Рассказ про мартина лютера и реформацию

Мартин Лютер — биография

---

Мартин Лютер – богослов, инициировавший Реформацию. Перевел Библию на немецкий язык, его имя носит одно из религиозных направлений – лютеранство. Создал немецкий литературный язык.

Мартин Лютер оказал большое влияние на мировую историю, можно даже сказать, что он изменил вектор ее развития. Он заставил усомниться в мощи католической церкви, и стал создателем новой религии – протестантизма. Хотя всю жизнь не переставал причислять себя к грешникам.

Детство

Родился Мартин Лютер 10 ноября 1483 года в германском городке Айслебен, куда его отец, простой саксонский рудокоп Ганс Лютер переехал в поисках лучшей судьбы. Ганс был очень трудолюбивым, и, несмотря на это, материальное положение семьи оставалось достаточно трудным. Вначале семья жила в деревеньке Мера, отец вел обычный крестьянский образ жизни. После переезда в Айслебен он нашел работу в местных рудниках, где добывалась медь. Когда Мартину исполнилось полгода, семья снова переезжает. На этот раз они осели в Мансфельде, где Ганса уже считали зажиточным бюргером.

С первыми житейскими трудностями Мартин столкнулся в семилетнем возрасте, когда его отправили на учебу в обычную школу. Там он узнал, что такое постоянные наказания и унижения. Обучение в этом заведении было поставлено так, что талантливый ребенок за семь лет пребывания в его стенах, научился только письму, чтению, нескольким молитвам и десятку заповедей.

В 1497-м, когда Мартину исполнилось 14, он стал учеником францисканской школы Магдебурга, а через год начал посещать школу в Эйзенахе. У него абсолютно не было денег даже на самое необходимое. Вместе с друзьями он пытался заработать пением под окнами богатых горожан. Тогда он решает начать самостоятельно работать в руднике по примеру отца, но у судьбы были на него совсем другие планы.

Однажды они пели возле дома зажиточного горожанина, и Мартина заметила его жена Урсула. Женщине стало жаль этого мальчишку, она решила помочь ему, и предложила переехать в их дом на некоторое время. Этот переезд стал для Лютера дорогой в новую жизнь.

В 1501-м школа осталась позади, и Мартин становится студентом философского факультета Эрфуртского университета. Молодого человека отличала прекрасная память, он стремился к новым знаниям, буквально впитывал их во время лекций. Самый сложный материал давался ему легко, и благодаря этому Лютер занял в вузе лидирующие позиции.

В 1503 году Мартин получил степень бакалавра, и приглашение учить студентов философии. Одновременно с этим он изучает юриспруденцию, потому что такова была воля его отца. Развитие Лютера можно назвать разносторонним, однако больше всего его привлекало богословие, он интересовался трудами великих отцов церкви.

Мартин частенько посещал университетскую библиотеку, и в один из дней он взял в руки Библию. Молодой человек прочел ее полностью, а до этого он был знаком только с отрывками Писания. В те времена считалось, что миряне не должны читать ее полностью, это не обязательно и даже очень вредно. Эта книга перевернула внутренний мир впечатлительного Лютера.

После окончания университета Мартин совершил поступок, неожиданный для всех и в первую очередь для его родителей. Он решил отказаться от мирской жизни и посвятить себя служению Богу. Дело в том, что у него умер близкий друг, и Мартин почему-то решил, что он виновен в его смерти, что он грешен и нужно отмаливать у Господа прощение.

Монастырь

В монастыре Мартин брался за любую работу. В его обязанности входило заводить часы на башне, помогать старшим, подметать церковный двор, подменять привратника.

Чтобы помочь Лютеру победить человеческую гордыню, монахи изредка отправляли молодого богослова в город, просить милостыню. Он подчинялся безропотно, в точности соблюдая все их распоряжения. В 1506-м Мартин стал монахом, спустя год – священником. Теперь его звали брат Августин.

Пребывая в статусе священника, Лютер продолжал и дальше учиться и развиваться. В 1508-м он получил рекомендацию от генерального викария и стал преподавателем в Виттенбергском университете. Он преподавал студентам диалектику и физику. Прошло немного времени, Лютер удостоился степени библейского бакалавра, и имел право читать еще богословие. Лютеру позволялось заниматься толкованием библейских писаний, а для этого ему понадобилось знание иностранных языков. Упорный богослов принялся за их изучение.

В 1511-м Мартин побывал в Риме, куда был отправлен представителями священного ордена. Там он впервые открыл противоречивые факты в католицизме. В 1512 году Лютер занял место профессора теологии, выступал с проповедями, был смотрителем одиннадцати монастырей.

Реформации

Несмотря на то, что вся жизнь Мартина Лютера была посвящена служению Богу, он постоянно комплексовал, считал себя грешным и несовершенным в своих деяниях перед лицом Всевышнего. Душевные муки привели богослова к переосмыслению духовного мира и к началу реформаций.

В 1518-м Лютер раскритиковал вышедшую папскую буллу, он полностью разочаровался в католицизме. Мартин пишет свои 95 тезисов, разбивающие в прах учения Римской церкви.

Мартин утверждал, что духовенство не должно влиять на государство, равно как и выступать посредником между Богом и человеком. Лютер протестовал против безбрачия представителей духовенства, которое было принято декретами Папы. С подобными реформаторскими действиями церковь сталкивалась и раньше, но до Лютера никто так категорично и смело не высказывал свою позицию.

Тезисы смелого богослова достаточно быстро стали популярными, о новом учении узнал сам Папа Римский. В 1519 году он позвал Лютера к себе на суд. Мартин проявил упрямство и не поехал в Рим, после чего по указанию понтифика его предали анафеме – отлучили от святых таинств.

В 1520-м Лютер при народе сжег папскую буллу, призвал всех бороться с засильем папских законов, и лишился католического сана. На основании Вормсского эдикта от 26 мая 1521 года, Лютер обвинен в ереси. И только благодаря помощи сторонников лютеранства ему удалось спастись от расправы. Они инсценировали его похищение, а в действительности Мартин пребывал в замке Вартбург, где начал переводить Библию на немецкий.

В 1529-м общество официально приняло протестантизм Лютера, который стал одним из направлений католицизма. Но спустя некоторое время его приверженцы разделились на два лагеря – кальвинизм и лютеранство.

Кальвинизм получил свое название от имени Жана Кальвина, который продолжил реформаторское дело Лютера. Он считал, что судьба человека полностью предопределена Богом.

Отношение к евреям

На протяжении своей жизни Лютер несколько раз менял отношение к евреям. Вначале он осуждал тех, кто преследует людей этой национальности, призывал к терпимости и здравомыслии.

Мартин почему-то был уверен, что после посещения его проповедей, евреи согласятся пройти обряд крещения. Он написал памфлет под названием «О том, что Христос родился евреем», в котором отметил, что Христос тоже еврей, и что он поддерживает сопротивление древнего народа по отношению к папскому произволу.

Потом он понял, что евреи не реагируют на его учения, и его отношение к ним сменилось на враждебное. Под влиянием новых настроений, он пишет книги явно антиеврейского характера – «Застольные беседы», «О евреях и их лжи».

После этого еврейский народ полностью разочаровался в немецком философе, и не принял реформации, предложенные им. Позже в лютеранской церкви черпали свое вдохновение антисемиты, постулаты этой церкви послужили основой пропагандистской кампании против евреев, развернувшейся в Германии.

Личная жизнь

Мартин придерживался мнения, что Бог не запрещает никому жениться с целью продления своего рода. Биография богослова содержит сведения, что он устроил свою личную жизнь с бывшей монашкой, родившей ему шестерых детей.

Девушку завали Катарина фон Бора, в монастырь ее отдали родители, обнищавшие дворяне. В возрасте восьми лет она приняла обет безбрачия, строго соблюдала дисциплину, приняла аскезы. Воспитанная церковью, девушка отличалась строгостью и суровостью, и это впоследствии отразилось на ее отношениях с супругом.

Они обвенчались 13 июня 1525 года. Жениху на тот момент исполнилось 42, молодой жене 26. Молодожены поселились в заброшенном монастыре августинцев, жили они просто, без всяких излишеств и богатства. Двери их дома были открыты для всех, кому нужна была любая помощь.

Смерть

Мартин Лютер не переставал трудиться вплоть до самой смерти. Он выступал с лекциями, проповедями, трудился над созданием книг. Богослов отличался невероятной работоспособностью и энергичностью, он мало спал и скудно питался. С возрастом его начали мучить головокружения, частые обмороки без видимых причин. У Лютера обнаружили так называемую каменную болезнь, которая доставляла ему невероятные мучения.

Немалую роль в плохом самочувствии сыграли и внутренние сомнения и противоречия. Лютер рассказывал, что ночами видит Дьявола, который обращается к нему со странными вопросами. Богослов просил у Всевышнего послать ему смерть, так как болезненное состояние длилось долгие годы, доставляя ему невероятные мучения.

Он скончался внезапно 18 февраля 1546 года. Местом упокоения Лютера стала дворцовая церковь, на дверях которой он когда-то прибил свои тезисы.

Памяти Мартина Лютера посвящена автобиографическая картина режиссера Эрика Тилля «Лютер», в которой нашла отражение вся его жизнь.

Труды

• Берлебургская библия
• Лекции о Послании к Римлянам
• 95 тезисов об индульгенциях
• К христианскому дворянству немецкой нации
• О вавилонском пленении церкви
• О свободе христианина
• О рабстве воли
• О войне против турок
• Большой и малый Катехизис
• Похвала музыке
• О евреях и их лжи

Ссылки

• Страница в Википедии

1. Гроза изменила его судьбу

Реформация Мартина Лютера «Буря» — это картина Тами Далтона, продемонстрированная 5 ноября 2015 года. Фото: fineartamerica.com.

В 1505 году Мартин Лютер получил степень магистра в Эрфуртском университете. Теперь он имел право заниматься одной из трёх «высших» дисциплин: юриспруденцией, медициной или теологией. Поскольку его отец хотел, чтобы он стал адвокатом, он поступил на юридический факультет. Примерно в это же время произошёл случай, изменивший ход жизни Лютера. Возвращаясь в университет после поездки домой, он попал в сильную грозу недалеко от деревни Стотернхайм и был почти поражён молнией. Погода так напугала его, что Лютер закричал Святой Анне: «Спаси меня, св. Анна, а я стану монахом!». Когда ему удалось благополучно сбежать, Мартин решил выполнить своё обещание. Многие историки, однако, считают, что этот инцидент был лишь катализатором, и идея стать монахом уже была сформулирована в уме Лютера. Более того, его друзья полагали, что недавняя смерть двух друзей также могла сыграть определённую роль в том, что он стал монахом.

2. Девяносто пять тезисов

Изображение Мартина Лютера, прибивающего свои 95 тезисов к двери церкви. Фото: tinlanh.ru.

В 1516 году Альбрехт фон Бранденбург, архиепископ Майнца, который был глубоко в долгах, получил разрешение от Папы Льва X провести продажу особой пленарной индульгенции, которая давала бы отпущение временного наказания за грех. В ответ на это 31 октября 1517 года Мартин Лютер написал письмо Альберту Бранденбургскому, в котором приложил копию своего «диспута Мартина Лютера о силе и действенности индульгенций», ставшего впоследствии известным как Девяносто пять тезисов. Согласно популярной легенде, Лютер прибил копию своих девяносто пяти тезисов к двери церкви Виттенбергского замка. Тем не менее, многие учёные теперь считают, что он не прибивал тезисы, а скорее повесил их, как это было принято, чтобы начать академическую дискуссию о своей работе. Как бы то ни было, 31 октября 1517 года, день, когда он совершил этот акт, считается началом протестантской Реформации, а 31 октября ежегодно отмечается как День Реформации.

3. Печатная пресса

Иоганн Гутенберг — человек, который изобрёл первый печатный станок. Фото: thoughtco.com.

Учение Мартина Лютера распространилось, как лесной пожар, по всей Германии и за рубежом, поскольку оно обращалось к простым людям, которые были сыты по горло коррумпированными практиками католической церкви. Однако это стало возможным в первую очередь благодаря изобретению печатного станка Иоганном Гутенбергом в 1440 году. С помощью печатного станка Лютер начал печатать брошюры, которые печатались всего за один день и занимали от шестнадцати до восемнадцати страниц. Его первая немецкая брошюра была напечатана в 1518 году и была известна как «Проповедь об индульгенциях и благодати». Из-за скорости печатного станка, по крайней мере четырнадцать тысяч экземпляров проповеди были напечатаны в один год. Это позволило Лютеру распространить своё послание далеко и широко. Фактически, за первые десять лет реформационного движения было напечатано около шести миллионов брошюр. Удивительно, но целых двадцать пять процентов из них были написаны Мартином Лютером.

4. Лютер был похищен

Вормсский рейхстаг: Лютер на Диете червей — картина 1877 года Антона фон Вернера. Фото: ethikapolitika.org.

15 июня 1520 года Папа Лев X издал публичный указ, который предупреждал Мартина Лютера, что он рискует быть отлученным от церкви, если не отречётся от сорока одного приговора, взятых из его сочинений в течение шестидесяти дней. Лютер вместо этого публично поджёг декрет 10 декабря. Таким образом, он был отлучен от церкви Папой 3 января 1521 года. Затем, 18 апреля, строптивый и справедливый монах появился на заседании Сейма (ассамблеи) Священной Римской Империи, состоявшемся в Вормсе, Германия. На Вормсском рейхстаге (Диета Червей) Лютера снова попросили отречься от своих писаний. Однако, он подчеркнул, что будет поколеблен только разумом или если это будет написано иначе в Священном Писании. Лютер закончил своё свидетельство вызывающим заявлением: «Вот я стою. Боже, помоги мне. Я не могу поступить иначе». Учитывая напряжённую ситуацию, защитник Лютера, Фридрих Мудрый, понял, что его нужно спрятать, пока напряжённость с Церковью не спадёт. Поэтому он приказал группе рыцарей «похитить» Лютера, который затем был доставлен в замок в Эйзенахе, где он скрывался в течение десяти месяцев.

5. Предшественники

Проповедь Яна Гуса на Козим Градку (na Kozim hradku). Фото: pragagid.ru.

Попытки подавить Лютера и его последователей римско-католическими правителями оказались безуспешными, и в течение двух лет стало очевидно, что движение за реформу было очень сильным. В мае 1522 года Лютер вернулся в церковь Виттенбергского замка в Эйзенахе. К этому времени Реформация приобрела более политический характер, и другие реформаторы, в том числе Томас Мюнцер, Халдрих Цвингли и Мартин Бюсер, собрали массу последователей. Благодаря этому, после 1522 года, Мартин стал несколько менее влиятельным лидером движения. Кроме того, следует отметить, что у него было несколько предшественников, которые также недвусмысленно критиковали коррупционные практики римского католицизма. Джон Уиклифф и Ян Гус были самыми известными из этих критиков. Уиклифф был английским интеллектуалом, учёным и теологом. Он критиковал церковную практику индульгенций, а также показные церемонии и пышный образ жизни духовенства. Ян Гус был чешским священником, который также критиковал учение Церкви, произнося проповедь в своей собственной церкви. Он был казнён в 1415 году за своё восстание. Его работа, однако, привела к движению под названием Гуситы — до-протестантское христианское движение против Римско-Католической Церкви.

6. Его брак с бывшей монахиней создал огромный скандал

Катарина фон Бора и Мартин Лютер. Фото: mtzionlutheran.org.

Катарина фон Бора провела свою раннюю жизнь в монастырских школах, а затем стала монахиней. Однако после нескольких лет религиозной жизни она стала недовольна своей жизнью в монастыре и вместо этого заинтересовалась движением Реформации. Катарина вступила в сговор с другими заинтересованными монахинями и написала Мартину с просьбой о помощи. В канун Пасхи 1523 года Лютер послал Леонарда Коппе, торговца, который регулярно доставлял сельдь в монастырь, чтобы помочь монахиням бежать. Они сделали это, спрятавшись среди бочек с рыбой в его крытом фургоне. В течение двух лет Мартин устраивал дома, браки или работу для всех сбежавших монахинь, кроме Катарины, которая настаивала на том, чтобы выйти замуж за самого Мартина. 13 июня 1525 года Мартин Лютер женился на Катарине фон Бора. Это вызвало огромный скандал среди католиков и в то же время позволило другим священнослужителям в лютеранских церквях жениться. У пары родилось шестеро детей. Катарина считается влиятельным членом протестантского движения, поскольку она помогла определить протестантскую семейную жизнь и установить тон для браков духовенства.

7. Антисемитские взгляды

Антисемитские взгляды Мартина Лютера. Фото: evangelisch.de.

Одними из наиболее тревожных аспектов учения Мартина Лютера являются его глубоко антисемитские взгляды. В своё время он был более мягким и даже критиковал Католическую Церковь за её жестокое обращение с евреями. Со временем, однако, он стал гораздо более агрессивным и резким по отношению к евреям. Мартин утверждал, что иудаизм был ложной религией, и он также известен тем, что сказал: «еврейское сердце так же твердо, как палка, камень, железо, как дьявол». Его жестокие фантазии и оскорбительная риторика с каждым годом становились всё более опасными. Основные труды Лютера о евреях включали «О евреях и их лжи» и «Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi» (о святом имени и происхождении Христа). Обе эти работы были опубликованы в 1543 году, всего за три года до его смерти. В этих работах Лютер утверждал, что евреи больше не были избранными, а были «народом дьявола». Более того, он даже использовал жестокие, оскорбительные выражения, чтобы ссылаться на евреев в этих текстах.

8. Его назвали в честь святого

Слева: «Святой Мартин отказывается от меча» — картина Симоне Мартини. Справа: Мартин Лютер. Фото: artchive.ru.

Святой Мартин Турский был солдатом в римской армии в IV веке, который отказался убивать людей, потому что он сказал, что это противоречит христианству. Он сделал это как раз перед битвой в галльских провинциях при Борбетомаге (ныне Вормс, Германия). Впоследствии его обвинили в трусости и посадили в тюрьму. В конце концов, он был освобождён и решил стать монахом. Святой Мартин стал одним из самых известных христианских святых в западной традиции. Мартин Лютер был назван в честь Святого Мартина, поскольку он был крещён в День Святого Мартина (11 ноября). Сходство между Мартином Турским и святым Мартином поразительно, поскольку оба оставили другой путь, чтобы стать монахами. Более того, Мартин Турский устроил свой протест в городе Вормс, там же, где проходила знаменитая Диета Червей Лютера.

9. Его имя носил один из величайших лидеров ХХ века

Мартин Лютер Кинг. Фото: eurotopics.net.

В 1934 году Майкл Дж. Кинг, пастор из Атланты в американском штате Джорджия, отправился в Германию. Посещая места, связанные с Мартином Лютером, он был настолько вдохновлён Лютером и историей Реформации, что решил изменить своё имя на Мартин Лютер Кинг. Следовательно, он также изменил имя своего пятилетнего сына на Мартина Лютера Кинга младшего. Как мы все знаем, Мартин Лютер Кинг-младший стал одним из самых известных лидеров XX века. Он боролся против дискриминации афроамериканцев в Соединенных Штатах и был самым видным лидером американского движения «За гражданские права». Он организовал и возглавил множество маршей за избирательное право чернокожих, десегрегацию, трудовые права и другие основные гражданские права. Его усилия принесли свои плоды, когда были приняты «Закон о гражданских правах 1964 года» и «Закон об избирательных правах 1965 года», и большинство из этих прав были введены в законную силу. 14 октября 1964 года Кинг получил Нобелевскую премию мира за руководство ненасильственным сопротивлением расовым предрассудкам в США. В возрасте тридцати пяти лет он был самым молодым получателем премии в то время.

10. Пророчество

Казнь Яна Гуса. Фото: spiritualpilgrim.net.

Ян Гус, чьё имя буквально означает «Гусь» на чешском языке, был чешским священником, который был важной фигурой в Богемской Реформации, движении против католической церкви, которое предшествовало протестантской Реформации. За выступление против церкви Гус был отлучён от неё и сожжён на костре 6 июля 1415 года. Перед самым сожжением он сказал: «Сейчас вы сожжёте гуся, но через столетие у вас будет лебедь, которого вы не сможете ни зажарить, ни сварить». Почти ровно столетие спустя (сто два года), 31 октября 1517 года, Мартин Лютер вывесил свои девяносто пять тезисов на двери Замковой церкви в Виттенберге, положив начало протестантской Реформации. Таким образом, многие считают, что пророчество Яна Гуса сбылось. Более того, Мартин Лютер находился под сильным влиянием учения Гуса и называл себя лебедем, о котором Гус пророчествовал. На похоронах Лютера в 1546 году это пророчество было упомянуто в проповеди. Кроме того, благодаря пророчеству Яна Гуса лебедь стал популярным символом, связанным с Мартином Лютером, и поэтому его часто можно увидеть в Лютеранском искусстве.

Читайте также о том, как династические браки разрушили одну из самых могущественных и влиятельных семей в истории.

Понравилась статья? Тогда поддержи нас, жми:

Реформация — Мартин Лютер

Мартин Лютер (1483—1546) – немецкий теолог, идеолог Реформации (реформация католицизма). Он сформулировал основные тезисы, сплотившие на раннем этапе сторонников Реформации.

Главный тезис Мартина Лютера – спасение только в вере. Вера человека это его личный священник, только ей можно оправдаться оказавшись перед богом. Отсюда следует, что церковь более не нужна верующему. Бог не знает разграничений между чернью и знатью, между мирянами и церковниками – все равны перед ним. Это утверждение, наверное, одна из ранних идей равноправия.

Такая идея равноправия опирается на естественно-правовую природу, как производная от божьей воли. При этом, естественное право это право светское, то, что помогает правителям управлять внешним – собственностью, поведением людей. Отсюда принцип разумности и целесообразности управления человеческими отношениями государством. Однако, есть и божественное право вне юрисдикции государства – отвечающее за все то, что внутри человека, за его духовный мир.

При этом, такое равноправие в теории Мартина Лютера не является причиной установления демократических принципов. Напротив, деятель Реформации призывал к подчинению монарху и терпению чинимого им произвола.

Мартин Лютер проповедовал отделение церкви от государства. Папская власть в его воззрениях может только помогать укреплять авторитет монарха. Это сработало на укрепление абсолютизма светской власти. Для политического сознания Германии того времени вообще была присуща идея всепроникающей веры в светское государство. А то, что Мартин Лютер ратовал за внутреннюю религиозность только укрепило его позиции.

Таким образом, то, за что выступал первый деятель Реформации, не сыграло на руку его учению. Еще больше стало царить бюргерство, религиозный фанатизм, эксплуатация крестьян.

Деятельная и радикальная Реформация — Томас Мюнцер

Томас Мюнцер (ок. 1490—1525) напротив, возглавил радикальную реформацию, крестьянско-плебейский её сектор. Это движение вело свою войну против всякой эксплуатации и неравенства.

Кульминацией стала Крестьянская война в Германии (1524—1526).

Требования и идеи крестьян были описаны в «12-ти статьях» и в «Статейном письме». «12 статей» это сборник конкретных и вполне умеренных требований – отмена крепостничества, выборность и сменяемость духовенства, уменьшение налоговой нагрузки, эффективность судопроизводства и прочего. Томас Мюнцер и его ближний круг в свою очередь выпустили «Статейное письмо» с более радикальными положениями. Авторы призывали объединиться в христианский союз и братство и революционными методами сломать существующий порядок, превратить страну в справедливое государство «общей пользы».

