Blog 3-Martin Luther as a Revolutionist

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 1^st person to use the printing press (as a propaganda tool) to gain a larger audience for his ideas.  I think he was the 1^st 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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