Luther began the Protestant Reformation with the publication of his
Ninety-Five Theses on October 31, 1517. In this publication, he
attacked the Church's sale of indulgences. He advocated a theology
that rested on God's gracious activity in Jesus Christ, rather than in
human works. Nearly all Protestants trace their history back to
Luther in one way or another. Luther's relationship to philosophy is
complex and should not be judged only by his famous statement that
"reason is the devil's whore."
1. Biography
Martin Luther was born to peasant stock on November 10, 1483 in
Eisleben in the Holy Roman Empire – in what is today eastern Germany.
Soon after Luther's birth, his family moved from Eisleben to Mansfeld.
His father was a relatively successful miner and smelter and Mansfeld
was a larger mining town. Martin was the second son born to Hans and
Magarete (Lindemann) Luther. Two of his brothers died during outbreaks
of the plague. One other brother, James, lived to adulthood.
Luther's father knew that mining was a cyclical occupation, and he
wanted more security for his promising young son. Hans Luther decided
that he would do whatever was necessary to see that Martin could
become a lawyer. Hans saw to it that Martin started school in Mansfeld
probably around seven. The school stressed Latin and a bit of logic
and rhetoric. When Martin was 14 he was sent to Magdeburg to continue
his studies. He stayed only one year in Magdeburg and then enrolled in
Latin school in Eisenach until 1501. In 1501 he enrolled in the
University of Erfurt where he studied the basic course for a Master of
Arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, metaphysics, etc.). Significant to his
spiritual and theological development was the principal role of
William of Occam's theology and metaphysics in Erfurt's curriculum. In
1505, it seemed that Han's Luther's plans were about to finally be
realized. His son was on the verge of becoming a lawyer. Han's
Luther's plans were interrupted by a thunderstorm and vow.
In July of 1505, Martin was caught in a horrific thunderstorm. Afraid
that he was going to die, he screamed out a vow, "Save me, St. Anna,
and I shall become a monk." St. Anna was the mother of the Virgin Mary
and the patron saint of miners. Most argue that this commitment to
become a monk could not have come out of thin air and instead
represents an intensification experience in which an already
formulated thought is expanded and deepened. On July 17th Luther
entered the Augustinian Monastery at Erfurt.
The decision to enter the monastery was a difficult one. Martin knew
that he would greatly disappoint his parents (which he did), but he
also knew that one must keep a promise made to God. Beyond that,
however, he also had strong internal reasons to join the monastery.
Luther was haunted by insecurity about his salvation (he describes
these insecurities in striking tones and calls them Anfectungen or
Afflictions.) A monastery was the perfect place to find assurance.
Assurance evaded him however. He threw himself into the life of a monk
with verve. It did not seem to help. Finally, his mentor told him to
focus on Christ and him alone in his quest for assurance. Though his
anxieties would plague him for still years to come, the seeds for his
later assurance were laid in that conversation.
In 1510, Luther traveled as part of delegation from his monastery to
Rome (he was not very impressed with what he saw.) In 1511, he
transferred from the monastery in Erfurt to one in Wittenberg where,
after receiving his doctor of theology degree, he became a professor
of biblical theology at the newly founded University of Wittenberg.
In 1513, he began his first lectures on the Psalms. In these
lectures, Luther's critique of the theological world around him begins
to take shape. Later, in lectures on Paul's Epistle to the Romans (in
1515/16) this critique becomes more noticeable. It was during these
lectures that Luther finally found the assurance that had evaded him
for years. The discovery that changed Luther's life ultimately changed
the course of church history and the history of Europe. In Romans,
Paul writes of the "righteousness of God." Luther had always
understood that term to mean that God was a righteous judge that
demanded human righteousness. Now, Luther understood righteousness as
a gift of God's grace. He had discovered (or recovered) the doctrine
of justification by grace alone. This discovery set him afire.
In 1517, he posted a sheet of theses for discussion on the
University's chapel door. These Ninety-Five Theses set out a
devastating critique of the church's sale of indulgences and explained
the fundamentals of justification by grace alone. Luther also sent a
copy of the theses Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz calling on him to end
the sale of indulgences. Albrecht was not amused. In Rome, cardinals
saw Luther's theses as an attack on papal authority. In 1518 at a
meeting of the Augustinian Order in Heidelberg, Luther set out his
positions with even more precision. In the Heidelberg Disputation, we
see the signs of a maturing in Luther's thought and new clarity
surrounding his theological perspective – the Theology of the Cross.
