Luther's Life.

Classes Two, Three.

Martin Luther by

Lucas Cranach, the Elder (1472-1553

II. Early Childhood:

A. Born in c. 1483 in Eisleben, Germany

1. father Hans Luther

a. miner

b. came to own three mines

2. mother was Margarethe--either a Ziegler or a Lindemann (most recent conclusion)

3. strict raising of the child

4. schools in Mansfeld, Madgeberg, Eisenach

5. "today, schools are not what they once were, a hell and a purgatory in which we were tormented with casualibuus and temporalibus, and yet learned less than nothing despite all the flogging, trembling, anguish, and misery."

6. the schools had an official spy that reported on all who spoke German called the lupis. the poorest scholar every day had to wear an asses mask as the asinus. All demerits were removed at the end of the week by flogging

B. The University at Erfurt

1. friends and cousins had already attended the school

2. famous university

3. lived in a bursa or college called Heaven's Gate

a. semimonastic

b. spartan

c. psalms read frequently

4. an earlier professor there Johannes of Wesel had declared indulgences a pious fraud

5. committed to the via moderna in philosophy

6. theme of this type of philosophy, associated with Ockham, was the lack of certainty

7. nominalism probably was the root of modern science with its emphasis on experience as the core of our knowledge

8. little humanism there, although

9. Luther must have studied some

10. Luther did very well. He completed his masters in the shortest time possible and received the degree on January 7, 1505. His father began to address him as sie

11. some early signs of anfechtungen hit him at this point. He was already in the habit of long, earnest confessions. ( Brecht,p.48)

12. he may have first encountered the Bible at this time.

C. The Monastic Conversion

1. had traveled home to Mansfeld from the University

2. 2July 1505 he was caught in a storm and promised St. Anne that he would become a monk. It was near Stotternheim

3. two weeks later he entered the

a. a mendicant order

b. Augustine was often studied by this order

c. in Luther's day, divided (as were the other mendicant orders into observant and less strict branches)

d. Johannes Staupitz was the vicar general

e. 52 monks at the house

f. Erfurt was a fraternity of St Ann

4. Luther's father was outraged and announced that he was disinheriting Luther. The deaths of Luther's brothers may have contributed to a slow reconciliation.

5. the first year was a trial year without any vows

6. the year was largely educational about the order and the obligations that it imposed.

7. Luther's novice master was named Johann Greffenstein

a. skilled confessor

8. the second baptism or the taking of the vows

9. the new brother was not a full member for five years as he had no vote in the chapter

10. the habit was wool with linen underclothes

11. white shirt, white socks, a short and a long white tunic, a black belt, a scapular of two white strips of clothe, and a long whitecope with a large collar over which was worn the black cotta with the cowl and leather belt.

12. canonical worship hours dominated the life of the monks

13. monks were taught that neglect of the prayers angered God

a. this was a great cause of concern for Luther

14. on Fridays, there was the chapter when a chapter from the Bible was read and the brothers had to confess their sins (and those of their fellows) to the prior who promptly fixed the punishment.

a. many of these were trivial violations of the order's rules

b. included such things as the wrong use of the eyes, etc.

15. two meals a day

16. fasts--either total or only of meat--were loved by Luther

17. once Luther confessed for six hours

18. Luther's sins often did not seem real to others. he was urged by Stuapitz to commit some real sins.

19. Luther came not to be able to distinguish real and venial sins

20. nagging doubts about his faith

21. I was a good monk and I kept the rule of my order so strictly that I may say that ever did a monk get to heaven by monkery it was I. All my brothers in the monastery who knew me will bear me out. If I had kept on any longer, I should have killed myself with vigils, prayers, readings, and other works

22. Anfectungen: Luther had a deep sense that he was judged by God and by Christ. Abandoned by God

D. 1507: First Mass.

1. family was present

2. Luther panicked in the introduction and had to be helped. a senior priest was available for this task

3. afterwards his father asked, Have you a learned scholar never read the words honor your father and your mother and God grant that it was not an apparition of the devil

