Transcript the reformation

Reformation part III:
The Fire
By: James W. Huston
The Spark: Martin Luther
• “Martin Luther is one
of the most
extraordinary
persons in history
and has left a deeper
impression of his
presence in the
modern world than
any other except
Columbus.” Ralph
Waldo Emerson
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Early Life
• Born November 10, 1483, Eisleben, Germany
• Second of eight children
• Son of Hans Luder and Margarethe Lindemann
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Early Years
• Identified very early as precocious child
• Extremely bright
• Father, a leaseholder of mines in Mansfield, wanted
Martin to study law
• In 1501 at age 19 he went to the University of Erfurt
which he later described as a beerhouse and
whorehouse
• Received his master’s degree
• Enrolled in law, but was drawn to philosophy
• Thought it was unsatisfactory. Useful in reason, but little
to say about God
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Becoming a
monk
• July 22, 1505, at age 22, had a near death experience
• Luther was riding a horse back to his university in a storm
• Terrible thunder, then a bolt of lightning struck the ground
next to him
• Threw him to the ground and took his breath away
• The fear of dying with unconfessed sin and no absolution from
a priest drove him to make a vow
• St. Anne save me! And I’ll be come a monk
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Joined Augustinian Monastery
• Devoted himself to fasting, prayer,
and confession
• During a time of great world change
• Columbus sailed 1492
• Printing press—Johannes
Guttenberg, 1450
• Copernicus 1473-1543—heliocentric
view
• Luther had difficulty adjusting
• Sometimes confessed six hours a day
• Couldn’t find peace from his known
sins
• At one point said he hated God.
• God was unjust for holding man to a
standard that was impossible to keep.
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Continued his studies
• Gifted at theology; lectured from 1508 on
• Received a doctorate of theology in 1512
• Took position at the U. of Wittenberg
• Took an oath to defend and propound the Scriptures
• Started lectures:
• Psalms
• Galatians
• Hebrews
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Lectures and study
• Received doctorate of
theology in 1512 from
the University of
Wittenberg
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The Tower Experience:
Dramatic change/conversion?
• What changed Luther from a fearful
monk to the spark that ignited the
reformation?
• Was reading in his tower study:
• “For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith for faith, as it is
written, “The righteous shall live by
faith.””(Romans 1:17 ESV)
• “I felt I was born again…that place in
Paul was truly my gate to paradise.”
• The turning point in his life
• Probably 1516
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Indulgences
• Johannes Tetzel
• Dominican monk and indulgence
salesman
• Could earn forgiveness of sins by
paying him
• Could release family from purgatory
by paying him
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Indulgences Authorized?
• Endorsed and authorized by Pope Leo X
• Intended to raise money to build St. Peter’s
cathedral in Rome
• Pope distracted by wars, politics, and his
pagan papacy in Rome
• Probably homosexual
• Spendthrift
• Held parades in Rome on his pet elephant
Hanno
• Sold memberships to the order of Peter
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Tetzel
• Tetzel displayed a brass-bound chest, a stack of printed
indulgences, an enormous cross and a banner with the papal
crest. Tetzel banged a drum and launched into a chilling
description of souls writhing in purgatory: "Listen." he said,
"to the voices of your dear dead relatives and friends, saying,
'Pity us. Pity us. We are in dire torment from which you can
redeem us for a pittance. Will you delay our promised glory?'"
• To further entice his gullible listeners to make purchases he
devised a catchy slogan, "As soon a coin in the coffer rings, the
soul from purgatory springs."
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Luther’s annoyance
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Luther was the parish priest of a small church
Noticed his parishioners were coming to confession less often
Learned of Tetzel
Was infuriated
Caused him to revolt against indulgences
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Posting of the 95 Theses
• Wrote criticism of indulgences
• Title of the The 95 Theses :
• “Disputation of Doctor Martin
Luther on the Power and
Efficacy of Indulgences”
• Not a Reformation declaration
at all
• In Latin
• Posted on the Castle Church
door in Wittenberg
• More in the nature of a bulletin
board
• Never intended it to start the
Reformation
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95 Theses
• #1 “Our Lord and Master Jesus
Christ, when he said
poenitentiam agite, willed that
the whole life of believers
should be repentance”
• NOT penance
• Matthew 4:17 had been
translated in the vulgate as
penance
• Luther thought translated wrong
• As did Erasmus who was coming
to the same conclusion at the
same time, and published his
own translation in 1516-20
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95 Theses
• #82 If the church has the ability to
forgive sins through indulgences of
both the living and the dead, why
not do it immediately for everyone?
• Theses immediately translated into
German (not by Luther) and sent to
the printing press.
• All over Germany in two weeks, and
all over Europe in two months
• Debate began
• Shifted from indulgences to the
authority of the church, and basic
church doctrine
• Tetzel furious
• Published his own 107 Theses in
response
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Pope Leo X’s Response
• Commissioned Cardinal Cajetan
to dispute Luther
• Commissioned Dominican
Brother Prierias to respond
• Said: Whoever does not accept
the doctrine of the Roman
Church and the Roman Pontiff as
the infallible rule of faith from
which Sacred Scripture derives
strength and authority is a
heretic.”
• “Luther is a leper with a brain of
brass and a nose of iron.”
