Martin Luther
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Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 - February 18,1546) was the leader of the German Reformation. He was a Monk and Theologian whose writing sparked the Protestant Reformation which led to the founding of the Lutheran Church as an alternative to the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1505, Martin Luther was a law student caught outside in the middle of a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning struck the ground near him. Terrified, he cried out to St. Anne for protection and promised to become a monk if he survived the storm. He did survive, and then left law school to join an Augustinian monastery.
At the monastery, Martin Luther felt plagued by the devil and began to realize how corrupt the Catholic church had become, being especially disenchanted during a trip to Rome. He began to form his own opinions about the Bible.
Martin Luther founded Protestantism on October 31, 1517, when he nailed the 95 Theses or issues to the door of his Wittenberg Church in what is now Germany. The source of Luther's complaint was a project to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, for which church officials were offering indulgences in exchange for donations. Martin Luther objected and produced a list of 95 complaints to spark public debate.
Here were two of Luther's most important Theses:
- Thesis 82a: Scilicet. Cur Papa non evacuat purgatorium propter sanctissimam charitatem et summam animarum necessitatem ut causam omnium iustissimam, Si infinitas animas redimit propter pecuniam funestissimam ad structuram Basilice ut causam levissimam?
- Thesis 82: Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the latter is most trivial.
- Thesis 86a: Item. Cur Papa, cuius opes hodie sunt opulentissimis Crassis crassiores, non de suis pecuniis magis quam pauperum fidelium struit unam tantummodo Basilicam sancti Petri?
- Thesis 86: Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of poor believers?
Pope Leo X spent his time on the beauty flourishing during the Renaissance, and was a patron of the great artist Raphael. Pope Leo X probably never recognized the significance of Martin Luther and his followers. Some historians feel that if the pope had responded more seriously, then the subsequent schism in Germany would not have occurred.
But German nobles did not like the flow of money to Rome, and they backed Martin Luther in order to cut off the donations by Germans to support Rome.
In 1520, Pope Leo X announced the papal bull Exsurge Domine, which required Luther to withdraw 41 of his 95 Theses or be excommunicated. Luther refused and was then excommunicated by the Catholic Church.
It was then up to German authorities to take any legal action against Luther. The 21-year-old Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ordered him to stand trial before an assembly (a "Diet") of estates of the Holy Roman Empire that met in Worms, a small town in what is now Germany. This famous assembly is therefore known as the "Diet of Worms." The verdict (the "Edict of Worms") was "guilty". Luther was declared an outlaw who should be arrested.
But Luther had already left the trial before the verdict was rendered. He hid at Wartburg Castle at Eisenach, where Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony, protected him. Luther took the pseudonym Junker Jorg (Nobleman George), grew a wide beard and dressed like a knight. While in hiding he translated the New Testament from Greek into German in 1522. (By 1534, Luther had translated all of the Old Testament from Hebrew to German also.)
Luther translated Romans 3:28 by adding an extra German word for "alone" (alleine or alleyn) after the phrase: "justified by faith": "So halten wir nun dafür, daß der Mensch gerecht werde ohne des Gesetzes Werke, alleyn durch den Glauben." Luther believed that man is justified by faith alone, and that salvation comes only from faith. The Catholic Church (and Eastern Orthodox Church) taught that man is justified by faith, good works and confession to the Church authorities.
A remarkable invention awaited Luther's German translation of the Bible: in 1447 the German Johannes Gutenberg had already invented the movable-type printing press. This enabled Luther's translation to be printed for the public in September 1522. The Christian world would never be the same again. (The Gutenberg Bible, which put the Latin Vulgate in book format, had been printed in 1455 and it is the oldest existing book in the West.)
Charles V tried to stop the spread of Lutheranism. In 1544, Charles V sent armies against the German princes, but the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 gave each German ruler the right to choose the religion for his state. The princes in southern Germany selected Roman Catholicism, but the princes in northern Germany chose Lutheranism. After World War II, when Germany split into West and East Germany, the West German part contained the predominantly Roman Catholic regions and the East German part consisted of the mostly Lutheran regions.
Martin Luther continued to write, and taught at a German university for his financial support. Luther's writings in defense of his religious views were often harsh and passionate. After first reaching out to the Jews, when they did not embrace his Christianity, in 1543 he published a tract entitled On the Jews and Their Lies which called for the burning of synagogues and Jewish schools, the destruction of their prayer books, their homes razed and their money and property confiscated.[1][2]
Historians debate the impact Luther's writings may have had on German thought leading into the Nazi Holocaust of World War II. Luther harshly criticized many peoples in addition to Jews; a pamphlet of his in 1545, the year before he died, was entitled "Against the Roman Papacy an Institution of the Devil,". It is also recorded that at a round table discussion he said he believed in burning witches. Some of Luther’s writings seem quite vulgar by today's standards, but much of it was also in response to vulgar accusations against his religious views.
Lutheranism has only 70 million adherents today, which is only about 7% of the Catholic population. But nearly all Christians, even Catholics, have sung a famous hymn written by Luther: "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." Moreover, hundreds of millions of Christians worldwide agree with Luther that justification is by faith alone and belong to Protestant congregations that first sprung into being because of Luther's stand.
Luther passed away in February, 1546, having lived his latter years in poor health. He had many children, some of whom preceded him in death, by the former nun Katharina von Bora.
