+iserloh&hl=en&ei=un6pTrPqN4L40gGek-WQDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA
On the other hand, there was Melancthon’s mention in his memoirs decades later of Luther putting something on (”attached”) the “temple” in Wittenberg.
Anyway, Protestants responded to Iserloh quickly enough (though ineffectively) through Kurt Aland’s book: Martin Luther’s 95 Theses.
Newer evidence was found just a few years ago which adds more credence to Luther’s story, but there is still no conclusive evidence. Look into the discovery made by Martin Treu in 2006 in Georg Rörer’s New Testament in 1540.
What ultimately is most important is not on the nailing up of the theses, but the bad theology of Luther, his heresy, and his terrible character flaws.