MARTIN LUTHER KING
Martin Luther OSA was a German monk, Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of a reform movement in 16th century Christianity, subsequently known as the Protestant Reformation.
Although Martin Luther was the first leader to openly depart from the Roman Catholic church, he did not originally set out to start his own church. Rather, Luther was a committed church man who sought discussion and change in the church. As a monk, Luther struggled to understand his relationship to God, and felt unworthy of God's attention. His eventual conclusion was that he was not worthy of approaching God. Thus, any understanding and especially salvation was not deserved or earned in any way, but was purely a gift of grace from God.
"... all that the Pope decrees and does I will receive on condition that I first test it by the holy scriptures."
Luther emphasized the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. This emphasis on "faith alone" was a significant shift in perspective. In particular, it undercut the selling of "indulgences," artifacts sold by the church as symbols of religious devotion. By criticizing this practice Luther challenged an important source of revenue for the church.
Pushed by the church hierarchy and backed by some of the German nobility, Luther rejected the authority of the Pope. He suggested that the Bible alone should be the guide for Christian life, and that German Christians did not need to listen (or pay taxes!) to the Pope in Italy.
Luther also disagreed with the idea that priests were needed to approach God on behalf of the people. Rather, he proposed a priesthood of all believers, saying that people could communicate with God directly.
Luther insisted that the church should use the common language of the people, and not Latin as was the practice in the Roman Catholic tradition. As a result, Luther led Mass in German and even translated the entire Bible into this European language.
Martin Luther OSA was a German monk, Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of a reform movement in 16th century Christianity, subsequently known as the Protestant Reformation.
Although Martin Luther was the first leader to openly depart from the Roman Catholic church, he did not originally set out to start his own church. Rather, Luther was a committed church man who sought discussion and change in the church. As a monk, Luther struggled to understand his relationship to God, and felt unworthy of God's attention. His eventual conclusion was that he was not worthy of approaching God. Thus, any understanding and especially salvation was not deserved or earned in any way, but was purely a gift of grace from God.
"... all that the Pope decrees and does I will receive on condition that I first test it by the holy scriptures."
Luther emphasized the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. This emphasis on "faith alone" was a significant shift in perspective. In particular, it undercut the selling of "indulgences," artifacts sold by the church as symbols of religious devotion. By criticizing this practice Luther challenged an important source of revenue for the church.
Pushed by the church hierarchy and backed by some of the German nobility, Luther rejected the authority of the Pope. He suggested that the Bible alone should be the guide for Christian life, and that German Christians did not need to listen (or pay taxes!) to the Pope in Italy.
Luther also disagreed with the idea that priests were needed to approach God on behalf of the people. Rather, he proposed a priesthood of all believers, saying that people could communicate with God directly.
Luther insisted that the church should use the common language of the people, and not Latin as was the practice in the Roman Catholic tradition. As a result, Luther led Mass in German and even translated the entire Bible into this European language.
BELIEFS
The word "atheist" in the 1500s was commonly used to denote a libertine rather to claim that one did not believe in God. To be described as an atheist was an insult. As the French historian Lucien Febvre (1878-1956) wrote, there were "conceptual difficulties" in the 1500s in denying the existence of God. "Every activity of the day ... was saturated with religious beliefs and institutions." And asking someone whether he believed in God was to suggest the possibility that he did not and must have been as insulting as asking if he were a sodomite or murderer. Peter Watson in his book Ideas (published in 2006) agrees with Febvre. Watson writes that "One reason Montaigne never really doubted that there was a God was because to do so in his lifetime was next to impossible."
The word "atheist" in the 1500s was commonly used to denote a libertine rather to claim that one did not believe in God. To be described as an atheist was an insult. As the French historian Lucien Febvre (1878-1956) wrote, there were "conceptual difficulties" in the 1500s in denying the existence of God. "Every activity of the day ... was saturated with religious beliefs and institutions." And asking someone whether he believed in God was to suggest the possibility that he did not and must have been as insulting as asking if he were a sodomite or murderer. Peter Watson in his book Ideas (published in 2006) agrees with Febvre. Watson writes that "One reason Montaigne never really doubted that there was a God was because to do so in his lifetime was next to impossible."