Religion and Theology

Martin Luther the priest (1483-1546) is widely remembered as a highly influential world figure that boldly resisted the institutions of the empire and the papacy and spearheaded a reformation that would forever change the life, organization, worship, and teaching of the Christian church. The reforms introduced by Luther also left an everlasting impression on the history of Western civilization and governments. Yet, while making reflection about his life, there is a general tendency to overlook his most treasured lifestyle that of being a pastor as well as shepherd of the souls which chose to commit themselves to the Christian religious walk. At the birth of the Reformation in Germany, Martin Luther became greatly concerned that his parishioners were deeply engrossed in purchasing letters of indulgence from the church and subsequently walking in the deception that absolution was an assurance for their salvation. Through various sermons, lectures, and well-thought Bible commentaries, Luthers pastoral concerns became deeply revealed in the Christian circles (Luther  Tappet, 2003, p.13).

Martin Luther the Priest
On November 10, 1483, a son was born in the German village of Eisleben to Hans Luder (Luther) and his wife Margarethe popularly referred to as nee Lindermann. He was the couples first child and they gave him the name Martin Luther. On the following day after Martin Luther was born, his parents introduced him to Christian life and he received Roman Catholic baptism. At the time of Martin Luthers birth, Germany was part of the expansive Holy Roman Empire. In 1484, Luthers family moved to Mansfield where his father made a living through copper mining and smelting. Hans Luther and his wife are said to have been a very hard-working couple. Martin Luther is said to have been well aware of this special characteristic about his parents and is said to have hailed them for making it possible to pursue education up to university level. Hans Luther wanted his eldest son to study law and sent him to Latin schools in their resident town of Mansfield. In 1497, the senior Luther sent his son to school in Magdeburg where he would learn under the care of a Christian lay group known as Brethren of the Common Life. Within the same year, the young Luther moved to St. Georges School in Eisenach where he continued learning until 1501 when he joined the University of Erfurt at the age of 19 years. Four years later in 1505, Martin Luther received his masters degree from the same institution. In accordance with his fathers will, Luther enrolled at the institutions school of law, but the uncertainty that such a career represented made him drop the course almost immediately. His yearning for something that would give him assurance in life drew him towards philosophy and theology. However, philosophy also failed to quench his inner desires because it advocated the use of reason instead of the love of God that Luther so much craved for. Martin Luther felt that reason was not a pathway to developing a relationship with God, and for this reason, he hated the philosopher Aristotle whom he had earlier admired. For Luther, God was above reason and knowledge about him could only be achieved through reading of scripture and divine revelation of the same (Mckim, 2003, pp. 4-5).

On July 2, 1505, Martin Luther had a thunderstorm encounter while returning home on horseback which made him very much afraid of death. Fifteen days later, Martin Luther reversed his decision and to his fathers disappointment, the young Luther opted to join the monastery and train as a monk. On July 17, 1505, he joined the Augustinian friary in Erfurt. Hans Luther was overly angry with his son and considered the young mans decision as a waste of all the education he had worked so hard to pay for. As a monk, Luther practiced a deep spiritual life characterized by prayer, frequent confession, fasting, and pilgrimage. But the young monk was later to admit that such kind of life was futile because instead of gaining his soul, he had dedicated his life to spiritual despair and in the process had lost touch with Christ who was the savior and comforter of souls. In 1507, Luther was ordained as priest and one year later, he took a teaching job at the University of Wittenbergs school of theology. On March 9, 1508, he acquired a Bachelors degree in Biblical studies and another one in 1509 in which he specialized in commentating on Peter Lombards document entitled Sentences. On October 19, 1512, Martin Luther was awarded a Doctorate Degree in Theology by the University of Wittenberg, and three days later, he was admitted into the universitys faculty of theology where he was to serve for the rest of his career life. For ten years between 1510 and 1520, Luther furnished students at Wittenberg University with lectures on various Biblical books such as Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and the Psalms. It was through these Biblical studies that Luther developed a new view of Christianity. They drew him further and further away from the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and he began a new chapter in his life through which he would make tremendous contribution to Christianity not only during his time but for all the time this religion would be practiced after his death (McGrath  Marks, 2004, pp. 40-42).

