LUTHER, MARTIN

Early Life and Religious Training (§ 1).

Initial Changes of View (§ 2).

The Doctrine of Grace (§ 3).

The Ninety-five Theses (§ 4).

Denial of the Power of the Pope (§ 5).

Development of Views on Eucharist, Priesthood, Church, and Works (§ 6).

Appeal to the Laity for Reform (§ 7).

Doctrine of the Sacraments (§ 8).

At the Diet of Worms (§ 9).

In Hiding at the Wartburg (§ 10).

Opposition to Extreme Radicalism (§ 11).

Correspondence with Other Sectaries and Break with Erasmus (§ 12).

Polemics Against Carlstadt and Münster (§ 13).

Transformations in Liturgy and Church Government (§ 14).

Eucharistic Views and Controversies (§ 15).

The Diet of Augsburg and the Question of Civil Resistance (§ 16).

The Authority of Church Councils Denied (§ 17).

Attacks on Zwingli, and Recognition of the Bohemian Brethren (§ 18).

Luther as a Preacher and Exegete (§ 19).

Theory of Confession and the Law (§ 20).

Establishment of Consistories and the Marriage of Philip of Hesse (§ 21).

Renewed Eucharistic Controversies (§ 22).

The Death of Luther (§ 23).

Summary of Luther's Doctrinal Development (§ 24).

Theory of the Church and the World (§ 25).

The Style of Luther (§ 26).

The Personal Life of Luther (§ 27).

His Hymns (§ 28).

1. Early Life and Religious Training

Martin Luther, the German Reformer, was born at Eisleben (23 m. w. of Halle) Nov. 10, 1483, and died there Feb. 18, 1546. His father, Hans, was a miner, formerly living at Mohra, while his mother, Margarete (née Ziegler), came from a family of the middle class. At the age of six months, Luther was taken by his parents to Manefeld, and was there brought up in an atmosphere of strictness and probity. His father's financial condition gradually improving, Luther was sent to the Latin school, first at Mansfeld, then at Magdeburg (probably to an institution conducted by Brethren of the Common Life) in 1497, and finally, in 1498, at Eisenach, where his mother had relatives. There, with other poor students, he was obliged to sing in the streets begging for bread, and there he gained the sympathy of Ursula, the wife of Kunz Cotta. From Eisenach he went, in 1501, to the University of Erfurt, where his principal teachers were the nominalists Trutvetter and Arnoldi, and where he was a friend of at least some of the young humanistic "poet" circle. He received his bachelor's degree in 1502 and the master's degree three years later; and was destined by his relatives for a legal career.

Brought up in the strict religious atmosphere of the Roman Catholic Church, but without any knowledge of the Bible, Luther was terrified by thoughts of the wrath of God, intensified by the sudden death of a friend. He resolved to become a monk, and on July 17, 1505, entered the Augustinan monastery at Erfurt, to the grief of his father, and without a clear comprehension of his act. In 1507 he was ordained to the priesthood, but his theological studies brought him no inward peace, and he eagerly followed the advice of an old master of studies in the monastery, who urged him to center his hopes in the article of the forgiveness of sins. He was also aided by the instruction of Johann von Staupitz, the vicar of the order, but the decisive change was brought about by his study of the Scriptures. In 1508, at the suggestion of Johann von Staupitz, the Elector Frederick appointed Luther professor of philosophy at Wittenberg, where he received the degree of baccalaureus ad biblia in the following year. He was then recalled for some unknown reason to Erfurt, but in 1511 (or possibly in 1510) went to Rome in the interests of his order. Returning to Wittenberg, he received the doctorate of theology on Oct. 18, 1512, and three years later was appointed Augustinian vicar for Meissen and Thuringia, being also active as a preacher both in his own monastery and in Wittenberg.