По мысли Томаса Мюнцера стоило передать власть простому народу, в коем он видел людей, свободных от эгоизма. Этот деятель яростно осуждал Мартина Лютера в его утверждении светского государства и видел в этом узурпацию власти узкой прослойкой людей. При этом, главной целью виделось сбросить безбожников с трона, воспользоваться силой крестьян.

Томасом Мюнцером точно не описывалось каким должно быть это государство общей пользы. Мы не найдем в его учении ни формы устройства, ни описания процесса управления. Можно просмотреть только зачатки демократических идей. Но отчетливо просматривается необходимость обеспечения охраны основ государства, контроль его населением.

Теологическая составляющая черпалась Томасом Мюнцером из Библии. Отсюда тяга к установлению «царства Божьего» на практике, как государства без классового разделения, частной собственности.

Жан Кальвин: божественное предопределение

Жан Кальвин (1509—1564) еще один видный теоретик Реформации, запомнившийся работой, которую написал уже в Швейцарии — «Наставление в христианской вере» (1536). Основной тезис его учения – божественное предопределение. Бог заранее предопределил все — судьбы людей, в том числе загробные (кому суждено спастись). О таком спасении человек может догадаться уже на земле – если он успешен в миру и покорен властям, то спасется.

Из главного тезиса следует стремление каждого кальвиниста отдавать себя своему профессиональному пути без остатка, бережливо вести хозяйство и отрицать наслаждение. Таким образом, сословные разделения и привилегии не важны.

Этот протестантский тезис, как позднее изложил Макс Вебер в своем труде «Протестантская этика и дух капитализма» (1905) стал причиной экономического подъема протестантских стран и задержки их в топе рейтингов по экономическим показателям.

Немаловажное значение было и у реформы устройства церкви, задуманной Жаном Кальвином. Церковная община стала возглавляться пресвитерами, избираемыми из наиболее успешных людей и проповедниками без церковного сана, которые образовали консисторию.

Именно эта реформа была воспринята политическими деятелями для развития республиканских программ. Однако, рассуждая о власти Жан Кальвин с одной стороны ругал знать за произвол надо подданными и беззаконием, угрожал ей карой с небес, с другой призывал каждого верующего к подчинению.

Конечно, право на сопротивление у народа есть, но с двумя оговорками. Во-первых, творимые насилие и произвол должны стать более нестерпимыми. Во-вторых, должны быть исчерпаны мирные методы борьбы.

Несмотря на все указанное, наихудшая форма правления по Кальвину – демократия, лучшая – олигархическая.

Кроме того, учение Кальвина характеризуется нетерпимостью к другим религиозным взглядам и крестьянским ересям. Рассматриваемый деятель, в период руководства консисторией в Женеве, подчинил ей магистрат города, установил слежку за простыми горожанами, жестко регламентировал все стороны жизни. За отступление от правил следовало жесткое наказание, казни еретиков стали обыденностью.

Оценивая роль этой идеологии в истории стоит упомянуть, что большое значение она имела в первой буржуазной революции, установлению республики в Нидерландах, формированию республиканских партий в Англии. Кальвинизм стал кормом мировоззрения буржуазии.

Библия, а не церковь. Христос, а не папа римский

С таким девизом, в котором переосмысливаются религиозные ценности, выступил в конце XIV века, ещё задолго до Реформации, Джон Виклиф, профессор Оксфордского университета. Он стал человеком, который напомнил католикам о старых идеях, на которых выросло христианство. За что и был сочтён еретиком.

Один из предшественников протестантизма, Джон Уиклиф первым перевёл Библию на английский язык, однако римская церковь не оценила его стараний, поскольку она была наделена абсолютной монополией на толкование Библии. Уилклиф учил, что каждый человек связан с Богом напрямую, и для этого ему не нужны никакие посредники. За эти деяния, а также за то, что клеймил Папу Римского отступником и антихристом, он и был уволен из Оксфорда, его учеников при этом вынудили отречься от его взглядов.

Владислав Муттих. «Ян Гус на костре в Констанце». (Pinterest)

Однако распространению его идей это уже не могло помешать: учение виклифистов стало идейной основой для общины лоллардистов и для проповедей Яна Гуса. Последний за свои идеи был сожжён на костре вместе со своими трудами. Труп Уиклифа был выкопан по решению Констанцского собора и тоже сожжён на костре. Показательные казни надолго отбили у мыслителей желание реформировать церковь.

«На том стою. Не могу иначе. Да поможет мне Бог»

Эту известную фразу Мартин Лютер произнес на Вормсском рейхстаге, стоя перед императором Священной Римской империи, курфюрстами и архиепископами. Слова эти обозначали полный отказ от отречения, после них он был вынужден бегством спасаться от преследующей его инквизиции.

А начиналась эта история довольно безобидно — в октябре 1517 года достопочтенный отец Мартин Лютер, доктор богословия Виттенбергского университета, был вне себя от развращённости римско-католического клира. В то время Папа Римский Лев X, привыкший к роскоши и ощутивший вдруг острую необходимость в средствах, официально от имени церкви разрешил торговлю индульгенциями по всей Европе.

Праведный гнев Лютера вылился в знаменитые 95 тезисов, которые богослов составил в надежде искоренить пороки внутри церкви. Судьбоносную для всей Европы табличку с тезисами, как гласит предание, Мартин Лютер 31 октября 1517 года прибил к воротам дворцовой церкви Виттенберга.

Есть мнение, что вся история с прибитой табличкой — лишь красивая легенда. (Pinterest)

Одним из ключевых событий Реформации стал Лейпцигский диспут, где Мартин Лютер в очередной раз высказал свои идеи в споре с Иоганном Экком. Когда Лютер в своей речи дошёл до того, что стал с некоторых позиций оправдывать Яна Гуса, Герцог Георг, памятуя о дурном наследии гусситов в Саксонии, разразился проклятиями. После этого Мартин Лютер получил первую тревожную весточку — папскую буллу, в которой осуждались его взгляды. Собрав вокруг себя толпу, богослов сжёг буллу за подписью самого Папы Римского, чем полностью разорвал отношения с римской католической церковью.

Папа Римский Лев X к критике отнёсся однозначно — он предал Лютера анафеме, отлучил от церкви и хотел заставить того приехать на Вормсский рейхстаг, чтобы богослов публично отрекся от своих убеждений.

Лютер спрятан, но дело его живёт

После окончания Вормсского рейхстага Мартин Лютер направился домой в Виттенберг. Не успел он как следует отъехать от Вормса, как его похитили люди курфюрста Саксонии… и спрятали в укромном месте, в замке Вартбург. Как оказалось, Фридрих Мудрый, отличавшийся пытливым умом, на собрании рейхстага проникся речами Мартина Лютера и решил сберечь того от неминуемого наказания. Причём для того, чтобы не врать императору Карлу V на допросе, он специально приказал своим людям не предупреждать его о том, где они спрячут богослова-мятежника.

Лютер на Вормсском рейхстаге. (Pinterest)

Мартин Лютер, будучи узником Вартбургского замка, который он не мог покинуть, занялся переводом Библии на немецкий язык. Однако это не помешало распространению его идей: только они стали развиваться совершенно не в том русле, как планировал инициатор Реформации. Так называемый «духовный мятеж», мирный путь Реформации, о котором и проповедовал изначально Лютер, широкой поддержки в народе не получил. Зато в родном для Мартина Лютера Виттенберге начались погромы католических храмов, которые поддерживали последователи богослова — Цвиллинг и Карлштадт.

Римская церковь не готова была терпеть погромы в собственных храмах. Обе стороны взялись за оружие. Религиозный конфликт стал приобретать кровавый характер, и в итоге вылился в грандиозную войну, которую нарекли Тридцатилетней (1618−1648). Эта война привела к тому, что на территории Германии — а за ней и в других европейских странах — католическая и лютеранская церковь стали существовать параллельно.

Мартин Лютер и его реформационные идеи

Мартин Лютер и его реформационные идеи

Реформация (от лат. reformatio — «преобразование») — религиозное и социально-политическое движение в Европе XVI в., выдвигавшее требования реформы католической церкви и преобразования порядков, санкционированных ее учением.

Начало Реформации в Германии связано с именем Мартина Лютера (1483—1546), монаха-августинца и профессора Виттенбергского университета, который в 1517 г. открыто выступил против индульгенций. Его с юношеских лет отличала глубокая религиозность; в 1505 г., получив степень магистра «свободных искусств», он вопреки воле отца, желавшего видеть своего сына юристом, становится монахом августинского монастыря в Эрфурте. В надежде на спасение души будущий реформатор строго выполнял монашеские предписания (посты и молитвы). Однако уже тогда у него зародились сомнения в правильности этого пути. Став в 1507 г. священником, Лютер по настоянию своего ордена продолжил университетское образование на факультете теологии Эрфуртского университета. Поездка в 1511 г. в Рим и впечатления отличного знакомства с развращенными нравами высшего католического клира усилили в Лютере стремление к поиску тех основ христианской догматики, которые должны были отвечать внутренней религиозности, а не обрядовой, внешней Стороне культа.

Лукас Кранах Старший. Портрет Мартина Лютера. 1522 г.

С 1512 г., после получения степени доктора богословия, Лютер начал читать лекции в университете г. Виттенберга. Здесь он обратился к углубленному изучению Библии, к тому же он как лектор вынужден был вырабатывать свои трактовки библейского текста. В 1512—1517 гг. постепенно начинает оформляться его теологическая концепция. 18 октября 1517 г. папа римский Лев X издал буллу об отпущении грехов и продаже индульгенций в целях, как утверждалось, «оказания содействий построению храма св. Петра и спасения душ христианского мира». Этот момент и был избран Лютером для того, чтобы в тезисах против индульгенций изложить свое новое понимание места и роли церкви. 31 октября 1517 г. Лютер прибил к дверям университетской церкви в Виттенберге «95 тезисов» («Диспут о прояснении действенности индульгенций»). Он, конечно, не думал о противостоянии с церковью, а стремился к очищению ее от пороков. В частности, он поставил под сомнение особое право пап на отпущение грехов, призывая верующих к внутреннему раскаянию, которому отводилось главная роль, в обретении «спасающей помощи Божьего милосердия».

«Тезисы» Лютера, переведенные на немецкий язык, за короткий срок обрели феноменальную популярность. Вскоре для опровержения лютеровских тезисов были выставлены опытные католические теологи: распространитель индульгенций в Германии Тецель, доминиканский монах Сильвестр Маззолини да Приерио и известный богослов Иоганн Экк. Все они, критикуя Лютера, исходили из догмата о непогрешимости папы. Против Лютера было составлено обвинение в ереси, а 7 августа 1518 г. ему было передано приказание явиться на суд в Рим. Однако, опираясь на поддержку своих сторонников, в том числе и среди представителей власти, Лютер отказался.

Папскому легату в Германии пришлось согласиться с предложением подвергнуть Лютера допросу в Германии. В октябре 1518 г. Лютер прибыл в Аугсбург, где в то время заседал рейхстаг. Здесь Лютер заявил, что не отречется «ни от единой буквы» своего вероучения. Конец периоду переговоров папской курии с Лютером положил диспут, состоявшийся летом 1519 г. в Лейпциге между ним и Экком. Когда Экк обвинил Лютера в том, что он повторяет ряд положений, близких к учению Гуса, Лютер заявил, что среди положений Гуса имелись «истинно христианские и евангелистские». Это заявление означало не только опровержение «высшей святости» папы, но и авторитета соборов. Только Священное Писание непогрешимо, заявил Лютер, а не папа и вселенские соборы. Таким образом, результатом лейпцигского диспута был открытый разрыв Лютера с Римом.

В трактате «К христианскому дворянству немецкой нации об улучшении христианского состояния» (1520) Лютер обосновал освобождение от папского засилья тезисом о том, что служение Богу рассматривается не как дело одного духовенства, а как функция всех христиан, их мирских учреждений и светской власти. Так была высказана идея «всеобщего священства», которым обладали все христиане. Параллельно с этим Лютер разработал программу борьбы с папством и реформирования церкви. Он призвал немцев прекратить выплаты Риму, сократить число папских представителей в Германии, ограничить вмешательство папы в управление империи. Важным пунктом в национальном развитии немцев стал призыв к чтению мессы на немецком языке. Далее Лютер потребовал закрытия монастырей нищенствующих орденов и роспуска всех духовных братств, отмены церковных иммунитетов, отлучений, многочисленных праздников, целибата духовных лиц.

К этому же моменту можно говорить уже о сложившейся системе богословских взглядов Лютера. Основное положение, выдвинутое им, гласило, что человек достигает спасения души (или «оправдания») не через церковь и ее обряды, а с помощью личной веры, даруемой человеку непосредственно Богом. Смысл этого утверждения заключался, прежде всего, в отрицании посреднической роли духовенства между верующими и Богом. Другой тезис Лютера сводился к утверждению приоритета Священного Писания над Священным Преданием — в виде папских декретов и постановлений вселенских соборов. Это положение Лютера, как и первое, противоречило католической догме о централизованной универсальной церкви, распределяющей по своему усмотрению Божественную благодать, и о непререкаемом авторитете папы как вероучителя.

Однако Лютер не отвергал полностью значения духовенства, без помощи которого человеку трудно достигнуть состояния смирения. Священник в новой церкви Лютера должен был наставлять люден в религиозной жизни, в смирении перед Богом, но не мог давать отпущение грехов (это дело Бога). Лютером отрицалась та сторона католического культа, которая не находила подтверждения и оправдания в букве Священного Писания, поэтому другое название лютеранской церкви — евангелическая церковь. Среди церковной атрибутики, отвергнутой Лютером, оказались поклонение святым, почитание икон, коленопреклонение, алтарь, иконы, скульптуры, учение о чистилище. Из семи таинств было сохранено в конечном итоге только два: крещение и причастие.

Историческое значение выступления Лютера заключалось в том, что оно сделалось центром сложной по своему социальном составу оппозиции. Вокруг Лютера объединились различные элементы германского общества, от умеренных до самых радикальных, выступившие под флагом новой концепции христианского учения против папской власти, католической церкви и их защитников: рыцарство, бюргерство, часть светских князей, рассчитывавших на обогащение путем конфискации церковных имуществ и стремившихся использовать новое вероисповедание для завоевания большей независимости от империи, городские низы. Широкий социальный состав сторонников Лютера обеспечил вскоре ряд значительных успехов лютеранской Реформации. Правда, сам Лютер неоднократно уточнял, что христианская свобода должна пониматься только в смысле духовной свободы, а не телесной. Лютер считал недопустимым аргументировать необходимость политических и социальных изменений ссылками на Священное Писание.

Триумфом Лютера стал Вормский рейхстаг 1521 г., где Лютер категорично заявил об отказе отречься от своих реформационных идей («На том стою и не могу иначе…»). Императорский указ, известный под названием «Вормский эдикт», запрещал на всей территории империи проповедь в духе Лютера и предавал Лютера опале, а его сочинения — сожжению. Однако он не возымел нужного действия и не приостановил распространение лютеровского учения. Найдя пристанище в замке курфюрста Саксонии Фридриха Мудрого (1463—1525), Лютер осуществил перевод на немецкий язык Нового Завета, тем самым дав в руки своих сторонников мощное идеологическое оружие.

Наступившая после Вормского рейхстага дифференциация антиримского движения, выделение из него радикальных группировок, которые в понимании задач реформ расходились с Лютером, заставили его определенно высказаться, прежде всего, по вопросу о способах и методах претворения в жизнь общих принципов Реформации. Лютер упорно отстаивает свою программу «духовного мятежа», центральным моментом которой был тезис о непризнании католической церкви в Германии и борьбе с нею исключительно мирными средствами. Поэтому Лютер не поддержал рыцарское восстание 1522—1523 гг., осудил бюргерство, стремившееся к коренным преобразованиям церкви (в том числе и путем насилия) и проведению социальных реформ.

Чем больше реформационные лозунги привлекали немцев, тем важнее было Лютеру определиться с той политической силой, которая будет осуществлять Реформацию. Реалии Германии того времени вели Лютера к мысли, что такой силой могла стать княжеская власть, представитель которой, саксонский курфюрст Фридрих Мудрый, не раз в 1517—1521 гг. защищал реформатора. Более того, идея о «всеобщем священстве» позволяла рассматривать княжескую власть как подлинно апостольскую, а значит, ей и должна была принадлежать руководящая роль в новой церкви. Окончательно Лютер сформулирует свои взгляды на этот вопрос после попытки в 1522 г. анабаптистов, переселившихся в Виттенберг, осуществить Реформацию в собственной трактовке. Поскольку Лютер не верил в способность церкви на внутреннюю реформу и считал недопустимым проведение преобразований народом, он доказывал, что право осуществлять Реформацию принадлежит только государям и магистратам. Духовная власть, таким образом, подчинялась светской.

В отечественной историографии преобладала оценка лютеровского реформационного учения как идеологии умеренного бюргерства. Наличие этой более или менее аргументированной точки зрения не отрицает возможности видеть в М. Лютере общенационального идеолога немецкой Реформации. Лютер обращался ко всей немецкой пастве с универсальными (важными для представителей всех социальных и профессиональных групп) религиозными проблемами и обсуждал не менее универсальные христианские ценности. Главное, что волновало его — правильность веры для спасения души. Сам Лютер никогда не говорил определенно о какой-то социальной предпочтительности своего учения, даже его «симпатии» к князьям были связаны не с содержанием Реформации, а с ее осуществлением.

Конечно, реализация некоторых идей Лютера представляла известный интерес для бюргерства — как умеренного, так и радикального, — но в то же время «плодами» Реформации воспользовались и князья, и дворяне, и патрициат, и даже крестьянство.

Простому человеку Лютер отводил крайне пассивную роль как в религиозной, так и в общественной жизни, что противоречило активной позиции бюргерства начала XVI в. Характерно высказывание М. Лютера: «Праведен не тот, кто много делает, а тот, кто без всяких дел глубоко верует в Христа… Закон гласит: сделай это — и ничего не происходит. Милосердие гласит: веруй в этого — и сразу все сделано». Такое видение проблемы резко отличало М. Лютера от настоящих идеологов бюргерства У. Цвингли и Ж. Кальвина. Но обращение Лютера к проблеме человека, внимание к его личным переживаниям, стремление возвести в абсолют религиозной деятельности персональное общение с Богом говорит о том, что реформатор смог найти религиозное выражение ментальным процессам индивидуализации сознания. Неслучайно современные немецкие историки трактуют лютеранское вероучение как «эмансипацию индивидуума», основанную на лучших достижениях человеческой мысли XVI столетия.

Молодые годы Мартина

Начало XVI века можно назвать эпохой Мартина Лютера — основателя протестантизма и отца Реформации. Его подробная биография полна событий.

Родился Мартин 10 ноября 1483 года в саксонском городе Айслебен. Родители Лютера были бедными крестьянами. Отец — Ганс и мать — Маргарита переехали сюда незадолго до рождения сына из близлежащей деревушки.

Жизнь в городе, вопреки ожиданиям, была не легче деревенской. Отец устроился на медные рудники, а мать на спине носила дрова. Лишь крайняя умеренность спасала семью от полной нищеты. И все же Мартин искренне гордился своим христианским происхождением.

Отец мальчика был очень суров со своим первенцем и однажды наказал сына так, что тот убежал из дома. Не отличалась нежностью и мать семейства. Как-то она избила сына до крови. Строгость воспитания сделала Лютера сдержанным, даже замкнутым.

Главной надеждой в семье был Мартин. Отец мечтал, чтобы сын выучился и стал бургомистром. Мартин был озабочен тем, чтобы заслужить любовь и похвалу родителей.

В 1501 году он стал студентом университета города Эрфурт. Когда через 2 года Мартин получил степень бакалавра, отец, доходы которого теперь уже значительно выросли, стал выплачивать ежемесячное пособие на его содержание.

На юридическом факультете Эрфуртского университета парень научился произносить длинные и серьёзные речи, за что получил прозвище «философ».

По старому студенческому обычаю, молодой человек зарабатывал на жизнь уличным пением и игрой на лютне, в чём достиг немалых успехов.

В 1505 году, окончив университет со степенью магистра, Мартин ушел в Августинский монастырь, и хотя этот шаг казался близким совершенно неожиданным, на тот момент у Мартина была на то причина. Один из университетских друзей Лютера умер от удара молнии. Это событие просто ошеломило молодого человека. Спустя некоторое время молния ударила в землю уже рядом с самим Лютером. Он так испугался, что выкрикнул: «Святая Анна помоги мне, я стану монахом».

И уже через 2 недели Мартин выполнил это обещание. Тогда отец, который после получения юношей ученой степени стал обращаться к сыну исключительно на вы, отрекся от него. Чтобы выполнить обет, он продал свои книги и ушёл в монастырь августинцев, известный особой строгостью устава.

Протест против продажи индульгенций

Единственным грехом новоприбывшего в Августинский монастырь послушника Мартина была неуемная тяга к знаниям. Господь не любит тех, кто крутится рядом с древом познания. В монастыре юноша принялся с остервенением изучать Священные Писания.

Он хотел взять небеса штурмом. Мартин подстегивал ум жесткой аскезой, постился по трое суток, не мылся, не менял одежду, спал без постели, едва не умер от переохлаждения. Его все время тревожило, достаточно ли он хорошо себя ведет, чтобы добиться божественного прощения.

Много физических ограничений он наложил на себя сам, помимо обязательных аскез. За 3 года в монастыре Мартин разрушил свое здоровье. Он стал испытанием для братьев по монастырю. Молодой человек денно и нощно искал в себе пороки, изнурял исповедями священников.

В ноябре 1508 года Лютер, приняв приглашение Фридриха Мудрого, начал преподавать в недавно созданном этим саксонским курфюрстом Виттенбергском университете. В 1510 году он съездил в Рим, где своими глазами увидел роскошь и разврат среди Верховного духовенства. Чувства пламенного католика были оскорблены. Особенно его возмущало, что любой человек мог купить индульгенцию и за деньги получить прощение самых страшных грехов.

В 1512 году молодой священник стал доктором богословия. Эта ученая степень давала ему право толкования Библии. В 1516 году талантливый доктор теологии стал проповедником соборной церкви Виттенберга. Народ слушал его, внимая каждому слову, ведь выходец из крестьянской семьи отлично знал, как общаться с обычными людьми.

Молодой реформатор встряхнул христианский мир до основания. 31 октября 1517 года Лютер дал залп по католической церкви. Свой протест против продажи индульгенций он сформулировал в 95 тезисах, которые прикрепил на дверях Виттенбергской церкви.

Он выступил с критикой роли церкви в спасении души. В своих тезисах он просил отменить продажу индульгенций. Вначале Лютер и не думал ни о какой Реформации. Таким необычным способом, обнародовав свои тезисы, он лишь хотел свободно обсудить проблему.

Но поступок Лютера наделал столько шума, что некоторые папские инквизиторы прямо потребовали сожжения еретика. Нападки противников вынудили Лютера пойти дальше.

Вера — краеугольный камень

Он пишет разъяснения к тезисам, в которых ставит под сомнение непогрешимость Папы, хотя пока еще Лютер согласен ему подчиняться. Тезисы вызвали ожесточенную полемику по всей Германии. От критики индульгенций сторонники Лютера перешли к обсуждению самих католических догматов.