Martin Luthers Contribution to Christianity
For many centuries, there was a widespread assumption that what Christians received from the priests, bishops, and other authorized bearers of the Christian faith was unquestionably true and was in harmony with scriptural teachings of the prophets and apostles. Martin Luther however defied church tradition to introduce a new kind of Christian belief where believers were given room for doubt by advocating that the Roman Catholic Church had all along been giving people the wrong doctrine. He especially openly condemned the churchs involvement in war and argued that teaching the right doctrine rather than violence was the best method of resolving conflict. According to Luther, the Roman Catholic Church had replaced the scripture with human reason in its teachings and had put obedience to the law above Christ as having power to remove sin. Only Christ had power to remove sin. This raised conflict with the papacy and other church authorities that led to Martin Luthers excommunication from the office of priest in the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, he had succeeded in establishing a new tradition in the Christian faith in which the Word of God or scripture became the object of faith and also the means by which this faith was evoked. Between 1514 and 1520, Martin Luther indulged in the study and interpretation of a new kind of theology that decisively broke from the old-time theology and finally from the Roman Catholic Church. Luthers criticism of church authority sparked the Reformation through which the Roman Catholic Church lost its domination of Europe, and Protestantism was introduced into Christianity (McGrath  Marks, pp. 23-24, 41-42). Yet, Martin Luther was very moderate and also careful in his criticisms against political authority. He did not deny the fact that the pope was a supreme ruler but only raised the issue that the papacy practiced human instead of divine right in administering his duties. In such way, he set an example that the Christian church should follow in terms of balancing Christian values and political authority so that people can live in peace.  However, his utterances were not taken kindly by some and this was an indication that Christian opinion can sometimes elicit political uproar, but this should not make Christians live in fear (McGiffert, 2003, p. 141).

Martin Luther deeply committed himself to preaching against religious indulgences which he warned would lead to negligence of the pure relationship with God that comes through repentance, confession, and satisfactions. Through the 95 Theses, Luther openly condemned worldliness and greed in the Christian Church and viewed these habits as arising from indulgences. Indulgences referred to church certificates that Christians were issued with as a sign of forgiveness or remission for sins within the Roman Catholic Churchs penitential system. These indulgences could even be offered for relatives who had died in sin, and in such way, people had begun to put their trust in these letters instead of crying for Gods mercy. Martin Luther openly despised this type of cheap grace and called for the abolition of any form of works that led Christians to think that they had obtained forgiveness. He also proposed various other changes in Christian practice such as clerical marriage, giving of the bread and wine during Holy Communion, abolition of Christian masses during funerals as well as the removal of the papacy from German church administration. Luther advocated for the introduction of biblical teachings and languages as part of university curricula. Through various publications and lectures, Martin Luther instituted a change to the way theology had previously been taught. He introduced a new style of theology by working his own views on justification found in his treatise Against Latomus.  Other publications covering this issue were Bondage of the Will and Commentary on the Magnificat, among others. Through these and various other works, Martin Luther the priest is remembered as one of the most famous theologians that ever lived in the history of the Christian church. Many 16th Christians have hailed him as a pioneer in the defense of truth and religious freedoms (Mckim, 2003, p. 44).

