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Martin Luther, (1483-1546) was a Franciscan Monk in Germany. As such, he was an Augustinian, but he had some differences with Augustine. He could not accept, at first, that God’s grace was all he needed to have salvation. He thought he had to do something first to deserve it. And, like Augustine said, this was too much pressure. Young Luther prayed to God and felt good that he was praying, but he would get these little introspective thoughts that perhaps he only felt good because he was doing something which would get him salvation. Well, if this was his motive, then he was evil and not worthy of salvation. His praying should be authentic worship of God, not just something he could do to be saved. This made him almost crazy. Was he a good person, or was he evil?
As Martin Luther was struggling with his conscious and fear of God, he observed representatives of the church, especially a Dominican named Tetzel, selling indulgences, promises from the pope that a person’s sins would be placed in remission and time in purgatory would be reduced. He saw that the common people were considering this a way to buy salvation rather than seek it with true contrition and repentance. It seemed to Luther that the church was leading these people to Hell rather than salvation, and, on All Hallow’s Eve in 1517, he posted 95 theses on a bulletin board of the local university church.
Luther did not, at first, expect this to be anything more than a scholarly debate, but it soon mushroomed into something much bigger. The German people learned of this challenge and supported Luther against the church which seemed to be using them to make money. Luther felt pressure from leaders of the church, but he didn’t back down. At one point, he said that the pope was trying to mislead the people and keep them from the true word of God and salvation. This was a point of no return and ultimately led to much bloodshed.
Luther finally got over his anxiety about receiving God’s grace and being saved. He decided that when God said, “I forgive you,” He could be believed. Luther knew he was still not worthy, but he had no right to disbelieve God’s forgiveness and the whole New Testament story of how Jesus died for our sins. When a Priest speaks in Jesus’ name and absolves sins, it is as if Jesus, himself, is saying this. Believing this is what he needs to do to achieve God’s grace and be saved. However, the pope and Catholic Church were not telling people this. They didn’t even want people to read the Bible. So, Luther decided the pope and the church council did not speak for God. The Bible did, and Luther wanted to bring the Bible to the people.
Luther was excommunicated on January 3, 1521, by Leo X. He went into exile and worked on translating the Bible into German. During this time, there were violent uprisings from the peasants against the church, and many people were killed.
Still, Luther said that Jews, because they rejected Jesus, could not be saved, and his rhetoric became more and more anti-Semitic. He said that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated, and liberty curtailed.This was the beginning of anti-Semitism in Germany which ultimately led to Hitler and the Jewish Holocaust. (McKim, Donald K. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Martin Luther. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003, 58)
Luther was also no friend to reason and Thomism. He denounced reason. “The devil’s bride, ratio, the beautiful whore, comes in and thinks she is clever” (XII, 1530). “Stay at home with your ugly devil’s bride and do not elevate and praise her so much, but think and speak thus of her: Lady Reason does not fear God, does not love him, does not trust in him, but freely and without all embarrassment despises him and has no care of all his threats and promises; moreover, his word and will give her no pleasure and she does not love them but grumbles and mumbles, rages and blusters against them, especially when things go badly. In sum, she is God’s worst enemy. Romans 8.8” (VIII, 2048). “There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason, especially if she enters into spiritual matters which concern the soul and God. For it is more possible to teach an ass to read than to blind such reason and lead it right; for reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed” (V, 1312). (I took this from Kaufman, Walter. Critique of Religion and Philosophy. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1990, 305-306, and there is much more.)
John Calvin was a key figure in another Reformation in Geneva. His variety of Protestantism became Presbyterianism. He agreed with Luther that authority should come from the Bible, not some pope or council, but he also took a more conservative interpretation of Augustine, that grace of God, not acts of man, are all that is needed for salvation. This is controversial because it means all those athletes of God, those Monks who sacrificed and even martyred themselves to please God could not be assured of salvation, and completely immoral people can receive the grace of God. It is the Grace of God and not the acts of man that determines salvation.
Bis bald,
Nick
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