Тогда папа Лев X издает буллу, в которой угрожает отлучить вольнодумца от церкви. 10 декабря 1520 года перед городскими воротами Виттенберга Мартин публично сжигает папское послание. Ответ Папы не заставил себя долго ждать — 37-летний ученый был отлучен от церкви. Так началась Реформация.

Энгельс давал сравнительную характеристику Мартину Лютеру. Он ставил его в один ряд с такими титанами, как Леонардо да Винчи, Альбрехтом Дюрером и Никколо Макиавелли. Полное собрание сочинений Лютера насчитывает 38 томов.

Отлученный от церкви, Мартин укрылся в замке саксонского князя, чтобы не попасть в лапы инквизиции. Он занялся разработкой собственного вероучения, которое впоследствии назовут протестантским. Он вошел в историю как идейный лидер протестантского движения, вождь его старейшей конфессии — Лютеранства. Его учение сократило дистанцию между богом и человеком.

Суть учения

Лютер пришёл к мысли, что спасение души лежит в самой вере. Это стало основным постулатом реформаторского учения Мартина Лютера. Вера — краеугольный камень учения, и разгадка его фантастической популярности. Он по-новому осмыслил Новый Завет. На одной чаше весов были католики, на другой лютеране.

Искренняя вера искупает грехи и удерживает от неправедных поступков. В отличие от католичества, которое требовало формального исполнения обрядов, протестантизм был направлен к сердцу каждого верующего.

Учение Лютера «Спасение верой»:

• человек спасается только верой;
• вера обретается только через милость Бога;
• только Священное Писание и слово Божье является авторитетом в делах веры.

Лютер утверждал, что отношения между Богом и человеком имеют личный характер и не нуждаются во вмешательстве церкви, которая должна лишь помочь людям постичь Библию.

Он, как наиболее образованный богослов, перевел Библию на немецкий язык, сделав древние тексты доступными для народного чтения. Лютер заложил основы немецкого языка, на котором будут писать Гете, Шиллер, Кант и другие известные авторы.

Реформация совпала с развитием в Европе книгопечатания. Силой печатного и не печатного слова Лютер изменил религиозную и культурную жизнь миллионов людей на века вперед.

Ученый-богослов хотел реформировать только церковь, но его идеи обрели собственную жизнь и воспламенили весь мир западного христианства.

Крестьянская война

В тот год, когда Мартин ушел в монастырь, астрологи предсказали, что примерно через 20 лет, когда все планеты соберутся в созвездии Рыб, начнутся войны, беды и лишения. Накануне небесного собора в 1521 году было опубликовано более полусотни предупреждающих трактатов. Гравюры изображали великую рыбу на небе и потрясения на Земле.

Лютер не верил астрологам и астрономам. Коперника обзывал дураком. В назначенный срок в 1524 году началась крестьянская война. Лютер был против народных мятежей, и как типичный немецкий бюргер высказывался за расправу над мятежниками и восстановление порядка.

Через 2 года мятеж был подавлен, но Германия к тому времени стала уже совершенно другой страной. Лютеранская церковь приобретала всю большую популярность.

Она становилась более понятной и доступной. Освобождалась от икон и сложных обрядов, во многих городах Германии закрывались католические монастыри и вводилось новое богослужение на немецком языке.

Основные идеи лютеранства:

• оправдание верой;
• отказ от продаж индульгенций;
• секуляризация церковного имущества;
• верховенство Священного Писания;
• доступность Библии для всех слоев населения.

Некоторые исследователи предполагают, что мнимые грехи, в которых каялся Лютер, связаны с бурным воображением юноши, лишенного общения с девушками. Но в списке искушений он отдавал первенство не любовным бесам. Мартин хотел одного — верить, не испытывая сомнений. Он хотел слишком многого. Отныне главным искушением Лютера станет грех уныния.

Значение исследований Лютера

Примерно в это же время Лютер познакомился с Катариной фон Бора. Возраст замужества был уже на исходе, ей исполнилось 24 года, когда неведомым путем к ней попали запрещенные проповеди еретика Мартина Лютера.

Избранница долгое время жила в католическом монастыре, куда ее отдали ещё в детстве. Однако прочитав сочинение Мартина Лютера, она и еще 10 ее подруг решили оттуда сбежать. Организовать побег помог сам Лютер. В 1525 году 42-летний ученый женился на 26-летний Катарине фон Бора.

В своих учениях Лютер во всех бедствиях и муках человечества видел происки дьявола. Он был убежден, что и сам вовлечен в борьбу с ним. Он страдал галлюцинациями, в которых всегда присутствовал дьявол.

Последние годы жизни Лютер страдал от различных хронических недугов. Он умер в Айслебене 18 февраля 1546 года.

Значение учений Лютера:

• совершенно иной взгляд на человека шел вразрез с существующими нормами феодального строя, в котором сословия олицетворяли собой коллективное начало;
• его идеи легли в основу появления протестантизма и протестантской этики, сыгравших ключевую роль в дальнейшем экономическом развитии Европы;
• Реформация подготовила почву для буржуазных революций, борьбы с абсолютистскими режимами, развития рыночных отношений.

Его судьба стала ярким примером идеи Реформации. Человек из крестьянской семьи стал идейным вождем нации и предопределил судьбу Европы.

Читайте также про чайный протест, или Бостонское чаепитие.

• Энциклопедия
• Люди
• Лютер Мартин

10 ноября 1483 года родился необычайный человек, который оставил след в истории, имя которого написано в школьных учебниках. Этого человека до сих пор помнит вся Германия. Зовут его Мартин Лютер.

Отец его был очень трудолюбивый, не боялся работы, стремился к лучшей жизни. Родился Мартин в Германии, но после семья переехала в Айслебен. Как и все дети в 7 лет он пошёл в школу, где постоянно выслушивал унижения. Мартину денег не хватало, чтобы получить знания нужно было переводиться в другие школы. Он пел песни на улицах, пытаясь как-то заработать. В 15 лет он случайно встретил жену богача. Женщина была добродушной, поэтому впустила Мартина в свой дом.

В 18 лет он поступил в Эрфуртский университет, где поражал всех своей великолепной памятью. Мартин развивался в разных направлениях, но больше всего ему было интересно богословие. Прочитав библию, его жизнь полностью поменялась. Случилось то, чего никто не ожидал. Лютер пошёл служить Богу. Он достиг больших успехов и вскоре смог преподавать богословие. Чтобы переводить Библию Лютер стал изучать иностранные языки. Даже когда он служил Богу, Мартин не чувствовал себя чистым.

Лютер стал первым, кто осмелился пойти против церкви. Он считал, что люди не должны зависеть от духовенства. Поступок, который люди считали смелым был то, что Лютер сжёг папскую буллу. 26 мая 1521 года Мартина обвинили в ереси. После он стал заниматься переводом Библии на немецкий. Люди приняли мнение Лютера, но после появился кальвинизм. Жан Кальвин считал, что судьбу человека определяет Бог.

У Мартина была личная жизнь. Он говорил: “ Бог не может запрещать жить в любви…”. Женой Лютера стала монашка. Во время свадьбы Лютеру было 42 года, а его жене 26 лет. В их семье появилось на свет 6 детей. Жили просто, но если люди нуждались в помощи, то всегда им помогали.

Лютер является реформатором. В борьбе с папами Лютер сделал многое для своего народа. Даже сейчас немцы вспоминают Мартина. Ведь он является одним из самых великих немцев. Таким образом появилось одно из направлений протестантизма — лютеранство.

Доклад №2

В конце эпохи Средневековья в странах Западной Европы католическая церковь начала терять свое влияние. Появились отдельные реформистские церкви, которые не подчинялись Папе Римскому. Все это вылилось в грандиознейший со времен отделения православия церковный раскол, а также религиозные войны. Англиканство, кальвинизм, анабаптизм, цвинглианство и лютеранство навсегда раскололи христианство. Инициатором этой Реформации являлся простой немецкий богослов Мартин Лютер.

Мартин Лютер не был благородного происхождения. Он родился 10 ноября 1483-го года в Айслебене, в семье крестьянина Ганса Лютера, который работал на медных рудниках и лишь к концу жизни сумел скопить небольшое состояние, позволившее стать ему зажиточным бюргером. Мама его, Маргарита Лютер, была также выходцем из крестьянок. Оба родителя происходили из Саксонии.

Родители Мартина с ранних лет прививали своим детям любовь к богу, воспитывали их строго и нравственно. Еще в возрасте 14-ти лет его отправили в францисканскую школу, что находилась в Магдебурге. Там он смог получить хорошее образование, что позволило ему в 18 лет поступить в Эрфуртский университет. Там он изучал свободные искусства и юриспруденцию. Все прочили ему хорошую карьеру, однако, неожиданно для всех, в том числе и для его семьи, Мартин Лютер поступает в монастырь августинцев в том же Эрфурте. Там он в 1506-ом году становится монахом, а позже, священником.

Молодое дарование быстро оценили церковные иерархи и 25 летнего священника отправили читать лекции в университет Виттенберга. Там, в университетской библиотеке, он совершенствует свое образование, а также знакомится с трудами блаженного Августина, которые изменили его мировоззрение. Много работая, он получает степень доктора теологии.

Постепенно Мартин Лютер начинает задумываться о благочестии католического духовенства и вообще о римской церкви в целом. Во время служебной поездки в Рим, он увидел развращенность священников, их жадность и жажду власти. Возвратившись, он с усердием начинает изучать Библию, ища в ней ответы на свои вопросы. Каплей, переполнявшей чашу его терпения, стал знаменитый указ папы Льва Х, разрешающий продажу индульгенций и отпущения грехов. Лютер стал открыто критиковать церковь.

По вопросам церковных индульгенций Мартин Лютер пишет обширную статью, состоящую из знаменитых 95 тезисов в 1517-ом году. В ней он критикует католицизм сомневается в праве папы римского отпускать грехи, делает вывод о том, что господствующая церковь на корню губит веру. Свои тезисы Мартин Лютер прибивает к церковным дверям в Виттенберге. Именно эти тезисы и считаются началом церковного раскола, Реформации и зарождением протестантизма.

После такого открытого выступления против господствующей церкви, Мартина Лютера вызывали на церковный суд, а, впоследствии, предали анафеме. Однако папский документ, отлучающий его от церкви, он сжигает. В 1521-ом году Мартина Лютера публично провозглашают еретиком. Его похищает курфюрст Саксонии Фридрих и тайно помещает в свой замок, где Лютер приступает к главному делу своей жизни, переводе библии на немецкий язык. А ведь согласно католицизму, библия должна быть только на латыни. Именно богослужения на национальных языках, а не латинском, и есть основное отличие протестантских течений от католицизма.

В отличии от Яна Гуса, другого проповедника-реформатора, жившего столетием ранее, Мартина Лютера не сожгли на костре и не замуровали в монастырской келье. Он вел свободную жизнь, проповедуя и работая над новыми писаниями и катехизисами. Он даже женился в возрасте 42 лет и воспитывал 6 детей. И умер своей смертью в 1546-ом году в родном Айслебене.

7 класс кратко

Лютер Мартин

Популярные темы сообщений

• Пума (место обитания, чем питаются)

  Пума одно из самых красивых и сильных представителей семейства кошачьих. Их еще называют горными львами или кугуарами. Это довольно крупное животное. В длину пума может достичь до двух метров, а высота достигает одного метра.

• Мировой океан

  Самую большую часть всей гидросферы отводят мировому океану. Если брать весь мировой океан в целом, то его можно разделить на 4 океана. Он включает в себя воды Индийского, Тихого, Северного Ледовитого и Атлантического океанов.

• Голубь

  Голубь – птица, знакомая каждому. Выйдя на улицу, мы обязательно увидим голубя, который греется на солнышке, летит или пьёт воду из лужи. Их называют «птица мира», они являются символом чистоты и невинности души.

• Равнокрылые насекомые

  От равнокрылых насекомых не большая польза для человека. Они способны уничтожать сельскохозяйственные культуры и переносить разнообразные, порой даже смертельные болезни. Насчитывается 30 тыс. видов данных насекомых.

• Свойства воды

  Вода – это жизнь. Где нет воды, там нет жизни. Например, в пустыне нет воды, и там почти не растут растения и не живут животные. Караваны в пустынях не смогли бы выжить там без воды. Выходит, она играет очень важную роль в нашей жизни.

The Reverend Martin Luther OSA
Martin Luther (1529) by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Born	10 November 1483 Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, Holy Roman Empire
Died	18 February 1546 (aged 62) Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, Holy Roman Empire
Education	University of Erfurt University of Wittenberg
Occupations	Priest Theologian Author Hymnwriter
Notable work	Ninety-five Theses (1517)
Spouse	Katharina von Bora ​ (m. 1525)​
Children	Hans (Johannes) Elisabeth Magdalena Martin Paul Margarethe
Theological work
Era	Renaissance
Tradition or movement	Lutheranism (Protestantism)
Main interests	Prolegomena
Notable ideas	Reformation Five solae (Sola fide) Law and Gospel Theology of the Cross Two kingdoms doctrine
Signature

Martin Luther OSA (;^[1] German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈlʊtɐ] (listen); 10 November 1483^[2] – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar.^[3] He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation who gave his name to Lutheranism.

Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church; in particular, he disputed the view on indulgences. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Luther taught that salvation and, consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God’s grace through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority and office of the pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge,^[4] and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.^[5] Those who identify with these, and all of Luther’s wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical (German: evangelisch) as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.

His translation of the Bible into the German vernacular (instead of Latin) made it more accessible to the laity, an event that had a tremendous impact on both the church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,^[6] and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible.^[7] His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches.^[8] His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.^[9]

In two of his later works, Luther expressed antisemitic views, calling for the expulsion of Jews and burning of synagogues.^[10] In addition, these works also targeted Roman Catholics, Anabaptists, and nontrinitarian Christians.^[11] Based upon his significant anti-judaistic teachings,^[12][13][14] the prevailing view among historians is that his rhetoric contributed significantly to the development of antisemitism in Germany and of the Nazi Party.^[15][16][17] Luther died in 1546 with Pope Leo X’s excommunication still in effect.

Early life

Birth and education

Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)^[18] and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was baptized the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. In 1484, his family moved to Mansfeld, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters^[19] and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council; in 1492 he was elected as a town councilor.^[20][18] The religious scholar Martin Marty describes Luther’s mother as a hard-working woman of «trading-class stock and middling means», contrary to Luther’s enemies, who labeled her a whore and bath attendant.^[18]

He had several brothers and sisters and is known to have been close to one of them, Jacob.^[21]

Hans Luther was ambitious for himself and his family, and he was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended a school operated by a lay group called the Brethren of the Common Life, and Eisenach in 1498.^[22] The three schools focused on the so-called «trivium»: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell.^[23]

In 1501, at age 17, he entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse.^[24] He was made to wake at four every morning for what has been described as «a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises.»^[24] He received his master’s degree in 1505.^[25]

In accordance with his father’s wishes, he enrolled in law but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law represented uncertainty.^[25] Luther sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing particular interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel.^[25] He was deeply influenced by two tutors, Bartholomaeus Arnoldi von Usingen and Jodocus Trutfetter, who taught him to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers^[25] and to test everything himself by experience.^[26]

Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying, offering assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which to Luther was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, he felt, and he thereafter developed a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over the latter’s emphasis on reason.^[26] For Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed, and Scripture therefore became increasingly important to him.^[26]

On 2 July 1505, while Luther was returning to university on horseback after a trip home, a lightning bolt struck near him during a thunderstorm. Later telling his father he was terrified of death and divine judgment, he cried out, «Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!»^[27][28] He came to view his cry for help as a vow he could never break. He left university, sold his books, and entered St. Augustine’s Monastery in Erfurt on 17 July 1505.^[29] One friend blamed the decision on Luther’s sadness over the deaths of two friends. Luther himself seemed saddened by the move. Those who attended a farewell supper walked him to the door of the Black Cloister. «This day you see me, and then, not ever again,» he said.^[26] His father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther’s education.^[30]

Monastic life

Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.^[31] Luther described this period of his life as one of deep spiritual despair. He said, «I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter, and made of him the jailer and hangman of my poor soul.»^[32]

Johann von Staupitz, his superior, concluded that Luther needed more work to distract him from excessive introspection and ordered him to pursue an academic career. On 3 April 1507, Jerome Schultz (lat. Hieronymus Scultetus), the Bishop of Brandenburg, ordained Luther in Erfurt Cathedral. In 1508, he began teaching theology at the University of Wittenberg.^[33] He received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies on 9 March 1508 and another bachelor’s degree in the Sentences by Peter Lombard in 1509.^[34] On 19 October 1512, he was awarded his Doctor of Theology and, on 21 October 1512, was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg,^[35] having succeeded von Staupitz as chair of theology.^[36] He spent the rest of his career in this position at the University of Wittenberg.

He was made 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.^[37]

Start of the Reformation

In 1516, Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was sent to Germany by the Roman Catholic Church to sell indulgences to raise money in order to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.^[38] Tetzel’s experiences as a preacher of indulgences, especially between 1503 and 1510, led to his appointment as general commissioner by Albrecht von Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, who, deeply in debt to pay for a large accumulation of benefices, had to contribute the considerable sum of ten thousand ducats^[39] toward the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Albrecht obtained permission from Pope Leo X to conduct the sale of a special plenary indulgence (i.e., remission of the temporal punishment of sin), half of the proceeds of which Albrecht was to claim to pay the fees of his benefices.

On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to his bishop, Albrecht von Brandenburg, protesting against the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his «Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences»,^[a] which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses. Hans Hillerbrand writes that Luther had no intention of confronting the church but saw his disputation as a scholarly objection to church practices, and the tone of the writing is accordingly «searching, rather than doctrinaire.»^[41] Hillerbrand writes that there is nevertheless an undercurrent of challenge in several of the theses, particularly in Thesis 86, which asks: «Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?»^[41]

Luther objected to a saying attributed to Tetzel that «As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory (also attested as ‘into heaven’) springs.»^[42] He insisted that, since forgiveness was God’s alone to grant, those who claimed that indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error. Christians, he said, must not slacken in following Christ on account of such false assurances.

According to one account, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. Scholars Walter Krämer, Götz Trenkler, Gerhard Ritter, and Gerhard Prause contend that the story of the posting on the door, although it has become one of the pillars of history, has little foundation in truth.^{[43][44][45][46]} The story is based on comments made by Luther’s collaborator Philip Melanchthon, though it is thought that he was not in Wittenberg at the time.^[47] According to Roland Bainton, on the other hand, it is true.^[48]

The Latin Theses were printed in several locations in Germany in 1517. In January 1518 friends of Luther translated the Ninety-five Theses from Latin into German.^[49] Within two weeks, copies of the theses had spread throughout Germany. Luther’s writings circulated widely, reaching France, England, and Italy as early as 1519. Students thronged to Wittenberg to hear Luther speak. He published a short commentary on Galatians and his Work on the Psalms. This early part of Luther’s career was one of his most creative and productive.^[50] Three of his best-known works were published in 1520: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian.

Justification by faith alone

From 1510 to 1520, Luther lectured on the Psalms, and on the books of Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. As he studied these portions of the Bible, he came to view the use of terms such as penance and righteousness by the Catholic Church in new ways. He became convinced that the church was corrupt in its ways and had lost sight of what he saw as several of the central truths of Christianity. The most important for Luther was the doctrine of justification—God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous—by faith alone through God’s grace. He began to teach that salvation or redemption is a gift of God’s grace, attainable only through faith in Jesus as the Messiah.^[51] «This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification», he writes, «is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness.»^[52]

Luther came to understand justification as entirely the work of God. This teaching by Luther was clearly expressed in his 1525 publication On the Bondage of the Will, which was written in response to On Free Will by Desiderius Erasmus (1524). Luther based his position on predestination on St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians 2:8–10. Against the teaching of his day that the righteous acts of believers are performed in cooperation with God, Luther wrote that Christians receive such righteousness entirely from outside themselves; that righteousness not only comes from Christ but actually is the righteousness of Christ, imputed to Christians (rather than infused into them) through faith.^[53]

«That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law,» he writes. «Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ.»^[54] Faith, for Luther, was a gift from God; the experience of being justified by faith was «as though I had been born again.» His entry into Paradise, no less, was a discovery about «the righteousness of God»—a discovery that «the just person» of whom the Bible speaks (as in Romans 1:17) lives by faith.^[55] He explains his concept of «justification» in the Smalcald Articles:

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24–25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23–25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us … Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).^[56]

Breach with the papacy

Archbishop Albrecht did not reply to Luther’s letter containing the Ninety-five Theses. He had the theses checked for heresy and in December 1517 forwarded them to Rome.^[57] He needed the revenue from the indulgences to pay off a papal dispensation for his tenure of more than one bishopric. As Luther later notes, «the pope had a finger in the pie as well, because one half was to go to the building of St. Peter’s Church in Rome».^[58]

Pope Leo X was used to reformers and heretics,^[59] and he responded slowly, «with great care as is proper.»^[60] Over the next three years he deployed a series of papal theologians and envoys against Luther, which served only to harden the reformer’s anti-papal theology. First, the Dominican theologian Sylvester Mazzolini drafted a heresy case against Luther, whom Leo then summoned to Rome. The Elector Frederick persuaded the pope to have Luther examined at Augsburg, where the Imperial Diet was held.^[61] Over a three-day period in October 1518, Luther defended himself under questioning by papal legate Cardinal Cajetan. The pope’s right to issue indulgences was at the centre of the dispute between the two men.^[62][63] The hearings degenerated into a shouting match. More than writing his theses, Luther’s confrontation with the church cast him as an enemy of the pope: «His Holiness abuses Scripture», retorted Luther. «I deny that he is above Scripture».^[64][65] Cajetan’s original instructions had been to arrest Luther if he failed to recant, but the legate desisted from doing so.^[66] With help from the Carmelite monk Christoph Langenmantel, Luther slipped out of the city at night, unbeknownst to Cajetan.^[67]

In January 1519, at Altenburg in Saxony, the papal nuncio Karl von Miltitz adopted a more conciliatory approach. Luther made certain concessions to the Saxon, who was a relative of the Elector and promised to remain silent if his opponents did.^[68] The theologian Johann Eck, however, was determined to expose Luther’s doctrine in a public forum. In June and July 1519, he staged a disputation with Luther’s colleague Andreas Karlstadt at Leipzig and invited Luther to speak.^[69] Luther’s boldest assertion in the debate was that Matthew 16:18 does not confer on popes the exclusive right to interpret scripture, and that therefore neither popes nor church councils were infallible.^[70] For this, Eck branded Luther a new Jan Hus, referring to the Czech reformer and heretic burned at the stake in 1415. From that moment, he devoted himself to Luther’s defeat.^[71]

Excommunication

On 15 June 1520, the Pope warned Luther with the papal bull (edict) Exsurge Domine that he risked excommunication unless he recanted 41 sentences drawn from his writings, including the Ninety-five Theses, within 60 days. That autumn, Eck proclaimed the bull in Meissen and other towns. Von Miltitz attempted to broker a solution, but Luther, who had sent the pope a copy of On the Freedom of a Christian in October, publicly set fire to the bull and decretals at Wittenberg on 10 December 1520,^[72] an act he defended in Why the Pope and his Recent Book are Burned and Assertions Concerning All Articles. As a consequence, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X on 3 January 1521, in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.^[73] And although the Lutheran World Federation, Methodists and the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity agreed (in 1999 and 2006, respectively) on a «common understanding of justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ,» the Catholic Church has never lifted the 1520 excommunication.^[74][75][76]

Diet of Worms

The enforcement of the ban on the Ninety-five Theses fell to the secular authorities. On 18 April 1521, Luther appeared as ordered before the Diet of Worms. This was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire that took place in Worms, a town on the Rhine. It was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521, with Emperor Charles V presiding. Prince Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, obtained a safe conduct for Luther to and from the meeting.

