Luther Essay Research Paper Martin Luther was free essay sample

Luther Essay, Research Paper Martin Luther was a German theologist and spiritual reformist, who started the Protestant Reformation, and whose huge influence during his clip period made him one of the important figures in modern European history. Luther was born in Eisleben on November 10, 1483 and was descended from the peasantry, a fact that he frequently stressed. Hans Luther, his male parent, was a Cu mineworker. Luther received a sound primary and secondary instruction at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach. In 1501, at the age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Erfurt, having a unmarried man # 8217 ; s grade in 1502 and a maestro # 8217 ; s grade in 1505. He so intended to analyze jurisprudence, as his male parent had wished. In the summer of 1505, he abandoned his surveies and his jurisprudence programs, sold his books, and entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. The determination surprised his friends and appalled his male parent. Later in his life, Luther explained his suprising determination b y remembering several coppices with decease that had occurred at the clip, doing him cognizant of the fugitive character of life. We will write a custom essay sample on Luther Essay Research Paper Martin Luther was or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the monastery he observed the regulations imposed on a novitiate but did non happen the peace in God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luther made his profession as a monastic in the autumn of 1506, and his higher-ups selected him for the priesthood. Ordained in 1507, he approached his first jubilation of the mass with awe. After his ordination, Luther was asked to analyze divinity in order to go a professor at one of the many new German universities staffed by monastics. In 1508 he was assigned by Johann von Staupitz, vicar-general of the Augustinians and a friend and counsellor, to the new University of Wittenberg ( founded in 1502 ) to give introductory talks in moral doctrine. He received his unmarried man # 8217 ; s grade in divinity in 1509 and returned to Erfurt, where he taught and studied. In November 1510, on behalf of seven Augustinian monasteries, he made a visit to Rome, where he performed the spiritual responsibilities customary for a pious visitant and was shocked by the sophistication of the Roman clergy. Soon after restarting his responsibilities in Erfurt, he was reassigned to Wittenberg and asked to analyze for the grade of physician of divinity. In 1512, after having his doctors degree, he took over the chair of scriptural divinity which he held till his decease. Although still unsure of God # 8217 ; s love and his ain redemption, Luther was active as a sermonizer, instructor, and decision maker. Sometime during his survey of the New Testament in readying for his talks, he came to believe that Christians are saved non through their ain attempts but by the gift of God # 8217 ; s grace, which they accept in religion. Both the exact day of the month and the location of this experience have been a affair of contention among bookmans, but the event was important in Luther # 8217 ; s life, because it turned him resolutely against some of the major dogmas of the Catholic church. Luther became a populace and controversial figure when he publish ed his Ninety-five Thesiss on October 31, 1517. His chief intent of composing the theses was to demo his resistance for the corruptness and wealth of the pontificate and to province his belief that redemption would be granted on the footing of religion entirely instead so by plants. Although it is by and large believed that Luther nailed these theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, some bookmans have questioned this narrative, which does non happen in any of his ain Hagiographas. Regardless of the mode in which his propositions were made public, they caused great exhilaration and were instantly translated into German and widely distributed. Luther # 8217 ; s spirited defence and farther development of his place through public university argument s in Wittenberg and other cities resulted in an investigation by the Roman Curia that led to the condemnation of his teachings and his excommunication. Summoned to appear before Charles V at the Diet of Worms in April 1521, he was asked before the assembled secular and ecclesiastical rulers to recant. He refused firmly, asserting that he would have to be convinced by Scripture and clear reason in order to do so and that going against conscience is not safe for anyone. Condemned by the emperor, Luther was spirited away by his prince, the elector Frederick the Wise of Saxony, and kept in hiding at Wartburg Castle. There he began his translation of the New Testament from the original Greek into German, a seminal contribution to the development of a standard German language. Disorders in Wittenberg caused by some of his more extreme followers forced his return to the city in March 1521, and he restored peace through a series of sermons. Luther continued his teaching and writing in Witt enberg but soon became involved in the controversies surrounding the Peasants’ War (1524-26) because the leaders of the peasants originally justified their demands with arguments somewhat illegitimately drawn from his writings. He considered their theological arguments false, although he supported many of their political demands. When the peasants turned violent, he angrily denounced them and supported the princes’ effort to restore order. Although he later repudiated the harsh, vengeful policy adopted by the nobles, his attitude toward the war lost him many friends. In the midst of this controversy he married Katharina von Bora, a former nun. The marriage was happy, and his wife became an important supporter in his busy life. After having articulated his basic theology in his earlier writings, he published his most popular book, the Small Catechism, in 1529. By commenting briefly in question and answer form on the Ten Commandments, the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord ’s Prayer, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper, the Small Catechism explains the theology of the evangelical reformation in simple yet colorful language. Not allowed to attend the Diet of Augsburg because he had been banned and excommunicated, Luther had to leave the presentation of the reformers’ position to his friend and colleague Melanchthon. In 1532 Luther’s translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew was published. Meanwhile, his influence spread across northern and eastern Europe. His advocacy of the independence of rulers from papal supervision won him the support of many princes. His fame made Wittenberg an intellectual center. By 1537, Luther’s health had begun to deteriorate, and he felt burdened by the resurgence of the papacy and by what he perceived as an attempt by Jews to take advantage of the confusion among Christians and reopen the question of Jesus’ messiahship. Apprehensive about his own responsibility for this situation, he wrote a violent polemic against the Jews, as well as polemics against the papacy and the radical wing of the reformers, the Anabaptists. In the winter of 1546, Luther was asked to settle a controversy between two young counts who ruled the area of Mansfeld, where he had been born. Old and sick, he went there, resolved the conflict, and died on February 18, 1546, in Eisleben. Luther left behind a movement that quickly spread throughout the Western world. His doctrines, especially justification by faith and the final authority of the Bible, were adopted by other reformers and are shared by many Protestant denominations today. As the founder of the 16th-century Reformation, he is one of the major figures of Christianity and of Western civilization.