Archive for 2017

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: PART 8 – LEGACY If you stand outside the door of the house where Martin Luther was born in Eisleben, you can see above the rooftops the towers of St. Andreas Church. You can walk to it in 5 to 10 minutes. St. Andreas is still in use today. It rises…

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: PART 7 – FAMILY MAN How did Martin Luther, the bull in the China shop, the… “…fox [that had] arisen seeking to destroy the vineyard, [the] wild boar from the forest [that] seeks to destroy it…” …how did he become the very model of a modern Christian Family Man? My Lord…

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: PART 6 – MONK MARRIES NUN When Martin Luther returned from the Wartburg Castle to Wittenberg, he had much to do (see Part 5). The religious unrest and political protests that had occurred in the city while he was in seclusion needed to stop. At the beginning of Lent, he resumed…

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: PART 5 – KIDNAPPED In 1521 Martin Luther was considered both an enemy of the Church and treasonous in the State. The Roman church had previously excommunicated him with the Papal bull and he has just left the Diet of Worms where the imperial ban of the Edict of Worms had…

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: PART 4 – OUTLAWED Following Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the Wittenberg Door on October 31, 1517, several debates, diets, and disputations occurred where Luther was unsuccessful in convincing the Roman Catholic Church of the correctness of his views. His excommunication in early 1521 removed him from communion with…

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: PART 3 – HERETIC? Following the nailing of the 95 Theses to the northern door of All Saints’ Church, commonly known as the Schlosskirke or Castle Church in Wittenberg 500 years ago on October 31, 1517, (see my previous article on the subject here) Martin Luther got the University debate he…

HISTORY OF MARTIN LUTHER: 500 YEARS AGO This October marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation, ignited by Martin Luther on October 31, 1517. What is the story behind the man who not only changed the course of Christianity but also impacted Western civilization, raised the status of women, influenced the rise…