Because of his love of the ancients, he is often called a Renaissance humanist , or, more appropriately, a Christian humanist. With the support of wealthy patrons, he traveled around Europe, teaching at universities, writing books and meeting many prominent people. Together with More, Erasmus helped launch the career of one of the greatest artists of the 16th century, Hans Holbein, who painted both of their portraits. Luther famously used the printing press to publish polemical tracts that attacked the church and called for changes.
The rapid and broad distribution of his ideas accelerated the Reformation. Erasmus began publishing his books widely beginning in , about 50 years after the first printed books appeared in Germany.
Many of his books were best-sellers during his lifetime. Luther translated the Bible into German in so that everyone could read it for themselves.
Here he vividly describes his own dream of the future, that common people would use the Bible in their everyday lives. Erasmus wanted a broad audience for his books, but he wrote in Latin, the official language of the church.
Latin was a language that only a small number of educated people, typically priests and the nobility, could read. In October , at a meeting with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan in Augsburg, Luther was ordered to recant his 95 Theses by the authority of the pope.
Luther said he would not recant unless scripture proved him wrong. The meeting ended in a shouting match and initiated his ultimate excommunication from the Church. Following the publication of his 95 Theses , Luther continued to lecture and write in Wittenberg.
In June and July of Luther publicly declared that the Bible did not give the pope the exclusive right to interpret scripture, which was a direct attack on the authority of the papacy.
Finally, in , the pope had had enough and on June 15 issued an ultimatum threatening Luther with excommunication. On December 10, , Luther publicly burned the letter. In March , Luther was summoned before the Diet of Worms , a general assembly of secular authorities. Again, Luther refused to recant his statements, demanding he be shown any scripture that would refute his position. There was none.
Friends helped him hide out at the Wartburg Castle. Though still under threat of arrest, Luther returned to Wittenberg Castle Church, in Eisenach, in May to organize a new church, Lutheranism. He gained many followers, and the Lutheran Church also received considerable support from German princes. When a peasant revolt began in , Luther denounced the peasants and sided with the rulers, whom he depended on to keep his church growing. Thousands of peasants were killed, but the Lutheran Church grew over the years.
In , Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former nun who had abandoned the convent and taken refuge in Wittenberg. Born into a noble family that had fallen on hard times, at the age of five Katharina was sent to a convent. She and several other reform-minded nuns decided to escape the rigors of the cloistered life, and after smuggling out a letter pleading for help from the Lutherans, Luther organized a daring plot.
With the help of a fishmonger, Luther had the rebellious nuns hide in herring barrels that were secreted out of the convent after dark - an offense punishable by death. Luther ensured that all the women found employment or marriage prospects, except for the strong-willed Katharina, who refused all suitors except Luther himself. The scandalous marriage of a disgraced monk to a disgraced nun may have somewhat tarnished the reform movement, but over the next several years, the couple prospered and had six children.
Katharina proved herself a more than a capable wife and ally, as she greatly increased their family's wealth by shrewdly investing in farms, orchards and a brewery. She also converted a former monastery into a dormitory and meeting center for Reformation activists. Luther later said of his marriage, "I have made the angels laugh and the devils weep. From to his death in , Luther served as the dean of theology at University of Wittenberg.
Luther by that time was no longer centering on indulgences; there were matters of papal and scriptural authority to discuss.
Ironically, it was power politics which had started the whole indulgence mess that kept Leo from putting down the Lutheran threat. He favored Frederick of Saxony, for purely political reasons, to take the vacant position of Holy Roman Emperor. Yet Frederick was supporting Luther.
He also left the Vatican in poor shape financially. Albert, meanwhile, lived through the Reformation, but lost power. He was advised by his friend Erasmus to have nothing to do with Luther if he cared at all for tranquility. Indeed, he became a violent opponent of the Reformation. He died in , forsaken and rather poor. Your donations support the continuation of this ministry. Next articles. Richard Baxter. Ralph D. Brian Griffiths. Theonomy on Debt Does debt rest on covetousness?
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