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Higher History

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 8

Luther in Rome

By Rev. Donavon Riley

Martin Luther’s time in the monastery, all his study and work, all his searching for a merciful God, kept leading him back to the same point: If he wanted to enter into eternal life he needed to make sure he was always leaning toward heaven.

It didn’t matter if he was praying, or scrubbing floors, or just out for a walk, Luther was taught by every authority in the church, that if he just did his best, God would show him grace. But, only if the young monk did his best.

As Luther later said, when he thought back about this time in the monastery, “I Iost hold of Christ the Savior and comforter and made him a stick-master and hangman over my poor soul.”

There was not anything during those early years that shows us Luther was going to bust loose from what the church of his day believed and confessed as the truth about God, salvation, and so on. In fact, young Martin pretty much went along with what he was taught, even after he began to teach at university. He lived the way he was expected to live. He taught what he was expected to teach. He was, by most everybody’s opinion, a good and faithful monk.

Even his trip to Rome in 1510 did not change his attitude toward the faith of the Church. Near his 27th birthday, Luther was sent by his order to Rome in the hope that someone higher up, with more authority in the Church, could settle some political infighting that was happening amongst the monastic orders.

Luther and one other monk walked to Rome in the winter of that year—yes, they walked to Rome, over the Alps, in the winter!—as representatives of their order. Even though Luther expected to find a Rome (and a pope) that represented an example of faith, hope, and charity for the whole Church, what he found was something different.

First, the pope was not even in the city when Luther was there. Second, Rome was not a clean city. Garbage and sewage were dumped into the gutters. Wealthy people, especially women, avoided walking on the streets, mostly because they were under constant threat of being mugged. Third, Luther wanted to say a Mass at one of the little chapels that were everywhere in Rome at the time, but they were so jammed with priests wanting to do the same, that when he got his turn at an altar another priest behind him kept saying, “Hurry up! Hurry up!” the whole time. All in all, his experience in Rome was so bad that Luther, when he returned to Wittenberg, said that Romans were no better than dogs.

Still, he was able to overlook the poor conditions of the city and the overall miserable piety of the clergy he saw there, that as he later said, Luther “was so drunk… submerged in the Pope’s dogmas that I would have been ready to murder all… who take but a syllable from the obedience to the pope.” Life in Rome may not have been what Luther expected, but his hope in the Church and God’s grace were there for him, even if they were hidden and had to be hunted up.

When the young monk got back to Erfurt, and it was determined that what Rome had decided about their infighting was unacceptable, monks took sides. That is why, in the end, Luther and his friend Johannes Lang, were more or less pushed out of the monastery and sent into exile, to live at the monastery in Wittenberg, the “Black Cloister,” with their superior and friend in the Augustinian order, Johann von Staupitz.

Next time, we will look at what kind of city Wittenberg was in 1511, and what happened to Luther when he arrived.

Rev. Donavon Riley is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Webster, Minnesota. 

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Higher History

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 3

Paying indulgences

Rev. Donavon Riley

Martin Luther, like most people during the sixteenth century, lived during a time of both earthly and spiritual insecurity. Frequent wars, plagues, peasant revolts, and famine meant people had to struggle to secure daily bread. And, at the same time that they were worried about sustenance, the church taught that sins could be atoned for by praying to the saints, making pilgrimages, worshipping holy relics, and the like.

The world Luther grew up in was an apocalyptic time. Death could overcome a person at any moment. The Grim Reaper, Four Horsemen, and other end times figures were popular in literature, art, and music. Images of fire and brimstone occupied the church’s imagination, too. Jesus wasn’t pictured as a merciful shepherd or suffering servant, but as a judge seated on a rainbow throne, a two-edged sword coming out one side of his mouth and a lily the other. They symbolized judgment and mercy, death and resurrection. This meant that the primary question on Christian’s minds was: “What must I do to avoid the sword and receive the lily?”

The church’s answer was, “Do what is in you.” Then, God willing, the church would dispense grace to penitent sinners.

To this end, at least once a year, people were expected to confess their sins to a priest. Of course, the more often the faithful Christian confessed his sins the better, but at least once a year was required. In fact, before he could go to communion, he was obligated to go to a priest for confession and absolution. However, if the priest didn’t feel the sins confessed were sincere, honest, or expressed from a contrite heart, he would ban the offender from communion until such time as he made a proper, sincere confession of sins.

