Martin Luther was a reformer of religion in his day. He taught that the Bible should be the authority in the church. He also taught that people are justified through faith in Christ. Martin Luther’s religious movement led to the beginning of Protestantism.
Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany. When Martin was old enough he went collage to study Latin and law. One day a storm came up when Martin was walking to Erfurt. Lighting was hitting the ground everywhere. He was afraid and promised to become a monk.
But while Martin was in the monastery he became troubled about his soul. He wondered if he was doing what God wanted him to do? He wasn’t sure everything the priests were saying was right or biblical. Martin Luther was so worried about it that he spent hours in spiritual turmoil.
One day Martin was called to Wittenberg, by Dr. Staupitz, a professor. He told Martin to become a professor and a preacher. While Luther was teaching at Wittenberg he began to believe that the Bible was more important than the teachings of the priests. He decided to preach that the Indulgences practiced by the Catholic Church were wrong. Indulgences were part of a church practice called penance. Penance meant one was truly sorry for their sins, confessing to a priest and having the priest forgive them. Martin Luther’s opponent Tetzel, a Dominican monk, began to sell indulgences to the people. When Luther spoke out about the church’s practices on indulgences, some of the church fathers refuted what Martin Luther said.
All the interest in indulgences bothered Luther. So following the custom of that time period he invited his fellow professors to debate. Martin Luther put his thoughts about the church’s practices into writing. These became the Ninety-five thesis, or ideas. In the Thesis he objected indulgence money to build a great church in Rome and to the pope’s claim that he had power over whether people’s souls would go to purgatory. It also stated that religion was a personal relationship between God and man. And that the forgiveness given by Jesus Christ was important.
The Roman church court met for six months to study the case of Luther. At the end of this period they had wrote a report that stated: Luther was declared a heretic and should be excommunicated. That was when Luther lost patience and began to burn Catholic books and pamphlets in Wittenberg. Luther was then declared an outlaw.
On April 15, 1521, Luther was called to court so he could be tried for his writings against the Catholic Church. Martin Luther would not recant for what he believed. The room broke out in loud noise. Charles V, the emperor at that time, had enough and walked out of the room. With that, the meeting broke up before anything could be decided.
During this time of unrest, Luther was kidnapped by his own friends and taken to Wartberg so he would be safe. During his time in Wartburg Luther finished translating the Bible into German. While he was in Wartburg, Luther grew a beard. This made it safe for him to travel and he did so disguised as a knight.
In 1521 riots started in Wittenberg over what practices should be allowed in churches. Luther packed his bags and headed to Wittenberg to help stop the riots. After a while Martin was able to help calm people down.
Many monks and nuns began to run away from monasteries, because they read and agreed with the books of Martin Luther. One of these nuns was Katherine von Bora who Martin later married.
Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546. Before his death he started the Lutheran Church and wrote many books on the Christian faith. Martin’s German translation of the Bible helped more than any other single source to form the modern German language. Luther is recognized as a major figure in the history of the Christian faith. He continues to be the source of some of the most powerful ideas in Christianity.
Works Cited
Nohl, Fredrick: Luther, Biography of a Reformer. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2003.
“Martin Luther”, World Book, 2008
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