After the Heidelberg meeting in October 1518, Luther was told to
recant his positions by the Papal Legate, Thomas Cardinal Cajetan.
Luther stated that he could not recant unless his mistakes were
pointed out to him by appeals to "scripture and right reason" he would
not, in fact, could not recant. Luther's refusal to recant set in
motion his ultimate excommunication.
Throughout 1519, Luther continued to lecture and write in Wittenberg.
In June and July of that year, he participated in another debate on
Indulgences and the papacy in Leipzig. Finally, in 1520, the pope had
had enough. On June 15th the pope issued a bull (Exsurge Domini –
Arise O'Lord) threatening Luther with excommunication. Luther received
the bull on October 10th. He publicly burned it on December 10th.
In January 1521, the pope excommunicated Luther. In March, he was
summonsed by Emperor Charles V to Worms to defend himself. During the
Diet of Worms, Luther refused to recant his position. Whether he
actually said, "Here I stand, I can do no other" is uncertain. What is
known is that he did refuse to recant and on May 8th was placed under
Imperial Ban.
This placed Luther and his duke in a difficult position. Luther was
now a condemned and wanted man. Luther hid out at the Wartburg Castle
until May of 1522 when he returned to Wittenberg. He continued
teaching. In 1524, Luther left the monastery. In 1525, he married
Katharina von Bora.
From 1533 to his death in 1546 he served as the Dean of the theology
faculty at Wittenberg. He died in Eisleben on 18 February 1546.
2. Theology
a. Theological Background: William of Occam
The medieval worldview was rational, ordered, and synthetic. Thomas
Aquinas embodied it. It survived until the acids of war, plague,
poverty, and social discord began to eat away its underlying
presupposition – that the world rested on the being of God.
All of life was grounded in the mind of God. In the hierarchy of Being
that establishes justice, the church was understood as the connection
between the secular and divine. However, as the crises of the late
middle ages increased, this reassurance no longer assuaged.
William of Occam recognized the shortcomings of Thomas's system and
cut away most of the ontological grounding of existence. In its place,
Occam posited revelation and covenant. The world does not need to be
grounded in some artificial, unknowable, ladder of Being. Instead,
one must rely on God's faithfulness. We are contingent upon God alone.
This contingency would be terrible and unbearable without the
assurance of God's covenant. In terms of God's absolute power
(potentia absoluta), God can do anything. He can make a lie the
truth, he can make adultery a virtue and monogamy a vice. The only
limit to this power is consistency—God cannot contradict his own
essence. To live in a world ordered by whim would be terrible; one
would never know if one was acting justly or unjustly. However, God
has decided on a particular way of acting (potentia ordinata). God has
covenanted with creation, and committed himself to a particular way of
acting.
While rejecting some of Thomas, Occam did not reject the entire
scholastic project. He, too, synthesized and depended heavily upon
Aristotle. This dependence becomes significant in the covenantal piety
of justification. The fundamental question of justification is where
does one find fellowship with God, i.e., how does one know one is
accepted by God? The logic of Aristotle taught Thomas and Occam that
"like is known by like." Thus, union or fellowship with God must take
place on God's level. How does this happen? Practice.
All people are born, it was argued, with potential. Even though all
creation suffers under the condemnation of the Fall of Adam and Eve,
there remains a divine spark of potentiality, a syntersis. This
potential must be actualized. It must be habituated. Habituation was
important for both Thomas and Occam; however, Occam slightly modifies
Thomas and that modification has important implications in Luther's
search for a gracious God.
From Thomas's perspective the divine spark is infused with God's
grace, giving one the power to be contrite (contritio) and co-operate
with God. This co-operation with God's grace merits God's reward
(meritum de condign). However, Occam asked an important question: if
the process begins with God's infusion of grace, can it truly merit
anything? He answered, no! Therefore you should do the best you can.
By doing your best, even as minimal as it is, this will merit (meritum
de congruo) an infusion of grace: facienti quod in se est Deus non
denegat gratiam (God will not deny his grace to anyone who does what
lies within him.) Doing one's best meant rejecting evil and doing
good.
Within this context of covenant Luther struggled to prove that he was
good enough to merit God's grace. However, he failed to convince
himself. He might have been contrite, but was he contrite enough?
This uncertainty afflicted (Anfectungen) him for years.
b. Theology of the Cross
Luther's attempts to prove his worthiness failed. He continued to be
plagued by uncertainty and doubt concerning his salvation. Finally,
during his Lectures on Paul's Epistle to the Romans he found solace.
