Martin Luther, teacher

Martin Luther 1483 - 1546

It was on this date in 1546 that Martin Luther, the church reformer, died at the age of 62.  Luther was born in 1483 in Eisleben, Germany.  He was a professor of theology, composer, priest and monk.  He called into question several practices of the Roman Catholic Church and in 1517, angry with Pope Leo X’s new round of indulgences to help build St. Peter’s Basilica, nailed a list of 95 Theses (objections) to the University of Wittenberg’s chapel door.

He was tried by the Diet of Worms, a secular tribunal.  Although it could give Luther no scripture references to refute any of his positions, it condemned him as a heretic and Luther became a fugitive.  Some friends concealed him in Wartburg Castle.  It was here that he completed his work of translating the New Testament into German. 

Though still a wanted man he established a new church that later became the Lutheran Church.  He eventually married and had six children.  He administered his church for several years before dying of complications from a stroke.

He is revered for his scholarship and bravery and rightly so.  He is the principal shaker and mover of The Protestant Reformation.  He is not without spot or blemish, though.  In 1524 there was a rebellion by the peasant class of in the city of Eisenach.  Luther took the side of the German princes, who were financially supporting his church.  Thousands of peasants died in the struggle.

Luther was also fiercely Anti-Semitic.   He published The Jews and Their Lies, a 65,000-word treatise, in 1543 that called for confiscation of all Jewish-held lands and properties, the destruction of all houses of worship and prayer books, the forbidding of preachers to preach and the conduct of religious services, and their expulsion from Germanic lands.