Luther's early challenge to the catholic church Flashcards
What was Luther’s first education?
From the age of five, Luther attended school, walking daily for eight years to a local school in Mansfeld, where the curriculum consisted of Latin and religion and much rote learning.
What was discipline like at Luther’s first school ( in Mansfeld)?
It was tough-he later recalled that he once endured 15 beatings in one day because he had failed to do some homework.
After his first school (in Mansfeld) where was he sent?
To board at a grammar school in the city of Madgeburg, one of the largest cities in the HRE. This school may have been one of a number run by the Brethren of Common Life; Erasmus had attended another in Denventer.
Where did Luther go to school after Magdeberg?
Another grammar school, this time in Eisenach
in 1500 or 1501, when Luther was 16 or 17 he enrolled at the university of Erfurt. Most started at around 14, why might it be that Luther was older?
Perhaps because his father had to save for the necessary fees.
Though Luther always presented his decision to become a monk as something very sudden, the result of a terrifying experience during a storm, why has it been suggested that the storm was to validate a decision already made?
Because for years Luther had been absorbing the same education that was traditionally provided for clergy. Recent events focused his mind more than ever on his own salvation; a serious accident with a knife had nearly killed him and some of his friends had died of plague. He’d also been depressed for about 6 months before his decision. The storm excuse may have been used to placate his angry father. St Anne after all was the patron saint of miners.
Luther first joined the Erfurt branch of St Augustine. Describe the Augustinians
The Augustinians had been formed in 1256, and by 1500 had over 2000 branches in Germany. It was a strict order, already reformed, and was not ‘closed’; They worked in the community as teachers and university lecturers. In theory, therefore, they were Friars, though Luther referred to himself as a monk.
If his ‘table talk’ is to be believed, Luther could not have been more conscientious as a monk, how so?
He subjected himself to severe discipline, even removing blankets in his icy cell; he fasted until he was skeletal; he prayed for hours at a stretch; he confessed his sins at exhausting length. His acute anxieties about death and salvation threatened his health.
Did Luther’s severe discipline help his anxieties about death and salvation?
Nothing he did could relieve his sense of despair; he could never do enough to merit salvation.
When and where was Luther born?
He was born in the small tow of Eisleben Saxony. his mother couldn’t remember which year, but the rest of his family thought it was 1483
How did Luther ( wrongly) project himself in later life?
He claimed to be a ‘man of the people’ who had come from humble origins and had endured deprivation, poverty and strict discipline.
What was Luther’s actual financial situation?
His family were actually reasonably successful Thuringian farmers in electoral saxony, and they had carefully consolidated land through marriage. His father Hans supervised several mine shafts when they moved to Mansfield, and was viewed as level headed, hard working business man; he was chosen as one of four citizens to sit on the town council in 1581. His mother’s family, the Lindemanns, were urban, professional and highly educated.
Why should Luther’s recollections of exceptionally harsh discipline, e’g “for the sake of stealing a mere nut, my mother beat me until the blood flowed”, be viewed with scepticism?
His mother Margarethe ‘possessed all the virtues which are fitting in an honourable woman’, according to Melanchton, Luther’s deputy from 1519. Honesty and unquestioning obedience to parental authority was expected at the time , and Luther later said ‘they meant well by it’.
When did Luther join the Erfurt branch of the reformed Augustinian order?
1505
When did Luther travel to Rome on business for his order?
1510-11
When did Luther begin teaching theology in the University of Wittenberg
1512
When did Luther address a meeting of the Augustinian order of Heidelberg
1518
When did Cajetan interview Luther?
October 1518
When was the papal bill ‘Exsurge Domine’?
June 1520
When was Charles V elected HRE?
June 1519
When were the Leipzig debates with Dr Eck?
July 1519
When did Luther write the 3 pamphlets?
August-November 1520
When did Luther Burn the papal bill ‘Exsurge Domine’?
December 1520
When was Luther excommunicated?
January 1521
What did Luther base his lectures on upon deciding that take the humanist ‘ad fontes’ approach to teaching?
His own detailed examination of the Bible and the works of St Augustine, and when Erasmus’ new testament in Greek was published in 1516, he used that, painstakingly teaching himself Greek.
