Martin Luther

A Mighty Fortress


Essay, 2008

9 Pages, Grade: A


Abstract or Introduction

Martin Luther, the founder of Protestantism, is often considered the man who ended the Middle Ages and ushered in the Renaissance. Indeed, Luther’s great impulses, “a reverence for authority, a vehement spirit, a cutting wit, a special talent for obscenity, and, most important, a contempt for sinful human nature, coupled with a profound and melancholy awareness of the body’s fate at death,” combine the best and worst of both epochs. (86) His attempt to roll Christian doctrine back to the days of St. Paul of Tarsus were viewed as heretical by the Church he had once fervently believed in. He eventually lambasted Jews and, especially, the Pope in the most vehement words and obscene imagery he could muster. He was a scriptural fundamentalist who believed bigamy and polygamy were acceptable in that they were not explicitly condemned in the Bible, yet felt adultery should be punished by death. Scholars consider his influence on the German language comparable to Shakespeare’s on English. His fight against the papacy inspired peasant revolts against the entire social order, which Luther explicitly rejected. He disbelieved in the geographic reality of hell and purgatory, but believed in the existence of witchcraft and sorcery. He was complex and contradictory, but profoundly influential.

Details

Title
Martin Luther
Subtitle
A Mighty Fortress
College
Northern Arizona University
Course
Reformation Europe
Grade
A
Author
Year
2008
Pages
9
Catalog Number
V230281
ISBN (eBook)
9783656459019
ISBN (Book)
9783656459705
File size
407 KB
Language
English
Keywords
martin, luther, mighty, fortress
Quote paper
Mark Schauer (Author), 2008, Martin Luther , Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/230281

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