Luther Against the Peasants - Essay Example

 When the peasants turned to violence and instigated the German peasant war that caused massive destruction of property and loss of lives, Luther justifiably became angry and rebuked the peasants the best way he could. He adopted the harsh stance since it was the only way he could express his feelings about the violence. Additionally, his close relationship with the peasants led the prince to believe that he masterminded the revolution. The harsh stance was, therefore, a personal way of distancing himself from the revolution.

This stance does not change my views of Luther. As explained earlier, my experience with Martin Luther is that he loves peace and diplomacy. Luther often represented the weak in society. The weak and vulnerable population in a society lacked any military strength with which to engage in revolutions. As such, in case of any armed revolution, his people would always suffer massive losses. As a result, Luther often encouraged peaceful ways of resolving issues. The same was the case with the peasants since he had encouraged them to seek peaceful ways of resolving their concerns.

He, therefore, rebuked the peasants for disobeying his commands.