Martin Luther: Blog #3

Martin Luther’s work brought about a serious change in Germany during the 16^th century at a time when change seemed necessary. Luther’s defiance against the papacy brought about a change in religious ideology but also social change. Considering the way the German nation was ruled during the 16^th century, where few people held rights and the Church was taking advantage of the people it seemed like only a matter of time before a rebellion of some sort occurred. Luther’s actions were the spark of courage the German people needed to bring about a change. While Luther was writing his 95 theses that went against the Catholic Church, he spread the idea that ordinary people had a claim in the church, not just the clergy. He gained support of his ideas very fast, which points to the idea that many people were not happy with the way things were going in the empire. In the video, it said that Luther was the first person to stand up to authority and stay true to his conscience. It speaks a lot of his character that he stood firm in his faith to stand up to the Pope considering the punishment for heresy was often death. Luckily for him, he had help on his side from Frederick the Wise. Luther was just trying to follow the Bible, which he translated into German so the rest of the people could also know truth and the word of God, but it turned into an even bigger rebellion that brought about social change. I thought it was strange that Luther seemed so appalled by the violence that had ensued because of his work but then later he instigated the violence against peasants and Jews and anyone else that stood against his ideas about religion. Luther’s reformation traveled throughout Europe, spreading and taking on different forms. There were Catholics, Protestants, and Calvinists. So in one view, Luther was a remarkable person. His courage and firmness brought about in the long run a sense of freedom of religion. In his book, Schulze explains that in 1555, the Peace of Augsburg gave the rulers of a territory the right to choose the religion of that area, but also granted a person to move to an area where the denomination they wished to practice was established. The down side to the Luther Reformation was it continued to leave Germany divided both culturally and politically since Catholics focused on art and architecture while the Protestant’s focus was on building up the church, music, language, and literature (Schulze, 58,60).


This map shows the distribution of religious government during the 16th century. The yellow indicates a Luthern government and is concentrated mostly in the north east part of the Roman Empire. The blue is a Calvinist government. The green is the Catholic government. The red line shows the boundary of the Holy Roman empire.
Map taken from: http://msaculturaltours.com/BAVARIA/index.html on 9/8/12

This map only shows the separation of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran religion. From this map one can see the division between the religions as with the map from above. The religions didn't intermix really at all. There is a clear boundary where each religion was accepted.
 Map taken from: http://www.korcula.net/history/mmarelic/luther.htm on 9/8/12

 

 This is a picture of the 95 theses that Martin Luther wrote. These strong, firm, and daring statements are the ones  that started the Reformation bringing about a religious, political, and social change in the Germany.
Picture accessed from: http://foraslanandvolstate.wordpress.com/tag/martin-luther-95-theses/ on 9/8/12



This is a picture of the Luther Monument in Worms, Germany. The monument was constructed in 1868 and designed by Ernst Rietschel. Others included in the monument who played an important part in the reformation are Frederick the Wise of Saxony and Phillip of Hesse, John Wycliffe, and Jan Hus.
Photo and caption info accessed from http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/worms-luther-monument.htm on 9/9/12

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