4. the priest was supposed to be pure

5. mass has to be done correctly. great evil in a poor administration

6. Luther always had problems with administration of the sacrament

E. The trip to Rome: Nov 1510

1. to plead for the Observant branch of the order

2. longest trip Luther ever made

3. probably a reward for good service

4. in Rome for four weeks

5. appeal was not heard

6. Luther took all the religious opportunities available in Rome

7. Luther bothered by the lax attitude of the Latin priests

a. also others: With my own ears I heard the most loathsome blasphemies against Christ and His apostles. Many acquaintances of mine heard priests of the curia uttering disgusting words so loudly, even during mass, that all around them could hear them.--Erasmus;

8. said mass at all the Holy sites

9. some sense that all that he heard was not so

F. Bible Study

1. By 1509 Luther was ready to exchange his scholastic studies for the bible

2. Bible was closely connected to monastic life

3. Luther early was destined for advanced study

4. did his first theological degree at Erfurt and then transferred to Wittenberg where he made very rapid progress (Staupitz had apparently decided that Luther should be his successor at Wittenberg).

5. returned to Erfurt in 1509 where he lectured on the sentences of Peter Lombard

6. took his doctorate at Wittenberg

7. we have Luther's notes on the Sentences and on Augustine from 1510:

a. clearly in the tradition of Ockham

b. still very much a free will tradition

c. these lectures are where he is leaving from and not signs of where he is going

8. 1511 Luther to Wittenberg

a. new school

b. poor town

c. exposed to the ministry of Staupitz there

d. Spalatin, the Elector's secretary, was a great friend

e. Luther was to preach in the Castle church, which served as the University chapel

f. the All Soul's foundation owned the church and appointed six canons and preachers

g. large collection of indulgence bearing relics

h. Staupitz forced him to take the doctorate

i. the elector paid for the degree

j. some tension with the Erfurt monastery remained since they expected him to graduate from there

9. Early lectures

a. the style of the lectures

(1) note how print has influenced instruction

(2) Luther had the psalms printed

(3) the text had wide margins and widely separated lines

(4) some materiel was designed to be put in the interlinear section; their material in the margins

(5) finally the scholia or a long exposition was dictated

b. 1513; The Psalms

(1) Luther used the Psalterium Quincuplex of Faber Stapulensis as his aid with its comparison of the Vulgate and other readings

c. 1515: Romans. Original found in the library of the University of Berlin in this century, The Vatican also has a copy

d. 1516: Galatians

e. 1517: Hebrews

f. the psalms lectures appear to be the key

(1) especially true of the 22 Psalm where Christ--Luther's exegesis--experiences God-forsakenness

(2) wrath and love fuse on the cross

(3) idea of the weakness of God first exposed

g. Romans: Luther's famous words: I great longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God,: because I now took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God. but rather hated him and murmured against him. Yet, I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant Night and day I pondered until I say the connection between the justice of God and the statement :the just shall live by faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the justice of God had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressible sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me the gate to heaven.

h. Luther stressed that he did not learn his theology suddenly only as he pushed through the material.

i. Much dispute over where Luther got his original insight into Romans

(1) five passages in the Table Talk

(2) weakness of the source

(3) Luther mentions in those passages the secret room of the monks and the tower room with heat or the study. He also mentions the cl or cloaca or toilet. Many read this as Latin for Scheisshaus or shit-house, a common monastic metaphor for this world

j. 1516: Published the sermons of John Tauler the mystic. Luther continued to influence editions of the German Theology until the 1520s

k. Luther and mysticism was a debated issue. Ten points of contrast:

(1) Luther always confined himself to Biblical terms

(2) Luther interested in the religious intellectus and not in the idea of the soul's ground

(3) Luther found no still point of purity in the soul

(4) Luther always talked of humans as whole beings with only analytical differences between body and soul

(5) Luther saw union with God as never complete. The closer we are to God the further we are from God

(6) Luther did not believe that union with God was the final end of contemplation

(7) critical of external works and of internal religiosity. Eckhart always exempted piety

(8) Luther saw worldly vocations as important ways to grace

(9) Luther believed that we know God only through word and sacrament. No special knowledge