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Trial, October 1518
• Pope told Cardinal Cajetan to try
him for heresy
• Emperor Maximilian was against
Luther
• Everyone expected him to be
burned
• Trial was at Augsburg
• Guaranteed “Safe Passage” from
Wittenberg
• A three day meeting/trial with
Cajetan
• Told “Recant your writings!”
• Luther said: “I could have done
that at Wittenberg. Why am I
here?”
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Augsburg
• “Discussed” several things.
Indulgences, and earlier popes
• Fled to Wittenberg
• In later account, said Cajetan was
as competent to conduct the
hearing as an ass was to play a
harp.
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Luther Examines all Doctrine
• Publishes “Sermon on Good Works”
1520
• Important exposition of
justification by faith
• Publishes defiant tract “Address to the
Christian Nobility of the German
Nation.”
• Argued it was necessary for the
princes to intervene and call for a
reforming council of the church
• Leo’s response:
• Burns Luther’s writings in Rome
• Issues “Exurge Domine” (Lord Cast
Out) which condemns 41
assertions of Luther
• Issues papal bull
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Luther’s Boldness Increases
• Responds to the Pope
• Burns the papal bull like a draft card
• Publishes a second tract: “A Prelude Concerning the
Babylonian Captivity of the Church”
• Revolutionary:
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Reduced 7 sacraments to 3 (baptism, Lord’s supper, penance)
Denied mass was a sacrifice
Denied transubstantiation
Vehement charges against papal authority
Asserted the supremacy of the Holy Scriptures and individual
conscience
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Luther Excommunicated
• January 1521 Pope Leo X
excommunicates Luther
• German nobles think Luther
should be heard first
• ”Invited” to the Diet of Worms
• To be examined by Cardinal Eck
• Given “Safe Conduct” again
• Escorted by knights—he goes
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The Diet of Worms 1521
• Shown pile of books. “Yours?”
• “Yes, and I’ve written more.”
• “Do you defend them or want
to reject them in part?”
• “This touches God and His
word. This effects the
salvation of souls. Of this
Christ said, “He who denies
me before men, him I will deny
before my father.” To say too
little or too much would be
dangerous. I beg you give me
time to think it over.”
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Trial continued
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Eck amazed
Grants him a 24 hour reprieve
Next day, 6:00 PM. Lit by candles
Room is full, building surrounded
by people trying to listen
• Huge support for Luther
• Luther asks Eck, “Show me the
error of my ways.”
• Eck refuses. Typical “ploy” of
heretics
• “You know so much more than
all the saints and the councils?
Answer candidly. Do you
repudiate your books or not?”
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Luther’s Response
• “Since your majesty and your lordships desire a simple reply, I
will answer without horns and without teeth. Unless I am
convinced by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the
authority of popes and councils for they have contradicted
each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I
cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against
conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no
other. God help me. Amen.”
• Leaves Worms on foot
• There’s a delay in signing the order declaring him an outlaw
• He’s allowed to leave the region due to safe conduct
• Group of mounted armed men surprise his group in the forest.
His supporters run, and he is taken away.
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Warburg Castle
• Elector of Saxony had taken him
• Made it look like Luther’s enemies
captured him
• Hid him in Warburg Castle
• He was to be executed as a heretic
• But couldn’t be found
• Luther spent ten months in the
castle
• Grew a beard and dressed like a
knight
• Called himself Jorg
• Began period of prolific writing
• Did a complete German translation
of the Greek New Testament
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Luther’s New Testament in German
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Theological Exploration
• By 1520 had come to fully adopt concept of salvation by grace,
through faith—not works
• Now engaged in exchange with Erasmus of Rotterdam on
freedom of the will
• Erasmus was leading Humanist and scholar
• Intellectual of the day
• Sympathetic to the Reformation
• But tried to stay neutral
• Wrote book challenging Luther on free will
• Luther wrote in response:
• “Bondage of the Will”
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Bondage of the Will
• Luther called it his greatest work
• Very polemical as was much of the writing of the day
• “Your book…struck me as so worthless and poor that my heart went
out to you for having defiled your lovely, brilliant flow of language
with such vile stuff. I thought it outrageous to convey material of so
low a quality in the trappings of such rare eloquence; it is like using
gold or silver dishes to carry garden rubbish or dung.”
• Erasmus thought the dispute of little importance
• Luther said, “The whole gospel stands or falls according to the way one
decides it.”
• Erasmus: Christianity more about morality
• Luther said no, DOCTRINE. “It is a matter of faith, and faith is correlative
to truth.”
• “Others before me attacked the Pope’s evil and scandalous life; I attack
his doctrine.”
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Marriage
• Married a 25 year old
nun, Katherine von
Bora
• Luther was 42
• He hesitated to
marry, as he thought
others would accuse
him of leaving the
church to marry
• They had six children,
two of whom died in
infancy, another at 13
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Council of Augsburg 1530
• Charles V tries to stem the surging tide
of “evangelicalism”
• Wanted to unite the kingdom again
under the church
• Called a council in Augsburg and asked
Luther to prepare a statement of the
evangelical position
• Luther drafted the statement with Philip
Melanchthon
• Became the Augsburg Confession
• Salvation by faith alone
• Rejected by the council as heresy
• As Luther expected, the attempt was
futile, and a new church must be
organized
• Thus began the Lutheran church
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Luther’s Dark Side
• Anti-Semitism
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Next week: John Calvin
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