Martin Luther ( ;"Luther" . Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. ; 10 November 1483Luther himself, however, believed that he had been born in 1484. – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Augustinian friar.Luther consistently referred to himself as a former monk. For example: "Thus formerly, when I was a monk, I used to hope that I would be able to pacify my conscience with the fastings, the praying, and the vigils with which I used to afflict my body in a way to excite pity. But the more I sweat, the less quiet and peace I felt; for the true light had been removed from my eyes." Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 45–50, ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, vol. 8 Luther's Works. (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 5:326. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is considered one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history.
Born in Eisleben, Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject various teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the view on indulgences and papal authority. Luther initiated an international debate on these in works like his Ninety-five Theses, which he authored in 1517. In 1520 Pope Leo X demanded that Luther renounce all of his writings, and when Luther refused to do so, excommunicated him in January 1521. Later that year the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, condemned Luther as an outlaw at the Diet of Worms. At the time of Luther's death in 1546, his excommunication was still in effect.
Luther taught that justification is not earned by any human acts or intents or merit. He preached it instead is received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus. Luther held that good works were a necessary fruit of living faith, part of the process of sanctification. Luther's theology challenged the authority and office of the pope and bishops by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge on the Gospel,Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says, 3 vols., (St. Louis: CPH, 1959), 88, no. 269; M. Reu, Luther and the Scriptures, (Columbus, Ohio: Wartburg Press, 1944), 23. and opposed sacerdotalism – the belief that a priesthood was needed as an intermediary between God and individuals or humanity; he considered all baptised Christians to be a holy priesthood.Luther, Martin. Concerning the Ministry (1523), tr. Conrad Bergendoff, in Bergendoff, Conrad (ed.) Luther's Works. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1958, 40:18 ff. Those who identify with these, as well as Luther's wider teachings, are called Lutherans, although Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical (German: evangelisch), as the only acceptable names for persons who professed Christ.
Luther's translation of the Bible into German (1534) made the Bible vastly more accessible to the laity, which 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,Fahlbusch, Erwin and Bromiley, Geoffrey William. The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Grand Rapids, MI: Leiden, Netherlands: Wm. B. Eerdmans; Brill, 1999–2003, 1:244. and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible.Tyndale's New Testament, trans. from the Greek by William Tyndale in 1534 in a modern-spelling edition and with an introduction by David Daniell. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989, ix–x. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches.Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther. New York: Penguin, 1995, 269. His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther. New York: Penguin, 1995, p. 223.
Luther expressed staunchly antisemitic views, calling for the expulsion of Jews and the burning of synagogues.Hendrix, Scott H. "The Controversial Luther" , Word & World 3/4 (1983), Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. Also see Hillerbrand, Hans. "The legacy of Martin Luther" , in Hillerbrand, Hans & McKim, Donald K. (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Luther. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
In 1523, Luther wrote that Jesus Christ was born a Jew which discouraged mistreatment of the Jews and advocated their conversion by proving that the Old Testament could be shown to speak of Jesus Christ. However, as the Reformation grew, Luther began to lose hope in large-scale Jewish conversion to Christianity, and in the years his health deteriorated he grew more acerbic toward the Jews, writing against them with the kind of venom he had already unleashed on the Anabaptists, Zwingli, and the pope. These works also targeted Roman Catholics, Anabaptists, and nontrinitarian Christians.Schaff, Philip: History of the Christian Church, Vol. VIII: Modern Christianity: The Swiss Reformation, William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, US, 1910, page 706. While Luther did not advocate the murder of Jews,Martin Brecht, Martin Luther (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1985–1993), 3:336.Luther's letter to Rabbi Josel as cited by Gordon Rupp, Martin Luther and the Jews (London: The Council of Christians and Jews, 1972), 14. According to , this paragraph is not available in the English edition of Luther's works. some historians contend that his rhetoric encouraged antisemitism in Germany and the emergence, centuries later, of the Nazi Party."The assertion that Luther's expressions of anti-Jewish sentiment have been of major and persistent influence in the centuries after the Reformation, and that there exists a continuity between Protestant anti-Judaism and modern racially oriented antisemitism, is at present wide-spread in the literature; since the Second World War it has understandably become the prevailing opinion." Johannes Wallmann, "The Reception of Luther's Writings on the Jews from the Reformation to the End of the 19th Century", Lutheran Quarterly, n.s. 1 (Spring 1987) 1:72–97.For similar views, see: Berger, Ronald. Fathoming the Holocaust: A Social Problems Approach (New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 2002), 28. Rose, Paul Lawrence. "Revolutionary Antisemitism in Germany from Kant to Wagner," (Princeton University Press, 1990), quoted in Berger, 28; Shirer, William. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960). Johnson, Paul. A History of the Jews (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1987), 242. Poliakov, Leon. History of Anti-Semitism: From the Time of Christ to the Court Jews. (N.P.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), 216. Berenbaum, Michael. The World Must Know. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1993, 2000), 8–9.Grunberger, Richard. The 12-Year Reich: A Social History of Nazi Germany 1933–1945 (NP:Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 465.
Early life and education Birth and early life
Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483 to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 1. and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) in Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was baptised the next morning on the feast day of Martin of Tours.
In 1484 his family moved to Mansfeld, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smeltersBrecht, Martin. Martin Luther. tr. James L. Schaaf, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93, 1:3–5. and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council; in 1492 he was elected as a town councillor. The Lutheran scholar Martin E. Marty describes Luther's mother as a hard-working woman of "trading-class stock and middling means", contrary to Luther's enemies, who labelled her a whore and bath attendant.
Luther had several brothers and sisters and is known to have been close to one of them, Jakob.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 3.
Education Hans was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent him to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended the Brethren of the Common Life, a school operated by a lay group, and Eisenach in 1498.Rupp, Ernst Gordon. "Martin Luther," Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 2006. The three schools focused on the trivium: grammar, logic and rhetoric. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, pp. 2–3.
In 1501, at age 17, Luther entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beer house and whorehouse.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 4. He was made to wake at 4 am for "a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises." He received his master's degree in 1505.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 5.
In accordance with his father's wishes, Luther enrolled in law, but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law was an uncertain profession. Luther instead sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel. 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 and to test everything himself by experience.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 6.
Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying to Luther because it offered assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which Luther believed was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, Luther felt, and he thereafter developed a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over Aristotle's emphasis on reason. 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, leading him to view scripture as increasingly important.
Monastic and academic career There are two stories told of Luther's sudden decision to become a monk: Melancthon's story is that Luther was shocked by the sudden death of a university friend, Hieronimus Buntz. The cause of this death has been variously speculated as lightning, plague, pleurisy, or even that Luther killed him in a duel.
The other story is that on 2 July 1505, while Luther was returning to university on horseback following a trip home, a lightning bolt struck near him during a thunderstorm. He later told his father that he was terrified of death and divine judgement, and he cried out, "Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!"Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. tr. James L. Schaaf, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93, 1:48. He came to view his cry for help as a vow that he could never break. He withdrew from the university, sold his books, and entered St Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt on 17 July 1505.Schwiebert, E.G. Luther and His Times. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1950, 136. 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. His father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther's education.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 7.
Augustinian friar
Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther. New York: Penguin, 1995, 40–42.