I | INTRODUCTION |
Martin
Luther (1483-1546), German theologian and religious reformer, who
initiated the Protestant Reformation, and whose vast influence, extending beyond
religion to politics, economics, education, and language, has made him one of
the crucial figures in modern European history.
II | EARLY LIFE |
Luther was born in Eisleben on November 10,
1483. He was descended from the peasantry, a fact that he often stressed. His
father, Hans Luther, was a copper miner in the mining area of Mansfeld. Luther
received a sound primary and secondary education at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and
Eisenach. In 1501, at the age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Erfurt,
receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1502 and a master’s degree in 1505. He then
intended to study law, as his father wished.
In the summer of 1505, however, Luther
suddenly abandoned his studies, sold his books, and entered the Augustinian
monastery in Erfurt. The decision surprised his friends and appalled his father.
Later in life, Luther explained it by recalling several brushes with death that
had occurred at the time, making him aware of the fleeting character of life. In
the monastery he observed the rules imposed on a novice but did not find the
peace in God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luther made his profession as a monk
in the fall of 1506, and his superiors selected him for the priesthood. Ordained
in 1507, he approached his first celebration of the mass with awe.
After his ordination, Luther was asked to
study theology in order to become a professor at one of the many new German
universities staffed by monks. In 1508 he was assigned by Johann von Staupitz,
vicar-general of the Augustinians and a friend and counselor, to the new
University of Wittenberg (founded in 1502) to give introductory lectures in
moral philosophy. He received his bachelor’s degree in theology in 1509 and
returned to Erfurt, where he taught and studied (1509-1511). In November 1510,
on behalf of seven Augustinian monasteries, he made a visit to Rome, where he
performed the religious duties customary for a pious visitor and was shocked by
the worldliness of the Roman clergy. Soon after resuming his duties in Erfurt,
he was reassigned to Wittenberg and asked to study for the degree of doctor of
theology. In 1512 he received his doctorate and took over the chair of biblical
theology, which he held until his death.
Although still uncertain of God’s love and his
own salvation, Luther was active as a preacher, teacher, and administrator.
Sometime during his study of the New Testament in preparation for his lectures,
he came to believe that Christians are saved not through their own efforts but
by the gift of God’s grace, which they accept in faith. Both the exact date and
the location of this experience have been a matter of controversy among
scholars, but the event was crucial in Luther’s life, because it turned him
decisively against some of the major tenets of the Roman Catholic Church.
III | THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION |
Luther became a public and controversial
figure when he published (October 31, 1517) his Ninety-five Theses, Latin
propositions opposing the manner in which indulgences (release from the temporal
penalties for sin through the payment of money) were being sold in order to
raise money for the building of Saint Peter’s in Rome. Although it is generally
believed that Luther nailed these theses to the door of Castle Church in
Wittenberg, some scholars have questioned this story, which does not occur in
any of his own writings. Regardless of the manner in which his propositions were
made public, they caused great excitement and were immediately translated into
German and widely distributed.
Luther's spirited defense and further
development of his position through public university debates in Wittenberg and
other cities resulted in an investigation by the Roman Curia that led to the
condemnation (June 15, 1520) of his teachings and his excommunication (January
1521). Summoned to appear before Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in April
1521, he was asked before the assembled secular and ecclesiastical rulers to
recant. He refused firmly, asserting that he would have to be convinced by
Scripture and clear reason in order to do so and that going against conscience
is not safe for anyone. (The statement “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise,”
traditionally attributed to him, is most likely legendary.)
Condemned by the emperor, Luther was
spirited away by his prince, the elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, and kept
in hiding at Wartburg Castle. There he began his translation of the New
Testament from the original Greek into German, a seminal contribution to the
development of a standard German language. Disorders in Wittenberg caused by
some of his more extreme followers forced his return to the city in March 1521,
and he restored peace through a series of sermons.
IV | THE PEASANTS' WAR |
Luther continued his teaching and writing in
Wittenberg but soon became involved in the controversies surrounding the
Peasants’ War (1524-1526) because the leaders of the peasants originally
justified their demands with arguments somewhat illegitimately drawn from his
writings. He considered their theological arguments false, although he supported
many of their political demands. When the peasants turned violent, he angrily
denounced them and supported the princes’ effort to restore order. Although he
later repudiated the harsh, vengeful policy adopted by the nobles, his attitude
toward the war lost him many friends. In the midst of this controversy he
married (1525) Katharina von Bora, a former nun. The marriage was happy, and his
wife became an important supporter in his busy life.
