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Lecture_Luther.pptxMartin Luther
Early Life
Born in 1483 in Eiselben to a working class family.
Educated at Latin schools as a child, and earned his master’s degree at the University of Erfurt in 1505.
Although he started a law degree that same year, he instead joined an Augustinian cloister, much to his family’s disappointment.
Clerical Life
Luther was ordained a priest in 1507.
In 1508 he went to teach theology at the University of Wittenberg.
In 1512 he earned a Doctor of Theology degree and became a full faculty member at the university.
The Reformation
In 1517 Luther posted his famous 95 Theses. By the following year they were translated into German and distributed in print.
His writings spread widely, and people came to Wittenberg from all over Europe to hear him speak.
Although Luther posed his Theses as an academic dialogue, his work and his beliefs rapidly separated him from the church he was a part of.
In 1518 he was forced to defend himself officially to the church, facing the questioning of Cardinal Cajetan in Augsburg.
He was questioned for three days.
He left the city under cover of night, fearing the proceedings were turning against him.
In 1520 Pope Leo X demanded Luther retract several of his writings, including the Theses, under penalty of excommunication.
Luther did not retract his work, and in 1521 he was excommunicated.
Despite his excommunication, church authorities continued to work against Luther’s writings.
In 1521, Luther was forced to faced the Diet of Worms, a council brought together to determine if he was further guilty of heresy.
Luther refused once again to recant, and so he was banished, rendering him outside the law and thus able to be killed on sight.
Banishment and Return
For about a year after the Diet of Worms, Luther took refuge in Wartburg Castle.
But in 1522, Wittenberg faced upheaval as both traditional church forces and radical reformers became unruly and threatened violence.
He was asked to return to Wittenberg to intervene, and he did so. His return and his sermons served to stifle the violence that both sides threatened.
The violence Luther helped prevent in Wittenberg was a Reformation phenomenon throughout Germany and the lowlands. Bands of reformers became violent, stripping Catholic churches and burning church goods.
Post-Clerical Life
In 1525, Martin Luther married Katherina von Bora, an ex-nun.
It was not uncommon for reformed priests to marry, bucking yet another Catholic tradition.
He and Katherina had six children by 1534.
He wrote an incredible amount for the rest of his life on the topic of theology.
You can read his major works at the Project Wittenberg.
He translated the Bible into German.
Luther died in 1546 and was buried in Wittenberg.
Lutheranism
Martin Luther formed his own church, and his followers are called Lutherans.
The Lutheran church was not so great a departure from Catholicism as it has been represented; in terms of reformed religions, it is nearest to Catholicism only after Anglicanism.
Lutheran mass retains many of the same ceremonial elements as the Catholic mass.
The main differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism are: emphasis on access to the scripture, justification by faith alone (sola fide), the authority of the Pope, number of sacraments, and the role of the saints.
