The Influence of Martin Luther

           The video Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary, chronicled the conflict between Luther and the Catholic church, the impact Martin Luther’s work had on the birth of the Reformation, and the growing desire for religious freedom of peasants across Europe.

            Martin Luther, a German monk, left his mark on history by challenging the ideas of the powerful Catholic Church. Luther waged his battle against the Catholic Church using the power of the pen. Luther argued against the need for the clergy to be the middleman between a person and their relationship with God. He sparked the change in Germany for the rejection of the need for the rituals within the Catholic faith and shed light on the expensive needs of the Papacy and their wasteful spending of money.

Martin Luther’s On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, published in 1520. In this, Luther rejects the Catholic Church’s seven sacraments by asserting they are not in the Bible.

One of Martin Luther’s most radical and revolutionary pieces of work were the Ninety-Five Theses he posted on the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, Saxony. This document was revolutionary not only for it’s ideas but for how quickly the ideas spread through out Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. One of the points I found the most intriguing was that Martin Luther was able to take advantage of the new technology of the printing press in order to quickly spread his idea. He was able to share his ideas with the people of the empire faster than the Catholic Church was able to condemn them.  Luther was the one of the first people to show how the printing press was an effective way to spread ideas not only to the people in power but to the common people. Martin Luther was able to effectively start a grass roots campaign for religious freedom among the peasants of the Holy Roman Empire.

The doors of the All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg were Martin Luther posted The Ninety-Five These, sparking the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

Martin Luther was also an influential figure because he was unwilling to recant his ideas about the Catholic Church and held true to his words. In his works, Luther used crude language, witty writing, and the vernacular in order to relate his ideas to the common people of the empire. I find it interesting that Martin Luther saw it more effective to target his writing to the common people rather than the princes or those in power. It was by connecting to the common people that Luther was able to withstand the counter attacks of the Catholic Church. This represented a shift in Germany from seeing the Catholic Church as a powerful force to accepting the ideas of the Reformation.

This is one of the many images that Martin Luther included in this writing in which the Pope is depicted as the antichrist. He also depicted the pope as the devil or as a pig. 

The ideas of his work were so insurgent and inspiring that peasants took Luther’s ideas for religious freedom and applied them to freedom from local lords and the search for social freedom. I find it interesting that Luther’s ideas went further than he anticipated or wanted. His ideas were so inspiring that they caused an uproar for political freedom. Martin Luther himself was so inspiring because he showed that one man can stand up to the powerful authority of the time and incite change. This shows how impactful and powerful the written word can be and how differing interpretation of words can lead to more conflict and unforeseen consequences. His works ended up not only prompting the religious freedom of people of German but for the social freedom as well.

Overall, Martin Luther is an important figure for German history because his instigated religious and social changes, and stood up against one of the most powerful forces of the time, the Catholic Church, and came out victorious.

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