MARTIN LUTHER

            Luther was born on November 10, 1483 in Eisleben in the province of Saxony. His protestant view of Christianity star­ted what was called the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Luther’s intentions were to reform the medieval Roman Catho­lic Church. But firm resistance from the church towards Lu­ther’s reforms made way to a permanent division in the struc­ture of Western Christianity.

             Luther lived in Mansfield and was the son of a miner. He later studied at Eisenbach and Magdeburg. After studying there he moved on to study at the University of Erfurt. Lu­ther started out studying law, but later entered the religious life. He went into the religious life due to the fact that he felt that he would never earn his eternal salvation. He felt that all of the prayer, studying and sacraments were not enough and would not help us to gain eternal salvation. After entering the religious life, he later became a monk and entered the monas­tery in July of 1505. While in this monastery, Luther became a well known theologian and biblical scholar. In 1512, Luther earned his doctorate in theology and became a professor qf Biblical literature at Wittenberg University.

             Luther took his religious vocation very seriously. This led him into a severe crisis in dealing with his religion and his first confrontation with the Catholic Church in 1517. All of this influenced Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. These Ninety-Five Theses denied the right of the Pope to sell indulgences for the forgiveness of sins. His authorship of the Ninety-Five Theses made Luther the leader of the religious movement or reformator towards Protestantism.

            He translated the New Testament into German. Some of his followers went too far carrying out the reform. Luther tried to correct his follower’s mistakes and was unsuccessful.

            Luther married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, in 1525. This displayed his rejection towards living in a monastery as a monk and for clerical celibacy. After this marriage he spent the rest of his life writing, teaching and preaching.

            He believed that God’s power was completely beyond man’s comprehension and could only be accepted on faith alone. He didn’t believe that humans could understand how God with all his greatness become man through Jesus and be susceptible to weakness, sin and death. His thoughts were that man could accomplish nothing without God’s grace. Man could not gain his own salvation and therefore God had to send his own son to earth. While on earth his son would live as a human and even­tually die on the cross for our sins. He felt that all participa­tion in church activities like, following religious rules and ce­remonies were idolatrous. These practices would not help us to gain eternal salvation, but only faith alone in God could do that. He felt that all these religious practices were external from God and were, therefore, idolatrous in nature. Luther felt that the Bible, the word of God, was of primary impor­tance in a Christian’s life. He knew that over time man could distorted the accuracy and true meaning of the Word. He felt that the Roman Catholic Church preferred the Papal authori­ty of the Church above God’s Word.

             Protestantism encourages people individually to decide what they needed to do to be saved.

QUESTIONS:

1. When was Martin Luther born?

2. What was his father?

3. Who made a base for the Protestant Reformation in Ger­many?

4. What were Luther’s intentions?

5. Where did he study?

6. Why did Luther enter the religious life?

7. When did Luther become a monk and enter the monas­tery?

8. When did Martin Luther earn his doctorate in theology and become a professor of Biblical literature at Wittenberg University?

9. What is his main work which appeared in 1517?

10. When did Martin Luther get married?

11. What were his main ideas about God and the Church?

VOCABULARY:

protestant — протестант

Christianity— христианство

the Protestant Reformation — протестантская реформация

intention — намерение, цель

medieval — средневековый

the Roman Catholic Church — римско-католическая церковь

firm resistance— упорное сопротивление

permanent — постоянный

miner — шахтер

due to — из-за, вследствие

to earn — зарабатывать

eternal — вечный

salvation — спасение

prayer — молитва

sacrament — причастие

to gain — получать, достигать

monastery — монастырь

theologian — богослов

biblical scholar — толкователь Библии

doctorate — докторская степень

vocation — призвание

severe — суровый

confrontation — конфронтация, столкновение, противо­стояние

to deny — отрицать

the Pope — Папа Римский

indulgence — индульгенция

sin — грех

authorship — авторство

to translate — переводить

the New Testament — Новый Завет

to carry out — выполнять, осуществлять

nun — монашка

rejection — отказ

clerical — церковный

celibacy — обет безбрачия

to preach — проповедовать

comprehension — понимание

susceptible — восприимчивый

accomplish — выполнять, совершать

grace — милость, благосклонность

cross — крест

idolatrous — идолопоклоннический

external — внешний

the Bible — Библия

to encourage — ободрять, поддерживать