Johann Eck, speaking on behalf of the empire as assistant of the Archbishop of Trier, presented Luther with copies of his writings laid out on a table and asked him if the books were his and whether he stood by their contents. Luther confirmed he was their author but requested time to think about the answer to the second question. He prayed, consulted friends, and gave his response the next day:

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.^[77]

At the end of this speech, Luther raised his arm «in the traditional salute of a knight winning a bout.» Michael Mullett considers this speech as a «world classic of epoch-making oratory.»^[78]

Eck informed Luther that he was acting like a heretic, saying,

Martin, there is no one of the heresies which have torn the bosom of the church, which has not derived its origin from the various interpretation of the Scripture. The Bible itself is the arsenal whence each innovator has drawn his deceptive arguments. It was with Biblical texts that Pelagius and Arius maintained their doctrines. Arius, for instance, found the negation of the eternity of the Word—an eternity which you admit, in this verse of the New Testament—Joseph knew not his wife till she had brought forth her first-born son; and he said, in the same way that you say, that this passage enchained him. When the fathers of the Council of Constance condemned this proposition of Jan Hus—The church of Jesus Christ is only the community of the elect, they condemned an error; for the church, like a good mother, embraces within her arms all who bear the name of Christian, all who are called to enjoy the celestial beatitude.^[79]

Luther refused to recant his writings. He is sometimes also quoted as saying: «Here I stand. I can do no other». Recent scholars consider the evidence for these words to be unreliable since they were inserted before «May God help me» only in later versions of the speech and not recorded in witness accounts of the proceedings.^[80] However, Mullett suggests that given his nature, «we are free to believe that Luther would tend to select the more dramatic form of words.»^[78]

Over the next five days, private conferences were held to determine Luther’s fate. The emperor presented the final draft of the Edict of Worms on 25 May 1521, declaring Luther an outlaw, banning his literature, and requiring his arrest: «We want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic.»^[81] It also made it a crime for anyone in Germany to give Luther food or shelter. It permitted anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence.

At Wartburg Castle

Luther’s disappearance during his return to Wittenberg was planned. Frederick III had him intercepted on his way home in the forest near Wittenberg by masked horsemen impersonating highway robbers. They escorted Luther to the security of the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach.^[82] During his stay at Wartburg, which he referred to as «my Patmos»,^[83] Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German and poured out doctrinal and polemical writings. These included a renewed attack on Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, whom he shamed into halting the sale of indulgences in his episcopates,^[84] and a Refutation of the Argument of Latomus, in which he expounded the principle of justification to Jacobus Latomus, an orthodox theologian from Louvain.^[85] In this work, one of his most emphatic statements on faith, he argued that every good work designed to attract God’s favor is a sin.^[86] All humans are sinners by nature, he explained, and God’s grace alone (which cannot be earned) can make them just. On 1 August 1521, Luther wrote to Melanchthon on the same theme: «Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides.»^[87]

In the summer of 1521, Luther widened his target from individual pieties like indulgences and pilgrimages to doctrines at the heart of Church practice. In On the Abrogation of the Private Mass, he condemned as idolatry the idea that the mass is a sacrifice, asserting instead that it is a gift, to be received with thanksgiving by the whole congregation.^[88] His essay On Confession, Whether the Pope has the Power to Require It rejected compulsory confession and encouraged private confession and absolution, since «every Christian is a confessor.»^[89] In November, Luther wrote The Judgement of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows. He assured monks and nuns that they could break their vows without sin, because vows were an illegitimate and vain attempt to win salvation.^[90]

Luther made his pronouncements from Wartburg in the context of rapid developments at Wittenberg, of which he was kept fully informed. Andreas Karlstadt, supported by the ex-Augustinian Gabriel Zwilling, embarked on a radical programme of reform there in June 1521, exceeding anything envisaged by Luther. The reforms provoked disturbances, including a revolt by the Augustinian friars against their prior, the smashing of statues and images in churches, and denunciations of the magistracy. After secretly visiting Wittenberg in early December 1521, Luther wrote A Sincere Admonition by Martin Luther to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion.^[91] Wittenberg became even more volatile after Christmas when a band of visionary zealots, the so-called Zwickau prophets, arrived, preaching revolutionary doctrines such as the equality of man,^{[clarification needed]} adult baptism, and Christ’s imminent return.^[92] When the town council asked Luther to return, he decided it was his duty to act.^[93]

Return to Wittenberg and Peasants’ War

Luther secretly returned to Wittenberg on 6 March 1522. He wrote to the Elector: «During my absence, Satan has entered my sheepfold, and committed ravages which I cannot repair by writing, but only by my personal presence and living word.»^[94] For eight days in Lent, beginning on Invocavit Sunday, 9 March, Luther preached eight sermons, which became known as the «Invocavit Sermons». In these sermons, he hammered home the primacy of core Christian values such as love, patience, charity, and freedom, and reminded the citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence to bring about necessary change.^[95]

Do you know what the Devil thinks when he sees men use violence to propagate the gospel? He sits with folded arms behind the fire of hell, and says with malignant looks and frightful grin: «Ah, how wise these madmen are to play my game! Let them go on; I shall reap the benefit. I delight in it.» But when he sees the Word running and contending alone on the battle-field, then he shudders and shakes for fear.^[96]

The effect of Luther’s intervention was immediate. After the sixth sermon, the Wittenberg jurist Jerome Schurf wrote to the elector: «Oh, what joy has Dr. Martin’s return spread among us! His words, through divine mercy, are bringing back every day misguided people into the way of the truth.»^[96]

Luther next set about reversing or modifying the new church practices. By working alongside the authorities to restore public order, he signalled his reinvention as a conservative force within the Reformation.^[97] After banishing the Zwickau prophets, he faced a battle against both the established Church and the radical reformers who threatened the new order by fomenting social unrest and violence.^[98]

Despite his victory in Wittenberg, Luther was unable to stifle radicalism further afield. Preachers such as Thomas Müntzer and Zwickau prophet Nicholas Storch found support amongst poorer townspeople and peasants between 1521 and 1525. There had been revolts by the peasantry on smaller scales since the 15th century.^[99] Luther’s pamphlets against the Church and the hierarchy, often worded with «liberal» phraseology, led many peasants to believe he would support an attack on the upper classes in general.^[100] Revolts broke out in Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia in 1524, even drawing support from disaffected nobles, many of whom were in debt. Gaining momentum under the leadership of radicals such as Müntzer in Thuringia, and Hipler and Lotzer in the south-west, the revolts turned into war.^[101]

Luther sympathised with some of the peasants’ grievances, as he showed in his response to the Twelve Articles in May 1525, but he reminded the aggrieved to obey the temporal authorities.^[102] During a tour of Thuringia, he became enraged at the widespread burning of convents, monasteries, bishops’ palaces, and libraries. In Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, written on his return to Wittenberg, he gave his interpretation of the Gospel teaching on wealth, condemned the violence as the devil’s work, and called for the nobles to put down the rebels like mad dogs:

Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel … For baptism does not make men free in body and property, but in soul; and the gospel does not make goods common, except in the case of those who, of their own free will, do what the apostles and disciples did in Acts 4 [:32–37]. They did not demand, as do our insane peasants in their raging, that the goods of others—of Pilate and Herod—should be common, but only their own goods. Our peasants, however, want to make the goods of other men common, and keep their own for themselves. Fine Christians they are! I think there is not a devil left in hell; they have all gone into the peasants. Their raving has gone beyond all measure.^[103]

Luther justified his opposition to the rebels on three grounds. First, in choosing violence over lawful submission to the secular government, they were ignoring Christ’s counsel to «Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s»; St. Paul had written in his epistle to the Romans 13:1–7 that all authorities are appointed by God and therefore should not be resisted. This reference from the Bible forms the foundation for the doctrine known as the divine right of kings, or, in the German case, the divine right of the princes. Second, the violent actions of rebelling, robbing, and plundering placed the peasants «outside the law of God and Empire», so they deserved «death in body and soul, if only as highwaymen and murderers.» Lastly, Luther charged the rebels with blasphemy for calling themselves «Christian brethren» and committing their sinful acts under the banner of the Gospel.^[104] Only later in life did he develop the Beerwolf concept permitting some cases of resistance against the government.^[105]

Without Luther’s backing for the uprising, many rebels laid down their weapons; others felt betrayed. Their defeat by the Swabian League at the Battle of Frankenhausen on 15 May 1525, followed by Müntzer’s execution, brought the revolutionary stage of the Reformation to a close.^[106] Thereafter, radicalism found a refuge in the Anabaptist movement and other religious movements, while Luther’s Reformation flourished under the wing of the secular powers.^[107] In 1526 Luther wrote: «I, Martin Luther, have during the rebellion slain all the peasants, for it was I who ordered them to be struck dead.»^[108]

Marriage

Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, one of 12 nuns he had helped escape from the Nimbschen Cistercian convent in April 1523, when he arranged for them to be smuggled out in herring barrels.^[109] «Suddenly, and while I was occupied with far different thoughts,» he wrote to Wenceslaus Link, «the Lord has plunged me into marriage.»^[110] At the time of their marriage, Katharina was 26 years old and Luther was 41 years old.

On 13 June 1525, the couple was engaged, with Johannes Bugenhagen, Justus Jonas, Johannes Apel, Philipp Melanchthon and Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife as witnesses.^[111] On the evening of the same day, the couple was married by Bugenhagen.^[111] The ceremonial walk to the church and the wedding banquet were left out and were made up two weeks later on 27 June.^[111]

Some priests and former members of religious orders had already married, including Andreas Karlstadt and Justus Jonas, but Luther’s wedding set the seal of approval on clerical marriage.^[112] He had long condemned vows of celibacy on biblical grounds, but his decision to marry surprised many, not least Melanchthon, who called it reckless.^[113] Luther had written to George Spalatin on 30 November 1524, «I shall never take a wife, as I feel at present. Not that I am insensible to my flesh or sex (for I am neither wood nor stone); but my mind is averse to wedlock because I daily expect the death of a heretic.»^[114]
Before marrying, Luther had been living on the plainest food, and, as he admitted himself, his mildewed bed was not properly made for months at a time.^[115]

Luther and his wife moved into a former monastery, «The Black Cloister,» a wedding present from Elector John the Steadfast. They embarked on what appears to have been a happy and successful marriage, though money was often short.^[116] Katharina bore six children: Hans – June 1526; Elisabeth – 10 December 1527, who died within a few months; Magdalene – 1529, who died in Luther’s arms in 1542; Martin – 1531; Paul – January 1533; and Margaret – 1534; and she helped the couple earn a living by farming and taking in boarders.^[117] Luther confided to Michael Stiefel on 11 August 1526: «My Katie is in all things so obliging and pleasing to me that I would not exchange my poverty for the riches of Croesus.»^[118]

Organising the church

By 1526, Luther found himself increasingly occupied in organising a new church. His biblical ideal of congregations choosing their own ministers had proved unworkable.^[119] According to Bainton: «Luther’s dilemma was that he wanted both a confessional church based on personal faith and experience and a territorial church including all in a given locality. If he were forced to choose, he would take his stand with the masses, and this was the direction in which he moved.»^[120]

From 1525 to 1529, he established a supervisory church body, laid down a new form of worship service, and wrote a clear summary of the new faith in the form of two catechisms.^[121] To avoid confusing or upsetting the people, Luther avoided extreme change. He also did not wish to replace one controlling system with another. He concentrated on the church in the Electorate of Saxony, acting only as an adviser to churches in new territories, many of which followed his Saxon model. He worked closely with the new elector, John the Steadfast, to whom he turned for secular leadership and funds on behalf of a church largely shorn of its assets and income after the break with Rome.^[122] For Luther’s biographer Martin Brecht, this partnership «was the beginning of a questionable and originally unintended development towards a church government under the temporal sovereign».^[123]

The elector authorised a visitation of the church, a power formerly exercised by bishops.^[124] At times, Luther’s practical reforms fell short of his earlier radical pronouncements. For example, the Instructions for the Visitors of Parish Pastors in Electoral Saxony (1528), drafted by Melanchthon with Luther’s approval, stressed the role of repentance in the forgiveness of sins, despite Luther’s position that faith alone ensures justification.^[125] The Eisleben reformer Johannes Agricola challenged this compromise, and Luther condemned him for teaching that faith is separate from works.^[126] The Instruction is a problematic document for those seeking a consistent evolution in Luther’s thought and practice.^[127]

In response to demands for a German liturgy, Luther wrote a German Mass, which he published in early 1526.^[128] He did not intend it as a replacement for his 1523 adaptation of the Latin Mass but as an alternative for the «simple people», a «public stimulation for people to believe and become Christians.»^[129] Luther based his order on the Catholic service but omitted «everything that smacks of sacrifice», and the Mass became a celebration where everyone received the wine as well as the bread.^[130] He retained the elevation of the host and chalice, while trappings such as the Mass vestments, altar, and candles were made optional, allowing freedom of ceremony.^[131] Some reformers, including followers of Huldrych Zwingli, considered Luther’s service too papistic, and modern scholars note the conservatism of his alternative to the Catholic Mass.^[132] Luther’s service, however, included congregational singing of hymns and psalms in German, as well as parts of the liturgy, including Luther’s unison setting of the Creed.^[133] To reach the simple people and the young, Luther incorporated religious instruction into the weekday services in the form of catechism.^[134] He also provided simplified versions of the baptism and marriage services.^[135]

Luther and his colleagues introduced the new order of worship during their visitation of the Electorate of Saxony, which began in 1527.^[136] They also assessed the standard of pastoral care and Christian education in the territory. «Merciful God, what misery I have seen,» Luther writes, «the common people knowing nothing at all of Christian doctrine … and unfortunately many pastors are well-nigh unskilled and incapable of teaching.»^[137]

Catechisms

Luther devised the catechism as a method of imparting the basics of Christianity to the congregations. In 1529, he wrote the Large Catechism, a manual for pastors and teachers, as well as a synopsis, the Small Catechism, to be memorised by the people.^[138] The catechisms provided easy-to-understand instructional and devotional material on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.^[139] Luther incorporated questions and answers in the catechism so that the basics of Christian faith would not just be learned by rote, «the way monkeys do it», but understood.^[140]

The catechism is one of Luther’s most personal works. «Regarding the plan to collect my writings in volumes,» he wrote, «I am quite cool and not at all eager about it because, roused by a Saturnian hunger, I would rather see them all devoured. For I acknowledge none of them to be really a book of mine, except perhaps the Bondage of the Will and the Catechism.»^[141] The Small Catechism has earned a reputation as a model of clear religious teaching.^[142] It remains in use today, along with Luther’s hymns and his translation of the Bible.

Luther’s Small Catechism proved especially effective in helping parents teach their children; likewise the Large Catechism was effective for pastors.^[143] Using the German vernacular, they expressed the Apostles’ Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian language. He rewrote each article of the Creed to express the character of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Luther’s goal was to enable the catechumens to see themselves as a personal object of the work of the three persons of the Trinity, each of which works in the catechumen’s life.^[144] That is, Luther depicts the Trinity not as a doctrine to be learned, but as persons to be known. The Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Spirit sanctifies, a divine unity with separate personalities. Salvation originates with the Father and draws the believer to the Father. Luther’s treatment of the Apostles’ Creed must be understood in the context of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) and The Lord’s Prayer, which are also part of the Lutheran catechetical teaching.^[144]

Translation of the Bible

Luther had published his German translation of the New Testament in 1522, and he and his collaborators completed the translation of the Old Testament in 1534, when the whole Bible was published. He continued to work on refining the translation until the end of his life.^[145] Others had previously translated the Bible into German, but Luther tailored his translation to his own doctrine.^[146]
Two of the earlier translations were the Mentelin Bible (1456)^[147] and the Koberger Bible (1484).^[148] There were as many as fourteen in High German, four in Low German, four in Dutch, and various other translations in other languages before the Bible of Luther.^[149]

Luther’s translation used the variant of German spoken at the Saxon chancellery, intelligible to both northern and southern Germans.^[150] He intended his vigorous, direct language to make the Bible accessible to everyday Germans, «for we are removing impediments and difficulties so that other people may read it without hindrance.»^[151] Published at a time of rising demand for German-language publications, Luther’s version quickly became a popular and influential Bible translation. As such, it contributed a distinct flavor to the German language and literature.^[152] Furnished with notes and prefaces by Luther, and with woodcuts by Lucas Cranach that contained anti-papal imagery, it played a major role in the spread of Luther’s doctrine throughout Germany.^[153] The Luther Bible influenced other vernacular translations, such as the Tyndale Bible (from 1525 forward), a precursor of the King James Bible.^[154]

When he was criticised for inserting the word «alone» after «faith» in Romans 3:28,^[155] he replied in part: «[T]he text itself and the meaning of St. Paul urgently require and demand it. For in that very passage he is dealing with the main point of Christian doctrine, namely, that we are justified by faith in Christ without any works of the Law. … But when works are so completely cut away—and that must mean that faith alone justifies—whoever would speak plainly and clearly about this cutting away of works will have to say, ‘Faith alone justifies us, and not works’.»^[156] Luther did not include First Epistle of John 5:7–8,^[157] the Johannine Comma in his translation, rejecting it as a forgery. It was inserted into the text by other hands after Luther’s death.^[158][159]

Hymnodist

Luther was a prolific hymnodist, authoring hymns such as «Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott» («A Mighty Fortress Is Our God»), based on Psalm 46, and «Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her» («From Heaven Above to Earth I Come»), based on Luke 2:11–12.^[160] Luther connected high art and folk music, also all classes, clergy and laity, men, women and children. His tool of choice for this connection was the singing of German hymns in connection with worship, school, home, and the public arena.^[161] He often accompanied the sung hymns with a lute, later recreated as the waldzither that became a national instrument of Germany in the 20th century.^[162]

Luther’s hymns were frequently evoked by particular events in his life and the unfolding Reformation. This behavior started with his learning of the execution of Jan van Essen and Hendrik Vos, the first individuals to be martyred by the Roman Catholic Church for Lutheran views, prompting Luther to write the hymn «Ein neues Lied wir heben an» («A New Song We Raise»), which is generally known in English by John C. Messenger’s translation by the title and first line «Flung to the Heedless Winds» and sung to the tune Ibstone composed in 1875 by Maria C. Tiddeman.^[163]

Luther’s 1524 creedal hymn «Wir glauben all an einen Gott» («We All Believe in One True God») is a three-stanza confession of faith prefiguring Luther’s 1529 three-part explanation of the Apostles’ Creed in the Small Catechism. Luther’s hymn, adapted and expanded from an earlier German creedal hymn, gained widespread use in vernacular Lutheran liturgies as early as 1525. Sixteenth-century Lutheran hymnals also included «Wir glauben all» among the catechetical hymns, although 18th-century hymnals tended to label the hymn as Trinitarian rather than catechetical, and 20th-century Lutherans rarely used the hymn because of the perceived difficulty of its tune.^[161]

Luther’s 1538 hymnic version of the Lord’s Prayer, «Vater unser im Himmelreich», corresponds exactly to Luther’s explanation of the prayer in the Small Catechism, with one stanza for each of the seven prayer petitions, plus opening and closing stanzas. The hymn functions both as a liturgical setting of the Lord’s Prayer and as a means of examining candidates on specific catechism questions. The extant manuscript shows multiple revisions, demonstrating Luther’s concern to clarify and strengthen the text and to provide an appropriately prayerful tune. Other 16th- and 20th-century versifications of the Lord’s Prayer have adopted Luther’s tune, although modern texts are considerably shorter.^[164]

Luther wrote «Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir» («From depths of woe I cry to You») in 1523 as a hymnic version of Psalm 130 and sent it as a sample to encourage his colleagues to write psalm-hymns for use in German worship. In a collaboration with Paul Speratus, this and seven other hymns were published in the Achtliederbuch, the first Lutheran hymnal. In 1524 Luther developed his original four-stanza psalm paraphrase into a five-stanza Reformation hymn that developed the theme of «grace alone» more fully. Because it expressed essential Reformation doctrine, this expanded version of «Aus tiefer Not» was designated as a regular component of several regional Lutheran liturgies and was widely used at funerals, including Luther’s own. Along with Erhart Hegenwalt’s hymnic version of Psalm 51, Luther’s expanded hymn was also adopted for use with the fifth part of Luther’s catechism, concerning confession.^[165]

Luther wrote «Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein» («Oh God, look down from heaven»). «Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland» (Now come, Savior of the gentiles), based on Veni redemptor gentium, became the main hymn (Hauptlied) for Advent. He transformed A solus ortus cardine to «Christum wir sollen loben schon» («We should now praise Christ») and Veni Creator Spiritus to «Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist» («Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God»).^[166] He wrote two hymns on the Ten Commandments, «Dies sind die heilgen Zehn Gebot» and «Mensch, willst du leben seliglich». His «Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ» («Praise be to You, Jesus Christ») became the main hymn for Christmas. He wrote for Pentecost «Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist», and adopted for Easter «Christ ist erstanden» (Christ is risen), based on Victimae paschali laudes. «Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin«, a paraphrase of Nunc dimittis, was intended for Purification, but became also a funeral hymn. He paraphrased the Te Deum as «Herr Gott, dich loben wir» with a simplified form of the melody. It became known as the German Te Deum.

Luther’s 1541 hymn «Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam» («To Jordan came the Christ our Lord») reflects the structure and substance of his questions and answers concerning baptism in the Small Catechism. Luther adopted a preexisting Johann Walter tune associated with a hymnic setting of Psalm 67’s prayer for grace; Wolf Heintz’s four-part setting of the hymn was used to introduce the Lutheran Reformation in Halle in 1541. Preachers and composers of the 18th century, including J.S. Bach, used this rich hymn as a subject for their own work, although its objective baptismal theology was displaced by more subjective hymns under the influence of late-19th-century Lutheran pietism.^[161]

Luther’s hymns were included in early Lutheran hymnals and spread the ideas of the Reformation. He supplied four of eight songs of the First Lutheran hymnal Achtliederbuch, 18 of 26 songs of the Erfurt Enchiridion, and 24 of the 32 songs in the first choral hymnal with settings by Johann Walter, Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, all published in 1524. Luther’s hymns inspired composers to write music. Johann Sebastian Bach included several verses as chorales in his cantatas and based chorale cantatas entirely on them, namely Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, as early as possibly 1707, in his second annual cycle (1724 to 1725) Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 7, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62, Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91, and Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38, later Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80, and in 1735 Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, BWV 14.