Instead of storehouses of merit, indulgences, habituation, and "doing
what is within one, "God accepts the sinner in spite of the sin.
Acceptance is based on who one is rather than what one does.
Justification is bestowed rather than achieved. Justification is not
based on human righteousness, but on God's righteousness—revealed and
confirmed in Christ.
In St. Paul, Luther finally found a word of hope. He finally found a
word of assurance and discovered the graciousness of God. The
discovery of God's graciousness pro me (for me) revolutionizes all
aspects of Luther's life and thought. From now on, Luther's response
to the trials of his life and the crises of the late medieval period
was to be certain of God, but never to be secure in human society.
A tautology of Luther's theology becomes: one must always "Let God be
God." This frees human beings to be human. We do not have to achieve
salvation; rather, it is a gift to be received. Salvation thus is the
presupposition of the life of the Christian and not its goal. This
belief engendered his rejection of indulgences and his movement to a
theologia crucis (Theology of the Cross).
Why were indulgences rejected? Simply put, they epitomize everything
that from Luther's perspective was wrong with the church. Instead of
dependence upon God, they placed salvation in the hands of traveling
salesmen hocking indulgences. They embody his rejection of all types
of theology that are based in models of covenant.
The import of the Theology of the Cross was the discovery of God's
passive righteousness and theological models based in Testament. From
the author of Hebrews, Luther takes an understanding of Jesus Christ
as the last will and testament of God. God has written humanity in the
will as heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (See Romans 8).
The rejection of covenant model theologies and the movement to
testament is a fundamental aspect of Luther's theologia crucis. It is
a rejection of any type of a theology of glory (theologia gloriae).
The rejection of the theology of glory has a profound impact on
Luther's anthropology of a Christian.
This rejection is illustrated by Luther's small but significant
alteration of Augustinian anthropology. In that system, human beings
are partim bonnum, partim malum or partim iustus, partim peccare
(partly good/just, partly bad/sinner). The goal of a Christian's life
is to grow in righteousness. In other words, one must work to decrease
the side of the equation that is bad and sinful. As one decreases the
sin in oneself, the good and just aspects of one's being increase.
Luther's anthropology, however, is an outright and total rejection of
progress; because no matter how one understands it, it is a work and
thus must be rejected. Luther's alternative characterization of
Christian anthropology was simul iustus et peccator (at once righteous
and sinful.) Now, he begins to speak of righteousness in two ways:
coram deo (righteousness before God) and coram hominibus (before man).
Instead of a development in righteousness based in the person, or an
infusion of merit from the saints, a person is judged righteous before
God because of the works of Christ. But, absent the perspective of God
and the righteousness of Christ, based on one's own merit—a Christian
still looks like a sinner.
c. The Law and the Gospel
The distinction between the Law and the Gospel is a fundamental
dialectic in Luther's thought. He argues that God interacts with
humanity in two fundamental ways – the law and the gospel. The law
comes to humanity as the commands of God – such as the Ten
Commandments. The law allows the human community to exist and survive
because it limits chaos and evil and convicts us of our sinfulness.
All humanity has some grasp of the law through the conscience. The law
convicts us our sin and drives us to the gospel, but it is not God's
avenue for salvation.
Salvation comes to humanity through the Good News (Gospel) of Jesus
Christ. The Good News is that righteousness is not a demand upon the
sinner but a gift to the sinner. The sinner simply accepts the gift
through faith. For Luther the folly of indulgences was that they
confused the law with the gospel. By stating that humanity must do
something to merit forgiveness they promulgated the notion that
salvation is achieved rather than received. Much of Luther's career
focused on deconstructing the idea of the law as an avenue for
salvation.
d. Deus Absconditus – The Hidden God
Another fundamental aspect of Luther's theology is his understanding
of God. In rejecting much of scholastic thought Luther rejected the
scholastic belief in continuity between revelation and perception.
Luther notes that revelation must be indirect and concealed. Luther's
theology is based in the Word of God (thus his phrase sola scriptura –
scripture alone) it is based not in speculation or philosophical
principles, but in revelation.
Because of humanity's fallen condition, one can neither understand the
redemptive word nor can one see God face to face. Here Luther's
exposition on number twenty of his Heidelberg Disputation is
important. It is an allusion to Exodus 33, where Moses seeks to see
the Glory of the Lord but instead sees only the backside. No one can
see God face to face and live, so God reveals himself on the backside,
that is to say, where it seems he should not be. For Luther this meant
in the human nature of Christ, in his weakness, his suffering, and his
foolishness.
