Martin Luther played a
huge role in religious reform, and without him I don’t think such a revolution
could have occurred. It either
would have happened much later and/or slower, or there would have been no revolution
at all.
This is an image of
Martin Luther’s 95 theses (just one page, and very small), which he nailed to the door of All
Saints’ Church in Wittenberg.
His
theses detailed everything that he thought was wrong with the church and that
needed changing.
The
site of this image also
contains a translation of the document.
One of my favorites when I skimmed the list is 86:
Again,
``Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the
richest Crassus, build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather
than with the money of poor believers?'' Martin Luther pointed out an obvious flaw with using the
poor to rebuild a church, who have no money because they have been giving it
all to the church in the first place.
It’s like college, when you have to pay the high tuition (in order to
get a degree to get a good job to earn enough money for yourself and a family)
and then they ask you to donate more money. The universal question: Where did those thousands go that I just gave you?
Martin
Luther as a Cultural Revolutionary:
He is
claimed to be the 1st person to use the printing press (as a
propaganda tool) to gain a larger audience for his ideas. I think he was the 1st
because others were too afraid to go against the church in fear of being
labeled a heretic, sentenced to death, and suffering for eternity in Hell. He was also probably the first because
he challenged the church by going farther and farther every time he was
threatened with eternal suffering.
Martin Luther
also wrote a lot of crude things of the imagination of the church and religious
leaders, such as the pope. The
film stated that his writings were simple, but sarcastic. I particularly enjoyed the fact that
his writings came with images for those who could not read. These images depicted the pope living
in luxury and corruption, and as a servant of Satan (the image in the film of
the pope with Satan looked like he was a puppet, not a real person. I could not find the image, though).
I did find an image of the pope living in the luxury of corruption,
which was compared to the image of the life of Jesus Christ. The image is Christ vs. the Antichrist,
meaning the Pope Leo X was not a religious leader for God, but a servant of the
Devil or the Devil himself. The
image depicts Christ sitting on maybe a stool or a small chair while someone
washes his feet, while the pope is sitting under a canopy in a fancy chair with
many other well-dressed people.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lives more poorly, but is an important
religious leader and icon. The
pope, on the other hand, as the current religious leader is taking his power
too far.
Martin
Luther as a Political Revolutionary:
Martin Luther pointed out to German rulers
that their money (a high amount that the church demanded of their people in the
Holy Roman Empire) was being used to keep the pope in high luxury, something
that Martin Luther saw as an unnecessary need for the church. The above image is of Pope Leo X’s
procession with his many attendants and fancy chair. Luther claims that the pope did not need all those
attendants to be the religious leader.
The film claimed that the very air of the pope, the way he sat, etc.,
showed how much more wealthy he was from the people of Germany by using their
money. Thus the German people had
become extremely poor and probably couldn’t sustain lives for themselves. One man, the pope, had it all, while
the thousands he was supposed watch over and protect in the eyes of God was
using them to live above comfort.
His claim,
sent out in prints across the Germanic states to the rulers, helped boost
Frederic of Wittenberg’s thought of restricting money to the church not only
for selfish reasons for wanting to keep the money for himself and Wittenberg,
but for all of the Holy Roman Empire.
Martin Luther put forth more ideas than just monetary gain for the
people.
Martin
Luther as a Religious Revolutionary:
He
challenged the practice of sentencing heretics, who had been exiled from the
church and sent to court for trial, to death by refusing to be considered a
heretic without absolute proof.
This is possibly the drive and confidence that helped him to lead his
revolution.
Martin
Luther also proposed that ordinary people should have control over religion
instead of the religious leaders.
The film called this “democratizing religion”, and is something that
would allow the people to regain their power and money to lead better lives for
themselves rather than being chained by the selfish desires of the church.
Annotations:
Image
of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses
http://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html
Painter
of the Papal Procession
Dish
depicting Pope Leo X in procession c.1516
Tin-glazed
earthenware, painted
49.6
cm x 6.3 cm
The Victoria and
Albert Museum, London
http://idlespeculations-terryprest.blogspot.com/2010/07/john-henry-newman-and-issue-of.html
Image of Christ vs. Antichrist
http://melandannie.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/luther-the-printing-revolution-and-the-birth-of-mass-media/
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