Luther's Address to the Christian Nobility of the Germany Nation - Essay Example

Luther’s Address to the Christian Nobility of the Germany Nation 1. Reading title: Reading 19.1 from Luther’s “Address to the German Nobility” Works of Martin Luther:With Introductions and Notes Volume 2 2.Passage from the text: I know full well that I shall not escape the charge of presumption in that I, a despised monk, venture to address such high and great Estates on matters of such moment, and to give advice to people of such high intelligence. I shall offer no apologies, no matter who may chide me. Perchance I owe my God and the world another pie of folly, and I have now made up my mind honestly to pay that debt, if I can do so, and for once to become court jester; if I fail, I still have one advantage, -- no one need buy me a cap or cut me my comb.[2] It is a question which one will put the bells on the other.[3] I must fulfill the proverb, "Whatever the world does, a monk must be it, even if he has to be painted in."[4] More than once a fool has spoken wisely, and wise men often have been arrant (1 Cor 3:18) fools, as Paul says, "If anyone will be wise, let him become a fool." 3. Paraphrase and interpret. That is, restate the passage or quotation in our own Words And Tell What It Means To You In this excerpt from An Open Letter to The Christian Nobility of the German Nation,Luther states that he is prepared to pay the full price for his decision to expose the Christian Nobility of the German Nation of their spiritual impropriety and keep on fighting for the reform of Christian Estate.In addition,the Christian Nobility had abdicated their duties to help the church grow together with the laity,making it necessary for Luther to write and lay his grievances to the Reverent Master about the state things. In his address to Nicholas the Reverent Master,Luther takes no pretension about the punishment of his actions getting rubbished as inconsequential given that he was a mere monk with no authority or clout to bring such matters to high ranking members of the Christian Nobility.Luther states further that he is prepared to fully pay the price,including ridicule, but have his conscience clean before God and the world,in his decision to carry on with reformation. He emphasizes this point by saying that he was a monk and as a result he had to be one no matter the consequence of his actions.In his perceived position of lowliness,Luther exhorts the Christian Nobility to heed the words of Paul as written in 1 Corinthians: ‘If anyone will be wise,let him become a fool’, thus to humble themselves and critically take into consideration his pleas;instead of thinking that by rejecting them,they were acting wisely yet without considering the inherent consequences of their actions. 4. What does the passage suggest about the beliefs, values, or ambitions of the period? From the excerpt and Jacob’s historical notes,Luther was greatly disgruntled by a section of the Christian Nobility’s insatiable quest of political power and material aggrandizement at the expense of the vocational duty of spiritual nourishment.In this regard,they had neglected to scripturally nourish the spiritual needs of the laity.They had become hypocrites;hiding behind the lofty titles given them by the Catholic church to conveniently perform their wicked whims at the behest of the laity.Luther was greatly disturbed that by the unscrupulous manner of their wicked ambitions,they could easily cause war by their guiles as they had even taken into controlling and oppressing German emperors. He was particularly concerned about young Emperor Charles unknowingly falling into their trap of doom.Having ascended into the throne at the age of twenty;Luther was fearful that his inexperience with political power might be taken advantage of by this group of power hungry Christian Nobility whom he describes as not men but princess of hell bent on filling the world and with bloodshed. Luther was aware and fearful of the recurpersion of the fragmentation seemingly creeping upon the Christendom,pitting the laity on one hand- without a spiritual guide, and the Christian Nobility on the other-abdicating their duties in the church and corruptly in pursuit of unscripturaland wicked ambitions. 5. Which elements from the passage are important in today’s culture? Why? It is fitting to display such courage and fortitude in today’s culture.Though many years have passed since Luther’s reformation doctrine took the Christendom by storm thus paving the way for dissenting voices to be heard, and the powers that be, to be brought to face interrogation and made to account for their actions and decisions.Many Nations of the world today grapple and suffer from the effects of corruption and bad leadership that have destroyed many economies and relegated majority of the citizenry into abject poverty.In addition,war and bloodshed have continued to be experienced in various parts of the Globe which has led to degradation and lose of both property and life.At the center of the causes of all these;is a small clique of greedy and power-hungry individuals who are driven by ulterior and wicked motives.Though they may be the ‘high and mighty’ because of the positions they occupy in society,it is important that they be not feared,but should be brought to account for their actions and decisions if they contradict universally accepted codes of morality and ethics. 