Thus revelation is seen in the suffering of Christ rather than in
moral activity or created order and is addressed to faith. The Deus
Absconditus is actually quite simple. It is a rejection of philosophy
as the starting point for theology. Why? Because if one begins with
philosophical categories for God one begins with the attributes of
God: i.e., omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, impassible, etc. For
Luther, it was impossible to begin there and by using syllogisms or
other logical means to end up with a God who suffers on the cross on
behalf of humanity. It simply does not work. The God revealed in and
through the cross is not the God of philosophy but the God of
revelation. Only faith can understand and appreciate this, logic and
reason – to quote St. Paul become a stumbling block to belief instead
of a helpmate.
3. Relationship to Philosophy
Given Luther's critique of philosophy and his famous phrase that
philosophy is the "devil's whore." It would be easy to assume that
Luther had only contempt for philosophy and reason. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Luther believed, rather, that philosophy and
reason had important roles to play in our lives and in the life of the
community. However, he also felt that it was important to remember
what those roles were and not to confuse the proper use of philosophy
with an improper one.
Properly understood and used, philosophy and reason are a great aid to
individuals and society. Improperly used, they become a great threat
to both. Likewise, revelation and the gospel when used properly are an
aid to society, but when misused also have sad and profound
implications.
The proper role of philosophy is organizational and as an aid in
governance. When Cardinal Cajetan first demanded Luther's recantation
of the Ninety-Five Theses, Luther appealed to scripture and right
reason. Reason can be an aid to faith in that it helps to clarify and
organize, but it is always second-order discourse. It is, following
St. Anselm, fides quarenes intellectum (faith seeking understanding)
and never the reverse. Philosophy tells us that God is omnipotent and
impassible; revelation tells us that Jesus Christ died for humanity's
sin. The two cannot be reconciled. Reason is the devil's whore
precisely because asks the wrong questions and looks in the wrong
direction for answers. Revelation is the only proper place for
theology to begin. Reason must always take a back-seat.
Reason does play a primary role in governance and in most human
interaction. Reason, Luther argued, is necessary for a good and just
society. In fact, unlike most of his contemporaries, Luther did not
believe that a ruler had to be Christian, only reasonable. Here,
opposite to his discussion of theology, it is revelation that is
improper. Trying to govern using the gospel as one's model would
either corrupt the government or corrupt the gospel. The gospel's
fundamental message is forgiveness, government must maintain justice.
To confuse the two here is just as troubling as confusing them when
discussing theology. If forgiveness becomes the dominant model in
government, people being sinful, chaos will increase. If however, the
government claims the gospel but acts on the basis of justice, then
people will be misled as to the proper nature of the gospel.
Luther was self-consciously trying to carve out proper realms for
revelation and philosophy or reason. Each had a proper role that
enables humanity to thrive. Chaos only became a problem when the two
got confused.One cannot understand Luther's relationship to philosophy
and his discussions of philosophy without understanding that key
concept.
4. References and Further Reading
a. Primary Sources
Key Primary Sources in English:
Luther's Works (LW), ed. J. Pelikan and H.T. Lehmann. St. Louis, MO:
Concordia, and Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1955 -1986. 55 vols.
(All of the major works of Luther, this is the best edition in
English. It will soon be out on CD-Rom.)
1513-1515, Lectures on the Psalms (LW: 10 -11). (Luther's earliest
lectures. These are important because we begin to see themes that will
eventually become the Theology of the Cross.)
1515-1516, Lectures on Romans (LW: 25). (The patterns of the Theology
of the Cross become a bit more evident. Many scholars believe that
Luther made his final discovery of the doctrine of Justification by
Faith while giving these lectures.)
1517, Ninety Five Theses (LW: 31). (The seminal document of the
Reformation in Germany. These theses led to the eventual break with
Rome over indulgences and grace.)
1518, Heidelberg Disputation (LW: 31) (The best example of Luther's
emerging Theology of the Cross.He contrasts human works to God's works
in and through the Cross and shows the emptiness of human achievement
and the importance of grace.)
1519, Two Kinds of Righteousness (LW:31).(Summary of his position that
righteousness is received rather than achieved.)
1520, Freedom of a Christian (LW: 31). (Luther's ethics, in which he
explains that "A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to
none.A Christian is perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to
all.".)
