Reformation: Martin Luther

Things to Think About

• Causes of the reformation.• Importance of Luther• What was Luther's core theological premise? 

Causes of the Reformation • Crises of the 14th and 15th centuries hurt the prestige

of the clergy –Babylonian Captivity, 14th century–Great Schism: 1377-1417–Conciliar Movement to reform the church and

give a church council more power than the pope was rejected by several popes in the 15th and 16th century

Corruption in the Catholic Church

1. Simony: sale of church offices– For example, in 1487 the pope sold 24 offices

2. Reformers were outraged that unqualified people would become bishops or cardinals.

3. pluralism: an official holding more than one office at a time4. absenteeism: an official not participating in benefices but

receiving payment and privileges. Many clerics held several benefices (or offices) simultaneously but seldom visited the benefices, let alone performed the attendant spiritual responsibilities.

5. sale of indulgences: people paying money to the Church to absolve their sins or sins of their loved ones

Corruption in the Catholic Church6. nepotism: favoring family members in the appointment of

Church officesTwo popes (Leo X and Clement VII) were sons of Florentine Medici rulersPope Paul III made two of his grandsons cardinals

7. Moral decline of the papacyPope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503) had numerous affairs and children out of wedlock20% of all priests in the diocese of Trent kept concubines during the early 16th century

8. Clerical ignorance: many priests were virtually illiterate9. Some abused their power such as trading sexual favors for the

absolution of sins during confession.

I. The Early Reformation

A. The Christian Church in the Early Sixteenth Century

• 1. Piety — Europeans at the time were exceptionally pious — they made many pilgrimages, remembered the church in their wills, and devoted much time to religious causes.

• 2. People of all social groups devoted an enormous amount of their time and income to religious causes and foundations.

• How do you think these people felt about the state of the church?

Society- Cultural

• Better educated, urban populace was more critical of the Church than rural peasantry

• Renaissance monarchs were growing impatient with the power of the Church

• Society was more humanistic and secular• Growing individualism

Critics of the Church: John Wyclif (1329-1384), England

• Stated that the Bible was the sole authority• Stressed personal communion with God.• Diminished importance of sacraments.• His followers—Lollards—continued his ideas into the 16th century.

–John Hus (1369-1415), Czech• Ideas were similar to Wyclif• Religious leader in Bohemia• He was burned at the stake for his views

Eramus: In Praise of Folly (1513)• Criticized the corruption in the church and the hypocrisy of the

clergy• A contemporary remarked that “Erasmus laid the egg that Luther

hatched.”

• B. Martin Luther (1483–1546) • 1. Background — Born in Saxony, studied

law but entered an Augustinian order, ordained a priest, learned a doctorate in theology, and became a professor of Scriptures at the new university in Wittenberg.

• 2. Luther’s study of Saint Paul’s letters in the New Testament led him to the belief that salvation and justification come through faith, which is a free gift of God’s grace, not the result of human effort, and that God’s word is revealed only in Scripture, not in the traditions of the church and not through human effort.

• At the same time that Luther was engaged in scholarly reflections and professorial lecturing, Pope Leo X authorized the sale of a special Saint Peter’s indulgence to finance his building plans in Rome.

• Luther was severely troubled that many people believed they had no further need for repentance once they had purchased indulgences.

Johann Tetzel• He was authorized by Pope Leo X to sell

indulgences.• “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from

purgatory springs”

I. The Early Reformation

• 3. Oct 13, 1517 Luther put together 95 Theses arguing, in part, that indulgences undermined the seriousness of confession.

• Luther’s theses were quickly printed, first in Latin and then in German translation.

• He published these ideas in pamphlets, and his theological issues became interwoven with public controversies about the church’s wealth, power, and basic structure.

• What is the importance of this?

