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.