He then became an Augustinian monk. In , he was ordained priest and became a doctor in Theology in Luther did not agree with the customs of the Catholic Church and started openly criticised it after , because of the indulgences trade. The indulgences were sold so as to avoid purgatory. However, it is more commonly held that in making this claim, Luther has something more moderate in mind, which is suggested by Thesis 1 of this Disputation:.
This can be interpreted as holding that realms of truth are diverse, in the sense that some truth can only be stated in certain fields but not others, but nonetheless all truths are consonant with one another see Gerrish 53—4; White Chapter 3; Dieter ; Luy 15—16; and see Bianchi for a history of this issue.
White —48, Bielfeldt b. Likewise, because the philosopher operates with formal systems of syllogistic logic, which do not sufficiently take into account the special nature of the objects of faith, such logics will also break down when dealing with theological matters. Ambrose has rightly said that the dialecticians have to give way where the apostolic fishermen are to be trusted. On the one hand, against the perceived rationalism of the scholastics, Luther was clearly attracted to the need for inner experience, and spoke of achieving a kind of union with or participation in God, while attaching great merit to some writings in the mystical tradition, particularly the Theologia deutsch, a late fourteenth-century work which he discovered and twice edited, in and , wrongly attributing it to Johann Tauler c.
In commenting on De anima , Luther objects that it contradicts Christian teaching on the immortality of the soul. In both areas, Aristotle is hampered by his hylomorphism, his view that matter and form are interrelated, so that in this respect Luther favours Plato over Aristotle.
Away with such books! Keep them away from Christians. For here, Luther argued, one can find the idea that virtue is something to be developed through our own efforts and instilled in us through habituation, thus making the idea of good works central to the idea of moral improvement. This, however, is to generate a sense of pride in our own abilities which precisely negates the possibility of good action, for reasons we will consider further in the next section.
And while Luther does not mention him explicitly in the Disputation , not surprisingly he elsewhere occasionally but strongly criticizes Aquinas for also falling under the baleful influence of Aristotle on this issue. On the Finnish interpretation, justification involves actual participation in the divine life, and thus has ontological implications for the justified individual.
The central text here is of course The Bondage of the Will , in which as we have seen Luther engages with Erasmus on precisely this issue. Against Erasmus, Luther argues that scepticism is not an appropriate outlook for Christians who are called on to assert their faith as trust in God, while also criticising him for putting any weight on the decrees of the Church, rather than on scripture alone, which Luther insists is clear enough in its essentials and what it tells us, even though the mind of God himself may be harder to fathom, and it may be difficult for us to make philosophical sense of doctrines such as the Trinity.
Moreover, Luther criticises Erasmus for his suggestion that it is not in fact necessary for the Christian to try to settle matters relating to free will, particularly given the dangers that attach to speculating on such questions. In response, Luther argues that this issue cannot be avoided and is central, for. Likewise, Luther argues, the question of divine foreknowledge and of whether everything happens necessarily is also an issue which cannot be avoided:.
For if you doubt or disdain to know that God foreknows all things, not contingently, but necessarily and immutably, how can you believe his promises and place a sure trust and reliance on them? For Luther, however, this is simply to beg the question, as living a better life and believing in God are not things we can bring about in ourselves, but only occur through God.
Erasmus [ 41] , where he makes several key claims that will be developed further in what follows. First, he argues that this is entailed once we accept that our salvation is the work of God, from which it follows that if we do good it is a result of his agency, while if that agency is not present all we can do is what is bad, so that we lack any power of choice in this matter. However, secondly Luther stresses that this does not mean we are compelled or forced to act as we do, so that.
Thus, though we lack free choice, we do not lack free will, understood as a force that leads us to act, a force that grows stronger the more it is resisted. At this point, Luther makes his famous use of the traditional simile, that the human will is like a horse that can fall under two riders, Satan or God, who will determine which way it goes, but like a horse it follows either perfectly willingly:.
If Satan rides it, it wills and goes where Satan will; nor can it choose to run to either of the two riders or to seek him out, but the riders themselves contend for the possession and control of it. That is to say, a man should know that with regard to his faculties and possessions he has the right to use, to do, or to leave undone, according to his own free choice, though even this is controlled by the free choice of God alone, who acts in whatever way he pleases.
