MARTIN LUTHER: PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Martin Luther was born to Hans and Margarette Luther, née Lindemann, on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany, and was baptized on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, after whom he was named.

Hans Luther

His father owned a copper mine in nearby Mansfeld. Having risen from the peasantry, his father was determined to see his son ascend to civil service and bring further honour to the family.

Luther’s Early Life

House that Luther boarded at while attending private school

Hans sent young Martin to schools in Mansfeld, Magdeburg and Eisenach.

University Life

At the age of seventeen, in 1501, Luther entered the University of Erfurt. The young student received a Bachelor's degree in 1502 and a Master's degree in 1505. According to his father's wishes, he enrolled in the law school of that university.

The lightning storm

Life in the Monastery

M.A. in theology by 21 and then PhD

Luther and his Excessiveness

He devoted himself to fasts, flagellations, long hours in prayer and pilgrimage and constant confession. The more he tried to do for God, it seemed, the more aware he became of his sinfulness

Johann Von Staupitz (1460 - December 28, 1524

A Catholic monk in the Augustinian Order who supervised Martin Luther during a critical period in that man's spiritual life. Martin Luther himself remarked, "If it had not been for Dr. Staupitz, I should have sunk in hell."

Luther’s theology of GraceThe demanding discipline of earning academic degrees and preparing lectures drove Martin Luther to study the Scriptures in depth. Influenced by Humanism's call ad fontes ("to the sources"), he immersed himself in the study of the Bible and the early Church. Soon terms like penance and righteousness took on new meaning for Luther, and he became convinced that the Church had lost sight of several of the central truths of Christianity taught in Scripture—the most important of them being the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Luther began to teach that salvation is completely a gift of God's grace through Christ received by faith.

The Three Popes of the Western Schism 1378-1418

Sale of IndulgencesAn indulgence is the remission (either full or partial) of temporal punishment still remaining for sins after their guilt has already been removed by absolution. A buyer could purchase one, either for himself or for one of his deceased relatives in purgatory.

Rationale for the Sale Of Indulgences

God is a God of Mercy and Justice

Christ and Saints had a Treasury of Merits to draw on

Church had the power to give out the chance at redemption for sins and sins of their family in purgatory

Cardinal Albert of Hohenzollern and the need for Indulgences

St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome

Goal of the 95 Theses (1517)

• To reform the church

• To initiate a debate for reform

• Ultimately Luther denied the power of the church’s authority to grant withdrawal of a sin

• Felt that peasants were being misled into thinking that salvation could come from indulgences

The Teachings of Luther

How does a person get saved?

• Old: good works and faith

• New: Salvation comes from faith alone

Where does religious authority lie?

• Old: Bible and the Church

• New: Only the Bible as interpreted by individuals’ conscience- each person was to read the Bible

What is the Church?

• Old: Church was the Clergy

• New: Church was a community of believers

What was the highest form of Christian Life?

• Old: monastery and religious Life

• New: All vocations have equal merit- every person should serve God in his or her Individual call

Can Priests Marry

• Old: marry the church• New: Marriage is

acceptableKatie Luther

When the Dust Settles:Catholicism vs. Protestantism

• Scripture interpreted by wisdom

• Good Works and Faith• 7 Sacraments

• Stick with Latin• Clergy must be celibate and

chaste• Purgatory is real• Honour Saints

• Scripture as you read it• Faith Alone• 2 Sacraments- Eucharist

(communion), Baptism• Language of the people• Clergy could marry

• Go to Heaven or Hell• Criticized Honouring Saints

What caused his growth?

Individualism: personal judgment versus monolithic authority

Causes of Protestant Reformation

• Anti-Clericalism

• An appetite for spiritual experience

• Reliance of church interpretation ended with return to original sources

• Martin Luther's 95 Theses

• Increased opportunity for secular power & control ($$$$$)

LUTHERANS:

Founded by Martin Luther, in Wittenberg, Germany, 1517; the key figure in the Reformation. - He rejected the authority of the Catholic Pope; retained the bishops, but named by the kings, instead of the Pope.

-The "Bible" was the ultimate authority for all matters of religious belief and practice. Every Christian is a priest, he should read the Bible, and interpret it in his own way (free interpretation).

-Salvation is by grace, by faith alone in Jesus Christ; faith that involves not merely intellectual assent but an act of confidence by the will.

-He retained the sacraments of baptism, penance and Holy Communion. He held that in the Holy Communion the consecrated bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Christ ("consubstantiation", instead of the Catholic "transubstantiation").

- He rejected purgatory, indulgences, invocation of the Saints, and prayers for the dead.

  

ZWINGLI: "Anabaptists":

"Ana-Baptist", means "re-baptism“ (as an adult)

-Anabaptists are called the "left wing of Reformation", and they developed in Zurich, the German-speaking Switzerland, where "Zwingli" was working as the second great Reformer.

-Ulrich Zwingli, added to Luther that the Eucharist was only a memorial, a symbol, and the physical presence of Christ was a myth, and proposed that the government of the church should be placed in the hands of the congregation rather than under the control of the clergy... and for both ideas he had strong discussions with Luther... both agree that the church should be under the control of the civil government, a state-church.

"A complete separation of church and state" to protect the liberty of the church, is another feature of the Anabaptists.

-The Mennonites and Amish are splinter groups of the Anabaptists

CALVINISTS:

John Calvin, was the third great leader of the Reformation. A Frenchman established in the French-speaking Switzerland... he rejected the Pope

-In 1536 he established a theocratic government in Geneva in which the affairs of the city were controlled by Calvin's new church. Geneva became a model of Puritan sobriety in which the lives of all citizens were closely policed and all offenses punished severely.

-His key tenet was absolute "predestination" of some persons to Heaven and others to Hell; the certitude of salvation for the elect, and the incapability of the elect to lose grace. He agreed with Luther on the issues of the Bible, and justification by faith alone

-His "Eucharistic theory" states that the body and blood of Christ are received in Communion, but in a spiritual manner

-Calvin published the "Institutes of the Christian Religion", which became the classic textbook of Reformed theology, as distinguished from Lutheran

- Calvin opened the way for more forms of Protestantism which exist today as worldwide churches:     - "Presbyterians" of Scotland,    - "Congregational",     - "Separatists", "Puritans" of England,     - "Dutch Reformed Churches",     - The Huguenots in France...

CHURCH OF ENGLAND :

The "Anglican Church" regards itself derived not from Reformation influences but from the renunciation of Papal jurisdiction by King Henry VIII in 1534: With the "Act of Supremacy", the King was declared the supreme head of the English Church, with fullness of authority and jurisdiction.

-Later, in 1563, Queen Elizabeth was declared the head of the Church, its "Supreme Governor".

-Henry VIII denied the Papal authority, but did not reject substantially other principal articles of faith... under James VI and Elizabeth the church was reformed, with respect to such matters as Scripture as the rule of faith, the sacraments, the nature of the Mass, and the constitution of the hierarchy. -In general, the Church of England stuck a compromise between Catholics and Protestants.

- Its basic tenets of beliefs, are stated in the "Book of Common Prayer": Recognize 3 sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, and Penance. Salvation is found in having faith in God's grace and doing good works. Accept the belief in the Virgin Mary, the Holy Trinity, and the Resurrection.

What was his impact?

• Moved power from the church to the state just as it had moved from priest to layman

• Protestantism became associated with political freedom because many monarchs chose to remain Catholic

• Protestantism leads to liberalism and individual rights• Religious justification for wealth leads to the rise of the

middle-class• Trend towards the secular state- from individualized

state identified church, separation of state and church, and predominance of secular state

• Religious wars- (not class wars)