On October 31, 1571, an Augustinian monk by the name of Martin Luther marched up to the castle church door in Wittenberg, Germany, where he was on the university faculty, and posted 95 theses or propositions concerning church policy and practice he proposed for debate. Why there and then? Well, the church door was the community bulletin board — notices and advertisements were regularly placed there, just as they are on the bulletin board today at the grocery store. As to October 31, then and now that is the date for All Hallows Eve (Halloween, as we know it), the day before All Saints Day, November 1, a day that saw church attendance in medieval Europe at its peak as people gathered to remember the dearly departed. So, as in all of life, Luther knew that timing is everything, and this plac…