On the other hand in relation to God, or in matters pertaining to salvation or damnation, a man has no free choice, but is a captive, subject and slave either of the will of God or the will of Satan. Given this confused picture, Luther concludes that as a result, the matter must be settled by appeal to scripture alone, and not by appeal to the authority of previous commentators, or of the Church. At the beginning of Part Three of his own work, before getting on to these passages, Luther begins with an important critique of the definition of free choice with which Erasmus had started his discussion:.
By free choice in this place we mean a power of the human will by which a man can apply himself to the things which lead to eternal salvation, or turn away from them. First, he points out that as free choice applies to God and angels, Erasmus is wrong to define it as applying only to human will. The human will clearly cannot simply do as it pleases when it comes to matters of eternal salvation, as if it operated in a normative vacuum. Luther thus poses a question to Erasmus which he thinks could also be posed to the Scholastics who are labelled as Sophists throughout this text :.
If anyone told you that a thing was free which could operate by its own power only in one direction the bad one , while in the other the good one it could of course operate, though not by its own power, but only by the help of another—would you be able to keep a straight face my friend? Luther then returns to the passage from Ecclesiasticus —17 with which Erasmus had prefaced his discussion, to consider how Erasmus uses it to support his view.
Erasmus [ 50]. Luther argues that Scripture, unlike Erasmus, takes our human limitations very seriously, so it is therefore not surprising that such uses of command language abound, where Luther deals with many similar passages in the same way:. The words of the law are spoken, therefore, not to affirm the power of the will, but to enlighten blind reason and make it see that its own light is no light and that the virtue of the will is no virtue,.
Luther also deals with the problem of imputation and divine punishment, which seems to arise if we lack free choice: for how can our sins be imputed to us, and how can God allow us to be punished when we cannot do otherwise and he could remove the defect in our will which means we are not saved but are punished? Likewise, Luther goes on to argue that when it comes to rewards, these are similarly unearned, where to think otherwise will only lead to a kind of works righteousness. He is God, and for his will there is no cause or reason that can be laid down as a rule or measure for it, since there is nothing equal or superior to it, but it is itself the rule of all things.
For if there were any rule or standard for it, either as cause or reason, it could no longer be the will of God.
For it is not because he is or was obliged so to will that what he wills is right, but on the contrary, because he himself so wills, therefore what happens must be right. In considering this issue, Erasmus had made use of the scholastic distinction between the necessity of the consequence and the necessity of the consequent, arguing that while it may be that if God wills something it happens necessarily necessity of the consequence , it does not follow that this happening is necessary necessity of the consequent , thus leaving space for free choice Erasmus [ 66—8].
In response, Luther argues that divine foreknowledge makes this distinction moot: for if we allow this foreknowledge, then what God knows must happen necessarily otherwise he could not know it infallibly in advance; and if God did not have this knowledge,. If God foreknows that Judas will turn traitor, or that he will change his will to betray, whichever God has foreknown will necessarily come about, or else God will be mistaken in his foreknowing and predicting, which is impossible.
In response, Luther writes:. The Majesty that is the creator of all must bow down to one of the dregs of his creation, and the famed Corycian cavern must reverse its role and stand in awe of the spectators! Nothing could be further from the truth. Luther believed, rather, that philosophy and reason had important roles to play in our lives and in the life of the community. However, he also felt that it was important to remember what those roles were and not to confuse the proper use of philosophy with an improper one.
Properly understood and used, philosophy and reason are a great aid to individuals and society. Improperly used, they become a great threat to both. Likewise, revelation and the gospel when used properly are an aid to society, but when misused also have sad and profound implications. His father was a relatively successful miner and smelter and Mansfeld was a larger mining town. Martin was the second son born to Hans and Magarete Lindemann Luther. Two of his brothers died during outbreaks of the plague.
One other brother, James, lived to adulthood. Hans Luther decided that he would do whatever was necessary to see that Martin could become a lawyer. Hans saw to it that Martin started school in Mansfeld probably around seven. The school stressed Latin and a bit of logic and rhetoric. When Martin was 14 he was sent to Magdeburg to continue his studies.
