Martin Luther

Life and work

Luther was born in Eisleben and studied law before, following a terrifying thunderstorm in 1505 in which he vowed to become a monk if spared, he abandoned his legal career and entered an Augustinian monastery. He was ordained a priest in 1507 and earned a doctorate in theology, becoming a professor at the new University of Wittenberg.

Luther's intense personal struggle with guilt and the fear of divine judgment led him, through study of Paul's letters, especially Romans, to a breakthrough understanding of justification: that righteousness before God comes not from human effort or merit but is received by grace through faith alone (sola fide) — a conviction he later called his "tower experience."

In October 1517, outraged by the sale of indulgences to fund the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica, Luther wrote his Ninety-Five Theses questioning the practice and, according to long tradition, posted them to the door of the Wittenberg castle church — an act made possible to spread swiftly by the recent invention of the printing press.

Refusing to recant before papal representatives and, in 1521, before the Diet of Worms (where he reportedly declared "Here I stand, I can do no other"), Luther was excommunicated and declared an outlaw. Protected by Elector Frederick the Wise, he hid at Wartburg Castle, where he translated the New Testament into German, a landmark of the German language and a direct challenge to clerical control of scripture.

Luther's mature reform movement produced a new understanding of the church built around scripture alone (sola scriptura), the priesthood of all believers, and a reduced sacramental system, while also involving him in bitter controversies — including his violent condemnation of the Peasants' Revolt of 1525 and deeply troubling, virulently antisemitic writings late in his life that later Lutheran churches have formally repudiated.

Questions and debates

Luther's harsh condemnation of the 1525 Peasants' War, urging German princes to 'smite, slay, and stab' the rebels, alienated many common people who had seen his reform as a movement for their liberation.

Luther's late-life treatise 'On the Jews and Their Lies' (1543) contains virulent antisemitic rhetoric that was later cited by Nazi propagandists; modern Lutheran denominations have formally repudiated these writings.

Historical evidence

In their own words

"Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Amen." (exact wording debated by historians)attributed, Diet of Worms, 1521

"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."Ninety-Five Theses, #1

Further reading

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Martin Luther
• CCEL: Works of Martin Luther