On the soul after death

In contrast to the views of John Calvin^[167] and Philipp Melanchthon,^[168] throughout his life Luther maintained that it was not false doctrine to believe that a Christian’s soul sleeps after it is separated from the body in death.^[169] Accordingly, he disputed traditional interpretations of some Bible passages, such as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.^[170] This also led Luther to reject the idea of torments for the saints: «It is enough for us to know that souls do not leave their bodies to be threatened by the torments and punishments of hell, but enter a prepared bedchamber in which they sleep in peace.»^[171] He also rejected the existence of purgatory, which involved Christian souls undergoing penitential suffering after death.^[172] He affirmed the continuity of one’s personal identity beyond death. In his Smalcald Articles, he described the saints as currently residing «in their graves and in heaven.»^[173]

The Lutheran theologian Franz Pieper observes that Luther’s teaching about the state of the Christian’s soul after death differed from the later Lutheran theologians such as Johann Gerhard.^[174] Lessing (1755) had earlier reached the same conclusion in his analysis of Lutheran orthodoxy on this issue.^[175]

Luther’s Commentary on Genesis contains a passage which concludes that «the soul does not sleep (anima non sic dormit), but wakes (sed vigilat) and experiences visions».^[176] Francis Blackburne argues that John Jortin misread this and other passages from Luther,^[177] while Gottfried Fritschel points out that it actually refers to the soul of a man «in this life» (homo enim in hac vita) tired from his daily labour (defatigus diurno labore) who at night enters his bedchamber (sub noctem intrat in cubiculum suum) and whose sleep is interrupted by dreams.^[178]

Henry Eyster Jacobs’ English translation from 1898 reads:

«Nevertheless, the sleep of this life and that of the future life differ; for in this life, man, fatigued by his daily labour, at nightfall goes to his couch, as in peace, to sleep there, and enjoys rest; nor does he know anything of evil, whether of fire or of murder.»^[179]

Sacramentarian controversy and the Marburg Colloquy

In October 1529, Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, convoked an assembly of German and Swiss theologians at the Marburg Colloquy, to establish doctrinal unity in the emerging Protestant states.^[180] Agreement was achieved on fourteen points out of fifteen, the exception being the nature of the Eucharist—the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper—an issue crucial to Luther.^[181] The theologians, including Zwingli, Melanchthon, Martin Bucer, and Johannes Oecolampadius, differed on the significance of the words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper: «This is my body which is for you» and «This cup is the new covenant in my blood» (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).^[182] Luther insisted on the Real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine, which he called the sacramental union,^[183] while his opponents believed God to be only spiritually or symbolically present.^[184]

Zwingli, for example, denied Jesus’ ability to be in more than one place at a time. Luther stressed the omnipresence of Jesus’ human nature.^[185] According to transcripts, the debate sometimes became confrontational. Citing Jesus’ words «The flesh profiteth nothing» (John 6.63), Zwingli said, «This passage breaks your neck». «Don’t be too proud,» Luther retorted, «German necks don’t break that easily. This is Hesse, not Switzerland.»^[186] On his table Luther wrote the words «Hoc est corpus meum» («This is my body») in chalk, to continually indicate his firm stance.^[187]

Despite the disagreements on the Eucharist, the Marburg Colloquy paved the way for the signing in 1530 of the Augsburg Confession, and for the formation of the Schmalkaldic League the following year by leading Protestant nobles such as John of Saxony, Philip of Hesse, and George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. The Swiss cities, however, did not sign these agreements.^[188]

Epistemology

Some scholars have asserted that Luther taught that faith and reason were antithetical in the sense that questions of faith could not be illuminated by reason. He wrote, «All the articles of our Christian faith, which God has revealed to us in His Word, are in presence of reason sheerly impossible, absurd, and false.»^[189] and «[That] Reason in no way contributes to faith. […] For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things.»^[190] However, though seemingly contradictorily, he also wrote in the latter work that human reason «strives not against faith, when enlightened, but rather furthers and advances it»,^[191] bringing claims he was a fideist into dispute. Contemporary Lutheran scholarship, however, has found a different reality in Luther. Luther rather seeks to separate faith and reason in order to honor the separate spheres of knowledge that each applies to.

On Islam

At the time of the Marburg Colloquy, Suleiman the Magnificent was besieging Vienna with a vast Ottoman army.^[192] Luther had argued against resisting the Turks in his 1518 Explanation of the Ninety-five Theses, provoking accusations of defeatism. He saw the Turks as a scourge sent by God to punish Christians, as agents of the biblical apocalypse that would destroy the Antichrist, whom Luther believed to be the papacy and the Roman Church.^[193] He consistently rejected the idea of a Holy War, «as though our people were an army of Christians against the Turks, who were enemies of Christ. This is absolutely contrary to Christ’s doctrine and name».^[194] On the other hand, in keeping with his doctrine of the two kingdoms, Luther did support non-religious war against the Turks.^[195] In 1526, he argued in Whether Soldiers can be in a State of Grace that national defence is reason for a just war.^[196] By 1529, in On War against the Turk, he was actively urging Emperor Charles V and the German people to fight a secular war against the Turks.^[197]
He made clear, however, that the spiritual war against an alien faith was separate, to be waged through prayer and repentance.^[198] Around the time of the Siege of Vienna, Luther wrote a prayer for national deliverance from the Turks, asking God to «give to our emperor perpetual victory over our enemies».^[199]

In 1542, Luther read a Latin translation of the Qur’an.^[200] He went on to produce several critical pamphlets on Islam, which he called «Mohammedanism» or «the Turk».^[201] Though Luther saw the Muslim faith as a tool of the devil, he was indifferent to its practice: «Let the Turk believe and live as he will, just as one lets the papacy and other false Christians live.»^[202] He opposed banning the publication of the Qur’an, wanting it exposed to scrutiny.^[203]

Antinomian controversy

Early in 1537, Johannes Agricola—serving at the time as pastor in Luther’s birthplace, Eisleben—preached a sermon in which he claimed that God’s gospel, not God’s moral law (the Ten Commandments), revealed God’s wrath to Christians. Based on this sermon and others by Agricola, Luther suspected that Agricola was behind certain anonymous antinomian theses circulating in Wittenberg. These theses asserted that the law is no longer to be taught to Christians but belonged only to city hall.^[204] Luther responded to these theses with six series of theses against Agricola and the antinomians, four of which became the basis for disputations between 1538 and 1540.^[205] He also responded to these assertions in other writings, such as his 1539 open letter to C. Güttel Against the Antinomians,^[206] and his book On the Councils and the Church from the same year.^[207]

In his theses and disputations against the antinomians, Luther reviews and reaffirms, on the one hand, what has been called the «second use of the law,» that is, the law as the Holy Spirit’s tool to work sorrow over sin in man’s heart, thus preparing him for Christ’s fulfillment of the law offered in the gospel.^[208] Luther states that everything that is used to work sorrow over sin is called the law, even if it is Christ’s life, Christ’s death for sin, or God’s goodness experienced in creation.^[209] Simply refusing to preach the Ten Commandments among Christians—thereby, as it were, removing the three letters l-a-w from the church—does not eliminate the accusing law.^[210] Claiming that the law—in any form—should not be preached to Christians anymore would be tantamount to asserting that Christians are no longer sinners in themselves and that the church consists only of essentially holy people.^[211]

Luther also points out that the Ten Commandments—when considered not as God’s condemning judgment but as an expression of his eternal will, that is, of the natural law—positively teach how the Christian ought to live.^[212] This has traditionally been called the «third use of the law.»^[213] For Luther, also Christ’s life, when understood as an example, is nothing more than an illustration of the Ten Commandments, which a Christian should follow in his or her vocations on a daily basis.^[214]

The Ten Commandments, and the beginnings of the renewed life of Christians accorded to them by the sacrament of baptism, are a present foreshadowing of the believers’ future angel-like life in heaven in the midst of this life.^[215] Luther’s teaching of the Ten Commandments, therefore, has clear eschatological overtones, which, characteristically for Luther, do not encourage world-flight but direct the Christian to service to the neighbor in the common, daily vocations of this perishing world.

Bigamy of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse

From December 1539, Luther became involved in the designs of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse to marry a lady-in-waiting of his wife, Christine of Saxony. Philip solicited the approval of Luther, Melanchthon, and Bucer, citing as a precedent the polygamy of the patriarchs. The theologians were not prepared to make a general ruling, and they reluctantly advised the landgrave that if he was determined, he should marry secretly and keep quiet about the matter because divorce was worse than bigamy.^[216] As a result, on 4 March 1540, Philip married a second wife, Margarethe von der Saale, with Melanchthon and Bucer among the witnesses. However, Philip’s sister Elisabeth quickly made the scandal public, and Philip threatened to expose Luther’s advice. Luther told him to «tell a good, strong lie» and deny the marriage completely, which Philip did.^[217] Margarethe gave birth to nine children over a span of 17 years, giving Philip a total of 19 children. In the view of Luther’s biographer Martin Brecht, «giving confessional advice for Philip of Hesse was one of the worst mistakes Luther made, and, next to the landgrave himself, who was directly responsible for it, history chiefly holds Luther accountable».^[218] Brecht argues that Luther’s mistake was not that he gave private pastoral advice, but that he miscalculated the political implications.^[219] The affair caused lasting damage to Luther’s reputation.^[220]

Anti-Jewish polemics and antisemitism

Luther wrote negatively about the Jews throughout his career.^[221] Though Luther rarely encountered Jews during his life, his attitudes reflected a theological and cultural tradition which saw Jews as a rejected people guilty of the murder of Christ, and he lived in a locality which had expelled Jews some ninety years earlier.^[222] He considered the Jews blasphemers and liars because they rejected the divinity of Jesus.^[223] In 1523, Luther advised kindness toward the Jews in That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew and also aimed to convert them to Christianity.^[224] When his efforts at conversion failed, he grew increasingly bitter toward them.^[225]

Luther’s major works on the Jews were his 60,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies), and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (On the Holy Name and the Lineage of Christ), both published in 1543, three years before his death.^[226] Luther argued that the Jews were no longer the chosen people but «the devil’s people», and referred to them with violent language.^[227][228] Citing Deuteronomy 13, wherein Moses commands the killing of idolaters and the burning of their cities and property as an offering to God, Luther called for a «scharfe Barmherzigkeit» («sharp mercy») against the Jews «to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames.»^[229] Luther advocated setting synagogues on fire, destroying Jewish prayerbooks, forbidding rabbis from preaching, seizing Jews’ property and money, and smashing up their homes, so that these «envenomed worms» would be forced into labour or expelled «for all time».^[230] In Robert Michael’s view, Luther’s words «We are at fault in not slaying them» amounted to a sanction for murder.^[231] «God’s anger with them is so intense,» Luther concluded, «that gentle mercy will only tend to make them worse, while sharp mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them!»^[229]

Luther launched a polemic against vagrants in his 1510 preface to the Liber Vagatorum, attributing their Rotwelsch cryptolect to Hebrew. He warned Christians to stop giving them alms.^{[232][non-primary source needed]}

Luther spoke out against the Jews in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Silesia.^[233] Josel of Rosheim, the Jewish spokesman who tried to help the Jews of Saxony in 1537, later blamed their plight on «that priest whose name was Martin Luther—may his body and soul be bound up in hell!—who wrote and issued many heretical books in which he said that whoever would help the Jews was doomed to perdition.»^[234] Josel asked the city of Strasbourg to forbid the sale of Luther’s anti-Jewish works: they refused initially but did so when a Lutheran pastor in Hochfelden used a sermon to urge his parishioners to murder Jews.^[233] Luther’s influence persisted after his death. Throughout the 1580s, riots led to the expulsion of Jews from several German Lutheran states.^[235]

Tovia Singer, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, remarking about Luther’s attitude toward Jews, put it thus: «Among all the Church Fathers and Reformers, there was no mouth more vile, no tongue that uttered more vulgar curses against the Children of Israel than this founder of the Reformation.»^[236]

Influence within Nazism

Luther was the most widely read author of his generation, and within Germany he acquired the status of a prophet.^[237] According to the prevailing opinion among historians,^[238] his anti-Jewish rhetoric contributed significantly to the development of antisemitism in Germany,^[239] and in the 1930s and 1940s provided an «ideal underpinning» for the Nazis’ attacks on Jews.^[240] Reinhold Lewin writes that anybody who «wrote against the Jews for whatever reason believed he had the right to justify himself by triumphantly referring to Luther.» According to Michael, just about every anti-Jewish book printed in Nazi Germany contained references to and quotations from Luther. Heinrich Himmler (albeit never a Lutheran, having been brought up Catholic) wrote admiringly of his writings and sermons on the Jews in 1940.^[241] The city of Nuremberg presented a first edition of On the Jews and their Lies to Julius Streicher, editor of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer, on his birthday in 1937; the newspaper described it as the most radically antisemitic tract ever published.^[242] It was publicly exhibited in a glass case at the Nuremberg rallies and quoted in a 54-page explanation of the Aryan Law by E.H. Schulz and R. Frercks.^[243]

On 17 December 1941, seven Protestant regional church confederations issued a statement agreeing with the policy of forcing Jews to wear the yellow badge, «since after his bitter experience Luther had already suggested preventive measures against the Jews and their expulsion from German territory.» According to Daniel Goldhagen, Bishop Martin Sasse, a leading Protestant churchman, published a compendium of Luther’s writings shortly after Kristallnacht, for which Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at the University of Oxford argued that Luther’s writing was a «blueprint.»^[244] Sasse applauded the burning of the synagogues and the coincidence of the day, writing in the introduction, «On 10 November 1938, on Luther’s birthday, the synagogues are burning in Germany.» The German people, he urged, ought to heed these words «of the greatest antisemite of his time, the warner of his people against the Jews.»^[245]

At the heart of scholarly debate about Luther’s influence is whether it is anachronistic to view his work as a precursor of the racial antisemitism of the Nazis. Some scholars see Luther’s influence as limited, and the Nazis’ use of his work as opportunistic. Johannes Wallmann argues that Luther’s writings against the Jews were largely ignored in the 18th and 19th centuries, and that there was no continuity between Luther’s thought and Nazi ideology.^[247] Uwe Siemon-Netto agreed, arguing that it was because the Nazis were already antisemites that they revived Luther’s work.^[248][249] Hans J. Hillerbrand agreed that to focus on Luther was to adopt an essentially ahistorical perspective of Nazi antisemitism that ignored other contributory factors in German history.^[250] Similarly, Roland Bainton, noted church historian and Luther biographer, wrote «One could wish that Luther had died before ever [On the Jews and Their Lies] was written. His position was entirely religious and in no respect racial.»^[251][252]
However, Christopher J. Probst, in his book Demonizing the Jews: Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany (2012), shows that a large number of German Protestant clergy and theologians during the Nazi era used Luther’s hostile publications towards the Jews and their Jewish religion to justify at least in part the anti-Semitic policies of the National Socialists.^[253] The pro-Nazi Christian group Deutsche Christen drew parallels between Martin Luther and the «Führer» Adolf Hitler.^[254]

Some scholars, such as Mark U. Edwards in his book Luther’s Last Battles: Politics and Polemics 1531–46 (1983), suggest that since Luther’s increasingly antisemitic views developed during the years his health deteriorated, it is possible they were at least partly the product of a state of mind. Edwards also comments that Luther often deliberately used «vulgarity and violence» for effect, both in his writings condemning the Jews and in diatribes against «Turks» (Muslims) and Catholics.^[255]

Since the 1980s, Lutheran denominations have repudiated Martin Luther’s statements against the Jews^{[citation needed]} and have rejected the use of them to incite hatred against Lutherans.^{[citation needed][256][257]} Strommen et al.’s 1970 survey of 4,745 North American Lutherans aged 15–65 found that, compared to the other minority groups under consideration, Lutherans were the least prejudiced toward Jews.^[258] Nevertheless, Professor Richard Geary, former professor of modern history at the University of Nottingham and the author of Hitler and Nazism (Routledge 1993), published an article in the magazine History Today examining electoral trends in Weimar Germany between 1928 and 1933. Geary notes that, based on his research, the Nazi Party received disproportionately more votes from Protestant than Catholic areas of Germany.^[259][260]

Final years, illness and death

Luther had been suffering from ill health for years, including Ménière’s disease, vertigo, fainting, tinnitus, and a cataract in one eye.^[261] From 1531 to 1546 his health deteriorated further. In 1536, he began to suffer from kidney and bladder stones, arthritis, and an ear infection ruptured an ear drum. In December 1544, he began to feel the effects of angina.^[262]

His poor physical health made him short-tempered and even harsher in his writings and comments. His wife Katharina was overheard saying, «Dear husband, you are too rude,» and he responded, «They are teaching me to be rude.»^[263] In 1545 and 1546 Luther preached three times in the Market Church in Halle, staying with his friend Justus Jonas during Christmas.^[264]

His last sermon was delivered at Eisleben, his place of birth, on 15 February 1546, three days before his death.^[265] It was «entirely devoted to the obdurate Jews, whom it was a matter of great urgency to expel from all German territory,» according to Léon Poliakov.^[266] James Mackinnon writes that it concluded with a «fiery summons to drive the Jews bag and baggage from their midst, unless they desisted from their calumny and their usury and became Christians.»^[267] Luther said, «we want to practice Christian love toward them and pray that they convert,» but also that they are «our public enemies … and if they could kill us all, they would gladly do so. And so often they do.»^[268]

Luther’s final journey, to Mansfeld, was taken because of his concern for his siblings’ families continuing in their father Hans Luther’s copper mining trade. Their livelihood was threatened by Count Albrecht of Mansfeld bringing the industry under his own control. The controversy that ensued involved all four Mansfeld counts: Albrecht, Philip, John George, and Gerhard. Luther journeyed to Mansfeld twice in late 1545 to participate in the negotiations for a settlement, and a third visit was needed in early 1546 for their completion.

The negotiations were successfully concluded on 17 February 1546. After 8 p.m., he experienced chest pains. When he went to his bed, he prayed, «Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God» (Ps. 31:5), the common prayer of the dying. At 1 a.m. on 18 February, he awoke with more chest pain and was warmed with hot towels. He thanked God for revealing his Son to him in whom he had believed. His companions, Justus Jonas and Michael Coelius, shouted loudly, «Reverend father, are you ready to die trusting in your Lord Jesus Christ and to confess the doctrine which you have taught in his name?» A distinct «Yes» was Luther’s reply.^[269]

An apoplectic stroke deprived him of his speech, and he died shortly afterwards at 2:45 a.m. on 18 February 1546, aged 62, in Eisleben, the city of his birth. He was buried in the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, in front of the pulpit.^[270] The funeral was held by his friends Johannes Bugenhagen and Philipp Melanchthon.^[271] A year later, troops of Luther’s adversary Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor entered the town but were ordered by Charles not to disturb the grave.^[271]

A piece of paper was later found on which Luther had written his last statement. The statement was in Latin, apart from «We are beggars,» which was in German. The statement reads:

1. No one can understand Virgil’s Bucolics unless he has been a shepherd for five years. No one can understand Virgil’s Georgics, unless he has been a farmer for five years.
2. No one can understand Cicero’s Letters (or so I teach), unless he has busied himself in the affairs of some prominent state for twenty years.
3. Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles.

Do not assail this divine Aeneid; nay, rather prostrate revere the ground that it treads.

We are beggars: this is true.^[272][273]

The tomb of Philipp Melanchthon, Luther’s contemporary and fellow reformer, is also located in the All Saints’ Church.^{[274][275][276][277][278]}

• 

  Martin Luther’s Death House, considered the site of Luther’s death since 1726. However the building where Luther actually died (at Markt 56, now the site of Hotel Graf von Mansfeld) was torn down in 1570.^[279]

• 

  Casts of Luther’s face and hands at his death, in the Market Church in Halle^[280]

• 

  Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, where Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, is also his gravesite.

• 

  Close-up of the grave with inscription in Latin

Legacy and commemoration

Luther made effective use of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press to spread his views. He switched from Latin to German in his writing to appeal to a broader audience. Between 1500 and 1530, Luther’s works represented one fifth of all materials printed in Germany.^[281]

In the 1530s and 1540s, printed images of Luther that emphasized his monumental size were crucial to the spread of Protestantism. In contrast to images of frail Catholic saints, Luther was presented as a stout man with a «double chin, strong mouth, piercing deep-set eyes, fleshy face, and squat neck.» He was shown to be physically imposing, an equal in stature to the secular German princes with whom he would join forces to spread Lutheranism. His large body also let the viewer know that he did not shun earthly pleasures like drinking—behavior that was a stark contrast to the ascetic life of the medieval religious orders. Images from this period include the woodcuts by Hans Brosamer (1530) and Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger (1546).^[282]

Luther is honoured on 18 February with a commemoration in the Lutheran Calendar of Saints and in the Episcopal (United States) Calendar of Saints. In the Church of England’s Calendar of Saints he is commemorated on 31 October.^[283] Luther is honored in various ways by Christian traditions coming out directly from the Protestant Reformation, i.e. Lutheranism, the Reformed tradition, and Anglicanism. Branches of Protestantism that emerged afterwards vary in their remembrance and veneration of Luther, ranging from a complete lack of a single mention of him to a commemoration almost comparable to the way Lutherans commemorate and remember his persona. There is no known condemnation of Luther by Protestants themselves.

Various sites both inside and outside Germany (supposedly) visited by Martin Luther throughout his lifetime commemorate it with local memorials. Saxony-Anhalt has two towns officially named after Luther, Lutherstadt Eisleben and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Mansfeld is sometimes called Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, although the state government has not decided to put the Lutherstadt suffix in its official name.

Reformation Day commemorates the publication of the Ninety-five Theses in 1517 by Martin Luther; it has been historically important in the following European entities. It is a civic holiday in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Two further states (Lower Saxony and Bremen) are pending a vote on introducing it. Slovenia celebrates it because of the profound contribution of the Reformation to its culture. Austria allows Protestant children not to go to school that day, and Protestant workers have a right to leave work in order to participate in a church service. Switzerland celebrates the holiday on the first Sunday after 31 October. It is also celebrated elsewhere around the world.

Luther and the swan

• 

  Altar in St Martin’s Church, Halberstadt, Germany. Luther and the swan are toward the top on the right.

• 

  Coin commemorating Luther (engraving by Georg Wilhelm Göbel, Saxony, 1706)

Luther is often depicted with a swan as his attribute, and Lutheran churches often have a swan for a weather vane. This association with the swan arises out of a prophecy reportedly made by the earlier reformer Jan Hus from Bohemia and endorsed by Luther. In the Bohemian language (now Czech), Hus’s name meant «grey goose». In 1414, while imprisoned by the Council of Constance and anticipating his execution by burning for heresy, Hus prophesied, «Now they will roast a goose, but in a hundred years’ time they’ll hear a swan sing. They’d better listen to him.» Luther published his Ninety-five Theses some 103 years later.^{[284][285][286]}

Works and editions

• The Erlangen Edition (Erlangener Ausgabe: «EA»), comprising the Exegetica opera latina – Latin exegetical works of Luther.
• The Weimar Edition (Weimarer Ausgabe) is the exhaustive, standard German edition of Luther’s Latin and German works, indicated by the abbreviation «WA». This is continued into «WA Br» Weimarer Ausgabe, Briefwechsel (correspondence), «WA Tr» Weimarer Ausgabe, Tischreden (tabletalk) and «WA DB» Weimarer Ausgabe, Deutsche Bibel (German Bible).
• The American Edition (Luther’s Works) is the most extensive English translation of Luther’s writings, indicated either by the abbreviation «LW» or «AE». The first 55 volumes were published 1955–1986, and a twenty volume extension (vols. 56–75) is planned of which volumes 58, 60, and 68 have appeared thus far.