A list of things he thought were wrong with the Catholic Church (95 Complaints)He criticized:The Power of the PopeThe Extreme Wealth of the ChurchIndulgences (Catholic concept of Salvation)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt5AJr0wls0

Excommunication • 4. The Break with Rome — • 1520 Pope Leo X issues a Papal Bull telling Luther to

recant his views or he will be excommunicated. • In part through the pressure of his adversaries, Luther

moved further and further away from Catholic theology. Popes and councils could err, he concluded, there was little distinction between clergy and laypeople, and clerical celibacy was fruitless. Luther refused to recant these ideals at the Diet of Worms and he was excommunicated in 1521.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5P7QkHCfaI

The Wartburg

• in 11 weeks he translates the New Testament, “September Testament”– published in 1522– standardizes the German language

• visitations from the devil!?

1521 Luther goes to Wartburg

Luther and the Devil

What Luther Believed• The Bible was the sole authority• Only two sacraments- baptism and communion- were valid

–The church consisted of a “priesthood of all believers”; not a hierarchical structure

• Christians were not subject to the pope’s interpretation of the Bible.

• The Bible contained all that was needed for a person to lead a Christian life—a church hierarchy of bishops and priests, therefore, was unnecessary.

I. The Early Reformation

• C. Protestant Thought • 1. Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531) — A Swiss humanist, priest, and reformer

who was convinced that Christian life rested on the Scriptures, which were the pure words of God and the sole basis of religious truth. He also attacked indulgences, the Mass, clerical celibacy, and monasticism.

• 2. Protestant Ideas (the term comes from the protest of a group of reforming German priests): salvation comes through faith alone (not through the sacraments or good works), religious authority resides in the scriptures, the church is the spiritual priesthood of all believers.

• 3. Protestant Disagreements — Over the Eucharist (Luther believed in the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, but Zwingli saw it as merely a symbolic memorial). The Colloquy of Marburg failed to resolve these differences.

I. The Early Reformation • D. The Appeal of Protestant Ideas • 1. The Power of Luther’s Ideas — He advocated a simpler personal

religion based on faith, the abolition of elaborate ceremonies, a return to the spirit of the early church and to the centrality of scriptures in liturgical life, the abolition of clerical exemptions for taxes and legal privileges (city councils could then tax the clergy).

• 2. Printing Press — Reproduced Luther’s ideas; woodcuts made it possible for the illiterate to grasp his ideas. Luther’s linguistic skills (catechisms and translation of the Bible into German in 1523) helped spread Protestant ideals even further.

• 3. Political Authority — Luther and other reformers worked closely with the political authorities, and Luther instructed all Christians to obey secular authorities, whose authority came from God. Territories became Protestant when their rulers brought in reformers and confiscated church property.

I. The Early Reformation

• E. The Radical Reformation and the German Peasants’ War • 1. Radical Reformers — Wanted to create a community of believers separate

from the state. Some were pacifists; others believed in communal ownership of property and a life of simplicity. Anabaptists — adopted the baptism of believers (rejected the sacraments).

• 2. Impact of Radical Reformers — Initially, they triggered persecution, both from Protestant and Catholic authorities. But some groups like the Quakers, the Baptists, and the Congregationalists had an impact on the growth of American religious and democratic ideals.

• 3. Peasant Rebellion — The peasants, after crop failures in 1523 and 1524 and the seizure of village common lands by the nobility and the imposition of additional rents and taxes, rebelled, citing Luther. Luther initially sided with them, but later turned against them as the Peasants’ War (1525) unfolded, arguing that independence from the Roman church did not mean opposition to legally established secular powers.

I. The Early Reformation• F. Marriage and Sexuality • 1. Attack on Clerical Celibacy — Most Protestant reformers married,

arguing that vows of celibacy ran against human nature and God’s commandments. Many sought to close convents and monasteries, and many nuns left.

• 2. Position of Women — Reformers argued that men and women were to be spiritually equal in marriage but women were still supposed to be subject to men.

• 3. Marriage — Created by God as a remedy for human weakness, but marriages in which spouses did not support each other endangered their souls and their own communities. Most reformers therefore allowed divorce and remarriage.

• 4. Condemnations of Prostitution — Believing that marriage was the only proper remedy for lust, most Protestants condemned prostitution and brothels.

Martin Luther: A Reluctant Revolutionary (PBS)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni1gupkGAW0