Luther and
the Reformation
Origins of the Reformation
We have already encountered some of the
developments that led eventually to the Reformation. In the late Middle
Ages, the prestige and authority of the church had declined, and the papacy had
become a pawn of powerful Italian families. Renaissance popes were worldly,
that is to say interested in power, wealth and art more than anything else. The
ideals of humanism and the new discoveries of the ocean navigators inspired an
enthusiasm for the cultivation of secular life instead of rejecting it in
preparation for eternal life.
Humanism and Catholicism were not necessarily
opposed, however. The English scholar and lawyer Thomas More and his more
famous friend, the Flemish theologian Desiderius Erasmus, were well-known
exponents of Christian humanism. Like other humanists, Erasmus and More
were also enthusiastic students of Latin and Greek, but with Christian purposes
in mind. They wanted to study the Bible in the original, and also the
writings of early Christian leaders, the so-called "Church
Fathers." By fostering new interest in Biblical study, humanism
helped set the stage for the Reformation.
It is also important to consider the
importance of printing. In 1450, Johann Gutenberg invented movable type
in Mainz, Germany, and the mass production of relatively cheap books became
possible for the first time. This stimulated a strong trend towards
literacy and reading in the general population. Knowledge of the Bible and of
religious and philosophical ideas became more widespread, and new ideas spread
rapidly. This was critical in two ways. First, the ideas of Luther
and other reformers could effectively be disseminated even without the approval
of the religious or political authorities. Second, the Bible itself could
become widely available in the vernacular (German, French, English,
etc.). Reformation and Renaissance humanism shared this ideal
especially--that people had the capacity to read and improve themselves through
acquisition of knowledge. For the Italian Renaissance, this had meant
reading the philosophers and poets of the ancient world. For the
Christian reformers, this meant reading the Bible.
Luther's Revolt
Martin Luther had a troubled youth. He
was not, however, troubled by things that typically trouble young people today.
He was intensely worried about the salvation of his soul. Like St.
Francis, he vowed as young man to devote himself to God, angering his
businessman father. Luther joined the Augustinian order of friars, and
applied himself to its rigorous discipline. He also studied theology, and
earned a doctorate in theology in 1512. He then became a star
professor at Wittenberg University, but even then he was not happy. Like
any good Catholic, he understood that the sacraments administered by the
priests (especially communion) and other good works such as charity, prayer,
fasting, pilgrimages, etc. were the means to obtain the grace and salvation of
God. But that didn't help him, because he was himself a priest and he
still didn't feel confident that he had God's grace. Furthermore, he was
uncertain how many good works would be enough to wash away his sins.
Luther's studies of St. Paul led him to
conclude that one's faith, not the sacraments or other works, were the key to
God's grace, and that made him feel much better. But his idea did not in
itself lead to the upheaval of the Reformation. It has been calculated
that at least forty other theologians had reached similar conclusions before he
did. Why, then, did Luther cause a split in Catholicism?
One reason was Luther's opposition to papal
fundraising, and another was the church's response to Luther's challenge.
Still another reason was Luther's supreme self-confidence. Indulgences,
which were papal grants of forgiveness of sins, had been around for some
time. The papacy had granted indulgences to crusaders for their service
to God and the church. The official theory was that the saints of the
church had stored up with their good works a "treasury of merits,"
that the pope could redistribute to worthy people. These merits could
reduce the time a soul spends in purgatory before ascending to heaven. In
the 15th and 16th centuries, indulgences became an important source of
income for the popes, especially to pay the debts on the fabulous new St.
Peter's Basilica designed by Michelangelo. It was not theoretically
possible to buy one's way into heaven, but for all intents and purposes, that
was what some sellers of indulgences were doing.
In 1517, Luther denounced the practice of
selling indulgences, nailing his 95 objections to the wall of the church in
Wittenberg. Yet even this was an attempt to start a debate, not to split
the church. The church's response was not conciliatory, however.
In 1518, Luther met with a distinguished theologian, Cardinal Cajetan, sent by
the pope. But instead of the theological debate Luther wanted, he got an
ultimatum that he stop his criticism or face the
consequences. Undeterred, Luther arranged a debate with a
conservative theologian in 1519 at the University of Leipzig with a another
famous theologian, who argued that Luther's position was heretical, and who
later helped draft of a papal bull (decree) in 1520 requiring Luther to recant
or be excommunicated (banished from the church and his job).
This is where Luther's self-assurance enters
in. Helped by the enthusiastic support of many influential Germans, he
refused to back down, and responded to this threat with a series of pamphlets
denouncing the papal government and the teachings of the official church.
In these, he proclaimed his famous doctrines of justification by faith, the
priesthood of all believers, and the reduction of the sacraments from seven to
two. These pamphlets were widely published, and made Luther either a hero
or villain everywhere in Europe.
Luther was admired in many parts of Germany,
where frustration with the popes, bishops and priests had been growing for some
time. People from many walks of life could find something in Luther to
like. As you can see from our reading, Luther denounced the special
claims of church authority in both secular and spiritual life. He argued
that secular rulers alone should control worldly affairs. German nobles liked this
idea because it would free them from church taxes and interference. This is why
the prince (or "elector") of Saxony, where Luther lived, protected
Luther from arrest by the inquisition. Those from the middle classes could also
appreciate the message that they, rather than the priests and bishops, were responsible for their own
salvation. Finally, the peasants found new inspiration to demand freedoms
and rights for themselves. The peasants rose in rebellion in a
number of parts of Germany, and in the end some 100,000 were killed in brutal
fighting. While the fighting was going on, however, Luther denounced the
peasants as a murdering horde. The freedom and equality Luther spoke of
was spiritual, not political. Consider his criticism of the
"three walls" of the Roman church in our reading. How are
people equal, in his view, and what freedoms does a Lutheran believer claim for
him or herself?
The Establishment of Protestantism
In order to win the tolerance of the Emperor,
Charles V, one of Luther's friends, Philip Melancthon, wrote a confession to be
considered for approval by the Diet (Imperial congress) meeting at Augsburg in
1530. This "Augsburg Confession" as it was rendered in Latin,
was the basis of Lutheran doctrine afterwards. The confession was
rejected by the Emperor, however, and war between Catholic and Protestant
Germany loomed. Luckily for the Protestants, Emperor Charles was too
preoccupied with wars with France and the Ottoman Turks to face down the
Protestant princes. But war finally came in 1546. After a decade of
indecisive campaigns, however, a truce was called in 1555--the peace of
Augsburg--that guaranteed the right of the German princes to establish
Lutheranism in their territories. It meant that in every German state,
the subjects were expected to be either Catholic or Lutheran, depending on
which one the ruler chose to adopt. Protestantism did not lead to a
system of toleration and individual choice. It did, however, irrevocably
split Christianity, and introduce a volatile division in European culture and
society that would play a role in many future conflicts.