Martin Luther - the Hero of the Reformation - Case Study Example

Your Lecturers of Introduction This paper examines the life of Martin Luther, the social reformer who challenges some practices of the Church at the end of the Middle Ages. The actions of Martin Luther generally laid the foundations for the Protestant Reformation which ushered in the Age of Enlightenment and development in Europe. Martin Luther is famous for his 95 Theses and his life as a revolutionary who single-handedly stood up against the all-powerful Pope in his era. This paper examines his early life and active years until his demise. Early Life Martin Luther was born on 10th November 1483 in Eiselben which is now in Germany but was then under the Augsburg unit of the Holy Roman Empire (Manns 3). Martin Luthers father was Hans Luther and his mother was known as Margarethe Luther (McGiffert 6). Martin Luthers father owned a comfortable home and was reputed to be a honest and trusted counselor of the town as well as vigorous and independent (McGiffert 6). Martin Luther enrolled in the University of Erfurt in the year 1501 where he completed a four-year genera arts course (McGarth 299). His father wanted him to pursue a course in law that would make him a lawyer in his era however, for some reason he refused to pursue a legal career. One of the popular stories was that when Luther was once riding a horse on a stormy day, he was struck by a lightening and he fell off the horse. As he was falling, he thought he would die so he made a vow to St. Anne, the Saint responsible for safety that he would serve God all his life if he survived (McGiffert 21). He survived the ordeal and enrolled in the most rigorous Augustinian Monastry in Erfurt on July 17 1505 (McGarth 299). According to McGiffert (22), this decision completely outraged his father who expected Luther to become a lawyer rather than a priest. However, in spite of the opposition from his father, Martin Luther was ordained priest in 1507 and proceeded to study for a Doctorate Degree in Divinity. On 18th October 1512, Martin Luther was awarded a Doctorate Degree in Divinity (McGarth 299). Right after he gained his PhD, Martin Luther became the Chair of Biblical Studies at the University of Wittenberg (McGarth 299). University of Wittenberg was established in 1502 by Fredrick III popularly known as Fredrick The Wise possibly with a vision of overshadowing the reputation of the University of Leipzig which was nearby (McGarth 300). Martin Luther held his position as a senior lecturer at the University of Wittenberg all his life although there were times he went into hiding and was absent. In addition, he had clerical duties with the church in the university. Europe in Martin Luthers Early Years of Priesthood Martin Luthers teachings sparked various forms of controversy. At that time, the Catholic Church and the Pope were very powerful figures in Europe because they gave legitimacy to rulers in different parts of Europe and in return, the monarchs also supported the Church as important arms of government (Jacobs 31). This had been the predominant practice for many years and due to that, the Church wielded a lot of influence over the social and political life of people in Europe at that era in history. The current teaching of the Catholic Church stated that sin brings guilt and punishment on a person (Jacobs 60). According to the priests of that era, a child was born with the original sin but baptism removed the guilt and punishment of the original sin or hell(Jacobs 60). On the contrary, atonement and baptism could cause a man to escape from hell but it could not take a person to heaven (Jacobs 60). This is because they preached that atonement and baptism were just sufficient to prevent a person from eternal condemnation after death. However, to be able to make it into heaven, a person had to do a number of things that would enable him to merit life in paradise. This was an era where the Pope was undertaking major building projects in Rome and the Church needed money to expand to meet some set targets. The Pope therefore had numerous fund raising activities throughout Europe. In response to how a person could enter heaven, the Catholic Church preached that one could only enter heaven through prayers, fasts and paying alms prescribed by a priest or confessor (Jacobs 61). This was a practice known as Indulgences. In other words, the Church gave priests the power to listen to peoples sins and make prescriptions of how to deal with their situations and circumstances to make it to heaven. This therefore gave room for individual priests to arrogate power and require too much from the members of the church. Interestingly, this coincided with the time where the Catholic Church needed a lot of money to fund its projects. The coincidence was one that gave room to skepticism and raised questions about abuse of power by priests. Additionally, there were very strong laws that led to people being charged with blasphemy and heresy which came with a death penalty. These laws ensured that people who questioned the priests and the Pope could be killed or given harsh punishments after excommunication. Also, it was forbidden for the Bible to be translated from Latin to other European languages. Latin was considered the holy tongue (Jacobs 61). This therefore gave a small group of priests the monopoly over how the Bible was interpreted. The priests of the Catholic Church were a clique of absolutely holy people and with the laws banning translations and heresy, they were virtually unquestionable. However, with the Popes luxurious habits and the increases in the alms required by priests from the commoners after the Turks attacked areas in the East of Europe, Martin Luther began to ask questions (Jacobs 62). 