Through the Reformation, Martin Luther introduced a new aspect in Christian life the serious study of the Word of God. It was through such serious study that he got the revelations that salvation was by Gods grace and through faith in him alone. During his career at the University of Wittenberg, Luther encouraged evangelism by engaging in serious discussions with the faculty and staff and also with his students. He passionately spoke about salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and taught that salvation was mans free gift from God and could therefore not be bought through any kind of works to the church such as buying of indulgences. When the cardinals at Rome warned him to withdraw his criticisms, Luther boldly replied to them that he would only do so if there was scriptural evidence stating otherwise. It was such a bold attitude that paved way for the birth of the Protestant Reformation. Even after his ex-communication from the Roman Catholic Church and subsequent trials at the Diet of Augsburg and Diet of Worms, Luther still stood his ground. Hence, a new generation of Christians who were ready to defend their faith had been born (McGiffert, 2003, pp. 91-92, 118-126, 192-194).

Martin Luther also introduced the system of teaching Christian doctrine in churches by introducing the catechism as the simplest method of furnishing Christians with basic knowledge about their faith. He wrote a manual for pastors and Bible teachers referred to as the Large Catechism as well as the Small Catechism which the believers were supposed to memorize. By providing easy-to-comprehend devotional and instructional material on such biblical topics as the Lords Prayer, Ten Commandments, Lords Supper, baptism, and Apostles Creed, Christians would not only be able to learn the basics of their faith but understand them as well. Through the works of Martin Luther the Priest, clear religious teaching found its way into the church and into peoples lives as well. The Small Catechism proved especially helpful to parents who wished to instill Christian doctrine in their children. In 1522, Martin Luther published a new translation of the New Testament in the German language, and by 1534, he and others were able to complete a translation of the Old Testament as well. In such way, a German translation of the whole Bible was published. His main aim was to get rid of the difficulties and impediments that had always characterized biblical understanding, and he purposed to enable other people apart from the clergy to read the Bible without hindrance. The Luther Bible paved way for other vernacular translations, and soon after, the King James Bible and William Tyndales English Bible were also in circulation (McKim, 2003, pp. 43-44).  Martin Luther succeeded in linking the Old and New Testaments to bring out an understanding of the Bible and Gods forgiving love through Christ in a way that Christians had not experienced for a long time. He devoted himself to using the scripture to interpret various issues in the daily lives of the people. In such way, Luther made Bible text more clear and understandable but not without much criticism. To Luther, the Bible was a practical book and he was determined to share this knowledge freely with others (McGiffert, 2003, pp. 60-63). By protesting against the Roman Catholic Churchs interpretation of scripture, Martin Luther became a pioneer for individual study of the Word of God. Both individual and group Bible studies were now encouraged among Christians. Today, evangelical Protestant churches have established the Bible study program as one of the largest entities in majority of these Christian institutions (Welch, 2005, p. 316).

Through his writings, Martin Luther adopted the style in Pauls letters through which the study of the Bible brought together issues such as theological questions and ethics, as well as life and faith issues. Luther refreshed the Christian interpretation about how Christians should conduct their daily lives regarding their motivation, worldly vocation, and content in their action. This he did through various publications which included The Freedom of a Christian, Two Kinds of Righteousness and Treatise on Good Works among others (Mckim, 2003, p. 53). Martin Luther also studied and critically evaluated the Quran but did not advocate its abolishment arguing that the papacy and other false Christians lived freely under their false doctrines. However, Luther also proved that even the clergy are human beings who can sometimes be overwhelmed by personal opinion. His writings about the Jews reveal a human being who was unable to forgive this race for the murder of his savior. Yet, despite his stern opposition towards the Jews for their rejection of the Messiah, Luther criticized those who pointed an accusing finger at the Jews while living in sin themselves. He advocated that Jews were to be treated with kindness although their continued failure to convert eventually created feelings of bitterness and resentment in the priest towards this race. Luthers anti-Jewish rhetoric is said to have contributed to the ruthless treatment of this race in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. The Protestant Church was influenced by his anti-Jewish writings to encourage the very violence that it had shunned in the Catholic Church. Various scholars have however defended Luther and argued that his position against the Jews was purely religious and not racial and that the Nazis had no legal ground to hide behind Luthers thoughts in their negative treatment of the Jewish race (Mckim, 2003, p. 114).

