Martin Luther: Influential Preacher and Reformist

Martin Luther: Influential Preacher and Reformist

Luther was born in Eisleben, Germany, the son of Hans Luther, who

worked in the copper mines, and his wife Margarethe. He went to school at

Magdeburg and Eisenach, and entered the University of Erfurt in 1501,

graduating with a BA in 1502 and an MA in 1505. His father wished him to

be a lawyer, but Luther was drawn to the study of the scriptures, and

spent three years in the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt. In 1507 he was

ordained a priest, and went to the University of Wittenberg, where he

lectured on philosophy and the Scriptures, becoming a powerful and

influential preacher.

On a mission to Rome in 1510--11 he was appalled by the corruption

he found there. Money was greatly needed at the time for the rebuilding of

St. Peter's, and papal emissaries sought everywhere to raise funds by the

sale of indulgences. The system was grossly abused, and Luther's

indignation at the shameless traffic, carried on in particular by the

Dominican Johann Tetzel, became irrepressible. As professor of biblical

exegesis at Wittenberg (1512--46), he began to preach the doctrine of

salvation by faith rather than works; and on 31 October 1517 drew up a

list of 95 theses on indulgences denying the pope any right to forgive

sins, and nailed them on the church door at Wittenberg. Tetzel retreated

from Saxony to Frankfurt-an-der-Oder, where he published a set of counter-

theses and burnt Luther's. The Wittenberg students retaliated by burning

Tetzel's, and in 1518 Luther was joined in his views by Melanchthon.

The pope, Leo X, at first took little notice of this disturbance,

but in 1518 summoned Luther to Rome to answer for his theses. His

university and the elector interfered, and ineffective negotiations were

undertaken by Cardinal Cajetan and by Miltitz, envoy of the pope to the

Saxon court. The scholar Johann Eck and Luther held a memorable

disputation at Leipzig (1519); and Luther began to attack the papal system

more boldly. In 1520 he published his famous address An den christlichen

Adel deutscher Nation (Address to the Christian Nobility of the German

Nation), followed by a treatise De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae

praeludium (A Prelude concerning the Babylonian Captivity of the Church),

which also attacked the doctrinal system of the Church of Rome.

A papal bull containing 41 theses was issued against him. He

burned it before a multitude of doctors, students, and citizens in

Wittenberg. He was excommunicated, and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor,

convened the first Diet at Worms in 1521, before which Luther was called

to retract his teachings.