Introduction
Martin Luther was not the first reformer with radical ideas that astounded the Catholic Church. However, he was a man with human characteristics, making for a hero of the faith with which we can identify.
On the one hand, he was educated and studious; on the other, he was rather uncouth and rude. “Perhaps this helped him express his very profound theological points in a manner that found ready response among the masses. He was sincere in his faith to the point that it became a passion burning within him, which he could also be vulgar in expressing. Nothing mattered to him as much as his faith and his obedience to God.” (Gonzalez p. 19).
Early Life and Education
Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben and baptized the following day. A year later his family moved to Manfeld where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters.
Determined that his son become a lawyer, Luther’s father saw to it that he had an education. In 1497-98 he attended a school run by a group called The Brethren of the Common Life. He was taught logic, rhetoric, and grammar. “Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell” (Martin p. 2-3).
“In 1501, at age seventeen, he entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beer hall and whorehouse” (Martin p. 4).
In 1505, in spite of his views on his educational experiences, he received his masters and enroled in law “but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law represented uncertainty.” (Martin p. 5).
Also in 1505, he vowed to become a monk. While traveling back to university from home, a thunderstorm caught him. Lightning struck nearby and scared him. “Later telling his father he was terrified of death and divine judgment, he cried out, “Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!” (Brecht 1:48).
Viewing his exclamation as a vow he could not break, Luther sold his books, left the university and joined St. Augustine’s Monastery just fifteen days after his ride through the storm.
“Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to fasting, long ours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.” (Bainton p. 40-42). Even with all this devotion, he could not find rest in his soul. He is recorded as saying, “I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter, and made of him the jailer and hangman of my poor soul.” (Kittelson p. 79).
Ordain in 1507, he began teaching theology. In 1508 he received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies, received another bachelor’s degree in 1509, and in October of 1512, he was awarded his doctor of Theology. On the twenty-first of October 1512, he “was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg.” (Brecht 1:112–127).
Luther’s father gave him the best he could, and Luther thought it was purgatory. After his vow to Saint Anna, he put dedication behind that education and reaped the rewards of a position as “Provincial vicar of Saxony and Thuringia by his religious order in 1515. “This meant he was to visit and oversee each of eleven monasteries in his province.” (Hendrix p. 45).
The Ninety-Five Theses
One would think that achieving a doctorate degree and overseeing eleven monasteries would be the end of the story. The opposite happens to be true. The legend of Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-Five Theses to the church door and thus creating a rift between Catholics and Protestants is well-known. However, Weidenkopf says that “This narrative is false.”
“If the Ninety-five Theses sprouted a myth,” Acocella says, “that is no surprise. Luther was one of those figures who touched off something much larger than himself; namely, the Reformation—the sundering of the Church and a fundamental revision of its theology.”
Written in Latin, Luther’s theses were not meant for anyone to read except by clergy. Whether nailed to a door or not, someone got hold of them and sent them to the printing press. The printer translated them into German and sold them cheap. Soon his theses were translated into English and other languages for all in Christendom to read. “The invention of the movable type printing press gave his writings a widespread audience they otherwise would not have had—in fact, Luther was the first to make full use of the value of printing as a medium for propaganda, and to write with the printed page in mind.” (Gonzalez p. 21).
What’s the Big Deal?
Gonzalez writes, “Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences attacked the sale of indulgences and its theological presuppositions.” (p. 26).
An “indulgence,” according to Duggan, is “a distinctive feature of the penitential system of both the Western medieval and the Roman Catholic Church that granted full or partial remission of the punishment of sin.” It was not enough to be guilty and confess. One must pay or do penance. Indulgences were to help cancel one’s sin debt. What Luther wrote cracked the foundation of faith that, whether liked or not, held society together. “Although Luther’s 95 Theses contained multiple heretical opinions, the most dangerous was his rejection of papal authority. Luther asserted the pope had no authority to dispense the merits of the treasury of grace to the faithful in the form of indulgences in order to remit the temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven in the sacrament of confession” (Weidenkopf).
If the pope had no authority to dispense the merits of the treasury of grace, then the pope had no church, and the pope needed his church and its money. “Leo is perhaps best known for his 1515 decision to continue the practice of granting an indulgence to those who contributed alms to a construction project he inherited that needed more funding: the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.” ()Weidenkopf).
