History of Religion paper on Martin Luther. Teacha don't take no mess

Luther v. Everyone

Or

Clash of the Titans

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HIS 356

19 February 2009

The mention of the name Martin Luther in present day society can conjure a myriad of emotions and thoughts among people, depending on to whom you may be speaking.  A follower of the Catholic faith may respond in a slightly negative manner.  A Baptist may perk up and engage you in a lively discussion.  A Muslim may look at you in bewilderment.  No matter what response you may elicit, one thing is of a certainty: Martin Luther was one of the most influential men in history.  Secular society, Catholic, Protestant, Judaic; Martin Luther had an enormous impact upon them all.  Perhaps this writing can shed some light as to why.

            The Catholic Church had been the dominant force in the everyday life of Christian Europeans for over a thousand years.  Its word was very near law, and in some cases, was the law.  In order for a Christian to get to Heaven, they had to conform to the rules of the Church.  These rules on paper seem simple: perform the Sacraments (baptism, confession, Eucharist, last rites, etc.), do good works i.e. tithe and feed the poor, and above all else, follow the decrees of the Pope.  But in the mid-1300s, events began to take place that would shape the world into which Martin Luther would be born.

Europe in the 1300s was not exactly a prime vacation destination.  Years of drought were likely brought on by abysmal weather conditions and poor irrigation techniques; coupled with exponential population growth, the ensuing famine was severe and all-encompassing.  Then in 1347, one of the worst epidemics ever to afflict a civilization struck the long-suffering Europeans: the Black Plague.  Believed to have been transmitted by infected fleas, the Black Plague decimated the continent.  Almost a third of the entire European population fell victim to the disease.  As horrible as the loss of life must have been in and of itself, there were unforeseen, farther-reaching consequences.

As a result of so many people dying so quickly and from fear of contamination, a large percentage of the dead were not given their last rites.  Of course, in order to proceed to Heaven after death, all Sacraments must be performed by and upon the Catholic laity.  This left the Church with a bit of a dilemma.  Their response was to say that those who died were not necessarily condemned to Hell, but they could not be admitted into Heaven either.  As such, the Church inserted the idea of purgatory as a stopgap.  In order for a soul to leave purgatory and enter Heaven, masses could be bought from the local priests and bishops to shorten a soul’s wait.  As we all know, the introduction of fiscal profit into an organization is likely to spur greed, and it was in this spirit that indulgences began to be sold as a way of paying penance.  The selling of masses led to saintly relics being sold, relics led to indulgences; and before long, the rich were simply buying their way into Heaven.  No Church officials spoke out against the system, because it simply generated too much money.  It was into this culture of greed that Martin Luther was born. 

Luther lived the life of an affluent businessman’s son until he joined a monastery in 1501.  This of course angered his father, who had hoped for a more prosperous livelihood.  His solemness and strict adherence to the Gospel did not win many friends within the monastery.  It did not take him long to begin to question the practices that he saw take place every day.  Perhaps the breaking point for Luther was when the archbishop of Saxony commissioned a local lord, Johann Tetzel, to sell indulgences in his stead.  Whatever the final straw may have been, what is known is that Luther wrote a scalding (for the times) letter to Pope Leo X, stating “the soul…is justified by faith alone…for if it could be justified by anything else…it would not need the faith.”

Of course, this immediately put Luther at odds with the entire Catholic faith, seeing as his letter was to the Pope, not a local priest or bishop.  He went on to say that “Christ has made it possible for us…to be not only his brethren, co-heirs, and fellow-kings, but also his fellow-priests.”  This statement in and of itself rebukes the entire Catholic system, which held that only through ordained priests could a common person know God and thereby be remitted unto Heaven.  Luther argued that works are not done to become good, but rather are a consequence of being good.  He did not think that works should be forgotten entirely, but that they had their place and purpose. 

Martin Luther railed against what he thought were irreconcilable wrongs committed by the Church of his day.  For him to do so during that period was considered heresy and he could reasonably have expected to be put to death.  If for no other reason than this, Martin Luther is a man to be respected and studied.  The fact that a movement founded from his teachings and interpretations shows that he touched on a fundamental truth that the human beings of his day could not deny.  The fact that his movement continues today shows that he was more than just a reformer: he was the reformer.