Martin Luther, His Ideas and Times - Essay Example

This paper is an answer to four exam questions about Martin Luther, his ideas, and his times. The man's biography is discussed, along with a discussion on how he influenced Christianity and the formation of the early European state. John Calvin and Ignatius Loyola are also featured in the discussion. Martin Luther, His Ideas and Times Briefly discuss Luther's biography. How did his life embody the emergence of the concept of sovereign selfhood How did his humanism impact his Christianity What made the German-speaking world ripe for Reformation in the sixteenth century Martin Luther was a German theologian as well as an Augustinian monk. An ecclesiastical reformer, Luther was born in 1483 and baptized on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. He was sent to schools in Mansfeld, Magdeburg and Eisenach. After finishing his Master's degree in 1505 from the University of Erfurt, Luther enrolled in law school. He had to leave law school that same year, however, because he encountered a miracle of God during a thunderstorm. As a lightning bolt struck near to him, he cried out, "Help, Saint Anne! I'll become a monk!" His life was spared, so Luther left law school to enter a monastery. Leaving law school to enter monastery was a huge change in young Luther's life. He had to believe with all his heart that God had saved him and wished for him to turn to His law instead. Studious as he was, Luther delved into God's ways with total concentration. He realized that man's reason was enough as law. Thus, the concept of sovereign selfhood was reborn after Christ. Luther's law has been referred to as a lawless law given that it refers to the free mind needing no set of rigid laws to abide by. The theologian believed that universal law was written on the heart of man, and rigid reminders to follow it - as in the case of public law - were foolish at best (Bork). In effect, Luther's concept of sovereign selfhood had to do with being one with Christ, and this was absolutely logical from the point of view of a servant of God who had had the Gospels seep into himself. Luther first came into contact with the humanists, especially Melanchthon, Reuchlin, and Erasmus, at the time of the disputation of Leipzig in 1519. It was humanism, in fact, that had compelled Luther to go to the sources, that is, the Scriptures to find the truth for himself. Luther immersed himself in the study of the Bible. He also had to know about the early Church before terms like penance and righteousness could take on new meaning for him. The great theologian was convinced that the Church had lost sight of essential facts from the Scriptures; that, in truth, every servant of God is potentially the Son of Man. The Scriptures now told him clearly: the doctrine of justification by faith alone had been particularly ignored by the Church. Luther also began to teach at this time that salvation is only a gift of God's grace through Jesus Christ, and this gift is received entirely by faith. Martin Luther was one of the inspirations for the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century. In the year 1517, the man had posted 95 theses on a church door as an invitation to debate. Luther was challenging certain portion of the Roman Catholic doctrine and number of specific practices. From the church door in Wittenberg, the movement gained adherents in the German states, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, Scotland and parts of France. Change was called for, and even before Luther, prominent personalities such as John Wycliffe (1330-84) and John Huss (1369-1415) had raised their voice. Could one look at the Address to the Christian Nobility as a repudiation of the Fourth Lateran Council How and why What were the consequences of this address for lay-church relations and how did it affect the rise of the early modern state What role did Calvin's doctrine play in the development of early European political theory Luther's Address to the Christian Nobility of the German nation opens with the words: The Romanists, with great adroitness, have built three walls about them, behind which they have hitherto defended themselves in such wise that no one has been able to reform them; and this has been the cause of terrible corruption throughout all Christendom. First, when pressed by the temporal power, they have made decrees and said that the temporal power has no jurisdiction over them, but, on the other hand, that the spiritual is above the temporal power. Second, when the attempt is made to reprove them out of the Scriptures(Luther). Luther was attacking the corruptions of the Church through this address. He was also attacking the abuses of the Church's authority. The Church by this time had become a sacramental one, by which the grace of God was given through the administration of the sacraments alone. Such was the effect of the Fourth Lateran Council. As a matter of fact, the Council had ensured that the Church would decisively intervene between God and man, and there was no personal relationship left between God and His servants without the Church. Luther asserted the right of the layman to spiritual independence through his important address, which actually won him powerful support soon to become completely political in nature. The man was protesting the medieval system of the efficacy of the sacraments. The impetus for his protest was the sale of indulgences in 1517. Regardless, Luther was making sense to the layman, and this time the layman could rise from sleep to think on his own terms the meaning of not only his relationship with God, but also his relation to the state in which he resided. Luther was relieving the layman from the burden of dependency on the Church, which insisted by means of the Fourth Lateran Council, that persons are dependent upon the sacraments for salvation. The modern state is a centralized one with a national religion. Although this state gives absolute rights to one and all to practice religion, it need not turn to the Church to solve its everyday problems. The Christ had emphasized the value of freedom, whereas the Church through the Fourth Lateran Council was telling people through its ways that they must have trust in bondage instead. Luther's open letter to the Christian nobility helped the layman free himself from the rule of the Church in effect. Thus the modern state was formed with only a fleeting memory of the sacraments that Christians were at one time made slaves to. Unlike Luther who helped to release Christians from the bondage of the Church, John Calvin, also influenced by humanists, constructed a government based on the subordination of the state to the Church. This was the early modern state built with early European political theory. Calvin performed this