Martin openly criticized social disorder, and although he advocated that rulers and other appointed authorities were the only ones who could institute pleasing changes, he also challenged Christians to defy participation in discredited Roman Catholic practices. He also encouraged them to raise their voices and demand for reforms. In his publication, Temporal Authority To what Extent It Should be Obeyed, written in 1523, Luther however defended the divine authority of the political government, stressed its limits in controlling faith or conscience, and laid out the character of a wise Christian leader. Martin Luther argued that the states role in peoples lives was to maintain order but never to force them to believe or even interfere with the preaching of the church. He expressed this through his critique of Muntzer entitled To the Princes of Saxony Concerning the Rebellious Spirit, which was published in 1524. He also wrote various publications that addressed the Christians role in the military which was addressed through such great works as, Whether Soldiers Too Can Be Saved, Warning to His Dear German People, and Appeal for Prayer Against the Turks among others. In his commentary on Psalm 101, Luther clearly laid out his opinions about the character of a Christian prince. When the Peasants War open rebellion broke out in the German province of Thuringia, Luther spoke out and asked for a clear distinction between the institutions of religion and law.  Luther felt that the peasants were not only guilty of violating the peace that Christians must display but that they were also blasphemous. He urged the ruling princes to protect the institution of the law and take action against the peasants. The peasants had taken religion too far by trying to share out among themselves what belonged to the wealthy. While the Roman Church blamed Luther for the outbreak of the rebellions, the peasants were embittered that he had betrayed them. By addressing such conflicts, Martin Luther had laid a foundation for the separation of church and state powers (McKim, 2003, pp.14-15, 43, 54).

Regarding Christian faith, Martin Luther admitted that people had the knowledge that a God actually exists but deeply felt that they failed to differentiate what was or was not the will of this God. He rejected the popular assumption by medieval scholars that reason and logic could lead to knowledge of God as well as the medieval mystics theory that ecstasy or self-mortification were paths to the knowledge of God. Luther advocated that the knowledge of God and that of his will could only be found in Jesus Christ. He also created a new understanding of sin, arguing that sin does not only refer to the wrong acts but also to the denial of the existence of God. Wrong orientation according to Martin Luther led to disbelief, lack of trust, and fear for God as well as reluctance to give him the glory that he so well deserves and that these shortcomings are, in reality, sin itself. He introduced the revelation that sin broke mans fellowship with God and that it is God who takes the initiative to revive such fellowship. In Christ, the grace of God was manifested when God took mans sin and suffered on his behalf, encouraged reconciliation with man, and also offered him pardon and forgiveness. Despite mans sinful nature, God accepted him back by offering the gift of eternal life through repentance. Martin Luther taught that salvation of humankind could not be acquired through good deeds but was a gift that God had freely given to those who believed in his son Jesus Christ as the one who was sent to redeem from sin. The Word of God and not indulgence, and only in believing in its content and pursuing a commitment to God through Jesus Christ and not through doctrine, leads man to this forgiveness and eternal life. Those who have faith in God have God. He challenged the papacy and Roman Catholic Church doctrine which advocated that baptism automatically ushered a Christian into holy priesthood. According to Luther, the Bible was and would remain the only source of knowledge and that such knowledge was acquired through reading the Bible and the revelation of the Word that followed. After his ex-communication from the church for example, Luther was able to sneak back to Wittenberg where through lecturers, he stressed the Christian values of love, freedom, charity, and patience and reminded the citizens that change could not be achieved through violence but only through Gods Word. Such kind of Christian teaching had not been heard in the church for a long time, and by reviving it, Martin Luther took the church back to the teachings of the Apostles. The church was experiencing a rebirth and Luther worked together with other renowned Reformation figures to modify new church practices and banish violence from the Christian circles (Luther  Tappert, 2003, pp.14-15).