6. Which elements might be questioned or rejected in today’s culture? Why? In today’s culture,the position that a monk should be a monk no matter what goes on around him could be rejected.This is because it implies complacency on the part of the monk even if he faces the threat of an inhuman situation. It therefore contradicts the basic precepts and rights accorded an individual.A clergy that is blatantly indifferent to the needs and the efforts of the laity in the church will obviously be rejected by members of the church.A church that readily ridicules and belittles one of its members for no other reason except raise some genuine issues that puts to question ulterior motives of its leaders,will be rejected by today’s culture. 7. Summarize your thoughts and add a possible personal connection or relationship to the community. History has consistently shown that; the small and wicked group of corrupt,immoral,and tyrant individuals always have their way and say,when the majority remain silent and docile to their whims.It only takes the loud cry of one bold man to bring the necessary change and re-write history.Without thinking of the consequences,if one has a just course in the interest of humanity then he should stop at nothing until he fulfills the greater purpose.In this regard I agree with Luther that anyone with a genuine issue of great interest should not be cowered by other people’s presumption and mockery.Their fortitude and strength will always carry the day triumphantly. 8. Address the question posed by the text author at the conclusion of the reading. Q. 1. What are the qualities of the Christian Nobility ruler? A member of the Christian Nobility carried himself at all times with self-pride and aloofness.He was never to unnecessarily mingle with ‘lowly'members of the laity and monks.They were to show- in pretense,their unyielding support to the rulers but strictly to acquire political power-enough to fulfill their ambitions. Q. 2. Why is Luther often called “the first religious realist.” As a realist,he experienced and witnessed the nature of the distress and oppression which befell Christendom.The clergy had abandoned their administration of the laity and left them to only cry out without offering any help. Top Leaders of the church (Christian Nobility) were bent more on acquiring political power than playing the role of ‘shepherds of the flock’. Great confusion had come upon humanity with the top church leaders exerting their authority in the arena of governance stopping at nothing be it war and bloodshed to acquire and maintain this power.Luther anticipated dark moments marred with wickedness for Christendom if the issues which he raised were not addressed by the church’s top leadership.At a time when it was greatly feared to question and oppose top church leadership on any matter as they were held to be sanctimonious;he found the courage to question,interrogate and later lead the reformation movement. Address to the German Nobility Luther’s Address to the Christian Nobility of the Germany Nation was his plea for the active participation of secular authorities in the reformation of the German church(1).Undoubtedly,there had been an uneasy tension pitting the ruling classes of those countries that were empathic towards independence versus the churches within their boundaries,resulting from the conflict between papacy and empire of the eleventh to fourteenth centuries (6).It was not helped any further by the conciliar controversy( 15th Century ),Where both French and German made a declaration of neutrality(Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges 1438) and the Acceptatio Mainz (1439).They both made an agreement to accept the Roman Papacy and conciliar reforms.In addition,to increase the empire’s ecclesiastical autonomy,Emperor Fredrick 111 signed the Concordat of Vienna (1448),effectively declaring his support for the papacy,in exchange for special papal privileges (9). It is from this background that, Address to the Christian Nobility comes to life.Luther asserts that the papacy had protected itself from reform by erecting three walls.The first wall fragmented the church into a spiritual class,made up of prelates,priests,and monks including secular rulers.This wall protected priests from civil penalties and prohibited princes from reforming the church.The second wall was built to protect the pope from the authority of the scriptures by preventing the people from interpreting the scriptures on their own.The third wall represented the resistance of pope to councils in order not to reform the church. Works Cited Jacobs, C.M. "Works of Martin Luther: With Introduction and Notes." An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation 2.1483-1546 (1520).Project Wittenberg.(Philadelphia: A. J. Holman Company, 1915).Web. 21 Nov. 2014. . Read More