Martin Luther:
Reformation Undone
Painting is of Luther posting 95 theses by Ferdinand Pauwels, 1872. Whether Martin Luther actually posted his theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg has been a matter of some debate. There is more consensus that Luther sent copies of his 95 Theses to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz and Bishop Jerome of Brandenburg.
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Due to Marting Luther, the single church created by Emperor Constantine was faced with a challenger over an issue as old as the dispute between the apostle Paul and Jesus’ brother James. Was salvation from eternal damnation to be found as a matter of works or as a matter of faith?
Luther would take his historic stand at Wittenburg – placing himself in opposition to the combined weight of more than a millennium of accreted Catholic dogma. His 95 theses unleashed the forces of people, faith and politics against papal authority and the economic hegemony of a single European church-state.
November 2023
“Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason,
I do not accept the authority of popes and councils,
for they have contradicted each other – my conscience
is captive to the Word of God.
I cannot and I will not recant anything,
for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.
God help me.”
– Martin Luther before
the diet of Worms, 1521
In 1517, an Augustinian monk reputedly posted a notice requesting a public discussion at Germany’s Wittenburg University. With his 95 Theses, thirty-three year old monk Martin Luther declared an end to the 1,200 year era of holy Roman Catholic hegemony over Christian belief and practice.
For Luther, the issue at hand related to the increasingly pervasive practice of selling indulgences – relief from the eternal damnation or purgatory in exchange for a monetary contribution toward the building of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. Martin’s Theses were aimed squarely at papal authority – both temporal and spiritual. Thesis #5 made this purpose eminently clear: “The pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties beyond those imposed either at his own discretion or by canon law.”
By the time he gets to Thesis #86, Martin has become more personal in his attack: “Again: since the pope’s income today is larger than that of the wealthiest of wealthy men, why does he not build this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the money of indigent believers?”
The reformation of “protestants” that Luther launched carries forward as the dominant event of Christianity for the subsequent 500 years to this 21st century. Unfortunately, this reformation is incomplete. The Christian revolution was aborted – by none other than Luther himself.
More so than the other heretics of the Christian faith, Martin Luther changed not only the church, he changed the state. The economic and social energies unleashed by the Reformation heralded the end of feudalism, the triumph of capitalism, the resurgence of education, and, eventually, the swelling tide of democracy.
If the 21st century still resonates in the liberating dynamic released by these tidal forces, we nonetheless are constrained within a socio-religious fortress that Luther reinforced. Jesus remains a caricature, imprisoned within a Nicene Creed that remains supreme.
To the dominant church of the era, Martin Luther’s heresy came in his challenge to papal authority. To those who value the divine, Luther’s heresy was the claim of salvation through grace, not works. But these heresies were nothing new; Luther was merely rediscovering and again unleashing the power of a Pauline ministry 1,500 years earlier.
For those who have lived in the ensuing five centuries of Luther’s legacy, the real heresy lies in Luther’s failure to complete the Reformation he started. Luther failed to throw off the shackles of Nicaea, to accept and celebrate diverse interpretations of the Jesus message, and to center a revived church on the message of creative conflict rather than monolithic uniformity. That time, that fulfillment of reformation, has yet to come.
For more detail regarding the topic of Luther’s heresy, click here on Reformation Undone. For a synopsis of all the heresy topics covered by this web site, click on 12 Heresies of Christianity. Or click on any images for other topics of interest below.