Therefore, when the pope read Martin Luther’s famous Ninety-Five Theses, he understood it to be an attack on his position which most Christians in 1517 believed to be ordained by Christ Himself. As a result, the pope sent representatives to question Luther and arrest him, from which Luther escaped and continued as before.
Then, on January 15, 1520, the pope warned Luther with a papal bull which is an edict. Luther was to reacant within sixty days or risk excommunication. Later that year Luther set fire to the bull, and on January 3, 1521 was excommunicated by pope Leo X.
The Diet of Worms
Now that Martin Luther was not part of the church, the matter of his Ninety-Five Theses fell to secular authorities. He was order to appear before emperor Charles V on April 18, 1521 in Worms, a town on the Rhine. The archbishop of Trier laid Luthers books out before him and asked if they were his and if he stood by them. The next day Luther gave his answer, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.” (Brecht 1:460).
On May 25, the emperor presented the Edict of Worms declaring Martin Luther an outlaw. His literature was banned, he was to be arrested, it became a crime to shelter him, and Germans could kill him without legal punishment.
Not everyone was against Luther, however. With the help of Fredrick III he escaped arrest and hid out in Wartburg Castle at Eisenach. While there he wrote more religious literature and translated the New Testament from Greek into German. His writings attracted a following which, over the years awakened revolts that soon grew larger than he could have imagined.
Later Life and Works
On June 13, 1525, Luther married Katharina Von Bora, one of twelve nuns that he had helped escape two years before from the Nimbschen Cistercian Convent. They had six children and appeared to be very happy.
Adding to his German translation of the New Testament, Luther and his colleagues completed a translation of the whole Bible in 1534. His was not the first translation of the entire Bible into German but his was taylored to his own doctrine. It had notes and prefaces by Luther and wood cut-outs which contained antipapal imagery, playing a large part in spreading his particular doctrine. Luther’s translation of the Bible even influenced later ones such as the Tyndale and King James Versions.
Luther also wrote hymns. One that survives to this day is “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” He believed that the singing of hymns brought all classes of people together.
Interestingly enough, “in 1542, Luther read a Latin translation of the Qur’an.” (Brecht 3:354). He saw Islam as the tool of the devil, but had a live-and-let-live attitude about it. Therefore, he did not think the Qur’an should be banned but published and thoroughly scrutinized.
When Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse wanted to marry his wife’s lady in waiting, Luther was one of those of whom he sought advice. Luther and two others came to the dicision that “if he was determined, he should marry secretly and keep quiet about the matter because divorce was worse than bigamy.” (Brecht 3:206). Philip married a second wife, and Luther’s reputation took a hit because of it.
Another aspect of Luther’s life that paints him in a negative light is his hatred of Jews. Although he never knew many of them, he saw them as rejected and killers of Christ. “In 1523, Luther advised kindness toward the Jews in That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew and also aimed to convert them to Christianity.” (Brecht 3:334). When that effort failed, he grew bitter against them. In this instance, his impatience got the best of him, and, because he was considered a prophet in Germany, his writings contributed to the rise of antisemitism in the twentieth century.
Conclusion
Martin Luther was a man with human characteristics. He was devout yet rude. He believed in faith alone yet allowed his impatience to make unwise judgments for him. He made mistakes but believed in God’s mercies. We may never fully understand him. However, he is a hero of the faith with which we can identify.
Works Cited
Acocella, Joan, How Martin Luther Changed the World, The New Yorker,
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/hot-martin-luther-changed-the-world
Bainton, Roland, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther, New York: Penguin, 1995
Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985
Duggan, Lawrence G., Indulgence, Brittannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/ indulgence
Gonzalez, Justo L., The Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The REformation to the Present Day,
HarperOne, 2010
Hendrix, Scott H., Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer, Yale University Press, 2015
Kittleston, James, Luther The Reformer, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishing House, 1986
Martin, Marty, Martin Luther, Viking Penguin, 2004
Weidenkopf, Steve, Leo and Luther: The Real Story of the Pope and the Heretic, Catholic
Answers Magazine,
https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/leo-and-luther-the-real-story-of-the- pope-and-the-heretic
Shannon Wells 