My latest bio is one I had been looking forward to–Martin Luther by Eric Metaxis. Metaxis does a good job of giving us a lot of the detailed facts of Luther’s life as well as explicating his philosophy and beliefs. Martin Luther’s primary contribution to humanity was explosive growth of the notion that each individual human had rights, and responsibilities. He accelerated a movement to take power away from governments or other institutions like the Roman Catholic church and give it to individuals. At the same time as this religious reformation was taking place, similar movements were beginning in regard to economics and politics. In Martin Luther’s Europe, religious and political power was commingled, with many rulers claiming legitimacy from the Catholic Church. This was less true in parts of Germany, which facilitated Luther’s ability to spread a new idea about Christian religion.
Luther was born into a well-educated family, with aspirations for its children. Luther showed prodigious intellectual ability early in life and was headed for a career in law. A supposed devine revelation while traveling in a storm led him to become a monk and dedicate his life to religious study. He was an extensive reader, knew multiple languages and was therefore able to study and read the entire Bible. Unbelievably to us, at that time the Church did not make the Bible available to the mass of people and in fact, held itself out as the sole arbiter of religion, the Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests et al, were the infallible interpreters of everything religious. The church officials at this time were essentially corrupt and sought wealth, including by the sale of “indulgences”, religious relics, mostly fake, that supposedly brought relief from sin.
Luther’s study of the Bible and his understanding of Jesus’ message caused him to be horrified by the Church’s practices and he began writing and preaching against these practices. He found fertile ground among the mass of the people and some support among nobles who resented Rome’s pillaging of their territories. Luther was under threat most of his life, but was fearless in expounding his views about the importance of faith and the role of individual conscience and belief. He literally did not seek to destroy the Catholic Church, but to reform it. The Church violently fought back against these efforts, which ultimately led to the creation of new churches of multiple Protestant denominations. He translated the Bible into German and made Church rites and services accessible to the multitudes, preaching in German.
Luther married late and had six children, two of whom died young. He had many followers and admirers and many enemies. He was an outstanding writer but had a tendency to become vituperative, especially in response to personal attacks. His rise was facilitated not only by the complex political environment at the time, but by the development of the printing press, which led to rapid and mass distribution of his writings. From my perspective, it is hard to understate Luther’s role in upending the existing order. He was a seminal spring from which democracy and the free private market economy grew.