95 Theses Martin Luther, after preaching against the Sale of Indulgence decided to commence a scholarly debate with Albert of Mainz, the Archbishop of most of present-day Germany at that time and the direct representative of the Pope (Treu 51). Martin Luther came up with 95 theses in October 1517 that sought to question the legitimacy and the divinity of certain actions and demands of the Church. This was just around the time that the printing press had been invented. The 95 Theses were affixed on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. These were meant to legitimately demand scholarly answers and possibly prompt a debate that could have gradually caused the practice of the Sale of Indulgence to cease. Instead of treating it with the scholarly approach Luther expected, Archbishop Albert of Mainz checked the theses for heresy and forwarded it to the Pope for action to be taken against him (Mullet 116). The Pope summoned Martin Luther to Rome for trial but Fredrick III persuaded the Pope to all ow the case to be heard in Augsburg. The hearing was conducted in October 1518 but it was chaotic and Luther rejected the legitimacy of the Pope. Some reconciliatory efforts were made to get Luther to retract his statements but he refused and was excommunicated on January 3 1521 and every true Catholic was required to ostracize Luther and have nothing to do with him and anyone could murder him without being taken on by law (Mullet 116). Break Away Martin Luther disappeared from public life but on hindsight, it is noted that he was abducted by some people who supported his teachings and kept in the Wartburg Castle (Somervill 66). In hiding in the Castle, Martin Luther continued to write more documents that criticized the Catholic Church which were printed and proliferated around Europe. He translated the New Testament to German and did some other translations which was against Catholic doctrines. Martin Luther came out of hiding in March 1522 where he returned to his Church and began to modify the way things were done (Brecht 31). Meanwhile, the peasants of Germany had arisen against their landlords and nobles who were connected to the Pope. These peasants began to spread the teachings of Martin Luther as motivation to disobey the Pope and the landlords(Brecht 33). This led to the German Peasant Wars that lasted for several years. Although Martin Luther did not openly support this revolution, he stated emphatically that he supported the peasants in their uprising. Marriage Martin Luther, an ordained Catholic Priest married Katharina Von Bora a nun on June 13 1525 (Heinz 141). This was indirect defiance of the Catholic ban on marriages by priests and nuns. This set the stage for further modifications in the way Luther saw Christianity. New Church Structure Martin Luther believed that the best way to attain salvation was to get the members of the Church knowledgeable in the Word of God. He therefore formed a situation where pastors and teachers were trained in a system of Cathecism (Heinz 189). These pastors and teachers were encouraged to read the Bible which Luther had translated to German. They were able to impart knowledge of the Bible to other members of the Church. Also, Luther continued to translate more portions of the Bible and other elements of scripture that had previously been written only in Latin to German. This enabled the layman to get an idea of the whole concept of Christianity. Additionally, Luther began a system of hymnal writing and the development of liturgy that made use of the Psalms in a much more practical way. Conclusion Martin Luther was an ordinary man who fashioned his life to become a lawyer. However, he trained to become a monk. He furthered his education and became a theological academic. Due to the monopoly and abuse of power by the leaders of the Catholic Church, Martin Luther asked questions in the form of the 95 Theses. This led him to be excommunicated. However, due to popular support for his revolutionary ideas, he became an icon for change. He restructured the Church system and introduced a liberal approach to teaching and serving God. Some of them challenged and broke down some activities and doctrines in the Catholic Church and promoted Protestantism in Northern Europe. Works Cited Brecht Martin. Martin Luther: Shaping & Defining the Reformation 1521 – 1532 Capstone Press.1993. Print. Gordon, Rupp. Martin Luther & The Jews. London. 1972. Print. Heinz Scheible. Melancholthon Eine Biographie. Munich: CH Beck. 1997. Print. Jacobs Henry Eyster. Martin Luther: The Hero of the Reformation 1483 – 1546. Kissinger Publishing. 2005. Print. Manns Peter. Martin Luther: An Illustrated Biography. Crossroads: University of Virginia. 1983. Print. McGiffert Arthur Gushman. Martin Luther. Forgotten Books. 1912. Print. McGrath Alister. Christian Literature: An Anthology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. 2001. Print. Mullet Michael. Martin Luther. London: Routledge Taylor & Francis. 2004. Print. Somervill Barbara. Martin Luther: Father of the Reformation. Compass Point Books. 2006. Print. Treu Martin. Martin Luther in Wittenburg: A biographical Tour. Saxon-Anhalt: Luther Memorial Foundation. 2003. Print. Read More