Wednesday, 25 October 2017 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Editorial / Redaktion Category/Kategorie: PortraitReading Time: 5minutes
Martin Luther (1529) by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Martin Luther (10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546), O.S.A., was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, monk and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the Catholic view on indulgences as he understood it to be, that freedom from God’s punishment for sin could be purchased with money. 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 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 from God and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all baptized Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with these, and all of Luther’s wider teachings, are called Lutherans, though Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ.
His translation of the Bible into the 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, and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches. His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.
In two of his later works, Luther expressed antagonistic views towards Jews, writing that Jewish homes and synagogues should be destroyed, their money confiscated, and liberty curtailed. Condemned by virtually every Lutheran denomination, these statements and their influence on antisemitism have contributed to his controversial status.
Conclusion
Luther’s importance for the development of Europe and the western world is of incredible value. Without the Reformation he triggered and the split in the Catholic Church, which he did not want, much of what we take for granted today would not be possible at all, because the clergy would know how to prevent it. Research, development, science and free, self-determined, open-ended thinking and the resulting decision-making processes and actions would be limited or even not possible at all. For the most part, democracy and freedom would still be “the work of the devil“. Today some politicians only want to see it that way again for very selfish reasons (e.g. Poland or Hungary). Sure, Martin Luther was not free from worldly and human errors, but who is? Today he would probably have fallen victim to the “cancel culture” before he, with the help of the inventor of modern printing press (a predecessor of social media), Johannes Gutenberg, could even really get his Reformation going. It is all the more gratifying that he has succeeded, especially for people who are little or non-religious. Even if there are still a remarkably high number of flat earthers, at least the vast majority of western populations see it that way. From today’s perspective, one can only wish that some other religions will be able to find such a reformer, so that their internal conflicts and wars can finally lead to a good and, above all, to an end.
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