Martin Luther

Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church to point out the corruption he saw in the Catholic church.

I can sympathize with Luther and support him hanging his 95 theses at the beginning of his career as a reformer.   However, as time went on and Luther became a revolutionary, I think his actions became too extreme. At first, he just wanted to positively change the church. I think it is good that he was able to see the deeply rooted corruption of the church and tried to point it out to others in order to bring about a turn for the good. It was also a smart move on his part when he received such a negative reaction from the church to appeal to the German nobility. I can also respect his courage to stick to what he thought was right and not back down even when he was possibly facing his death. Starting with his time of isolation however, I think his grip on reality may have begun to slip. By then he fully supported an all-out religious revolution. He did not seem to predict that with how deeply embedded religion was in the culture of that time, a cultural revolution was called for as well. When he was able to return to his home, he was shocked to see the changes that had been made in the name of the change he had been demanding. He did not completely agree with what was being done, and yet it did not seem to occur to him to tone it down. He saw demons and the apocalypse everywhere and only seemed to grow more extreme. I think he took it far too far when some peasants interpreted his words as calling for a political revolution and started an uprising. Instead of taking responsibility for his influence and trying to correct the peasants, he demands that they be brutally cut down.   

Wartburg Castle, where Luther went into hiding

 

Martin Luther’s revolution was started in Germany and spread to affect all of Europe. At the time, Luther’s efforts helped bring distinction to an other wise often looked down upon German Nation.  Because of him, German was the first language of the common people for the Bible to be translated into.   The conflict that he helped sparked has had long lasting effects; Even today Germany is largely split into a Catholic and Protestant sides. 

Luther was the first to make it possible for non clergymen to read the bible.

Assignment 2: History

Ernest Crofts' A Scene from the Thirty Years' War 

 

I find the time period during which the Thirty Years War took place to be both sad and intriguing. I understand that the Catholic Church at that time was extremely corrupt and abused its influence over its followers, but the level of violence that resulted from disagreements over how the church should be run is just ridiculous in my mind. It’s tragic that such a large number of people died over a split in a religion that is supposed to teach love and peace. It’s more understandable on the Catholic side because the average person didn’t have access to the bible and had to believe in the authorities of the church, most of which had political connections of some sort. While Protestants had reasons to angry with the tyrannical Catholic Church, you would think that with the translation of the Bible, its followers would have a better understanding of their own religion. Then again, being an American at this time and age, religious freedom and tolerance is the norm for me. Back then religion played a bigger role in people’s lives and it was used as a tool by leaders to control their people. But the conflict between the people at that time has left lingering friction that still affects people in Germany today. 

Luther's translated bible allowed non scholars to read the religious texts themselves.

 

        If you take a step back, the Thirty Years War looks like a needlessly bloody fight for power under the name of religion by tyrannical leaders who controlled the ignorant masses. Living in the time and place that we do, such a thing seems like a ridiculous thing of the past. Yet even in the American land of religious freedom, we see such hostility towards Muslim Americans today. We are supposed to have separation of church and state, and yet politicians should obvious prejudices against religions that aren’t that different from their own.  The European people of the middle ages at least had the excuse that most people weren’t educated and reliable information could be hard to come by. While the conflict today isn’t as bad as the Thirty Years War, it is still sad that there is so much ignorance in our modern world of easily accessible information. 

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