1.  Biography & timeline
 Born to Hans & Margarette; Hans was a miner
 Went to Erfurt for training as a lawyer; BA 1502, MA 1505
 Joined the Augustinian Order in 1505 (thunderstorm incident)
 Receives Doctor of Theology & begins preaching and teaching at the Univ. of Wittenberg
 October 31, 1517: posting the 95 Theses
 1518: meeting with Cardinal Cajetan; although asked to recant, ends up in debate
 1519: drawn into the Eck vs. Carlstadt debate since Carlstadt was a colleague
 1520: papal bull is issued and Luther’s books are burned; Luther burns papal bull.
 1521: Diet of Worms under safe conduct passage; makes famous stand
 Refuge from Imperial & Catholic forces- hiding as a “knight” at Wartburg Castle
 Begins translation of the NT into German using Erasmus’ annotated NT
 Peasant’s War, arising from misunderstanding of “On Christian Liberty”
 Marriage in 1525 to ex-nun Katherine von Bora; the couple eventually had six children
 1527: “A Mighty Fortress is our God” is published.
 1528: Publishes Small & Large Catechisms
 1534: complete translation of the German Bible is published
 1539: controversy over Philip of Hesse’s bigamous marriage(s)
 1542: death of second child Magdalena
 1546 death at Eisleben
 Doctrine
 Salvation by grace through faith alone.
 Understanding of Romans & Galatians; really did not like the Epistle of James
 Struggled with God’s nature of justice and man’s need for total forgiveness, not just
individual lapses
 Against indulgences
 John Tetzel, a Dominican Friar, was given authority to sell the indulgences to raise
money to build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
 Considered indulgences another “work” based on the doctrine of purgatory.
 Nevertheless, his own patron, Frederick the Wise had a vast collection of indulgences
which he “protected” by forbidding Tetzel to enter Wittenberg
 Complete break with the church (gradual, not planned)
 Early years – emphasis on reforming through emphasis on studying the original texts

2. •
Against the excesses, not the church; even many Catholics who later condemned
him were forced to agree and indeed took steps
 Later years- condemnatory, accusing the Pope as the anti-Christ.
 Political agenda
 Diet of Augsburg, 1530- religious liberties granted for Protestants by the Holy Roman
Emperor; Melanchthon presents the confession
 Anti-Italian sympathies and ties to German nationalism; many translated Luther’s
polemic against indulgences to dissatisfaction of German money paying for Italian
wealth and politics
 Later persecution against the Anabaptists- those who did not believe in infant baptism
 Reforms
 Sacraments: emphasizes only two: baptism & the Eucharist (see below) and making them
for believers only.
 The Eucharist: “consubstantiation”
• Rejection of Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation
• Conflict with other Reformers, especially Zwingli
 Mass
 German instead of Latin is used
 Iconoclasm- the banning of images
 Discarding of vestments
 Marriage
 Roman Catholic tradition of being a sacrament
• According to the RC, sacraments gave grace. Because marriage is an institution
that gave grace, therefore it is a sacrament. And although it is a sacrament,
passages in I Corinthians interpreted by the RC put monastic celibacy higher than
marriage.
 Lutheran view: “Social Estate”1
• According to Luther, the celibacy aspect of monasticism drove many monks &
nuns to sin, especially sexual sin.
• Marriage was given to help couples overcome sin.
• As a “social estate”, marriage was to educate & serve as an example of godliness,
obedience, and chastity. Luther also reformed marriage by taking it out of the
then-ecclesiastical authority and into the secular state. His justification was that
although marriage had spiritual & holy purpose, marriage belonged to the
“temporal,” earthly realm.
• More radical (and thus less known) is Luther’s belief that bigamy is preferred
over divorce; Luther’s justification is that a bigamous marriage that produces
children as God’s plan in Genesis is better. Moreover, Luther holds that scripture
never really condemned the polygamy of the patriarchs.
 Bibliography of Major Works
 Appeal to the German Nobility
 On Christian Liberty
 Bondage of the Will
1
John Witte, From Sacrament to Marriage

3.  Small & Large Catechisms
 Babylonian Captivity of the Church
 “On the Jews and Their Lies”
 Table Talk (really long)- over 6500 entries, written by students eating at his table