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Grace Kim H 2 $- 07 Bronx Science 5 / 26 / 00 Martin Luther (1483 - 1546) Martin Luther was a German theologian and a major leader of the Protestant Reformation. He is often called the father of Protestantism, whose widespread influence, aside from religion, politics, economics, education, and language, has established him as one of the crucial figures in modern European History. Even one of the primary branches of Protestantism Lutheranism- is named after him. (Manns, 1983) Luther, was born in Eisleben on November 10, 1483. He was descended from the peasantry, a fact that he often emphasized. In 1501, at age 18, he enrolled into the University of Erfurt. Receiving a bachelor?
s degree in 1502 and having achieved his master? s degree in 1505, Luther intended to start studying law. However, shortly after this, Luther suddenly discarded his studies, sold all his books, and joined the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt (Erikson, 1962). In the fall of 1506, Luther made his profession as a monk, and he was then selected for priesthood by his superiors. Six years later, in 1512, he received his doctorate and took over a study of biblical theology, which he held until his death. In 1510, Luther visited Rome on business for his order and was shocked to find corruption in high ecclesiastical places. (Erikson, 1962) He had proficient knowledge of the scholastic theology of his day.
Yet, he made the study of the Bible, especially the epistles of Saint Paul, the center of his work. Luther found that his teachings diverged increasingly from the traditional beliefs of the Roman church. He soon came to believe that Christians were not saved through their own efforts but by God? s grace of salvation. This realizatiomarked a crucial point in Luther?
s life. It set him strongly and decisively against some of the major tenets of the Catholic church, which had emphasized man? s role in his own salvation. (Bainton, 1950) Likewise he was also against many church practices that emphasized justification by good works. His approach to theology led to a conflict between him and church officials, causing the dramatic events of the Protestant Reformation. The doctrine of Indulgences, (the pardon from the priest of temporary punishments for sins committed) especially aroused Luther? s fury.
Luther then published and posted his Ninety-five Theses on October 31, 1517, on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg. (Bainton, 1950) Luther soon became a public and controversial figure. This publication told of the Latin propositions opposing the manner in which indulgences were being sold in order to raise money for the building of Saint Peter? s in Rome (Marius, 1999). Regardless of the manner in which his propositions were made public, they unleashed a storm of controversy.
His composition was immediately translated into German and expansively distributed throughout Germany, stirring a storm of protest against the sale of indulgences. When the sale of indulgences was seriously impaired, the papacy sought to silence Luther. Luther was first confronted at a meeting of his order held in Heidelberg on April 26, 1518, but he used the Heidelberg disputation to defend his theology and to win new converts. On August of 1518, Luther was summoned to Rome to answer charges of heresy, even though he had not taught against any clearly defined medieval doctrines. In July, 1519, at the Leipzig debate, Luther questioned the authority of the papacy as well as the nonsense of church councils and insisted on the primary of Scripture. After this debate Luther became considerably more outspoken an expressed his beliefs with intensifying certainty.
In 1520, he wrote three pamphlets of great significance. (Marius, 1999) The first was the? Address to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation? (Bainton, 1950), which called upon the Germans to reform the church and society, since the papacy and church councils neglected to do so. The second, ? The Babylonian Captivity of the Church? , clearly put Luther in the status of a heterodox, because it attacked the entire sacramental system of the medieval church (Bainton, 1950). Luther sustained there were only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord? s Supper, or at most three, with repentance possibly considered as a third, rather than seven sacraments.
He also denied the doctrines of transubstantiation and the sacrificial Mass. The third pamphlet, ? The Freedom of the Christian Man? (Bainton, 1950), was written for the Pope. It was not argumentative and distinctly taught the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Even before these publications were published, a plan for excommunication was drawn up to go into effect in January 1521. In December 1520, Luther proclaimed his opposition of papal authority by publicly burning the statement.
Although, already condemned by the church, Luther still received a hearing before an imperial diet at Worms in April, 1521. At the Diet of Worms, he was asked to recant his teachings, but he stood firm and determined, even defying, the emperor? s authority, who had placed him under imperial ban, and ordered that all his books be burned (Oberman, 1982). Shortly after, he stayed at the Wartburg castle in hiding for nearly a year. Here, he wrote a series of pamphlets attacking Catholic practices and began his German translation of the Bible.
He returned to Wittenberg to deal with issues that had come about during his absence, and remained there for the rest of his life. He married Catherine vo Bora, a former nun, in 1525, and had six children. In 1525, when peasants of south Germany revolted and refused to heed his call to negotiate their grievances peacefully, he attacked them spitefully in a pamphlet entitled? Against the Murdering Horde of Peasants? . An argument with the Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli over the Lord? s Supper split the Protestant movement when an effort to resolve the differences at a meeting in Marburg, failed in 1529.
Throughout his lifetime, Luther maintained an overwhelming work load, writing, teaching, organizing the new church, and even providing overall leadership for the German Reformation. Among his more important theological writings were the Samcald Articles published in 1538, which clearly defined the differences between his theology and that of the Roman Catholic Church. At Worms, Luther had stood alone. When the Evangelicals presented the Augsburg Confession to Charles V and the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, many theologians, princes, and city councils subscribed to that classic Protestant statement of faith. By the time of Luther? s death, a large part of northern Europe had left the Roman Catholic church for new Evangelical communities.
Luther never thought of himself as the founder of a new church body, however. He devoted his life to reforming the church and restoring the Pauline doctrine of justification to the central position in Christian theology. In 1522, when his followers first began to use his name to identify themselves, he pleaded with them not to do this. He wrote: ? Let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold I hold, together with the universal church, the one universal teaching of Christ, who is our only master. ? (Oberman, 198 Martin Luther died at Eisleben on February 18, 1546 during a trip. He was buried at the castle church at Wittenberg.
Nonetheless, Luther left behind a movement that quickly spread throughout the Western world. His doctrines, especially justification by faith and the final authority of the Bible, were adopted by other reformers and are shared by many Protestant denominations today. As the founder of the 16 th century Reformation, he is one of the major figures of Christianity and of Western civilization - 5 -
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