Martin Luther: The Man, the Myth, the Legend

Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of sixteenth century peeps. Did C(atholicism) think ML would go down without a fight? Or can these two hotties work it out? There's nothing Gossip Girl likes more than a good cat fight. And this could be a classic.

Round 2

What is Lutheranism? "Protestant" was the term given to any person that was Christian but not Catholic. During the Confession of Augsburg in 1530, Lutheran Protestantism was officially developed.

Luther's answers on the four main theological questions:

• How is a person to be saved? - Salvation comes from faith alone and only God can initiate salvation.
• Where does religious authority reside? - The authority of the church rests solely on the bible (sorry Pope).
• What is the church? - Luther agreed with Catholics in that the church consists of the entire community of believers.
• What is the highest form of Christian life? - There is no clerical hierarchy in Lutheranism. Everyone is of equal importance to the church.
• Also, while this is not a theological question, it is important to note that the Catholic idea of transubstantiation, the idea that the bread and wine served during the Eucharist literally transforms into the body and blood of Christ, is abandoned by Luther. He believed in consubstantiation, the belief that the bread and wine do undergo a spiritual change so that Christ is simply present in the Eucharist but is not actually the Eucharist.

You tell 'em Martin...

Ok, so now that we got that out of the way, lets dive deeper into the person that is THE MARTIN LUTHER (not to be confused with the better Martin Luther...I'm just saying).

People Attracted to Martin Luther:

City governments were attracted to Luther because they did not like how much power the Catholic Church had over their municipalities. This also leads to an issue of intention - did governmental leaders leave Catholicism so that they could severe ties with the Pope (more power for kings) OR were they actually seeking religious reformation? Food for thought!

Priests, many illiterate or dabbling in other things (sex, drugs, alcohol), gave lame sermons. Preacherships were established to combat the poor quality of sermons. Preachers were well-educated men who delivered lengthy and inspiring talks. This became a dangerous tool for the Protestants to use against the Catholic Church.

Preachers to the uneducated priests.

Peasants were suppressed by terrible economic constraints and Luther's ideals seemed to justify reason to rebel against authority. Initially Luther was like "yeah sure I love you guys too BUT (he likes big buts) now you have to respect your leaders and if you don't it's ok for them to stab or execute you." 

Scott Disick or Martin Luther??

Martin Luther: Self-Proclaimed Ladies' Man

Luther's only idea about women and the church was that marriage was a woman's career. So, women flocked to a religion that basically said what everyone else did: women are inferior and are meant to stay in the house and make babies. For some reason, the fact of a religion even acknowledging women was appealing and, therefore, many found it a religion that empowered them. Martin, ex-Friar, later married Katharina von Bora, ex-nun...go figure!

Martin Luther to his wife.

Class Discussion: On Christian Liberty by Martin Luther

• "Man has a twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily one."
• "It is evident that no external thing has any influence in producing Christian righteousness or freedom, or in producing unrighteousness or servitude."
• "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all."

In On Christian Liberty, Luther frequently contradicts himself.

Is it accurate to say that man has two parts? Man's spiritual and physical lives work against each other, according to Luther. Even in trying to justify Luther's logic here, On Christian Liberty is a piece of work that is telling of Luther's hypocrisy. 

And who am I? That's another secret I'll never tell. You know you love me. 
XOXO, Gossip Girl 

BANG! Till next time my loves!