See also

• Antilegomena
• George of Hungary
• Luther’s canon
• Luther’s Marian theology
• Lutherhaus Eisenach
• Martin Luther’s Birth House
• Propaganda during the Reformation
• Protestantism in Germany
• Resources about Martin Luther
• Theology of Martin Luther
• Bruder Martin
• Hochstratus Ovans
• Theologia Germanica

Notes

References

Sources

• Cummings, Brian (2002). The Literary Culture of the Reformation: Grammar and Grace. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187356.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-818735-6 – via Oxford Scholarship Online.
• Brecht, Martin; tr. James L. Schaaf (1985). Martin Luther. Vol. 1: His Road to Reformation, 1483–1521. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
• Brecht, Martin; tr. James L. Schaaf (1994). Martin Luther. Vol. 2: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521–1532. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
• Brecht, Martin; tr. James L. Schaaf (1999). Martin Luther. Vol. 3: The Preservation of the Church, 1532–1546. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
• Mullett, Michael A. (2004). Martin Luther. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-26168-5.
• Michael A. Mullett (1986) (1986). Luther. Methuen & Co (Lancashire Pamphlets). ISBN 978-0-415-10932-1.
• Wilson, Derek (2007). Out of the Storm: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-180001-7.

Further reading

For works by and about Luther, see Martin Luther (resources) or Luther’s works at Wikisource.

• Atkinson, James (1968). Martin Luther and the Birth of Protestantism, in series, Pelican Book[s]. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books. 352 pp.
• Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1950), online
• Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation 1483–1521 (vol 1, 1985); Martin Luther 1521–1532: Shaping and Defining the Reformation (vol 2, 1994); Martin Luther The Preservation of the Church Vol 3 1532–1546 (1999), a standard scholarly biography excerpts
• Erikson, Erik H. (1958). Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History. New York: W.W. Norton.
• Dillenberger, John (1961). Martin Luther: Selections from his Writings. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. OCLC 165808.
• Fife, Robert Herndon. (1928). Young Luther: The Intellectual and Religious Development of Martin Luther to 1518. New York: Macmillan.
• Fife, Robert Herndon. (1957). The Revolt of Martin Luther. New York NY: Columbia University Press.
• Friedenthal, Richard (1970). Luther, His Life and Times. Trans. from the German by John Nowell. First American ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. viii, 566 p. N.B.: Trans. of the author’s Luther, sein Leben und seine Zeit.
• Lull, Timothy (1989). Martin Luther: Selections from his Writings. Minneapolis: Fortress. ISBN 978-0-8006-3680-7.
• Lull, Timothy F.; Nelson, Derek R. (2015). Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. ISBN 978-1-4514-9415-0 – via Project MUSE.
• Kolb, Robert; Dingel, Irene; Batka, Ľubomír (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-19-960470-8.
• Luther, M. The Bondage of the Will. Eds. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnson. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1957. OCLC 22724565.
• Luther, Martin (1974). Selected Political Writings, ed. and with an introd. by J.M. Porter. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. ISBN 0-8006-1079-2
• Luther’s Works, 55 vols. Eds. H.T. Lehman and J. Pelikan. St Louis, Missouri, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1955–86. Also on CD-ROM. Minneapolis and St Louis: Fortress Press and Concordia Publishing House, 2002.
• Maritain, Jacques (1941). Three Reformers: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons. N.B.: Reprint of the ed. published by Muhlenberg Press.
• Nettl, Paul (1948). Luther and Music, trans. by Frida Best and Ralph Wood. New York: Russell & Russell, 1967, cop. 1948. vii, 174 p.
• Reu, Johann Michael (1917). Thirty-five Years of Luther Research. Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House.
• Schalk, Carl F. (1988). Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise. Saint Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House. ISBN 0-570-01337-2
• Stang, William (1883). The Life of Martin Luther. Eighth ed. New York: Pustet & Co. N.B.: This is a work of Roman Catholic polemical nature.
• Warren Washburn Florer, Ph.D. (1912, 2012). Luther’s Use of the Pre-Lutheran Versions of the Bible: Article 1, George Wahr, The Ann Arbor Press, Ann Arbor, Mich. Reprint 2012: Nabu Press, ISBN 978-1-278-81819-1

External links

• Works by Martin Luther at Project Gutenberg
• Robert Stern. «Martin Luther». In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Robert Stern. «Luther’s Influence on Philosophy». In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Works by or about Martin Luther at Internet Archive
• Maarten Luther Werke
• Digitized 1543 edition of Von den Juden und ihren Luegen by Martin Luther at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
• Works by Martin Luther at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Martin Luther at Post-Reformation Digital Library
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Martin Luther
• Website about Martin Luther
• Commentarius in psalmos Davidis Manuscript of Luther’s first lecture as Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg, digital version at the Saxon State and University Library, Dresden (SLUB)
• «Martin Luther». Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Martin Luther Collection: Early works attributed to Martin Luther, (285 titles). From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Robin Leaver: Luther’s Liturgical Music
• Chronological catalog of Luther’s life events, letters, and works with citations, (LettersLuther4.doc: 478 pages, 5.45 MB)

The Reverend Martin Luther OSA
Martin Luther (1529) by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Born	10 November 1483 Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, Holy Roman Empire
Died	18 February 1546 (aged 62) Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, Holy Roman Empire
Education	University of Erfurt University of Wittenberg
Occupations	Priest Theologian Author Hymnwriter
Notable work	Ninety-five Theses (1517)
Spouse	Katharina von Bora ​ (m. 1525)​
Children	Hans (Johannes) Elisabeth Magdalena Martin Paul Margarethe
Theological work
Era	Renaissance
Tradition or movement	Lutheranism (Protestantism)
Main interests	Prolegomena
Notable ideas	Reformation Five solae (Sola fide) Law and Gospel Theology of the Cross Two kingdoms doctrine
Signature

Martin Luther OSA (;^[1] German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈlʊtɐ] (listen); 10 November 1483^[2] – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar.^[3] He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation who gave his name to Lutheranism.

Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church; in particular, he disputed the view on indulgences. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the practice and efficacy of indulgences in his Ninety-five Theses of 1517. His refusal to renounce all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor.

Luther taught that salvation and, consequently, eternal life are not earned by good deeds but are received only as the free gift of God’s grace through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. His theology challenged the authority and office of the pope by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge,^[4] and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood.^[5] Those who identify with these, and all of Luther’s wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical (German: evangelisch) as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.

His translation of the Bible into the German vernacular (instead of Latin) made it more accessible to the laity, an event that had a tremendous impact on both the church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation,^[6] and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible.^[7] His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches.^[8] His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.^[9]

In two of his later works, Luther expressed antisemitic views, calling for the expulsion of Jews and burning of synagogues.^[10] In addition, these works also targeted Roman Catholics, Anabaptists, and nontrinitarian Christians.^[11] Based upon his significant anti-judaistic teachings,^[12][13][14] the prevailing view among historians is that his rhetoric contributed significantly to the development of antisemitism in Germany and of the Nazi Party.^[15][16][17] Luther died in 1546 with Pope Leo X’s excommunication still in effect.

Early life

Birth and education

Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)^[18] and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) on 10 November 1483 in Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was baptized the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. In 1484, his family moved to Mansfeld, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters^[19] and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council; in 1492 he was elected as a town councilor.^[20][18] The religious scholar Martin Marty describes Luther’s mother as a hard-working woman of «trading-class stock and middling means», contrary to Luther’s enemies, who labeled her a whore and bath attendant.^[18]

He had several brothers and sisters and is known to have been close to one of them, Jacob.^[21]

Hans Luther was ambitious for himself and his family, and he was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent Martin to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended a school operated by a lay group called the Brethren of the Common Life, and Eisenach in 1498.^[22] The three schools focused on the so-called «trivium»: grammar, rhetoric, and logic. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell.^[23]

In 1501, at age 17, he entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beerhouse and whorehouse.^[24] He was made to wake at four every morning for what has been described as «a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises.»^[24] He received his master’s degree in 1505.^[25]

In accordance with his father’s wishes, he enrolled in law but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law represented uncertainty.^[25] Luther sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing particular interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel.^[25] He was deeply influenced by two tutors, Bartholomaeus Arnoldi von Usingen and Jodocus Trutfetter, who taught him to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers^[25] and to test everything himself by experience.^[26]

Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying, offering assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which to Luther was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, he felt, and he thereafter developed a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over the latter’s emphasis on reason.^[26] For Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed, and Scripture therefore became increasingly important to him.^[26]

On 2 July 1505, while Luther was returning to university on horseback after a trip home, a lightning bolt struck near him during a thunderstorm. Later telling his father he was terrified of death and divine judgment, he cried out, «Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!»^[27][28] He came to view his cry for help as a vow he could never break. He left university, sold his books, and entered St. Augustine’s Monastery in Erfurt on 17 July 1505.^[29] One friend blamed the decision on Luther’s sadness over the deaths of two friends. Luther himself seemed saddened by the move. Those who attended a farewell supper walked him to the door of the Black Cloister. «This day you see me, and then, not ever again,» he said.^[26] His father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther’s education.^[30]

Monastic life

Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.^[31] Luther described this period of his life as one of deep spiritual despair. He said, «I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter, and made of him the jailer and hangman of my poor soul.»^[32]

Johann von Staupitz, his superior, concluded that Luther needed more work to distract him from excessive introspection and ordered him to pursue an academic career. On 3 April 1507, Jerome Schultz (lat. Hieronymus Scultetus), the Bishop of Brandenburg, ordained Luther in Erfurt Cathedral. In 1508, he began teaching theology at the University of Wittenberg.^[33] He received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies on 9 March 1508 and another bachelor’s degree in the Sentences by Peter Lombard in 1509.^[34] On 19 October 1512, he was awarded his Doctor of Theology and, on 21 October 1512, was received into the senate of the theological faculty of the University of Wittenberg,^[35] having succeeded von Staupitz as chair of theology.^[36] He spent the rest of his career in this position at the University of Wittenberg.

He was made 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.^[37]

Start of the Reformation

In 1516, Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar, was sent to Germany by the Roman Catholic Church to sell indulgences to raise money in order to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.^[38] Tetzel’s experiences as a preacher of indulgences, especially between 1503 and 1510, led to his appointment as general commissioner by Albrecht von Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, who, deeply in debt to pay for a large accumulation of benefices, had to contribute the considerable sum of ten thousand ducats^[39] toward the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Albrecht obtained permission from Pope Leo X to conduct the sale of a special plenary indulgence (i.e., remission of the temporal punishment of sin), half of the proceeds of which Albrecht was to claim to pay the fees of his benefices.

On 31 October 1517, Luther wrote to his bishop, Albrecht von Brandenburg, protesting against the sale of indulgences. He enclosed in his letter a copy of his «Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences»,^[a] which came to be known as the Ninety-five Theses. Hans Hillerbrand writes that Luther had no intention of confronting the church but saw his disputation as a scholarly objection to church practices, and the tone of the writing is accordingly «searching, rather than doctrinaire.»^[41] Hillerbrand writes that there is nevertheless an undercurrent of challenge in several of the theses, particularly in Thesis 86, which asks: «Why does the pope, whose wealth today is greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build the basilica of St. Peter with the money of poor believers rather than with his own money?»^[41]

Luther objected to a saying attributed to Tetzel that «As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory (also attested as ‘into heaven’) springs.»^[42] He insisted that, since forgiveness was God’s alone to grant, those who claimed that indulgences absolved buyers from all punishments and granted them salvation were in error. Christians, he said, must not slacken in following Christ on account of such false assurances.

According to one account, Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517. Scholars Walter Krämer, Götz Trenkler, Gerhard Ritter, and Gerhard Prause contend that the story of the posting on the door, although it has become one of the pillars of history, has little foundation in truth.^{[43][44][45][46]} The story is based on comments made by Luther’s collaborator Philip Melanchthon, though it is thought that he was not in Wittenberg at the time.^[47] According to Roland Bainton, on the other hand, it is true.^[48]

The Latin Theses were printed in several locations in Germany in 1517. In January 1518 friends of Luther translated the Ninety-five Theses from Latin into German.^[49] Within two weeks, copies of the theses had spread throughout Germany. Luther’s writings circulated widely, reaching France, England, and Italy as early as 1519. Students thronged to Wittenberg to hear Luther speak. He published a short commentary on Galatians and his Work on the Psalms. This early part of Luther’s career was one of his most creative and productive.^[50] Three of his best-known works were published in 1520: To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian.

Justification by faith alone

From 1510 to 1520, Luther lectured on the Psalms, and on the books of Hebrews, Romans, and Galatians. As he studied these portions of the Bible, he came to view the use of terms such as penance and righteousness by the Catholic Church in new ways. He became convinced that the church was corrupt in its ways and had lost sight of what he saw as several of the central truths of Christianity. The most important for Luther was the doctrine of justification—God’s act of declaring a sinner righteous—by faith alone through God’s grace. He began to teach that salvation or redemption is a gift of God’s grace, attainable only through faith in Jesus as the Messiah.^[51] «This one and firm rock, which we call the doctrine of justification», he writes, «is the chief article of the whole Christian doctrine, which comprehends the understanding of all godliness.»^[52]

Luther came to understand justification as entirely the work of God. This teaching by Luther was clearly expressed in his 1525 publication On the Bondage of the Will, which was written in response to On Free Will by Desiderius Erasmus (1524). Luther based his position on predestination on St. Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians 2:8–10. Against the teaching of his day that the righteous acts of believers are performed in cooperation with God, Luther wrote that Christians receive such righteousness entirely from outside themselves; that righteousness not only comes from Christ but actually is the righteousness of Christ, imputed to Christians (rather than infused into them) through faith.^[53]

«That is why faith alone makes someone just and fulfills the law,» he writes. «Faith is that which brings the Holy Spirit through the merits of Christ.»^[54] Faith, for Luther, was a gift from God; the experience of being justified by faith was «as though I had been born again.» His entry into Paradise, no less, was a discovery about «the righteousness of God»—a discovery that «the just person» of whom the Bible speaks (as in Romans 1:17) lives by faith.^[55] He explains his concept of «justification» in the Smalcald Articles:

The first and chief article is this: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised again for our justification (Romans 3:24–25). He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), and God has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6). All have sinned and are justified freely, without their own works and merits, by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, in His blood (Romans 3:23–25). This is necessary to believe. This cannot be otherwise acquired or grasped by any work, law or merit. Therefore, it is clear and certain that this faith alone justifies us … Nothing of this article can be yielded or surrendered, even though heaven and earth and everything else falls (Mark 13:31).^[56]

Breach with the papacy

Archbishop Albrecht did not reply to Luther’s letter containing the Ninety-five Theses. He had the theses checked for heresy and in December 1517 forwarded them to Rome.^[57] He needed the revenue from the indulgences to pay off a papal dispensation for his tenure of more than one bishopric. As Luther later notes, «the pope had a finger in the pie as well, because one half was to go to the building of St. Peter’s Church in Rome».^[58]

Pope Leo X was used to reformers and heretics,^[59] and he responded slowly, «with great care as is proper.»^[60] Over the next three years he deployed a series of papal theologians and envoys against Luther, which served only to harden the reformer’s anti-papal theology. First, the Dominican theologian Sylvester Mazzolini drafted a heresy case against Luther, whom Leo then summoned to Rome. The Elector Frederick persuaded the pope to have Luther examined at Augsburg, where the Imperial Diet was held.^[61] Over a three-day period in October 1518, Luther defended himself under questioning by papal legate Cardinal Cajetan. The pope’s right to issue indulgences was at the centre of the dispute between the two men.^[62][63] The hearings degenerated into a shouting match. More than writing his theses, Luther’s confrontation with the church cast him as an enemy of the pope: «His Holiness abuses Scripture», retorted Luther. «I deny that he is above Scripture».^[64][65] Cajetan’s original instructions had been to arrest Luther if he failed to recant, but the legate desisted from doing so.^[66] With help from the Carmelite monk Christoph Langenmantel, Luther slipped out of the city at night, unbeknownst to Cajetan.^[67]

In January 1519, at Altenburg in Saxony, the papal nuncio Karl von Miltitz adopted a more conciliatory approach. Luther made certain concessions to the Saxon, who was a relative of the Elector and promised to remain silent if his opponents did.^[68] The theologian Johann Eck, however, was determined to expose Luther’s doctrine in a public forum. In June and July 1519, he staged a disputation with Luther’s colleague Andreas Karlstadt at Leipzig and invited Luther to speak.^[69] Luther’s boldest assertion in the debate was that Matthew 16:18 does not confer on popes the exclusive right to interpret scripture, and that therefore neither popes nor church councils were infallible.^[70] For this, Eck branded Luther a new Jan Hus, referring to the Czech reformer and heretic burned at the stake in 1415. From that moment, he devoted himself to Luther’s defeat.^[71]

Excommunication

On 15 June 1520, the Pope warned Luther with the papal bull (edict) Exsurge Domine that he risked excommunication unless he recanted 41 sentences drawn from his writings, including the Ninety-five Theses, within 60 days. That autumn, Eck proclaimed the bull in Meissen and other towns. Von Miltitz attempted to broker a solution, but Luther, who had sent the pope a copy of On the Freedom of a Christian in October, publicly set fire to the bull and decretals at Wittenberg on 10 December 1520,^[72] an act he defended in Why the Pope and his Recent Book are Burned and Assertions Concerning All Articles. As a consequence, Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X on 3 January 1521, in the bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.^[73] And although the Lutheran World Federation, Methodists and the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity agreed (in 1999 and 2006, respectively) on a «common understanding of justification by God’s grace through faith in Christ,» the Catholic Church has never lifted the 1520 excommunication.^[74][75][76]

Diet of Worms

The enforcement of the ban on the Ninety-five Theses fell to the secular authorities. On 18 April 1521, Luther appeared as ordered before the Diet of Worms. This was a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire that took place in Worms, a town on the Rhine. It was conducted from 28 January to 25 May 1521, with Emperor Charles V presiding. Prince Frederick III, Elector of Saxony, obtained a safe conduct for Luther to and from the meeting.

Johann Eck, speaking on behalf of the empire as assistant of the Archbishop of Trier, presented Luther with copies of his writings laid out on a table and asked him if the books were his and whether he stood by their contents. Luther confirmed he was their author but requested time to think about the answer to the second question. He prayed, consulted friends, and gave his response the next day:

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.^[77]

At the end of this speech, Luther raised his arm «in the traditional salute of a knight winning a bout.» Michael Mullett considers this speech as a «world classic of epoch-making oratory.»^[78]

Eck informed Luther that he was acting like a heretic, saying,

Martin, there is no one of the heresies which have torn the bosom of the church, which has not derived its origin from the various interpretation of the Scripture. The Bible itself is the arsenal whence each innovator has drawn his deceptive arguments. It was with Biblical texts that Pelagius and Arius maintained their doctrines. Arius, for instance, found the negation of the eternity of the Word—an eternity which you admit, in this verse of the New Testament—Joseph knew not his wife till she had brought forth her first-born son; and he said, in the same way that you say, that this passage enchained him. When the fathers of the Council of Constance condemned this proposition of Jan Hus—The church of Jesus Christ is only the community of the elect, they condemned an error; for the church, like a good mother, embraces within her arms all who bear the name of Christian, all who are called to enjoy the celestial beatitude.^[79]

Luther refused to recant his writings. He is sometimes also quoted as saying: «Here I stand. I can do no other». Recent scholars consider the evidence for these words to be unreliable since they were inserted before «May God help me» only in later versions of the speech and not recorded in witness accounts of the proceedings.^[80] However, Mullett suggests that given his nature, «we are free to believe that Luther would tend to select the more dramatic form of words.»^[78]

Over the next five days, private conferences were held to determine Luther’s fate. The emperor presented the final draft of the Edict of Worms on 25 May 1521, declaring Luther an outlaw, banning his literature, and requiring his arrest: «We want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic.»^[81] It also made it a crime for anyone in Germany to give Luther food or shelter. It permitted anyone to kill Luther without legal consequence.

