Luther and his world , livre ebook

Lion Hudson - Graham Tomlin

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78 pages

English

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"An accessible account of Luther, his life, thoughts, writings and all that surrounded him. Tomlin's writing is readable and informative... For most people, this packed-full, not so little, littlebook will be just enough for them to feel that they now 'get' Martin Luther." - Church of England Newspaper One of the towering characters of the Reformation, Martin Luther's actions, beliefs and writings have had an incalculable effect on the lives of millions of people. In this engaging book, Graham Tomlin paints a vivid picture of Luther's life, from his early struggles with faith to his emergence as the leading figure in the Reformation. The man revealed here is obstinate, sensitive, blunt and determined - willing to risk all for his convictions.

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Lettres et linguistique

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Publié par	Lion Hudson
Date de parution	10 octobre 2012
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780745957074
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0350€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Copyright © 2002 Graham Tomlin This edition copyright © 2012 Lion Hudson
The right of Graham Tomlin to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published by Lion Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com/lion ISBN 978 0 7459 5588 9 e-ISBN 978 0 7459 5707 4
First edition 2002 This edition 2012
Acknowledgments Scripture quotations are from The Revised Standard Version of the Bible copyright © 1346, 1952 and 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches in the USA. Used by permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Cover images Aged paper: Kim Sohee/iStock Martin Luther at Worms: Ivy Close Images/ Alamy
Contents
Cover Title Page Copyright Introduction Chapter 1: The Friar Chapter 2: The Theologian Chapter 3: The Discovery Chapter 4: The Fight Chapter 5: The Climax Chapter 6: The Leader Chapter 7: The Breach Chapter 8: The Patriarch Chapter 9: The Legacy Chronology Suggestions for Further Reading
Introduction
By any account, Martin Luther must rank as one of the most influential European figures of the last millennium. Marco Polo and Columbus opened up new continents, Shakespeare and Michelangelo produced some of the most sublime pieces of art, and Napoleon and Hitler changed the political face of their centuries. Yet Luther and the Reformation he triggered have made a huge impact not just on Europe, but also on North America, Australia and – by means of the Protestant missionary movement – throughout the rest of the world. Protestantism shaped a whole new way of life for countless people across the Western world and beyond, which coloured their approaches to God, work, politics, leisure, family – in fact, almost every aspect of human life. It played a seminal role in the early development and continuing self-image of the United States, and in the emergence of democracy and economic and religious freedoms in Europe.
‘To people of all nationalities the first Protestants bequeathed in spite of themselves a heritage of spiritual freedom and equality, the consequences of which are still working themselves out in the world today.’
Stephen Ozment, Protestants , 1992
Protestantism was one of the key movements ushering in changes from the medieval to the modern world. Luther cannot claim credit nor can he be blamed for the whole of what eventually became Protestantism, but as one who played a critical role in the emergence of a new church and a new way of life for millions of people, the influence of his actions and beliefs on the past 500 years has been incalculable. The modern world can barely be understood without them.
Yet who was Luther? During the 500 years since he lived, Martin Luther has been seen as just about everything: from an infallible teacher of the truth (17th-century Lutheran orthodoxy), to the supreme example of rationalist individualism (the Enlightenment), to the man chiefly responsible for the German churches’ near total failure to oppose the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany. Alongside this, the Roman Catholic judgment has changed from seeing Luther as the arch-heretic who fatally split a united European Christendom, to a much more sympathetic understanding, almost claiming him as one of their own in recent years.
This book, naturally, paints its own portrait of Luther. It paints a picture of a man struggling with some of the deepest of all human questions – if there is a God, is he good? Can he be trusted? What or who is the power that lies behind the universe? Luther battled with these questions in a profound and sometimes agonizing way from very early in his life. He tried the various contemporary solutions on offer, including the monastic and the academic life, before stumbling upon an answer which stilled his fears and satisfied the deepest yearnings of his soul. In the process, the church in Europe, already going through a period of great upheaval, experienced dramatic change and deep division. Luther was one part of a large and complex story, but he remains a key figure in the development of the modern world. In recent years, the emphasis among historians has been to view the Reformation as an economic or sociological phenomenon, and to concentrate not so much on the ‘big names’ of the movement, but rather on exploring how it affected ordinary people in Germany, Switzerland and beyond. These approaches have yielded some invaluable results and have helped people to understand the movement far better than ever before. Nonetheless, the Reformation was still, however, a movement sparked off by particular people writing particular ideas, which then had an effect far wider and greater than they could have envisaged. And Luther, as perhaps the chief of these people, deserves study even now.