He stayed only one year in Magdeburg and then enrolled in Latin school in Eisenach until In he enrolled in the University of Erfurt where he studied the basic course for a Master of Arts grammar, logic, rhetoric, metaphysics, etc. His son was on the verge of becoming a lawyer.
In July of , Martin was caught in a horrific thunderstorm. Anna, and I shall become a monk. Anna was the mother of the Virgin Mary and the patron saint of miners.
Most argue that this commitment to become a monk could not have come out of thin air and instead represents an intensification experience in which an already formulated thought is expanded and deepened. The decision to enter the monastery was a difficult one.
Martin knew that he would greatly disappoint his parents which he did , but he also knew that one must keep a promise made to God. Beyond that, however, he also had strong internal reasons to join the monastery. Luther was haunted by insecurity about his salvation he describes these insecurities in striking tones and calls them Anfectungen or Afflictions.
A monastery was the perfect place to find assurance. Assurance evaded him however. He threw himself into the life of a monk with verve. It did not seem to help. Finally, his mentor told him to focus on Christ and him alone in his quest for assurance. Though his anxieties would plague him for still years to come, the seeds for his later assurance were laid in that conversation. In , Luther traveled as part of delegation from his monastery to Rome he was not very impressed with what he saw.
In , he transferred from the monastery in Erfurt to one in Wittenberg where, after receiving his doctor of theology degree, he became a professor of biblical theology at the newly founded University of Wittenberg. In , he began his first lectures on the Psalms.
It was during these lectures that Luther finally found the assurance that had evaded him for years. He had discovered or recovered the doctrine of justification by grace alone. This discovery set him afire. Luther also sent a copy of the theses to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz calling on him to end the sale of indulgences. Albrecht was not amused. In at a meeting of the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg, Luther set out his positions with even more precision.
Throughout , Luther continued to lecture and write in Wittenberg. In June and July of that year, he participated in another debate on Indulgences and the papacy in Leipzig. Finally, in , the pope had had enough. Luther received the bull on October 10 th.
He publicly burned it on December 10 th. In January , the pope excommunicated Luther. During the Diet of Worms, Luther refused to recant his position. What is known is that he did refuse to recant and on May 8 th was placed under Imperial Ban. This placed Luther and his duke in a difficult position. Luther was now a condemned and wanted man. Luther hid out at the Wartburg Castle until May of when he returned to Wittenberg.
He continued teaching. In , Luther left the monastery. In , he married Katharina von Bora. From to his death in he served as the Dean of the theology faculty at Wittenberg. He died in Eisleben on 18 February Luther replied, "Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning I can do no other.
God help me! By the time an imperial edict calling Luther "a convicted heretic"was issued, he had escaped to Wartburg Castle, where he hid for ten months. In early spring of , he was able to return to Wittenberg to lead, with the help of men like Philip Melanchthon, the fledgling reform movement. Over the next years, Luther entered into more disputes, many of which divided friends and enemies.
When unrest resulted in the Peasants' War of —, he condemned the peasants and exhorted the princes to crush the revolt.
He married a runaway nun, Katharina von Bora, which scandalized many. For Luther, the shock was waking up in the morning with "pigtails on the pillow next to me.
He mocked fellow reformers, especially Swiss reformer Ulrich Zwingli, and used vulgar language in doing so. In fact, the older he became, the more cantankerous he was. In his later years, he said some nasty things about, among others, Jews and popes and theological enemies, with words that are not fit to print. Nonetheless, his lasting accomplishments also mounted: the translation of the Bible into German which remains a literary and biblical hallmark ; the writing of the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"; and publishing his Larger and Smaller Catechism , which have guided not just Lutherans but many others since.
His later years were spent often in both illness and furious activity in , though he was sick for six months and suffered from exhaustion, he preached sermons, wrote 15 tracts, worked on his Old Testament translation, and took a number of trips.
But in , he finally wore out. Luther's legacy is immense and cannot be adequately summarized. On a larger canvas, his reform unleashed forces that ended the Middle Ages and ushered in the modern era. It has been said that in most libraries, books by and about Martin Luther occupy more shelves than those concerned with any other figure except Jesus of Nazareth.
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