Happy Reformation Day (x500)!

Traditionally, October 31 is thought to be the date in 1517 that Martin Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door of All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The church still stands, and the door is still there, although it is not easily accessed. When we visited Wittenberg a few months back as part of the "Luther 500" celebration, we were housed very near the church, now called Castle Church. And I took this picture of church history's most important door.

The door. The actual door.

One Legacy of Luther

The following appeared in the October 27, 2017 edition of the Wall Street Journal, and was reprinted at LuxLibertas.com

How Martin Luther Advanced Freedom

An oil on panel
portrait of Martin
Luther, circa 1526.

The Reformation brought a radical egalitarianism to Christendom.

 By Joseph Loconte

Martin Luther was an unlikely revolutionary for human freedom. When the Augustinian monk hammered his “Ninety-Five Theses” to the Wittenberg Castle Church on Oct. 31, 1517—and unleashed the Protestant Reformation—he was still committed to the spiritual authority of the Catholic Church and retained many of the prejudices of European Christianity.

Yet Luther’s personal experience of God’s love and mercy—“I felt myself to be reborn”—supported a democratic approach to religious belief. In his theological works, Luther introduced a radical egalitarianism that helped lay the foundation for modern democracy and human rights.

Born into a German peasant family in 1483, Luther came to despise every form of spiritual elitism. He sought to replace rigid church hierarchies with “the priesthood of all believers,” the proposition that there are no qualitative differences between clergy and laity. “Just because we are all priests of equal standing,” he wrote in “An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility” (1520), “no one must push himself forward and, without the consent and choice of the rest, presume to do that which we all have equal authority.”

It was a message at odds with the vast superstructure of 16th-century Christendom. Only the monastic orders, with their vows of celibacy and poverty, could produce the spiritual athletes of the church, the thinking went. But to Luther the monasteries were hotbeds of avarice and pride. He wanted them abolished, writing in “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church” (1520) that “pretentious lives, lived under vows are more hostile to faith than anything else can be.”

Luther applied the same logic to the doctrine of Christian vocation. Resisting the stark divisions between “secular” and “religious” occupations, he dignified all legitimate work. “A shoemaker, a smith, a farmer, each has his manual occupation and work; and, yet, at the same time, all are eligible to act as priests and bishops,” he wrote.

An oil on panel portrait of Martin Luther, circa 1526. 

Luther took an ax to the legal culture that shielded priests and bishops from criminal prosecution simply because they held church offices. “It is intolerable that in canon law, the freedom, person, and goods of the clergy should be given this exemption, as if the laymen were not exactly as spiritual, and as good Christians, as they, or did not equally belong to the church.” Here was a religious basis for the principle of equal justice under the law, a core tenet of liberal democracy.

Perhaps Luther’s most subversive act was his translation of the New Testament into German, a feat scholars estimate he accomplished in three months. The papacy had controlled the interpretation of Scripture, available almost exclusively in Latin, the language of the clergy and the highly educated. But Luther wanted the Bible translated and read as widely as possible: “We must inquire about this of the mother in the home, the children on the street, the common man in the marketplace,” he explained in “On Translation: An Open Letter” (1530). “We must be guided by their language, the way they speak, and do our translating accordingly.” 

Luther always elevated the individual believer, armed with the Bible, above any earthly authority. This was the heart of his defiance at the Diet of Worms: “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand.” Neither prince nor pope could invade the sanctuary of his conscience. This, he proclaimed, is the “inestimable power and liberty” belonging to every Christian.

It would be hard to imagine a more radical break with centuries of church teaching and tradition. Luther’s intense study of the Bible—part of his anguished quest to be reconciled to God—made these great innovations possible. Convinced that the teachings of Christ had become twisted into an “unbearable bondage of human works and laws,” he preached a gospel of freedom. Salvation, he taught, was a gift from God available to everyone through faith in Jesus and his sacrificial death.

In 1520, some three years after publishing his theses, Luther released “On the Freedom of a Christian,” his manifesto on the privileges and obligations of every believer. It became a publishing phenomenon. “A Christian has no need of any work or law in order to be saved,” he insisted, “since through faith he is free from every law and does everything out of pure liberty and freely.” Christian liberty of this kind provided no excuse for libertinism. Just the opposite: “I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me.”

Luther offered more than a theory of individual empowerment. He delivered a spiritual bill of rights. Generations of reformers—from John Locke to Martin Luther King Jr.—would praise his achievement. Half a millennium later, his message of freedom has not lost its power.

Comic Book Review: Martin Luther

Martin Luther: A Monk Changes the World, by Johannes Saurer & Ulrike Albers. Translated by Christine Gollmart.

