Martin Luther (1483 1546) changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation.Plass, Ewald M. "Monasticism," in What Luther Says: An Anthology. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, 2:964. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his 95 Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
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Martin Luther (1483 1546) changed the course of Western civilization by initiating the Protestant Reformation.Plass, Ewald M. "Monasticism," in What Luther Says: An Anthology. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959, 2:964. As a priest and theology professor, he confronted indulgence salesmen with his 95 Theses in 1517. Luther strongly disputed their claim that freedom from God's punishment of sin could be purchased with money. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms meeting in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.
Luther taught that salvation is a free gift of God and received only through true faith in Jesus as redeemer from sin, not from good works. His theology challenged the authority of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge and opposed sacerdotalism by considering all Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those that identify with Luther's teachings are called Lutherans.
His translation of the Bible into the language of the people (instead of Latin) made it more accessible, causing a tremendous impact on the church and on German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the King James Bible.Tyndale's New Testament, trans. from the Greek by William Tyndale in 1534 in a modern-spelling edition and with an introduction by David Daniell. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989, ix–x. His hymns inspired the development of singing in churches.Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther. New York: Penguin, 1995, 269. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant priests to marry.Bainton, Roland. Here I Stand: a Life of Martin Luther''. New York: Penguin, 1995, p. 223.
Although Luther's call for the Jews to be relocated to Jerusalem following the destruction of their homes and synagogues, restriction of their liberty, and redistribution of their interest earnings was forgotten for centuries after his death, they were republished for Nazi propaganda purposes from 1933–45. This sparked a scholarly controversy that continues to the present.
Birth and education
thumb|300px|Portraits of Hans and Margarethe Luther by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1527
Martin Luther was born to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther)Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 1. and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) on 10 November, 1483 in Eisleben, Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was baptized the next morning on the feast day of St. Martin of Tours. His family moved to Mansfeld in 1484, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters,Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. tr. James L. Schaaf, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985–93, 1:3–5. and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council. Martin Marty describes Luther's mother as a hard-working woman of "trading-class stock and middling means," and notes that Luther's enemies would later wrongly describe her as a whore and bath attendant. He had several brothers and sisters, and is known to have been close to one of them, Jacob.Marty, Martin. Martin Luther. Viking Penguin, 2004, p. 3.