What does the fact that, in 1517 Luther wrote an attack on the scholastic teaching approach as divorced from reality and artificial ( thus seriously annoying his old teachers at Erfurt) mean?
This suggests that he already supported the view that the scriptures and work of the early church fathers were more important than medieval thinkers.
What is ‘Sola scriptura’?
The belief that the truth concerning spiritual matters is in the scripture alone, which must be translated into the vernacular to make the Word of God accessible to all, interpretation, however must be reserved for state-approved preachers
At first, Luther “hated this just God who punishes sinners”. how did he find a way to make the Augustine theory palatable?
He found relief in St Paul’s words: “the righteous shall live with faith”’ and Luther interpreted this as to mean that faith, and faith alone, was the key to salvation, A person just had to repent and believe in God’s Mercy.
Why is it debatable that ‘sola Fide’ and ‘sola scriptura’ were already Luther’s Key beliefs by 1517?
He did not express the view explicitly until 1520, and in his ‘Autobiographical fragment’ he said that he only made his ‘breakthrough’ in 1519
Frederick the wise’s fury about Tetzel’s sale of indulgences was based on politics and money, how was politics an issue?
Tetzel’s employer, albert of Mainz, was a member of the Hohenzollern family, Frederick’s rivals for influence in the empire.
What were Luther’s two main points in his 95 Theses?
The theological rationale for indulgence selling was very dubious and indulgence selling was harmful.
Why did Luther see the theological rationale for indulgences as very dubious indeed?
The Pope had no control over purgatory-God alone had that, souls could therefore not be released from purgatory through the purchase of papal pardons, and forgiveness was a free gift from God to all Truly repentant christians-it could not be purchased.
Did Luther intend to start a revolution?
No-he simply wanted to provoke an academic debate about indulgences, hoping to expose their multiple flaws and perhaps thus end their traffic.
What did Luther base his lectures on upon deciding to take the humanist ‘ad fontes’ approach to teaching?
His own detailed examination of the Bible and the works of St Augustine, and when Erasmus’ New Testament in Greek was published in 1516, he used that, painstakingly teaching himself Greek.
Frederick the Wise’s fury about Tetzel’s sale of indulgences was based on politics and money; how was money an issue?
Because, while the pope’s indulgences were being sold, all others had to be suspended. This would mean a drastic loss in revenue for Frederick; he had over 17,000 relics, and was due to open a collection on 1 November 1517, with those who paid to see it earning more than 1.9 Million years less in purgatory.
Why did Luther think that indulgence selling was harmful?
It distracted from the importance of preaching the Word of God as revealed in the Gospels, it undermined the sacrament of penance, it discouraged more worthy uses of money, the poor were giving up all their savings on false premises, and the Pope’s reputation was suffering because Rome appeared to be exploiting impoverished Germans.
What does the fact that Luther wrote his 95 theses in Latin mean?
That the intended audience was academic.
Why was pinning the 95 theses to a church door ( if it happened) not a revolutionary act?
It was the equivalent of putting up an invitation in a noticeboard; theological disputations were a regular part of university life.
How was Luther Subtly criticising Frederick the Wise with his 95 Theses?
He picked the day before Frederick’s indulgence collection, and picked Frederick’s church rather than the town one.
Why was even publishing theses criticising indulgences nothing that special?
Andrew Carlstadt , Luther’s colleague at the university, had done exactly the same ( only more so-151 theses against indulgences for dispute) the previous April
Had Luther’s 95 theses remained in Latin, little may have happened. What did, however?
Without his knowledge or permission they were printed, first in Latin and then mass-printed in German.
How did their timing help to explain the immediate popularity of the 95 theses?
Luther had given a sermon against indulgences exactly one year before, and Carlstadt had published his theses in April.
Both were largely ignored but this time Tetzel’s irresponsible salesmanship was causing widespread concern among the educated elite.
How did their tone help to explain the immediate popularity of the 95 theses?
Luther wrote the propositions in an hurry and to provoke an academic debate, and his language was theatrical, combative and colloquial. He wrote in an way that ordinary people could understand.