Martin Luther lived a very action-packed life, and condensing it into 26 comic book pages is a very difficult task. But this short graphic novel manages to hit all of the high points, and tell the story with the drama that it deserves.

The book rarely stays in one location for more than a few pages, and manages to play scenes in Eisleben, Mansfeld, Erfurt, Augsburg, Worms, Wartburg Castle, Schmalkalden, Torgau, and  (of course) Wittenberg.

The book also manages to include as characters a number of Luther's allies, including Justus Jonas, Philipp Melanchthon,  and his wife, the wonderful Katharina von Bora.

This is an informative and interesting biography. And considering the pace the story has to move at to cover the highlights, it is also quite entertaining.

The graphic novel may be purchased here, from Amazon.

Source: We picked this graphic novel up at a small store in Wittenberg, when we visited Germany during the Luther 500 celebration, which he talked about on a podcast episode here. 

Babylon Bee: Luther Echo

I love the fact that the 500th anniversary of the Reformation (which we talked about here, for starters), has brought Martin Luther to prominence, along with his acerbic wit. Not everything the Babylon Bee puts out is funny, but when they nail it, they nail it.

New Martin Luther-Shaped Amazon Echo Will Rudely Answer All Your Theology Questions

Click through for the full article.

Luther 500 photos

We have talked about our "Luther 500" trip to Germany, as well as some of the events and exhibits we attended, but we haven't posted many of our own pictures. Here are a few pictures from various Reformation sites, inside and outside of churches. .

Unfolding the Wiedmann Bible

We mentioned recently the artistic achievement that is The Wiedmann Bible. Expaining the unfolding aspects of the mile-ling work is one thing, but seeing it unfolded is another. In this video, the complete Wiedmann Bible is unfolded for the first time.

The Wiedmann Bible

We learned of this work during a recent trip to the "Unser Buch" ("Our Book") exhibit in Wittenberg. It is a fascinating work, and an impressive achievement. 

The book, which consists of 3,333 images, was painted by Willy Wiedmann over the course of 16 years, although it was not discovered until after the artist's death. It contains extensive depictions of both the Old and New Testament, all presented in Wiedmann's unique polycon style. 

We did not see the actual book, but the exhibit included a digitized version of parts of it, giving us a chance to see the (literal) unfolding of the story. It was the most memorable part of a very memorable exhibit. 

The Graphic Novel / Rock Opera

During our recent visit to Wittenberg, Germany, we witnessed a sneak preview of Michael Bridges' upcoming project "Luther: The Rock Opera." The intent of the project is for it to be performed while panels of "Luther: The Graphic Novel" are displayed. As inherently dramatic as the story of the Reformation is, and as larger-than-life as some of the characters are, a graphic novel could be an effective way to tell the story. 

The 72-page graphic novel is available for order here. The hardcover costs $14.99, and the digital version costs $4.99.

The "Unser Buch" Exhibit

One of the highlights of our recent trip to Wittenberg was the "Unser Buch" ("Our Book") exhibit, put on by the Museum of the Bible. The exhibit, subtitled "The History of the Bible form Moses to the Moon," traces the history of the Bible, and includes examples from a variety of time frames and languages.

They have a working old-style printing press, which each day is set up to print a single verse. There is also a very cool exhibit regarding The Wiedmann Bible, an illustrated version of the book that includes over 3,000 illustrations.

It was a wonderful, meaningful, and impressive exhibit.

Here I Stand: A Lutheran Mixtape

As mentioned in our recent podcast episode recounting our experiences with the "Luther 500" event, we heard Andy Pokel perform a few songs from his album "Here I Stand: A Lutheran Mixtape." The album takes a "Hamilton-style" spin on Martin Luther and the events of his life, and is pretty excellent. 

Podcast #012 - Luther 500!

"Luther 500"

On this super-sized episode, Emily & Professor Alan talk about the religious, spiritual, and cultural aspects of their recent family vacation. After a brief discussion of their time in London, they spend the majority of the episode talking about their week-long experience in Wittenberg, Germany, at the "Luther 500" event.

They discuss the devotional, historical, theological, and church history aspects of what they learned and experienced at this commemoration of the start of the Protestant Reformation.

Click on the player below to listen to the episode:




You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed.

Link: The music of Lost and Found
Link: The music of Andy Pokel
Link: The Luther 500 Tour 
Link: The Wiedmann Bible 

We would love to hear from you about this issue, the podcast episode, or the podcast in general. Send e-mail feedback to dorknesstolight@gmail.com 

You can follow Alan on twitter @ProfessorAlan or the podcast @DorknessToLight

Coming Soon!

To commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, the musical act Lost and Found has organized a number of tours to Wittenberg and surrounding area. There will be a range of cultural, social, historical, and devotional events included in the event.

And we are attending!