(10) Luther loved the world as the real place of grace; Bornkamm (1936 Luther und Mystimus)

l. Luther's first publication: The Seven penitential Psalms with a German Interpretation

m. early lectures are critical of the existing church

n. growing criticism of scholasticism in the lectures " O You Fools, Pig Theologians"

o. 1516: Luther's pupil Bernard defended some of Luther's ideas in a disputation at Wittenberg. The beginning of the controversy over Luther's rejection of scholastic thought

G. Indulgences

1. Luther had begun to criticize indulgences as early as 1516 with the support of other members of the Faculty 26 July 1516 was a sermon denouncing church fairs and indulgences connected with them.

2. "An indulgence, or kindness, as one may translate the Latin Word, meant the commutation or reduction of penitential acts and temporal punishments by the church, although it is never clear. . ." whether this was juridical or intercessory” Brecht, p. 177

a. originated apparently in the crusades

b. plenary indulgences allowed two removals of punishment: at present and at the hour of death

c. confession was required only when the certificate of indulgence was actually used

d. the treasury of merit was the basis. Christ and the saints had more than enough benefits for themselves

e. frequently a business

f. the indulgence of 1515 5o build St. Peters is the one that touched off the debate. Notice that Zwingli was upset about this indulgence as early as Luther

3. The great indulgence under Albert of Mainz

a. the situation. the archbishopric of Mainz was in bad financial shape due to the early death of a series of bishops. Each new bishop required large payments to Rome

b. the bishop represented a different family interest than the Witten

c. Hence, it turned to Albrecht Hollenzollern, a prince of Brandenberg, who was already bishop of Halberstadt and Magdeberg

(1) a collector of relics. One could receive as much as 39 million days indulgence at his palace in Halle

(2) lived the life of a renaissance prince. Noted for his concubines

d. the funds were advanced by the House of Fugger, 10000 ducats. The only way to raise the money was by means of a sale of indulgences. The pope was to get half in addition to the funds for Mainz

(1) the Fuggers loaned 52, 286 ducats on this basis

e. the reigning pope Leo X was hardly a moral leader.

f. John Tetzel hired to preach the indulgence

(1) the setting up of the cross

(a) Nobles were to give 25 gold florins

(b) Abbots and other ecclesiastics and smaller nobles 20 gold florins

(c) prelates and knights 6 gold florins

(d) burgers and merchants, three

(e) the works 1

(f) the poor, their prayers

(2) specific instructions

(a) some reserved cases

(b) preached three times a week

(c) Four graces

i) full remission of sin, now and at death

ii) a letter of indulgence for two confessions at a later date

iii) full participation in all the church's spiritual goods

iv) remission of all sins for those in purgatory

(3) Tetzel was a pro who specialized in these things. Paid 80 guilder a month plus meals, a servant, and a wagon. he spent more than 300 guilder a month with his other commissioners

(4) prohibited in electoral saxony and restricted in ducal saxony. Hence, Luther’s people went to Zerbst to buy the indulgence

g. Luther's sermon on 24 February 1517 directed against indulgences also March 1517. Claims sermons are against misunderstandings of the pope and the preachers

4. April 1517 Karlstadt's thesis debated at Wittenberg. Seven months before Luther's.

a. 151 theses

b. included issues such as free will

c. no salvation through works

d. we are justified apart from the law

5. 4 September 1517: Luther's theses Against Scholastic Theology were debated at the promotion of Franz Gunther.

a. Aristotle was the issue

b. we do not become good by doing good: rather we do good after God has made us good

c. no one can become a theologian with Aristotle

d. Paul vs Augustine and Paul

e. Luther was more concerned with the scholastic error of Pelagianism than he was with the methodological error of Aristotle

f. clear rejection of the idea that love is the glue that bind together religious life. fides caritate formata

6. While preparing for this disputation, Luther was apparently reading widely on the theory and character of indulgences. The 95 thesis and the Treatise on Indulgences come from this period

H. October 31, 1517: The Posting of the Theses:

1. Luther had read the instruction on the indulgence sometime in October

2