Response

Lecture 4: The Impact of Luther

and the Radical Reformation

By the early 1520s, Luther had attracted a vast

following while the printing presses spread his message

and reputation across Germany. With his death in 1546,

we can find people of all social classes who had clearly

sided with Luther and Lutheranism. The major question

we must ask remains this: why did Lutheranism cut

across class lines and appeal to so many people? What

was so passionate about Luther's message that made

people turn their back on the Roman Church?

The explanations for Luther's success may be endlessly

debated by scholars but for the most part, and leaving

theological opinion aside, we can say that the people

were prepared for the message Luther delivered. Is it

simply a matter of Luther appearing at the right time

and in the right place? Perhaps. Since the 15th century

there had been a growing resentment against clerical

privilege. The clergy paid no taxes and were exempt

from those civic responsibilities that increasingly fell on

the shoulders of the urban dweller. Added to this simple

fact was the increased visibility of the clergy -- there in

the cities the common person could witness the luxury

and splendor of a church whose purpose was to minister

the spiritual needs of its flock but which now seemed

indifferent, lax and, in a word, corrupt. Luther, then,

offered an alternative that was appealing perhaps for

the simple reason that is was an alternative.

Luther's religion was also spread by preachers who were

to deliver approximately one hundred sermons per year,

each lasting about forty-five minutes. Although Luther

thought the Eucharist to be one of the most important

sacraments in the Lutheran religious gathering, it was

clearly the sermon that became the central focus of the

service.

Meanwhile, German peasants in the countryside flocked

to Luther's camp. Such a development was perhaps

unsurprising since Luther himself was of peasant stock.

The peasants also backed Luther's criticism of the

authority of the Roman Church. In 1520, Luther had

written, "A Christian man is the most free lord of all and

subject to none" (On Christian Liberty). Such a

statement would have fallen on ready ears since there

were numerous instances of social unrest throughout

the 15th century. The situation was made worse in the

16th century by crop failures in 1523 and 1524. In 1525,

representatives of the peasants of Swabia drew up what

were called the "Twelve Articles," a document that

expressed their grievances. The Articles focused on

social and economic grievances and clearly were not

intended to raise debate about theological issues.

Furthermore, the peasants complained that the nobility

had seized the common lands of the villages and had

increased dues and taxes at the same time. So, the

peasants appealed to Luther because they believed that

he could prove that their demands were in accordance

with Scripture.

But Luther was no revolutionary and wished to avoid

social rebellion at all costs. In his An Admonition to

Peace, he took the side of the peasantry and criticized

the manorial lords. However, he did not justify armed

force. In Swabia, Thuringia, the Rhineland and

elsewhere, the peasants spoke of "God's

righteousness," and the "Word of God," in an effort to

have their social and economic grievances addressed.

But support from Luther was not to come. Luther had, of

course, spoken many times of the freedom of the

Christian, but he was speaking in terms of religious faith

and not matters pertaining to society. Freedom meant

independence from Rome. In response to the peasant's

rebellion Luther wrote AGAINST THE MURDEROUS,

THIEVING HORDES OF PEASANTS. In the wake of this

tract the nobility quelled the rebellion and by 1525, it is

quite possible that 100,000 peasants had been killed.

There were also across Europe a growing number of

humanists who were attracted by Luther's message.

Luther's call for a more personal and immediate religion

based on faith, the focus on the Scriptures in the liturgy

and in life as well as the abolition of Catholic ceremony

were just the kind of reforms that northern Christian

humanists had been willing to address. For instance,

Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) took Luther's message into

the city of Zurich and, as we have already seen, John

Calvin took Lutheranism into Geneva (see Lecture 3).

In 1523 Luther offered his German translation of the

New Testament. Since Luther had argued persuasively

that everyone at the right to read and comments on the

Scriptures, his translation attracted supporters from the

literate middle classes. For the merchant and other

members of the commercial classes, Luther perhaps

offered hope that salvation may even be possible for

the person whose sole interest was financial gain.

Meanwhile Luther wrote hymns, psalms and a variety of

other works. His A Mighty Fortress Is Our God was

perhaps his most important hymn (indeed, it is the one

hymn truly attributable to Luther's pen), since it

reflected deep human feelings and gave to be listener

key points of Luther's doctrine. The Large Catechism,

intended for an adult audience, contained brief

expositions on the main articles of a Lutheran faith. The

Small Catechism did pretty much the same thing only in

a condensed version and was intended for the

education of children.

By the mid-16th century, many inhabitants of towns

and villages had deviated from Christian dogma: many

of these people were heretics; many believe that Nature

was God (pantheism); and still more believe that

witches had just as much spiritual power as did priests.

The number of radical groups which appeared during

the 16th century makes them difficult to classify. They

make up what historians call the Radical Reformation.

There were men and women, many of them poor and

illiterate, who claimed to have knowledge of their own

salvation through an inner light. That is, these men and

women believed they had a direct an immediate

communication from God to his chosen people. Should

this be that surprising? Such a knowledge made his

chosen people free.

These Saints, as they called themselves, said the poor

shall inherit the earth which they believed was now

governed by the anti-Christ, i.e., the Pope. Their task

was to purge the world of evil and make the world ready

for the second coming of Christ. For these people, the

Holy Scriptures became inspiration for their brand of

social revolution. All of this, as you might have

expected, was condemned by both Luther and Calvin

(as well as the Church). The largest group of radical

reformers were the Anabaptists (literally "re-baptizers,"

used as a term a derision).

Luther and Zwingli had argued that infant baptism

marked the moment of one's entry into the Church,

even though this had no sanction in the Bible. The

Anabaptists believed the first baptism did not count

since only mature adults could make a conscious choice

for Jesus not to young children who are totally incapable

of understanding God's grace. The Anabaptists were a

diverse group of people. Some rejected the Trinity while

others refused to take oaths, pay taxes, hold public

office or serve in the army. Since the Anabaptists gave

the individual free choice, it was indeed possible that

Church organization was unnecessary since many

believed in personal communication with God. Many

radicals formed their own voluntary associations and

abandoned the world in order to pursue their faith,

regardless of what Luther or the Church might think.

Many practiced a primitive communism in which

everything was held in common, including property and

wives. When all of this was coupled with their idea that

the end of the world was imminent, their mission was

one of urgency.

Of course, Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli detested the

radicals. By practicing a Protestant faith that deviated

from Lutheranism or Calvinism, Luther and Calvin both

argued that the radicals were damned. At an imperial

Diet held in 1529, the death penalty was issued against

all Anabaptists.

In 1534, the Melchiorites, an inflammatory sect of

Anabaptists, captured the German city of Münster. They

immediately burned all books except the Bible, banned

the use of money and seized the property of non-

believers. They killed Protestants and Catholics and

practiced polygamy and sexual excess. Their leader,

John of Leyden, had sixteen wives. As to be expected,

they proclaimed the Day of Judgment was close at

hand. Lutheran princes and Catholic bishops joined

forces to condemn and defeat the Anabaptists, who

were placed in cages and hung from the church

steeples where they were eventually tortured and left to

die. The radicals were pursued wherever they found

themselves and to survive, many of them fled to Poland,

the Low Countries, England and to the New World.

While Luther and Calvin struggled against the

Anabaptists and other radical sects, the Roman Church

was also gathering momentum to enact a genuine

reform movement -- the Catholic Reformation (see

Lecture 5).