Then there was purgatory. In Luther’s day, the church taught that anyone who had not done enough in this life to be purged of all their earthly sins must pay for them in purgatory. As Luther scholar James Kittelson writes: “They would sweat out every unremitted sin before they could see the gates of heaven,” unless, of course, a family member or friend could afford to offer a monetary “gift” to the church in return for a loved one’s release from purgatory.

The “indulgences” as they were called, were legal documents that came with fill-in-the-blank spaces for the purchaser, for those whom he wanted to buy out of purgatory, how many years off purgatory he wanted to pay down, and so on.

Young Martin Luther came of age in a religious culture that mirrored the world. If he worked hard enough, maybe he received his just desserts. In the same way, if he was devout and earnest about his eternal salvation, he might receive grace and be allowed to walk through heaven’s gates at the time of death.

Whether Luther received an earthly or spiritual reward, hard work was the focus. How much he applied himself, how he used the gifts God had given him and how devoted he was to his spiritual development would determine for young Luther where he ended up—not only in life but also in the afterlife.

Next week, we will look at Luther’s time in Erfurt.

NOTE: If you’ve enjoyed these articles and want to know more about Martin Luther, I’ve been following the work of my professor, James M. Kittelson, in his book Luther The Reformer: The Story of The Man and His Career. Also, in the weeks and months that follow I will introduce you, the reader, to other works by Luther scholars that I believe will help deepen your knowledge and appreciation for Luther’s life and work. Enjoy!

Rev. Donavon Riley is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Webster, Minnesota.

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Higher History

Who Was Martin Luther? Part 2

Young Luther the student in class

Rev. Donavon Riley

When Martin was sent to school in Eisenach, his mother’s relatives helped him settle in. However, they were poor people, so life for him stayed pretty much the same as it had been in Magdeburg. He focused on his studies and sang in children’s choirs for food and a few coins. At some point, however, he met a woman named Schalbe. She was from a family of wealthy merchants. She arranged for Martin to stay in the home of a relative and eat his meals with another. This meant that after 1498, life became a bit better for Luther.

Another change that happened at Eisenach was that Martin caught the attention of the school’s headmaster, John Trebonius. He took Luther under his wing and stirred up the young student’s imagination. Trebonius, as Luther later recalled, was a gifted teacher. At the same time, Martin began a friendship with another teacher, Weigand Geldennupf. This friendship lasted up to Geldennupf’s death.

Geldennupf introduced Martin to ancient authors, like Aesop, Terence, and Virgil. The importance of this for Luther was so far reaching that later he translated Aesop’s fables into German. And, he then urged students, friends, and family to read, learn, and memorize the wonderful, wisdom-teaching fables.

It was Trebonius and Geldennupf who recognized Luther’s gifts, and it was they who paved the way for him to attend a university. Martin’s father, Hans, was very encouraged by this turn of events and did whatever he could to secure his son’s future learning, which he hoped would result in a career in church, law or medicine. Even though Hans barely earned enough to feed and support the family back home, when the time came, he made sure Martin had enough money to attend classes at the University of Erfurt.

It may be easy for us in the present to assume Martin’s intellectual skills lent themselves to excelling at his studies, and religious life and piety, but they didn’t. When he arrived at Erfurt, he was no different than any other student. And, as far as his religious life, Luther was an ordinary Roman Catholic—a believer who attended church regularly, but showed no particular excitement or desire to pursue religious studies.

Martin had learned a great deal about the Christian faith from the Schalbe’s, who were devout people, and they taught him much about monasticism. But, again, this didn’t appear to especially influence Martin’s view of the church or religion. Singing in choirs, attending church, and the like was considered a good work, a part of Luther’s Christian duty, and the way to gain spiritual security in his daily life. Salvation for Martin Luther, and everyone, was something earned. It was a religion of works.

Next week, we’ll dig into what sin, confession, and penance at the end of the 15th century contributed to a Christian’s “spiritual security” and daily life.

Rev. Donavon Riley is the pastor of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Webster, Minnesota.