Spread of Lutheranism

5 Key excerpts on "Spread of Lutheranism"

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  Western Civilization

  A Brief History, Volume I: to 1715

  • Jackson Spielvogel(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Lutheranism had wide appeal and spread rapidly, but not primarily through the written word, as only 4 to 5 percent of the people in Germany were literate at the time. Instead, the primary means of disseminating Luther’s ideas was the sermon. The preaching of evan-gelical sermons, based on a return to the original mes-sage of the Bible, found favor throughout Germany. Also useful to the spread of the Reformation were pamphlets illustrated with vivid woodcuts portraying the pope as a hideous Antichrist and titled with catchy phrases such as “I Wonder Why There Is No Money in the Land” (obviously an attack on papal greed). Luther also insisted on the use of music as a means to teach the Gospel, and his own composition, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God,” became the battle hymn of the Reformation: With our power nothing is done. We are soon lost. But for us fights the mighty one Whom God himself has chosen. You ask, who is this? He is called Jesus Christ The Lord God of hosts. And there is no other God. He must hold the field forever. 6 Luther was able to gain the support of his prince, the elector of Saxony, as well as other German rulers among the more than three hundred states that made up the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism spread to both princely and ecclesiastical states in northern and cen-tral Germany as well as to two-thirds of the free impe-rial cities, especially those of southern Germany, where prosperous burghers, for both religious and secular rea-sons, became committed to Luther’s cause. Nuremberg, where an active city council led by the dynamic city sec-retary Lazarus Spengler ( SCHPEN-ler ) brought about a conversion as early as 1525, was the first imperial city to convert to Lutheranism. Luther had visited the city in 1518 and made a number of friends and supporters there, including some prominent men.

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  Discovering the Western Past

  A Look at the Evidence, Volume II: Since 1500

  • Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Andrew Evans, William Bruce Wheeler, Julius Ruff(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  Own-ing a Bible or part of a Bible to read in one’s own language was now a realis-tic possibility. In many ways, then, the early sixteenth century was a favorable time for a major religious change in western Europe. Your task in this chapter is to assess how that change occurred. How were the ideas of Luther disseminated so widely and so quickly? How were they made attrac-tive to various groups within German society? in the way the stronger kings of west-ern Europe could, with the result that Germany supported many more indulgence peddlers than England or Spain. The decentralization of the Holy Roman Empire also left each territory more vulnerable than before to external military threats, the most significant of which in the early sixteenth century was the Ottoman Turks. Originat-ing in central Asia, the Turks had ad-opted the Muslim religion and begun a campaign of conquest westward. In 1453, they took Constantinople, and by 1500 they were nearing Vienna, arousing fear in many German rulers. The Turkish threat combined with so-cial and economic grievances among many sectors of society to make west-ern Europeans feel that the end of the world was near, or to seek a charis-matic leader who would solve their problems. Technological factors also played a role in the Protestant Revolution. SOURCES AND METHOD Before you look at the evidence in this chapter, think about how ideas are spread in modern American society. What would be the best ways to reach the greatest number of people if you wanted to discuss a new issue or pres-ent a new concept? You might want to use health issues as an example, for these often involve totally new ideas and information on one hand and are regarded as vitally important on the other. Think, for example, about how the dangers of cigarette smoking or information about the spread of AIDS are communicated. To answer the first question, we will need to examine the sixteenth-century equivalents of these forms of communication.

