Martin Luther: Radical Divisor

Statue of Martin Luther outside St. Mary's Church, Berlin

                While not the first man to challenge the Roman Catholic Church and her abuses of power, Martin Luther, with the backing and protection of certain royals in German lands, was able to forge a groundbreaking movement we know as the Protestant Reformation.  Martin Luther, like Jan Hus and John Wyclif, argued against the papacy using heretical rhetoric.  In 1517, Luther made history by publicly calling out the Roman Catholic Church on her practices of absolution and misuse of wealth.  It was a bold move on All-Saint’s Eve to not only send a commentated handwritten copy of Luther’s The Ninety-Five Theses to the archbishop who promoted the sale of indulgences, but to also post it to the door of Wittenberg’s Castle Church to be seen by all.  Originally written and distributed in Latin, The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences was soon distributed in the vernacular German, aided by the printing press, and only increased the popularity of Luther’s ideas.  Luther’s strides in his promotion of his version of Christianity may have also discouraged a sense of unification within certain German lands.  In Germany: A New History, Schulze describes Luther’s address of “the Christian nobility of the German Nation” was not to provoke political or cultural unity.  However, according to his contemporaries, Luther may have manifested a concept of German culture or nation, even as a camaraderie grew only among German-speaking regions where Luther’s Protestantism was flourishing, but a hostility emerged from the strongly Catholic German provinces. 

Paul Thumann: Luther verbrennt die Papstbulle (1872)

With said popularity came a pursuit of Luther and his writings on behalf Pope Leo X after his demand that Luther renounce The Ninety-Five Theses.  With Luther’s unwavering refusal and continual activism came the inevitable persecution of Luther and his following, as had previously occurred to Hus.  As Luther’s teachings grew popular among some Germans, others vehemently opposed them in an anti-Reformation movement which became stronger as Protestantism grew.  Instead of unifying German lands, the Reformation divided the would-be nation.  This division attributed to Luther inspired cultural advancements on both sides of the opposition.  Protestant Germany excelled in linguistic advancements as evidenced by Luther’s translating the Bible into vernacular German and pieces of literature and propaganda produced via the printing press.  Schulze also notes that Catholic Germany flourished in the arts and architecture.  Not only were Luther’s ideas radical, but they caused a radical division spurring on cultural, political, and religious distinctions accredited to, and present in, where we know as Germany. 

Title page of Martin Luther's On the Jews and Their Lies. Wittenberg, 1543

Alongside an unintentional divisive cultural growth came an intolerance and hatred for the opponent, whom for Luther was anyone from peasants to Roman Catholics to followers of Judaism. Followers of Luther's teaching acted violently, overthrowing the Castle Church Wittenberg and slaying revolting peasants; Luther's extreme rhetoric went beyond dividing Germany, and it inspired chaos and malice. The Reformation began primarily out of Luther's vehement disapproval of the Roman Catholic Church, but they weren't the only ones receiving Luther's fury. In On the Jews and Their Lies, Luther, no longer concerned with the Jewish people's salvation, called on his followers to wreak havoc for these people whose practices Luther described as "filth," perhaps starting a "German" tradition of antisemitism. Luther's promotion of, at the very least, anti-Judaism may be sadly ironic, as he fought for freedom from the Roman Catholic Church—the freedom to choose to practice the Christianity he devised—, he'd determined the Jewish people weren't entitled to such a choice.