After having articulated his basic theology
in his earlier writings (On Christian Liberty,1519; To the Christian
Nobility,1520; The Babylonian Captivity of the Church,1520; On the
Bondage of the Will,1525), he published his most popular book, the Small
Catechism, in 1529. (A translation of Luther's writings is Luther's
Works, 56 volumes, begun in 1955.) By commenting briefly in question and
answer form on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer,
baptism, and the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist), the Small Catechism explains
the theology of the evangelical reformation in simple yet colorful language.
Not allowed to attend the Diet of Augsburg
because he had been banned and excommunicated, Luther had to leave the
presentation of the reformers’ position (formulated in the Augsburg Confession,
1530) to his friend and colleague Melanchthon. Luther’s translation of the Bible
from Greek into German was published in 1534. Meanwhile, his influence spread
across northern and eastern Europe. His advocacy of the independence of rulers
from ecclesiastical supervision won him the support of many princes (and was
later interpreted in ways contrary to his original intention). His fame made
Wittenberg an intellectual center.
V | LAST YEARS |
By 1537 Luther’s health had begun to
deteriorate, and he felt burdened by the resurgence of the papacy and by what he
perceived as an attempt by Jews to take advantage of the confusion among
Christians and reopen the question of Jesus’ messiahship. Apprehensive about his
own responsibility for this situation, he wrote a violent polemic against the
Jews, as well as polemics against the papacy and the radical wing of the
reformers, the Anabaptists. In the winter of 1546, Luther was asked to settle a
controversy between two young counts who ruled the area of Mansfeld, where he
had been born. Old and sick, he went there, resolved the conflict, and died on
February 18, 1546, in Eisleben.
VI | THEOLOGY |
Luther was not a systematic theologian, but
his work was subtle, complex, and immensely influential. It was inspired by his
careful study of the New Testament, but it was also influenced in important
respects by the great 4th-century theologian Saint Augustine.
A | Law and Gospel |
Luther maintained that God interacts with
human beings in two ways—through the law and through the Gospel.
The law represents God’s demands—as
expressed, for example, in the Ten Commandments and the golden rule. All people,
regardless of their religious convictions, have some degree of access to the law
through their consciences and through the ethical traditions of their culture,
although their understanding of it is always distorted by human sin. The law has
two functions. It enables human beings to maintain some order in their world,
their communities, and their own lives despite the profound alienation from God,
the world, their neighbors, and ultimately themselves that is caused by original
sin. In addition, the law makes human beings aware of their need for the
forgiveness of sins and thus leads them to Christ.
God also interacts with human beings
through the Gospel, the good news of God’s gift of his Son for the salvation of
the human race. This proclamation demands nothing but acceptance on the part of
the individual. Indeed, Luther argued that theology had gone wrong precisely
when it began to confuse law and Gospel (God’s demand and God’s gift) by
claiming that human beings can in some way merit that which can only be the
unconditional gift of God’s grace.
B | Sin |
Luther insisted that Christians, as long as
they live in this world, are sinners and saints simultaneously. They are saints
insofar as they trust in God’s grace and not in their own achievements. Sin,
however, is a permanent and pervasive feature in the church as well as in the
world, and a saint is not a moral paragon but a sinner who accepts God’s grace.
Thus, for Luther, the most respected citizen and the habitual criminal are both
in need of forgiveness by God.
C | The Finite and Infinite |
Luther held that God makes himself known to
human beings through earthly, finite forms rather than in his pure divinity.
Thus, God revealed himself in Jesus Christ; he speaks his word to us in the
human words of the New Testament writers; and his body and blood are received by
believers (in Luther's formulation) “in, with, and under” the bread and wine in
Holy Communion (see Eucharist). When human beings serve each other and
the world in their various occupations (which Luther called vocations) as
mothers and fathers, rulers and subjects, butchers and bakers, they are
instruments of God, who works in the world through them. Luther thus broke down
the traditional distinction between sacred and secular occupations.
D | Theology of the Cross |
Luther asserted that Christian theology is
the theology of the cross rather than a theology of glory. Human beings cannot
apprehend God by means of philosophy or ethics; they must let God be God and see
him only where he chooses to make himself known. Thus, Luther stressed that God
reveals his wisdom through the foolishness of preaching, his power through
suffering, and the secret of meaningful life through Christ’s death on the
cross.
See also Christianity; Lutheranism;
Protestantism.
No comments:
Post a Comment