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  Western Civilization

  A Brief History, Volume II: Since 1500

  • Jackson Spielvogel(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  The agitation for certainty of salvation and spiritual peace was done within the framework of the “holy mother Church.” But disillu-sionment grew as the devout experienced the clergy’s inability to live up to their expectations. The deepening of religious life, especially in the second half of the fif-teenth century, found little echo among the worldly-wise clergy, and this environment helps explain the tre-mendous and immediate impact of Luther’s ideas. Martin Luther and the Reformation in Germany Q F OCUS Q UESTION : What were Martin Luther’s main disagreements with the Roman Catholic Church, and what political, economic, and social conditions help explain why the movement he began spread so quickly across Europe? The Protestant Reformation began with a typical medi-eval question: What must I do to be saved? Martin Luther, a deeply religious man, found an answer that did not fit within the traditional teachings of the late medieval church. Ultimately, he split with that church, destroying the religious unity of western Christendom. The Early Luther Martin Luther was born in Germany on November 10, 1483. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, so Luther enrolled at the University of Erfurt. In 1505, af-ter becoming a master in the liberal arts, the young man began to study law. But Luther was not content, due in large part to his long-standing religious inclina-tions. That summer, while returning to Erfurt after a brief visit home, he was caught in a ferocious thunder-storm and vowed that if he survived unscathed, he would become a monk. He then entered the monastic order of the Augustinian Hermits in Erfurt, much to his father’s disgust. In the monastery, Luther focused on his major concern, the assurance of salvation. The traditional beliefs and practices of the church seemed unable to relieve his obsession with this question.

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  The Reformation Era

  • Robert D. Linder(Author)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Greenwood

    (Publisher)

  In society, Luther established a new emphasis on marriage as primarily a means of companionship that modeled godly living. In economics, Luther was a conservative and sided with the agrarian elements in society against the growing power of the capitalists, somewhat ironic in light of his own father’s acquisitiveness and thirst for upward mobility. In education, on the other hand, he was a progressive as he embraced the historic Protestant drive for an educated clergy and laity in order that all could read the Bible for themselves. In so doing, Luther urged compulsory universal educa- tion for both girls and boys. Science also flourished under Lutheran auspices. Luther even became a film celebrity of sorts as the modern motion picture industry produced several quality Luther films, the latest of which in 2003 became something of a box office hit. 27 How- ever, even the best of these films could not capture the real Luther whom historian Geoffrey Elton described as often ‘‘furious, violent, foul-mouthed, passionately concerned.’’ 28 In the end, Luther’s greatest contribution to modern history was his challenge to the dominant authority of the Medieval Church of his day. As he did, he not only shattered the theological and cultural unity of Western Christendom but also opened the door to the fur- ther questioning of societal authority in the following centuries. This largely unintended challenge to established authority and its results is the main theme of the Lutheran Reformation. This challenge, in 31 Martin Luther and the Beginning of the Protestant Reformation turn, encouraged freedom and made the world a far more dangerous place in which to live. Things would never be the same again. More- over, ironically, in the long term this development also strengthened Christianity by emphasizing that true faith could only flow from freely made decisions to embrace and follow Jesus Christ.

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  A Short History of Europe

  From the Greeks and Romans to the Present Day

  • A. Alcock(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  The result was the Religious Peace of Augsburg, 1555, which, following up the conclusions of the 1526 Diet of Speyer, basically recognised the status quo on the famous principle Cuius Regio, Eius Religio, that according to the religion of the Prince so should be the religion of his territory and his subjects. Should an Ecclesiastical Prince change his religion he would have to resign. Imperial cities were granted religious toleration. The second important part of Lutheranism was its social philo- sophy, and in particular the point that Lutheranism was not about the righting of political and social wrongs. Far from it. Luther believed that the individual should accept his political and social environment and concentrate on his salvation. The political order were God's concern. Every government was ordained by God, and if rulers were evil or harsh this was Divine punishment for the sins of their subjects. People should therefore accept the existing order and obey princes and magistrates. 6 The political significance of Lutheranism therefore was that it supported the existing order of the privileged classes. Thus, when peasants revolted in Germany in the 1520s against oppressive land- lords, demanding the abolition of serfdom, Luther wrote and preached against them, urging the aristocracy to crush the revolt which, indeed, was bloodily suppressed. And this same attitude of acceptance applied at the social level. God had placed the individual in an established station in life ± Luther used the word `calling' ± and the moral obligation of the 128 A Short History of Europe individual was to fulfil his duty in worldly affairs in that station. But it was also in this connection that lay the beginning of the so-called Protestant work ethic. Luther argued that monastic life was devoid of value. Labour was the `outward expression of brotherly love' in that the division of labour forced every individual to work for others.

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