Luther, Martin (1483–1546)

Born to a middle-class German family, Luther was drawn to theological studies at an early age, entering the Augustinian order in 1505 and eventually becoming a Bible professor. His study of Paul's New [Page 879]Testament letters resulted in a discovery of justification by grace, faith, and Christ alone. This insight impelled him to criticize the church's selling of indulgences, which Luther claimed distorted Christian faith and victimized the poor. This critique culminated in his posting of 95 theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg in 1517, which many mark as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

In subsequent years, Luther wrote and spoke extensively, promoting reform of the church from within. His work became increasingly critical of papal authority, which he felt undermined the sole authority of Christ. For Luther, the promises of Jesus Christ were gained not through priestly intermediaries, but immediately in the witness of Scripture. In 1520, these struggles with the church hierarchy reached a boiling point: A papal bull was sent to Luther, threatening him with excommunication if he refused to recant his controversial views. In defiance of this threat, Luther burned the letter. Some of Luther's most significant critiques of the church and expressions of Christian freedom were written during these events.

In 1521 the Diet of Worms deemed Luther an enemy of the Holy Roman Empire and pronounced him a fugitive. From this point until his death, he lived under threat of arrest and capture. Seeking refuge in Wartburg Castle and living under an assumed name, Luther translated the New Testament into German, which allowed Christians access to scripture in the language of the people.

Spared arrest because of sympathetic princes who offered him shelter, in 1523 Luther composed an essay on Christian freedom and bondage in relation to temporal authority. Here he proposed the idea of “two kingdoms,” the spiritual and the temporal, both of which are ordained by God. Luther's essay was seminal in its critique of totalitarianism: Christians are justified in resisting temporal authority when rulers overstep their bounds and demand a particular form of religious faith from their subjects. Luther's stance in the German Peasant War of 1525, however, displayed a clear preference for order over revolution. Sympathetic as he was to some of the peasant's economic and land grievances, Luther claimed that they were twisting the Gospel for their own ends. He sided with the princes and urged them to suppress the rebellion with force.

Forced to leave the Roman Catholic Church, Luther continued championing the cause of reform until his death in 1546. His legacy as an activist is complex: exponent of freedom, critic of church authority, and advocate for the poor, but also a voice for suppressing rebellion during chaotic times. He remains, without question, the quintessential figure of medieval religious protest.