This book tries to present an accessible and attractive modern introduction to Luther’s life, ideas and significance for today, in which recent scholarly research on Luther is implicit but not intrusive. The author’s hope is that it will stimulate readers to read Luther for themselves. Many medieval and Renaissance writers are pretty turgid and tedious to read. Luther is neither of these things. A facility with language, a colourful imagination and a blunt Saxon frankness all combine to make his writing hold attention, even when tackling obscure aspects of late-medieval theology. Luther is rarely dull. At the end of this book, a list of suggestions for further reading points the way for those who want to explore his significance a little further.
CHAPTER 1
The Friar
Eisleben was a mining town. Even today the surrounding landscape is punctuated with dark conical slag heaps, the unmistakable scars of excavation. It was never the prettiest of places, but it was at least prosperous, and as the 15th century drew towards its close, it was already attracting many expectant prospectors from further afield in Thuringia and beyond. Among the hopeful new arrivals was Hans Luder. He had come from the village of Möhra but, as his younger brother had inherited the family farmland on his father’s death, according to the local custom on inheritance, Hans had to find some other way of making a living. Having worked in the mines of Möhra for a few years, he wanted to move into mine management or ownership. Eisleben seemed a good bet, being a thriving centre of copper extraction. So, in the early summer of 1483, he moved to the town with his pregnant wife, Margarethe, renting lodgings whilst he tried his luck in the business of mining.
Margarethe Luder finally produced her second child on 10 November that year. A day later, the baby boy was taken to St Peter’s and St Paul’s, the nearest church, just a few yards away from the house, where he was duly baptized. He was given the name of the saint whose day it was: Martin. Eisleben did not prove a successful venture for Hans Luder. Competition was fierce, and he was only one among many trying to forge a living out of copper. Within another year, he had moved on, this time to Mansfeld. Here, he managed to borrow money from some wealthy merchants. He leased a smelting works from the counts of Mansfeld, and gained part ownership in a number of mines. Even though it took him many years to pay off his loans – and meanwhile the family had to live frugally and carefully – Hans was upwardly mobile, ambitious and determined.
Margarethe Luder had eight or nine children, of whom three or four died young – no one could quite remember how many, because infant mortality was such a common part of life. Martin, the eldest of the surviving children, was clearly bright. He was especially close to his brother, Jacob, and endured what was a strict, but not unusual, upbringing. His father’s ambition stretched not just to his business concerns, but also to his son’s education, especially as he showed some academic potential during his early years at the school in Mansfeld. Rather than take the usual course of training Martin to inherit the family business, Hans Luder decided to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to ensure a good education for his son.
‘I was born in Eisleben, and baptized in St Peter’s there. I do not remember this, but I believe my parents and fellow countrymen.’
Martin Luther in a letter to Georg Spalatin, January 1520
In Mansfeld itself, educational possibilities were limited, so when he was 13, Martin was sent 40 miles down the River Elbe to a school in Magdeburg, a much bigger town of 12,000 inhabitants. Here, the young scholar encountered the life of a large city for the first time. For some unknown reason, Hans then moved Martin on to Eisenach. He perhaps hoped, vainly as it turned out, that some of his relations there would take the boy in. He did, however, find lodgings with the affluent Cotta and Schalbe families, who were noted for their simple generosity and genuine piety, which contrasted with the strict regime and strenuous social aspirations of his own home. Martin always spoke with great fondness of Eisenach as meine liebe Stadt – ‘my dear town’.
School, like Martin’s father, was strict. Martin once recalled being soundly beaten for failing to conjugate a verb which he had not yet learned. In Mansfeld, and then in Eisenach, under his teacher Wiegand Güldennapf, he became word perfect in Latin and German grammar. He learned the basics of the church’s liturgy, singing for extra income as a choirboy in St George’s, the main parish church in the centre of the town, as well as from house to house. Luder’s ambitions for his promising son did not end in