At Wartburg Castle

Luther’s disappearance during his return to Wittenberg was planned. Frederick III had him intercepted on his way home in the forest near Wittenberg by masked horsemen impersonating highway robbers. They escorted Luther to the security of the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach.^[82] During his stay at Wartburg, which he referred to as «my Patmos»,^[83] Luther translated the New Testament from Greek into German and poured out doctrinal and polemical writings. These included a renewed attack on Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz, whom he shamed into halting the sale of indulgences in his episcopates,^[84] and a Refutation of the Argument of Latomus, in which he expounded the principle of justification to Jacobus Latomus, an orthodox theologian from Louvain.^[85] In this work, one of his most emphatic statements on faith, he argued that every good work designed to attract God’s favor is a sin.^[86] All humans are sinners by nature, he explained, and God’s grace alone (which cannot be earned) can make them just. On 1 August 1521, Luther wrote to Melanchthon on the same theme: «Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides.»^[87]

In the summer of 1521, Luther widened his target from individual pieties like indulgences and pilgrimages to doctrines at the heart of Church practice. In On the Abrogation of the Private Mass, he condemned as idolatry the idea that the mass is a sacrifice, asserting instead that it is a gift, to be received with thanksgiving by the whole congregation.^[88] His essay On Confession, Whether the Pope has the Power to Require It rejected compulsory confession and encouraged private confession and absolution, since «every Christian is a confessor.»^[89] In November, Luther wrote The Judgement of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows. He assured monks and nuns that they could break their vows without sin, because vows were an illegitimate and vain attempt to win salvation.^[90]

Luther made his pronouncements from Wartburg in the context of rapid developments at Wittenberg, of which he was kept fully informed. Andreas Karlstadt, supported by the ex-Augustinian Gabriel Zwilling, embarked on a radical programme of reform there in June 1521, exceeding anything envisaged by Luther. The reforms provoked disturbances, including a revolt by the Augustinian friars against their prior, the smashing of statues and images in churches, and denunciations of the magistracy. After secretly visiting Wittenberg in early December 1521, Luther wrote A Sincere Admonition by Martin Luther to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion.^[91] Wittenberg became even more volatile after Christmas when a band of visionary zealots, the so-called Zwickau prophets, arrived, preaching revolutionary doctrines such as the equality of man,^{[clarification needed]} adult baptism, and Christ’s imminent return.^[92] When the town council asked Luther to return, he decided it was his duty to act.^[93]

Return to Wittenberg and Peasants’ War

Luther secretly returned to Wittenberg on 6 March 1522. He wrote to the Elector: «During my absence, Satan has entered my sheepfold, and committed ravages which I cannot repair by writing, but only by my personal presence and living word.»^[94] For eight days in Lent, beginning on Invocavit Sunday, 9 March, Luther preached eight sermons, which became known as the «Invocavit Sermons». In these sermons, he hammered home the primacy of core Christian values such as love, patience, charity, and freedom, and reminded the citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence to bring about necessary change.^[95]

Do you know what the Devil thinks when he sees men use violence to propagate the gospel? He sits with folded arms behind the fire of hell, and says with malignant looks and frightful grin: «Ah, how wise these madmen are to play my game! Let them go on; I shall reap the benefit. I delight in it.» But when he sees the Word running and contending alone on the battle-field, then he shudders and shakes for fear.^[96]

The effect of Luther’s intervention was immediate. After the sixth sermon, the Wittenberg jurist Jerome Schurf wrote to the elector: «Oh, what joy has Dr. Martin’s return spread among us! His words, through divine mercy, are bringing back every day misguided people into the way of the truth.»^[96]

Luther next set about reversing or modifying the new church practices. By working alongside the authorities to restore public order, he signalled his reinvention as a conservative force within the Reformation.^[97] After banishing the Zwickau prophets, he faced a battle against both the established Church and the radical reformers who threatened the new order by fomenting social unrest and violence.^[98]

Despite his victory in Wittenberg, Luther was unable to stifle radicalism further afield. Preachers such as Thomas Müntzer and Zwickau prophet Nicholas Storch found support amongst poorer townspeople and peasants between 1521 and 1525. There had been revolts by the peasantry on smaller scales since the 15th century.^[99] Luther’s pamphlets against the Church and the hierarchy, often worded with «liberal» phraseology, led many peasants to believe he would support an attack on the upper classes in general.^[100] Revolts broke out in Franconia, Swabia, and Thuringia in 1524, even drawing support from disaffected nobles, many of whom were in debt. Gaining momentum under the leadership of radicals such as Müntzer in Thuringia, and Hipler and Lotzer in the south-west, the revolts turned into war.^[101]

Luther sympathised with some of the peasants’ grievances, as he showed in his response to the Twelve Articles in May 1525, but he reminded the aggrieved to obey the temporal authorities.^[102] During a tour of Thuringia, he became enraged at the widespread burning of convents, monasteries, bishops’ palaces, and libraries. In Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants, written on his return to Wittenberg, he gave his interpretation of the Gospel teaching on wealth, condemned the violence as the devil’s work, and called for the nobles to put down the rebels like mad dogs:

Therefore let everyone who can, smite, slay, and stab, secretly or openly, remembering that nothing can be more poisonous, hurtful, or devilish than a rebel … For baptism does not make men free in body and property, but in soul; and the gospel does not make goods common, except in the case of those who, of their own free will, do what the apostles and disciples did in Acts 4 [:32–37]. They did not demand, as do our insane peasants in their raging, that the goods of others—of Pilate and Herod—should be common, but only their own goods. Our peasants, however, want to make the goods of other men common, and keep their own for themselves. Fine Christians they are! I think there is not a devil left in hell; they have all gone into the peasants. Their raving has gone beyond all measure.^[103]

Luther justified his opposition to the rebels on three grounds. First, in choosing violence over lawful submission to the secular government, they were ignoring Christ’s counsel to «Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s»; St. Paul had written in his epistle to the Romans 13:1–7 that all authorities are appointed by God and therefore should not be resisted. This reference from the Bible forms the foundation for the doctrine known as the divine right of kings, or, in the German case, the divine right of the princes. Second, the violent actions of rebelling, robbing, and plundering placed the peasants «outside the law of God and Empire», so they deserved «death in body and soul, if only as highwaymen and murderers.» Lastly, Luther charged the rebels with blasphemy for calling themselves «Christian brethren» and committing their sinful acts under the banner of the Gospel.^[104] Only later in life did he develop the Beerwolf concept permitting some cases of resistance against the government.^[105]

Without Luther’s backing for the uprising, many rebels laid down their weapons; others felt betrayed. Their defeat by the Swabian League at the Battle of Frankenhausen on 15 May 1525, followed by Müntzer’s execution, brought the revolutionary stage of the Reformation to a close.^[106] Thereafter, radicalism found a refuge in the Anabaptist movement and other religious movements, while Luther’s Reformation flourished under the wing of the secular powers.^[107] In 1526 Luther wrote: «I, Martin Luther, have during the rebellion slain all the peasants, for it was I who ordered them to be struck dead.»^[108]

Marriage

Martin Luther married Katharina von Bora, one of 12 nuns he had helped escape from the Nimbschen Cistercian convent in April 1523, when he arranged for them to be smuggled out in herring barrels.^[109] «Suddenly, and while I was occupied with far different thoughts,» he wrote to Wenceslaus Link, «the Lord has plunged me into marriage.»^[110] At the time of their marriage, Katharina was 26 years old and Luther was 41 years old.

On 13 June 1525, the couple was engaged, with Johannes Bugenhagen, Justus Jonas, Johannes Apel, Philipp Melanchthon and Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife as witnesses.^[111] On the evening of the same day, the couple was married by Bugenhagen.^[111] The ceremonial walk to the church and the wedding banquet were left out and were made up two weeks later on 27 June.^[111]

Some priests and former members of religious orders had already married, including Andreas Karlstadt and Justus Jonas, but Luther’s wedding set the seal of approval on clerical marriage.^[112] He had long condemned vows of celibacy on biblical grounds, but his decision to marry surprised many, not least Melanchthon, who called it reckless.^[113] Luther had written to George Spalatin on 30 November 1524, «I shall never take a wife, as I feel at present. Not that I am insensible to my flesh or sex (for I am neither wood nor stone); but my mind is averse to wedlock because I daily expect the death of a heretic.»^[114]
Before marrying, Luther had been living on the plainest food, and, as he admitted himself, his mildewed bed was not properly made for months at a time.^[115]

Luther and his wife moved into a former monastery, «The Black Cloister,» a wedding present from Elector John the Steadfast. They embarked on what appears to have been a happy and successful marriage, though money was often short.^[116] Katharina bore six children: Hans – June 1526; Elisabeth – 10 December 1527, who died within a few months; Magdalene – 1529, who died in Luther’s arms in 1542; Martin – 1531; Paul – January 1533; and Margaret – 1534; and she helped the couple earn a living by farming and taking in boarders.^[117] Luther confided to Michael Stiefel on 11 August 1526: «My Katie is in all things so obliging and pleasing to me that I would not exchange my poverty for the riches of Croesus.»^[118]

Organising the church

By 1526, Luther found himself increasingly occupied in organising a new church. His biblical ideal of congregations choosing their own ministers had proved unworkable.^[119] According to Bainton: «Luther’s dilemma was that he wanted both a confessional church based on personal faith and experience and a territorial church including all in a given locality. If he were forced to choose, he would take his stand with the masses, and this was the direction in which he moved.»^[120]

From 1525 to 1529, he established a supervisory church body, laid down a new form of worship service, and wrote a clear summary of the new faith in the form of two catechisms.^[121] To avoid confusing or upsetting the people, Luther avoided extreme change. He also did not wish to replace one controlling system with another. He concentrated on the church in the Electorate of Saxony, acting only as an adviser to churches in new territories, many of which followed his Saxon model. He worked closely with the new elector, John the Steadfast, to whom he turned for secular leadership and funds on behalf of a church largely shorn of its assets and income after the break with Rome.^[122] For Luther’s biographer Martin Brecht, this partnership «was the beginning of a questionable and originally unintended development towards a church government under the temporal sovereign».^[123]

The elector authorised a visitation of the church, a power formerly exercised by bishops.^[124] At times, Luther’s practical reforms fell short of his earlier radical pronouncements. For example, the Instructions for the Visitors of Parish Pastors in Electoral Saxony (1528), drafted by Melanchthon with Luther’s approval, stressed the role of repentance in the forgiveness of sins, despite Luther’s position that faith alone ensures justification.^[125] The Eisleben reformer Johannes Agricola challenged this compromise, and Luther condemned him for teaching that faith is separate from works.^[126] The Instruction is a problematic document for those seeking a consistent evolution in Luther’s thought and practice.^[127]

In response to demands for a German liturgy, Luther wrote a German Mass, which he published in early 1526.^[128] He did not intend it as a replacement for his 1523 adaptation of the Latin Mass but as an alternative for the «simple people», a «public stimulation for people to believe and become Christians.»^[129] Luther based his order on the Catholic service but omitted «everything that smacks of sacrifice», and the Mass became a celebration where everyone received the wine as well as the bread.^[130] He retained the elevation of the host and chalice, while trappings such as the Mass vestments, altar, and candles were made optional, allowing freedom of ceremony.^[131] Some reformers, including followers of Huldrych Zwingli, considered Luther’s service too papistic, and modern scholars note the conservatism of his alternative to the Catholic Mass.^[132] Luther’s service, however, included congregational singing of hymns and psalms in German, as well as parts of the liturgy, including Luther’s unison setting of the Creed.^[133] To reach the simple people and the young, Luther incorporated religious instruction into the weekday services in the form of catechism.^[134] He also provided simplified versions of the baptism and marriage services.^[135]

Luther and his colleagues introduced the new order of worship during their visitation of the Electorate of Saxony, which began in 1527.^[136] They also assessed the standard of pastoral care and Christian education in the territory. «Merciful God, what misery I have seen,» Luther writes, «the common people knowing nothing at all of Christian doctrine … and unfortunately many pastors are well-nigh unskilled and incapable of teaching.»^[137]

Catechisms

Luther devised the catechism as a method of imparting the basics of Christianity to the congregations. In 1529, he wrote the Large Catechism, a manual for pastors and teachers, as well as a synopsis, the Small Catechism, to be memorised by the people.^[138] The catechisms provided easy-to-understand instructional and devotional material on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, The Lord’s Prayer, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.^[139] Luther incorporated questions and answers in the catechism so that the basics of Christian faith would not just be learned by rote, «the way monkeys do it», but understood.^[140]

The catechism is one of Luther’s most personal works. «Regarding the plan to collect my writings in volumes,» he wrote, «I am quite cool and not at all eager about it because, roused by a Saturnian hunger, I would rather see them all devoured. For I acknowledge none of them to be really a book of mine, except perhaps the Bondage of the Will and the Catechism.»^[141] The Small Catechism has earned a reputation as a model of clear religious teaching.^[142] It remains in use today, along with Luther’s hymns and his translation of the Bible.

Luther’s Small Catechism proved especially effective in helping parents teach their children; likewise the Large Catechism was effective for pastors.^[143] Using the German vernacular, they expressed the Apostles’ Creed in simpler, more personal, Trinitarian language. He rewrote each article of the Creed to express the character of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. Luther’s goal was to enable the catechumens to see themselves as a personal object of the work of the three persons of the Trinity, each of which works in the catechumen’s life.^[144] That is, Luther depicts the Trinity not as a doctrine to be learned, but as persons to be known. The Father creates, the Son redeems, and the Spirit sanctifies, a divine unity with separate personalities. Salvation originates with the Father and draws the believer to the Father. Luther’s treatment of the Apostles’ Creed must be understood in the context of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) and The Lord’s Prayer, which are also part of the Lutheran catechetical teaching.^[144]

Translation of the Bible

Luther had published his German translation of the New Testament in 1522, and he and his collaborators completed the translation of the Old Testament in 1534, when the whole Bible was published. He continued to work on refining the translation until the end of his life.^[145] Others had previously translated the Bible into German, but Luther tailored his translation to his own doctrine.^[146]
Two of the earlier translations were the Mentelin Bible (1456)^[147] and the Koberger Bible (1484).^[148] There were as many as fourteen in High German, four in Low German, four in Dutch, and various other translations in other languages before the Bible of Luther.^[149]

Luther’s translation used the variant of German spoken at the Saxon chancellery, intelligible to both northern and southern Germans.^[150] He intended his vigorous, direct language to make the Bible accessible to everyday Germans, «for we are removing impediments and difficulties so that other people may read it without hindrance.»^[151] Published at a time of rising demand for German-language publications, Luther’s version quickly became a popular and influential Bible translation. As such, it contributed a distinct flavor to the German language and literature.^[152] Furnished with notes and prefaces by Luther, and with woodcuts by Lucas Cranach that contained anti-papal imagery, it played a major role in the spread of Luther’s doctrine throughout Germany.^[153] The Luther Bible influenced other vernacular translations, such as the Tyndale Bible (from 1525 forward), a precursor of the King James Bible.^[154]

When he was criticised for inserting the word «alone» after «faith» in Romans 3:28,^[155] he replied in part: «[T]he text itself and the meaning of St. Paul urgently require and demand it. For in that very passage he is dealing with the main point of Christian doctrine, namely, that we are justified by faith in Christ without any works of the Law. … But when works are so completely cut away—and that must mean that faith alone justifies—whoever would speak plainly and clearly about this cutting away of works will have to say, ‘Faith alone justifies us, and not works’.»^[156] Luther did not include First Epistle of John 5:7–8,^[157] the Johannine Comma in his translation, rejecting it as a forgery. It was inserted into the text by other hands after Luther’s death.^[158][159]

Hymnodist

Luther was a prolific hymnodist, authoring hymns such as «Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott» («A Mighty Fortress Is Our God»), based on Psalm 46, and «Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her» («From Heaven Above to Earth I Come»), based on Luke 2:11–12.^[160] Luther connected high art and folk music, also all classes, clergy and laity, men, women and children. His tool of choice for this connection was the singing of German hymns in connection with worship, school, home, and the public arena.^[161] He often accompanied the sung hymns with a lute, later recreated as the waldzither that became a national instrument of Germany in the 20th century.^[162]

Luther’s hymns were frequently evoked by particular events in his life and the unfolding Reformation. This behavior started with his learning of the execution of Jan van Essen and Hendrik Vos, the first individuals to be martyred by the Roman Catholic Church for Lutheran views, prompting Luther to write the hymn «Ein neues Lied wir heben an» («A New Song We Raise»), which is generally known in English by John C. Messenger’s translation by the title and first line «Flung to the Heedless Winds» and sung to the tune Ibstone composed in 1875 by Maria C. Tiddeman.^[163]

Luther’s 1524 creedal hymn «Wir glauben all an einen Gott» («We All Believe in One True God») is a three-stanza confession of faith prefiguring Luther’s 1529 three-part explanation of the Apostles’ Creed in the Small Catechism. Luther’s hymn, adapted and expanded from an earlier German creedal hymn, gained widespread use in vernacular Lutheran liturgies as early as 1525. Sixteenth-century Lutheran hymnals also included «Wir glauben all» among the catechetical hymns, although 18th-century hymnals tended to label the hymn as Trinitarian rather than catechetical, and 20th-century Lutherans rarely used the hymn because of the perceived difficulty of its tune.^[161]

Luther’s 1538 hymnic version of the Lord’s Prayer, «Vater unser im Himmelreich», corresponds exactly to Luther’s explanation of the prayer in the Small Catechism, with one stanza for each of the seven prayer petitions, plus opening and closing stanzas. The hymn functions both as a liturgical setting of the Lord’s Prayer and as a means of examining candidates on specific catechism questions. The extant manuscript shows multiple revisions, demonstrating Luther’s concern to clarify and strengthen the text and to provide an appropriately prayerful tune. Other 16th- and 20th-century versifications of the Lord’s Prayer have adopted Luther’s tune, although modern texts are considerably shorter.^[164]

Luther wrote «Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir» («From depths of woe I cry to You») in 1523 as a hymnic version of Psalm 130 and sent it as a sample to encourage his colleagues to write psalm-hymns for use in German worship. In a collaboration with Paul Speratus, this and seven other hymns were published in the Achtliederbuch, the first Lutheran hymnal. In 1524 Luther developed his original four-stanza psalm paraphrase into a five-stanza Reformation hymn that developed the theme of «grace alone» more fully. Because it expressed essential Reformation doctrine, this expanded version of «Aus tiefer Not» was designated as a regular component of several regional Lutheran liturgies and was widely used at funerals, including Luther’s own. Along with Erhart Hegenwalt’s hymnic version of Psalm 51, Luther’s expanded hymn was also adopted for use with the fifth part of Luther’s catechism, concerning confession.^[165]

Luther wrote «Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein» («Oh God, look down from heaven»). «Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland» (Now come, Savior of the gentiles), based on Veni redemptor gentium, became the main hymn (Hauptlied) for Advent. He transformed A solus ortus cardine to «Christum wir sollen loben schon» («We should now praise Christ») and Veni Creator Spiritus to «Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist» («Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God»).^[166] He wrote two hymns on the Ten Commandments, «Dies sind die heilgen Zehn Gebot» and «Mensch, willst du leben seliglich». His «Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ» («Praise be to You, Jesus Christ») became the main hymn for Christmas. He wrote for Pentecost «Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist», and adopted for Easter «Christ ist erstanden» (Christ is risen), based on Victimae paschali laudes. «Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin«, a paraphrase of Nunc dimittis, was intended for Purification, but became also a funeral hymn. He paraphrased the Te Deum as «Herr Gott, dich loben wir» with a simplified form of the melody. It became known as the German Te Deum.

Luther’s 1541 hymn «Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam» («To Jordan came the Christ our Lord») reflects the structure and substance of his questions and answers concerning baptism in the Small Catechism. Luther adopted a preexisting Johann Walter tune associated with a hymnic setting of Psalm 67’s prayer for grace; Wolf Heintz’s four-part setting of the hymn was used to introduce the Lutheran Reformation in Halle in 1541. Preachers and composers of the 18th century, including J.S. Bach, used this rich hymn as a subject for their own work, although its objective baptismal theology was displaced by more subjective hymns under the influence of late-19th-century Lutheran pietism.^[161]

Luther’s hymns were included in early Lutheran hymnals and spread the ideas of the Reformation. He supplied four of eight songs of the First Lutheran hymnal Achtliederbuch, 18 of 26 songs of the Erfurt Enchiridion, and 24 of the 32 songs in the first choral hymnal with settings by Johann Walter, Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn, all published in 1524. Luther’s hymns inspired composers to write music. Johann Sebastian Bach included several verses as chorales in his cantatas and based chorale cantatas entirely on them, namely Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, as early as possibly 1707, in his second annual cycle (1724 to 1725) Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2, Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam, BWV 7, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62, Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ, BWV 91, and Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38, later Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80, and in 1735 Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, BWV 14.

On the soul after death

In contrast to the views of John Calvin^[167] and Philipp Melanchthon,^[168] throughout his life Luther maintained that it was not false doctrine to believe that a Christian’s soul sleeps after it is separated from the body in death.^[169] Accordingly, he disputed traditional interpretations of some Bible passages, such as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.^[170] This also led Luther to reject the idea of torments for the saints: «It is enough for us to know that souls do not leave their bodies to be threatened by the torments and punishments of hell, but enter a prepared bedchamber in which they sleep in peace.»^[171] He also rejected the existence of purgatory, which involved Christian souls undergoing penitential suffering after death.^[172] He affirmed the continuity of one’s personal identity beyond death. In his Smalcald Articles, he described the saints as currently residing «in their graves and in heaven.»^[173]

The Lutheran theologian Franz Pieper observes that Luther’s teaching about the state of the Christian’s soul after death differed from the later Lutheran theologians such as Johann Gerhard.^[174] Lessing (1755) had earlier reached the same conclusion in his analysis of Lutheran orthodoxy on this issue.^[175]

Luther’s Commentary on Genesis contains a passage which concludes that «the soul does not sleep (anima non sic dormit), but wakes (sed vigilat) and experiences visions».^[176] Francis Blackburne argues that John Jortin misread this and other passages from Luther,^[177] while Gottfried Fritschel points out that it actually refers to the soul of a man «in this life» (homo enim in hac vita) tired from his daily labour (defatigus diurno labore) who at night enters his bedchamber (sub noctem intrat in cubiculum suum) and whose sleep is interrupted by dreams.^[178]

Henry Eyster Jacobs’ English translation from 1898 reads:

«Nevertheless, the sleep of this life and that of the future life differ; for in this life, man, fatigued by his daily labour, at nightfall goes to his couch, as in peace, to sleep there, and enjoys rest; nor does he know anything of evil, whether of fire or of murder.»^[179]

Sacramentarian controversy and the Marburg Colloquy

In October 1529, Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, convoked an assembly of German and Swiss theologians at the Marburg Colloquy, to establish doctrinal unity in the emerging Protestant states.^[180] Agreement was achieved on fourteen points out of fifteen, the exception being the nature of the Eucharist—the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper—an issue crucial to Luther.^[181] The theologians, including Zwingli, Melanchthon, Martin Bucer, and Johannes Oecolampadius, differed on the significance of the words spoken by Jesus at the Last Supper: «This is my body which is for you» and «This cup is the new covenant in my blood» (1 Corinthians 11:23–26).^[182] Luther insisted on the Real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine, which he called the sacramental union,^[183] while his opponents believed God to be only spiritually or symbolically present.^[184]

Zwingli, for example, denied Jesus’ ability to be in more than one place at a time. Luther stressed the omnipresence of Jesus’ human nature.^[185] According to transcripts, the debate sometimes became confrontational. Citing Jesus’ words «The flesh profiteth nothing» (John 6.63), Zwingli said, «This passage breaks your neck». «Don’t be too proud,» Luther retorted, «German necks don’t break that easily. This is Hesse, not Switzerland.»^[186] On his table Luther wrote the words «Hoc est corpus meum» («This is my body») in chalk, to continually indicate his firm stance.^[187]

Despite the disagreements on the Eucharist, the Marburg Colloquy paved the way for the signing in 1530 of the Augsburg Confession, and for the formation of the Schmalkaldic League the following year by leading Protestant nobles such as John of Saxony, Philip of Hesse, and George, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. The Swiss cities, however, did not sign these agreements.^[188]

Epistemology

Some scholars have asserted that Luther taught that faith and reason were antithetical in the sense that questions of faith could not be illuminated by reason. He wrote, «All the articles of our Christian faith, which God has revealed to us in His Word, are in presence of reason sheerly impossible, absurd, and false.»^[189] and «[That] Reason in no way contributes to faith. […] For reason is the greatest enemy that faith has; it never comes to the aid of spiritual things.»^[190] However, though seemingly contradictorily, he also wrote in the latter work that human reason «strives not against faith, when enlightened, but rather furthers and advances it»,^[191] bringing claims he was a fideist into dispute. Contemporary Lutheran scholarship, however, has found a different reality in Luther. Luther rather seeks to separate faith and reason in order to honor the separate spheres of knowledge that each applies to.