1520, To the German Nobility (LW: 44).(A call for reform in Germany,
it highlights some of the complexity of Luther's thought on church and
state relations.)
1521, Concerning the Letter and the Spirit (LW:39).(A summary of the
Law and Gospel.)
1522, Preface to Romans (LW: 35). (A summary of Luther's understanding
of Justification by Faith.)
1523, On Temporal Authority (LW 45) (Sets out Luther's doctrine of the
Two Kingdom's most clearly.)
1525, The Bondage of the Will (LW: 33). (In a debate with Erasmus
about human freedom and bondage to sin. Luther argues that humanity is
bound to sin completely and only freed from that bondage by God's
Grace.)
1525,Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants (LW:45).
(Written before the Peasant's War, it was published afterward.)
1530, Larger Catechism (LW:34).(A summary of Christian doctrine, to be
used in instruction.)
1531, Dr. Martin Luther's Warning to His Dear German People
(LW:45).Luther's first expression of a right to resist tyranny.
1536, Disputation Concerning Justification (LW: 34).(A mature
presentation of Luther's doctrine on Justification.)
1536, Disputation Concerning Man (LW: 34).(His anthropology, but also
gives a glimpse of his understanding of the proper role of philosophy
and reason.)
b. Secondary Sources
Key Secondary Sources in English on the Life and Thought of Luther:
Bainton,Roland H.Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. New York:
Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1950. (The most popular biography of Luther,
it is readeable and very thorough.)
Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. Three Volumes. Translated by James L.
Schaaf. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985-1993. (The authoritative
biography of Luther.)
Cameron, Euan. The European Reformation.Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
(An excellent introduction to the Reformation era.)
Cargill Thompson,W.D.J. The Political Thought of Martin Luther.
Edited by Philip Broadhead. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble Books, 1984.
(The best work on Luther's political theology.)
Edwards, Mark U., Jr. Luther's Last Battles: Politics and Polemics,
1531-1546.Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983. (One of the few
books to focus on the older Luther. It is an excellent study in Luther
after the Diet of Augsburg.)
Forde, Gerhard, O.On Being a Theologian of the Cross: Reflections on
Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans,
1997. (The Theology of the Cross is a fundamental doctrine in Luther.
Forde takes an new look at the doctrine in light of Luther's role as
pastor.)
George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers. Nashville: Broadman
Press, 1988. (This is an excellent introduction to Luther and puts his
thought in dialogue with other major reformers, i.e., Zwingli and
Calvin.)
Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers, Ltd., 1996. (The best introduction to the Reformation era,
it covers not only the reformers but the context and culture of the
era as well.)
Loewenich, Walter von. Luther's Theology of the Cross, trans. Herber
J.A. Bouman. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976. (The
classic work on the Theology of the Cross.)
Lohse, Bernhard. Martin Luther:An Introduction to his Life and Work.
Translated by Robert C. Schultz.Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.
(In a handbook format, this is an essential ready-reference to Luther
and his works.)
McGrath, Alister E. The Intellectual Origins of the European
Reformation. Oxford: Blackwell Press, 1987. (This book covers the
scholastic and nominalist background of the reformation.)
Oberman,Heiko. The Dawn of the Reformation: Essays in Late Medieval
and Early Reformation Thought. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1986. (A
classic that places the reformation era within the wider context of
the late medieval era and the early modern era.)
Luther: Man between God and the Devil. Translated by Eileen
Walliser-Schwarzbart. New York: Image Books, Doubleday:1982. (An
excellent biography of Luther that examines Luther in light of his
quest for a gracious God and his fight against the Devil.)
Ozment, Steven. The Age of Reform:1250-1550:An Intellectual and
Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. New
Haven:Yale University Press, 1980. (Ozment places the reformation in a
wider context and sees the impetus for reform stretching back into
what is normally considered the High Medieval Era.)
Pelikan, Jaroslav. The Christian Tradition: A History of the
Development of Doctrine. Volume 4: Reformation of Church and Dogma
(1300-1700). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. (Part of a
five volume history of doctrine, Pelikan looks at the doctrinal issues
at work in the reformation. He is not as concerned with history as he
is with theological development.)
Rupp,Gordon. Patterns of Reformation. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press,1969. (A thorough study of the wider issues raised by the
reformation.)
Watson,Philip S. Let God be God!: An Interpretation of the Theology of
Martin Luther. London: Epworth Press, 1947. (A classic study stressing
the theocentric nature of Luther's thought.)
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