Apart from spearheading Bible translation and introducing new Christian style of biblical teaching, Martin Luther is also renowned as a very creative hymn writer and one who introduced congregational singing in Christian worship. One of his most famous hymns is the famous A Mighty Fortress id Our God, and through this and other hymns that he wrote, Luther introduced a tradition in the Christian Church where folk music and high art were brought together in such way that German hymns became part of Christian worship services. He developed hymns about the Creed, Lords Prayer, Psalms (From the Depths of Woe I Cry to You  Psalms 130) and subsequently encouraged the introduction of Psalms in German worship as well. Through the introduction of hymns during Christian worship, Luther imparted the culture of singing that is found in Christian churches today. In 1526, Luther introduced a new style of worship in German church services through his publication, The German Mass and Order of Service. This style of worship has influenced Protestant church services to this day (Mckim, 2003, p. 31).

Perhaps the most remarkable contribution to Christianity and one that created so much fame for Martin Luther was his daring reevaluation of clerical marriage in a landmark publication which he entitled Sermon on the Estate of Marriage.  In 1525, Martin Luther left monkhood and got married to a former nun, Katharina von Bora. He further underscored this type of freedom in his treatise, The Judgment of Martin Luther on Monastic Vows. Other publications such as Marriage Matters and The Estate of Marriage explored the issue even further. Martin Luther also addressed the relationship between parents and children through the treatise, That Parents Should Neither Compel Nor Hinder Their Children. Another of his treatises entitled The Sermon on the Mount became a biblical basis for Christian ethics and discipleship. Apart from the six children that Martin and Katharina gave birth to, Luther was also said to have taken in orphaned children from his two deceased sisters and his wifes aunt. Foreign guests and students also sought accommodation in this house and Luthers household was said to have been immense in size. Perhaps for Luther, this was a practical way of the Christian requirement to show compassion to the needy. By combining marriage and various other activities in his life, Luther proved to the Christian church that it was possible to hold various offices at the same time while serving God in all. He was a husband, father, friend, preacher, pastor, professor, writer, and Bible commentator. In all these fields, he worked hard to make known his opinions about Christianity. Martin Luther created a legacy as a brilliant rhetorical speaker, great theologian, as well as successful reformer. He worked hard to find answers to life from the scripture. Deducing from such kind of personal devotion, it is quite clear that Martin Luther the priest was not working to build a reputation for himself but to make Christendom as realistic as it should be. To do this, he had to go beyond the reason that had ruled religious circles for so long (McKim, 2003, pp.15, 31, 53, 87, 155). Luther was said to have had a reasonably enjoyable married life unlike most of the worlds great men.  Marriage helped to keep this famous prophet human (McGiffert, 2003, p. 304).

In 1542, Martin Luthers favorite child Magdalene died in her fathers arms. Luther wept bitterly on the floor beside her bed as he prayed to God for her restoration. The girl died anyway and despite all the consolations of the Gospel that Luther had brought to others and his strong faith, the pastor suffered affliction. Through this experience, Martin Luther faced the reality of human grief and in such way was even more encouraged to identify with others who were faced with similar affliction (McGiffert, 2003, p. 304).

Conclusion
The history of the church cannot be evaluated without deep reference to the contributions of Martin Luther the priest. This courageous 16th Century priest defied church tradition and boldly went against the papacy and empire to institute various changes that would affect the Christian Church for the rest of its existence. He became an epitome of what determination can do in bringing change and also introduced a new light into Christian teaching. The famous theologian spearheaded the translation of the Bible into different languages other than Latin. As a result, the Word of God has subsequently spread to the uttermost parts of the earth. It was through the Reformation that Protestantism was born, and he was the man behind the creation of the Lutheran Church. Though Luthers legacy had been highly controversial, his contribution to Christianity will forever remain, since he passionately spearheaded the process of making the Word of God easily accessible and understood by every human.