On Islam

At the time of the Marburg Colloquy, Suleiman the Magnificent was besieging Vienna with a vast Ottoman army.^[192] Luther had argued against resisting the Turks in his 1518 Explanation of the Ninety-five Theses, provoking accusations of defeatism. He saw the Turks as a scourge sent by God to punish Christians, as agents of the biblical apocalypse that would destroy the Antichrist, whom Luther believed to be the papacy and the Roman Church.^[193] He consistently rejected the idea of a Holy War, «as though our people were an army of Christians against the Turks, who were enemies of Christ. This is absolutely contrary to Christ’s doctrine and name».^[194] On the other hand, in keeping with his doctrine of the two kingdoms, Luther did support non-religious war against the Turks.^[195] In 1526, he argued in Whether Soldiers can be in a State of Grace that national defence is reason for a just war.^[196] By 1529, in On War against the Turk, he was actively urging Emperor Charles V and the German people to fight a secular war against the Turks.^[197]
He made clear, however, that the spiritual war against an alien faith was separate, to be waged through prayer and repentance.^[198] Around the time of the Siege of Vienna, Luther wrote a prayer for national deliverance from the Turks, asking God to «give to our emperor perpetual victory over our enemies».^[199]

In 1542, Luther read a Latin translation of the Qur’an.^[200] He went on to produce several critical pamphlets on Islam, which he called «Mohammedanism» or «the Turk».^[201] Though Luther saw the Muslim faith as a tool of the devil, he was indifferent to its practice: «Let the Turk believe and live as he will, just as one lets the papacy and other false Christians live.»^[202] He opposed banning the publication of the Qur’an, wanting it exposed to scrutiny.^[203]

Antinomian controversy

Early in 1537, Johannes Agricola—serving at the time as pastor in Luther’s birthplace, Eisleben—preached a sermon in which he claimed that God’s gospel, not God’s moral law (the Ten Commandments), revealed God’s wrath to Christians. Based on this sermon and others by Agricola, Luther suspected that Agricola was behind certain anonymous antinomian theses circulating in Wittenberg. These theses asserted that the law is no longer to be taught to Christians but belonged only to city hall.^[204] Luther responded to these theses with six series of theses against Agricola and the antinomians, four of which became the basis for disputations between 1538 and 1540.^[205] He also responded to these assertions in other writings, such as his 1539 open letter to C. Güttel Against the Antinomians,^[206] and his book On the Councils and the Church from the same year.^[207]

In his theses and disputations against the antinomians, Luther reviews and reaffirms, on the one hand, what has been called the «second use of the law,» that is, the law as the Holy Spirit’s tool to work sorrow over sin in man’s heart, thus preparing him for Christ’s fulfillment of the law offered in the gospel.^[208] Luther states that everything that is used to work sorrow over sin is called the law, even if it is Christ’s life, Christ’s death for sin, or God’s goodness experienced in creation.^[209] Simply refusing to preach the Ten Commandments among Christians—thereby, as it were, removing the three letters l-a-w from the church—does not eliminate the accusing law.^[210] Claiming that the law—in any form—should not be preached to Christians anymore would be tantamount to asserting that Christians are no longer sinners in themselves and that the church consists only of essentially holy people.^[211]

Luther also points out that the Ten Commandments—when considered not as God’s condemning judgment but as an expression of his eternal will, that is, of the natural law—positively teach how the Christian ought to live.^[212] This has traditionally been called the «third use of the law.»^[213] For Luther, also Christ’s life, when understood as an example, is nothing more than an illustration of the Ten Commandments, which a Christian should follow in his or her vocations on a daily basis.^[214]

The Ten Commandments, and the beginnings of the renewed life of Christians accorded to them by the sacrament of baptism, are a present foreshadowing of the believers’ future angel-like life in heaven in the midst of this life.^[215] Luther’s teaching of the Ten Commandments, therefore, has clear eschatological overtones, which, characteristically for Luther, do not encourage world-flight but direct the Christian to service to the neighbor in the common, daily vocations of this perishing world.

Bigamy of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse

From December 1539, Luther became involved in the designs of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse to marry a lady-in-waiting of his wife, Christine of Saxony. Philip solicited the approval of Luther, Melanchthon, and Bucer, citing as a precedent the polygamy of the patriarchs. The theologians were not prepared to make a general ruling, and they reluctantly advised the landgrave that if he was determined, he should marry secretly and keep quiet about the matter because divorce was worse than bigamy.^[216] As a result, on 4 March 1540, Philip married a second wife, Margarethe von der Saale, with Melanchthon and Bucer among the witnesses. However, Philip’s sister Elisabeth quickly made the scandal public, and Philip threatened to expose Luther’s advice. Luther told him to «tell a good, strong lie» and deny the marriage completely, which Philip did.^[217] Margarethe gave birth to nine children over a span of 17 years, giving Philip a total of 19 children. In the view of Luther’s biographer Martin Brecht, «giving confessional advice for Philip of Hesse was one of the worst mistakes Luther made, and, next to the landgrave himself, who was directly responsible for it, history chiefly holds Luther accountable».^[218] Brecht argues that Luther’s mistake was not that he gave private pastoral advice, but that he miscalculated the political implications.^[219] The affair caused lasting damage to Luther’s reputation.^[220]

Anti-Jewish polemics and antisemitism

Luther wrote negatively about the Jews throughout his career.^[221] Though Luther rarely encountered Jews during his life, his attitudes reflected a theological and cultural tradition which saw Jews as a rejected people guilty of the murder of Christ, and he lived in a locality which had expelled Jews some ninety years earlier.^[222] He considered the Jews blasphemers and liars because they rejected the divinity of Jesus.^[223] In 1523, Luther advised kindness toward the Jews in That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew and also aimed to convert them to Christianity.^[224] When his efforts at conversion failed, he grew increasingly bitter toward them.^[225]

Luther’s major works on the Jews were his 60,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies), and Vom Schem Hamphoras und vom Geschlecht Christi (On the Holy Name and the Lineage of Christ), both published in 1543, three years before his death.^[226] Luther argued that the Jews were no longer the chosen people but «the devil’s people», and referred to them with violent language.^[227][228] Citing Deuteronomy 13, wherein Moses commands the killing of idolaters and the burning of their cities and property as an offering to God, Luther called for a «scharfe Barmherzigkeit» («sharp mercy») against the Jews «to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames.»^[229] Luther advocated setting synagogues on fire, destroying Jewish prayerbooks, forbidding rabbis from preaching, seizing Jews’ property and money, and smashing up their homes, so that these «envenomed worms» would be forced into labour or expelled «for all time».^[230] In Robert Michael’s view, Luther’s words «We are at fault in not slaying them» amounted to a sanction for murder.^[231] «God’s anger with them is so intense,» Luther concluded, «that gentle mercy will only tend to make them worse, while sharp mercy will reform them but little. Therefore, in any case, away with them!»^[229]

Luther launched a polemic against vagrants in his 1510 preface to the Liber Vagatorum, attributing their Rotwelsch cryptolect to Hebrew. He warned Christians to stop giving them alms.^{[232][non-primary source needed]}

Luther spoke out against the Jews in Saxony, Brandenburg, and Silesia.^[233] Josel of Rosheim, the Jewish spokesman who tried to help the Jews of Saxony in 1537, later blamed their plight on «that priest whose name was Martin Luther—may his body and soul be bound up in hell!—who wrote and issued many heretical books in which he said that whoever would help the Jews was doomed to perdition.»^[234] Josel asked the city of Strasbourg to forbid the sale of Luther’s anti-Jewish works: they refused initially but did so when a Lutheran pastor in Hochfelden used a sermon to urge his parishioners to murder Jews.^[233] Luther’s influence persisted after his death. Throughout the 1580s, riots led to the expulsion of Jews from several German Lutheran states.^[235]

Tovia Singer, an Orthodox Jewish rabbi, remarking about Luther’s attitude toward Jews, put it thus: «Among all the Church Fathers and Reformers, there was no mouth more vile, no tongue that uttered more vulgar curses against the Children of Israel than this founder of the Reformation.»^[236]

Influence within Nazism

Luther was the most widely read author of his generation, and within Germany he acquired the status of a prophet.^[237] According to the prevailing opinion among historians,^[238] his anti-Jewish rhetoric contributed significantly to the development of antisemitism in Germany,^[239] and in the 1930s and 1940s provided an «ideal underpinning» for the Nazis’ attacks on Jews.^[240] Reinhold Lewin writes that anybody who «wrote against the Jews for whatever reason believed he had the right to justify himself by triumphantly referring to Luther.» According to Michael, just about every anti-Jewish book printed in Nazi Germany contained references to and quotations from Luther. Heinrich Himmler (albeit never a Lutheran, having been brought up Catholic) wrote admiringly of his writings and sermons on the Jews in 1940.^[241] The city of Nuremberg presented a first edition of On the Jews and their Lies to Julius Streicher, editor of the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer, on his birthday in 1937; the newspaper described it as the most radically antisemitic tract ever published.^[242] It was publicly exhibited in a glass case at the Nuremberg rallies and quoted in a 54-page explanation of the Aryan Law by E.H. Schulz and R. Frercks.^[243]

On 17 December 1941, seven Protestant regional church confederations issued a statement agreeing with the policy of forcing Jews to wear the yellow badge, «since after his bitter experience Luther had already suggested preventive measures against the Jews and their expulsion from German territory.» According to Daniel Goldhagen, Bishop Martin Sasse, a leading Protestant churchman, published a compendium of Luther’s writings shortly after Kristallnacht, for which Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at the University of Oxford argued that Luther’s writing was a «blueprint.»^[244] Sasse applauded the burning of the synagogues and the coincidence of the day, writing in the introduction, «On 10 November 1938, on Luther’s birthday, the synagogues are burning in Germany.» The German people, he urged, ought to heed these words «of the greatest antisemite of his time, the warner of his people against the Jews.»^[245]

At the heart of scholarly debate about Luther’s influence is whether it is anachronistic to view his work as a precursor of the racial antisemitism of the Nazis. Some scholars see Luther’s influence as limited, and the Nazis’ use of his work as opportunistic. Johannes Wallmann argues that Luther’s writings against the Jews were largely ignored in the 18th and 19th centuries, and that there was no continuity between Luther’s thought and Nazi ideology.^[247] Uwe Siemon-Netto agreed, arguing that it was because the Nazis were already antisemites that they revived Luther’s work.^[248][249] Hans J. Hillerbrand agreed that to focus on Luther was to adopt an essentially ahistorical perspective of Nazi antisemitism that ignored other contributory factors in German history.^[250] Similarly, Roland Bainton, noted church historian and Luther biographer, wrote «One could wish that Luther had died before ever [On the Jews and Their Lies] was written. His position was entirely religious and in no respect racial.»^[251][252]
However, Christopher J. Probst, in his book Demonizing the Jews: Luther and the Protestant Church in Nazi Germany (2012), shows that a large number of German Protestant clergy and theologians during the Nazi era used Luther’s hostile publications towards the Jews and their Jewish religion to justify at least in part the anti-Semitic policies of the National Socialists.^[253] The pro-Nazi Christian group Deutsche Christen drew parallels between Martin Luther and the «Führer» Adolf Hitler.^[254]

Some scholars, such as Mark U. Edwards in his book Luther’s Last Battles: Politics and Polemics 1531–46 (1983), suggest that since Luther’s increasingly antisemitic views developed during the years his health deteriorated, it is possible they were at least partly the product of a state of mind. Edwards also comments that Luther often deliberately used «vulgarity and violence» for effect, both in his writings condemning the Jews and in diatribes against «Turks» (Muslims) and Catholics.^[255]

Since the 1980s, Lutheran denominations have repudiated Martin Luther’s statements against the Jews^{[citation needed]} and have rejected the use of them to incite hatred against Lutherans.^{[citation needed][256][257]} Strommen et al.’s 1970 survey of 4,745 North American Lutherans aged 15–65 found that, compared to the other minority groups under consideration, Lutherans were the least prejudiced toward Jews.^[258] Nevertheless, Professor Richard Geary, former professor of modern history at the University of Nottingham and the author of Hitler and Nazism (Routledge 1993), published an article in the magazine History Today examining electoral trends in Weimar Germany between 1928 and 1933. Geary notes that, based on his research, the Nazi Party received disproportionately more votes from Protestant than Catholic areas of Germany.^[259][260]

Final years, illness and death

Luther had been suffering from ill health for years, including Ménière’s disease, vertigo, fainting, tinnitus, and a cataract in one eye.^[261] From 1531 to 1546 his health deteriorated further. In 1536, he began to suffer from kidney and bladder stones, arthritis, and an ear infection ruptured an ear drum. In December 1544, he began to feel the effects of angina.^[262]

His poor physical health made him short-tempered and even harsher in his writings and comments. His wife Katharina was overheard saying, «Dear husband, you are too rude,» and he responded, «They are teaching me to be rude.»^[263] In 1545 and 1546 Luther preached three times in the Market Church in Halle, staying with his friend Justus Jonas during Christmas.^[264]

His last sermon was delivered at Eisleben, his place of birth, on 15 February 1546, three days before his death.^[265] It was «entirely devoted to the obdurate Jews, whom it was a matter of great urgency to expel from all German territory,» according to Léon Poliakov.^[266] James Mackinnon writes that it concluded with a «fiery summons to drive the Jews bag and baggage from their midst, unless they desisted from their calumny and their usury and became Christians.»^[267] Luther said, «we want to practice Christian love toward them and pray that they convert,» but also that they are «our public enemies … and if they could kill us all, they would gladly do so. And so often they do.»^[268]

Luther’s final journey, to Mansfeld, was taken because of his concern for his siblings’ families continuing in their father Hans Luther’s copper mining trade. Their livelihood was threatened by Count Albrecht of Mansfeld bringing the industry under his own control. The controversy that ensued involved all four Mansfeld counts: Albrecht, Philip, John George, and Gerhard. Luther journeyed to Mansfeld twice in late 1545 to participate in the negotiations for a settlement, and a third visit was needed in early 1546 for their completion.

The negotiations were successfully concluded on 17 February 1546. After 8 p.m., he experienced chest pains. When he went to his bed, he prayed, «Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God» (Ps. 31:5), the common prayer of the dying. At 1 a.m. on 18 February, he awoke with more chest pain and was warmed with hot towels. He thanked God for revealing his Son to him in whom he had believed. His companions, Justus Jonas and Michael Coelius, shouted loudly, «Reverend father, are you ready to die trusting in your Lord Jesus Christ and to confess the doctrine which you have taught in his name?» A distinct «Yes» was Luther’s reply.^[269]

An apoplectic stroke deprived him of his speech, and he died shortly afterwards at 2:45 a.m. on 18 February 1546, aged 62, in Eisleben, the city of his birth. He was buried in the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, in front of the pulpit.^[270] The funeral was held by his friends Johannes Bugenhagen and Philipp Melanchthon.^[271] A year later, troops of Luther’s adversary Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor entered the town but were ordered by Charles not to disturb the grave.^[271]

A piece of paper was later found on which Luther had written his last statement. The statement was in Latin, apart from «We are beggars,» which was in German. The statement reads:

1. No one can understand Virgil’s Bucolics unless he has been a shepherd for five years. No one can understand Virgil’s Georgics, unless he has been a farmer for five years.
2. No one can understand Cicero’s Letters (or so I teach), unless he has busied himself in the affairs of some prominent state for twenty years.
3. Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles.

Do not assail this divine Aeneid; nay, rather prostrate revere the ground that it treads.

We are beggars: this is true.^[272][273]

The tomb of Philipp Melanchthon, Luther’s contemporary and fellow reformer, is also located in the All Saints’ Church.^{[274][275][276][277][278]}

• 

  Martin Luther’s Death House, considered the site of Luther’s death since 1726. However the building where Luther actually died (at Markt 56, now the site of Hotel Graf von Mansfeld) was torn down in 1570.^[279]

• 

  Casts of Luther’s face and hands at his death, in the Market Church in Halle^[280]

• 

  Schlosskirche in Wittenberg, where Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses, is also his gravesite.

• 

  Close-up of the grave with inscription in Latin

Legacy and commemoration

Luther made effective use of Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press to spread his views. He switched from Latin to German in his writing to appeal to a broader audience. Between 1500 and 1530, Luther’s works represented one fifth of all materials printed in Germany.^[281]

In the 1530s and 1540s, printed images of Luther that emphasized his monumental size were crucial to the spread of Protestantism. In contrast to images of frail Catholic saints, Luther was presented as a stout man with a «double chin, strong mouth, piercing deep-set eyes, fleshy face, and squat neck.» He was shown to be physically imposing, an equal in stature to the secular German princes with whom he would join forces to spread Lutheranism. His large body also let the viewer know that he did not shun earthly pleasures like drinking—behavior that was a stark contrast to the ascetic life of the medieval religious orders. Images from this period include the woodcuts by Hans Brosamer (1530) and Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger (1546).^[282]

Luther is honoured on 18 February with a commemoration in the Lutheran Calendar of Saints and in the Episcopal (United States) Calendar of Saints. In the Church of England’s Calendar of Saints he is commemorated on 31 October.^[283] Luther is honored in various ways by Christian traditions coming out directly from the Protestant Reformation, i.e. Lutheranism, the Reformed tradition, and Anglicanism. Branches of Protestantism that emerged afterwards vary in their remembrance and veneration of Luther, ranging from a complete lack of a single mention of him to a commemoration almost comparable to the way Lutherans commemorate and remember his persona. There is no known condemnation of Luther by Protestants themselves.

Various sites both inside and outside Germany (supposedly) visited by Martin Luther throughout his lifetime commemorate it with local memorials. Saxony-Anhalt has two towns officially named after Luther, Lutherstadt Eisleben and Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Mansfeld is sometimes called Mansfeld-Lutherstadt, although the state government has not decided to put the Lutherstadt suffix in its official name.

Reformation Day commemorates the publication of the Ninety-five Theses in 1517 by Martin Luther; it has been historically important in the following European entities. It is a civic holiday in the German states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Two further states (Lower Saxony and Bremen) are pending a vote on introducing it. Slovenia celebrates it because of the profound contribution of the Reformation to its culture. Austria allows Protestant children not to go to school that day, and Protestant workers have a right to leave work in order to participate in a church service. Switzerland celebrates the holiday on the first Sunday after 31 October. It is also celebrated elsewhere around the world.

Luther and the swan

• 

  Altar in St Martin’s Church, Halberstadt, Germany. Luther and the swan are toward the top on the right.

• 

  Coin commemorating Luther (engraving by Georg Wilhelm Göbel, Saxony, 1706)

Luther is often depicted with a swan as his attribute, and Lutheran churches often have a swan for a weather vane. This association with the swan arises out of a prophecy reportedly made by the earlier reformer Jan Hus from Bohemia and endorsed by Luther. In the Bohemian language (now Czech), Hus’s name meant «grey goose». In 1414, while imprisoned by the Council of Constance and anticipating his execution by burning for heresy, Hus prophesied, «Now they will roast a goose, but in a hundred years’ time they’ll hear a swan sing. They’d better listen to him.» Luther published his Ninety-five Theses some 103 years later.^{[284][285][286]}

Works and editions

• The Erlangen Edition (Erlangener Ausgabe: «EA»), comprising the Exegetica opera latina – Latin exegetical works of Luther.
• The Weimar Edition (Weimarer Ausgabe) is the exhaustive, standard German edition of Luther’s Latin and German works, indicated by the abbreviation «WA». This is continued into «WA Br» Weimarer Ausgabe, Briefwechsel (correspondence), «WA Tr» Weimarer Ausgabe, Tischreden (tabletalk) and «WA DB» Weimarer Ausgabe, Deutsche Bibel (German Bible).
• The American Edition (Luther’s Works) is the most extensive English translation of Luther’s writings, indicated either by the abbreviation «LW» or «AE». The first 55 volumes were published 1955–1986, and a twenty volume extension (vols. 56–75) is planned of which volumes 58, 60, and 68 have appeared thus far.

See also

• Antilegomena
• George of Hungary
• Luther’s canon
• Luther’s Marian theology
• Lutherhaus Eisenach
• Martin Luther’s Birth House
• Propaganda during the Reformation
• Protestantism in Germany
• Resources about Martin Luther
• Theology of Martin Luther
• Bruder Martin
• Hochstratus Ovans
• Theologia Germanica

Notes

References

Sources

• Cummings, Brian (2002). The Literary Culture of the Reformation: Grammar and Grace. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198187356.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-818735-6 – via Oxford Scholarship Online.
• Brecht, Martin; tr. James L. Schaaf (1985). Martin Luther. Vol. 1: His Road to Reformation, 1483–1521. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
• Brecht, Martin; tr. James L. Schaaf (1994). Martin Luther. Vol. 2: Shaping and Defining the Reformation, 1521–1532. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
• Brecht, Martin; tr. James L. Schaaf (1999). Martin Luther. Vol. 3: The Preservation of the Church, 1532–1546. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
• Mullett, Michael A. (2004). Martin Luther. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-26168-5.
• Michael A. Mullett (1986) (1986). Luther. Methuen & Co (Lancashire Pamphlets). ISBN 978-0-415-10932-1.
• Wilson, Derek (2007). Out of the Storm: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0-09-180001-7.

Further reading

For works by and about Luther, see Martin Luther (resources) or Luther’s works at Wikisource.

• Atkinson, James (1968). Martin Luther and the Birth of Protestantism, in series, Pelican Book[s]. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Penguin Books. 352 pp.
• Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1950), online
• Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation 1483–1521 (vol 1, 1985); Martin Luther 1521–1532: Shaping and Defining the Reformation (vol 2, 1994); Martin Luther The Preservation of the Church Vol 3 1532–1546 (1999), a standard scholarly biography excerpts
• Erikson, Erik H. (1958). Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History. New York: W.W. Norton.
• Dillenberger, John (1961). Martin Luther: Selections from his Writings. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. OCLC 165808.
• Fife, Robert Herndon. (1928). Young Luther: The Intellectual and Religious Development of Martin Luther to 1518. New York: Macmillan.
• Fife, Robert Herndon. (1957). The Revolt of Martin Luther. New York NY: Columbia University Press.
• Friedenthal, Richard (1970). Luther, His Life and Times. Trans. from the German by John Nowell. First American ed. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. viii, 566 p. N.B.: Trans. of the author’s Luther, sein Leben und seine Zeit.
• Lull, Timothy (1989). Martin Luther: Selections from his Writings. Minneapolis: Fortress. ISBN 978-0-8006-3680-7.
• Lull, Timothy F.; Nelson, Derek R. (2015). Resilient Reformer: The Life and Thought of Martin Luther. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress. ISBN 978-1-4514-9415-0 – via Project MUSE.
• Kolb, Robert; Dingel, Irene; Batka, Ľubomír (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther’s Theology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. ISBN 978-0-19-960470-8.
• Luther, M. The Bondage of the Will. Eds. J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnson. Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1957. OCLC 22724565.
• Luther, Martin (1974). Selected Political Writings, ed. and with an introd. by J.M. Porter. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. ISBN 0-8006-1079-2
• Luther’s Works, 55 vols. Eds. H.T. Lehman and J. Pelikan. St Louis, Missouri, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1955–86. Also on CD-ROM. Minneapolis and St Louis: Fortress Press and Concordia Publishing House, 2002.
• Maritain, Jacques (1941). Three Reformers: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau. New York: C. Scribner’s Sons. N.B.: Reprint of the ed. published by Muhlenberg Press.
• Nettl, Paul (1948). Luther and Music, trans. by Frida Best and Ralph Wood. New York: Russell & Russell, 1967, cop. 1948. vii, 174 p.
• Reu, Johann Michael (1917). Thirty-five Years of Luther Research. Chicago: Wartburg Publishing House.
• Schalk, Carl F. (1988). Luther on Music: Paradigms of Praise. Saint Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House. ISBN 0-570-01337-2
• Stang, William (1883). The Life of Martin Luther. Eighth ed. New York: Pustet & Co. N.B.: This is a work of Roman Catholic polemical nature.
• Warren Washburn Florer, Ph.D. (1912, 2012). Luther’s Use of the Pre-Lutheran Versions of the Bible: Article 1, George Wahr, The Ann Arbor Press, Ann Arbor, Mich. Reprint 2012: Nabu Press, ISBN 978-1-278-81819-1

External links

• Works by Martin Luther at Project Gutenberg
• Robert Stern. «Martin Luther». In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Robert Stern. «Luther’s Influence on Philosophy». In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Works by or about Martin Luther at Internet Archive
• Maarten Luther Werke
• Digitized 1543 edition of Von den Juden und ihren Luegen by Martin Luther at the Leo Baeck Institute, New York
• Works by Martin Luther at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Martin Luther at Post-Reformation Digital Library
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Martin Luther
• Website about Martin Luther
• Commentarius in psalmos Davidis Manuscript of Luther’s first lecture as Professor of Theology at the University of Wittenberg, digital version at the Saxon State and University Library, Dresden (SLUB)
• «Martin Luther». Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• Martin Luther Collection: Early works attributed to Martin Luther, (285 titles). From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• Robin Leaver: Luther’s Liturgical Music
• Chronological catalog of Luther’s life events, letters, and works with citations, (LettersLuther4.doc: 478 pages, 5.45 MB)