work in Geneva. Another way in which Calvin differed from Luther was that he did not object to capitalism. Luther had advocated a simple life only, while Calvin had no objection to trade and production. This, too, formed an essential part of the early political theory. How does Luther square his doctrine of justification by faith alone with the idea of community in "On the Freedom of a Christian" There were two parts to Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone. The chief article of this doctrine states that Jesus died for the sins of the people and was raised again for their justification. Therefore, it is clear and it is certain that this faith alone justifies people. There is no compromise on the subject of this article. Jesus Christ left the world because the people had turned filthy. He was raised again in order to give them hope for salvation. In Luther's view, faith was the only way for people to be saved. And, faith in this particular aspect of Jesus' life was central to faith and salvation. The second part of the doctrine of justification by faith alone concerns a proper distinction between the Law and the Gospel. According to Luther, anybody who wanted to understand the Scriptures had to learn the difference between the Law and the Gospel, and failing to do so was the root of many basic theological errors. The doctrine of the justification by faith alone is rather individualistic in nature. Luther's individualism is commonly referred to as religious individualism. The man is talking about individual faith saving a person from Hellfire, rather than communal faith. It makes no difference to him that a believing mother would have a son that is an infidel. In their case, the mother cannot save the son through her faith, because he is supposed to believe in truth by himself. Moreover, Luther's emphasis on knowing the difference between the Law and the Gospel requires individual attention to the meanings of both, and this individual attention and interpretation is not the birthright of any particular soul. Rather, anybody can understand the distinction between the Law and the Gospel and explain it to those who are not aware. On the Freedom of a Christian is Luther's devotional work. Here, he states his theology of grace fully for the first time. He states that a Christian is free and subject to no one. Apart from that, a Christian is the most dutiful slave, and thereby subject to all. In this work, Luther also argued that Christians are fully redeemed by the grace of God, and when they act according to the will of God, they are bound by no law. They are compelled, instead, to spend their entire lives in service of God and their neighbors. The man saved by pure belief in Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone is the same man who is the most dutiful slave. He is the slave of God, and the Almighty has decreed that he must love Him with all his heart, mind, and soul, and love his neighbor as he loves himself. Hence, although this man must primarily be concerned with own salvation - by faith alone - his faith demands that he also look after the interests of his brethren. Community service is a part of his faith. No Christian life is complete without it. Man cannot live by bread alone, so faith is a requirement. However, loving one's neighbor is the Law and the Prophets. The Christian, therefore, engages in community service as a rudimentary condition of his faith. Luther's doctrine of justification by faith alone is thus reconciled with his idea of community in On the Freedom of a Christian. Discuss Ignatius Loyola as a man of his time. Ignatius Loyola was a man in Luther's time, born in a castle of Spain in the year 1491. He was the principal founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus, which was a religious order of the Catholic Church that professed direct service to the Pope in terms of its mission. Jesuits are the members of this order. Loyola was the compiler of the Spiritual Exercises. He was also a gifted spiritual director and guide, described by Pope Benedict XVI as "above all a man of God, who gave the first place of his life to God a man of profound prayer." Luther's indirect relation to Loyola is revealed by the fact that the latter was a fighter against the Protestant Reformation. In fact, Loyola promoted the subsequent Counter-Reformation. His fighting spirit was publicly displayed for the first time when he took service in the army in the year 1517. Defending the small town of Pamplona against the Navarrese monarchy, Loyola had wounded one of his legs while the second leg had been broken by a cannonball. This happened after he refused to yield, even though the Spaniards wanted to surrender. Loyola had been persuading them to fight on. No wonder he is venerated as the patron saint of the Catholic soldiers. Loyola was beatified by Paul V in the year 1609. He was also canonized by Gregory XV in the year 1622. Every year his feast day is celebrated on 31 July. It was during his period of recuperation that Loyola had first become acquainted with the lives of Jesus and the saints. He was then fired by the ambition to lead a life of self-denying labor, emulating the courageous deeds of Francis of Assisi and other monastic inspirers. Thus, Loyola vowed to devote himself to the conversion of non-Christians in the Holy Land. He even changed his name from Inigo to Ignacio at this juncture. This was done in honor of St. Ignatius of Antioch. Loyola truly was a man of profound prayer. He visited the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat after recovery. He hung his military vestments before an image of Mary there, after which he went to spend many months in a cave near the town of Manresa, Catalonia. It was there that he practiced the most rigorous asceticism. He had visions at this time, especially of Mary. She became the object of his devotion from this point on. The man also drafted his Spiritual Exercises during those months of privation. This work was to change the methods of teaching in the Church. It is actually a series of meditations to be undertaken by all those who came to him for spiritual guidance. For the Jesuits, this work became virtually a spiritual trademark. Loyola was a very brave man. He had to have his leg broken thrice to let it heal properly while he studied. He was also arrested twice for being accused of teaching the ways of the Lord without needed education. Both of these arrests took place during the Spanish Inquisition. Works Cited 1. Bork, Robert H. "Thomas More For Our Season." First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, June 1999. 2. Luther, Martin. An Open Letter to The Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate, 1520. Translated by C. M. Jacobs. Philadelphia, PA: A. J. Holman Company, 1915. Read More