MARTIN LUTHER (1483-1546) born in Eisleben; school Brethren of Common Life in
Eisenach
1501-1505 University of Erfurt, receives
Master of Arts
1505 thunderstorm and vow to St. Anne, enters
Augustinian cloister at Erfurt
1507 ordained as priest
1512 receives Doctorate in Theology, assumes chair of
Biblical Theology at Wittenberg,
lectures
on Psalms and Paul's Epistle to Romans
1517 Sale
of indulgences authorized by Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht von Brandenburg,
John
Tetzel sells indulgences in Saxony
95
Theses: against theory & practice of indulgences (text on web page link)
1518 Heidelberg Disputation: public
defense of his theses
Papal order to arrest
Luther, who appeals to Elector Frederick of Saxony for protection
1519 Leipzig debate with Dr. John Eck
representing Catholics
Imperial election
candidates: Charles Hapsburg, Francis I/France, Elector of Saxony
1520
Three treatises of 1520 fundamental Lutheran position established
Address
to the Christian Princes of the German Nation -- church-state
relations
Babylonian
Captivity of the Church—treatise on sacraments as “channels of grace”
Freedom
of the Christian Man--theology of justification by faith, not works
1520 Leo
X's papal bull of excommunication: Exsurge Domine “Rise
up O Lord…”
1521 Diet
of Worms: called by Emperor Charles V to deal with Luther; his excommunication
is confirmed; becomes a heretic
outside the law when he refuses to recant, saying:
"”Unless
I am convinced by the testimony of Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do
not
trust
in Pope or Councils alone, since they have often erred and contradicted them-
selves,
I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to
go
against
conscience. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand. May God help me." German.
1521-22 seclusion in Wartburg
castle under protection of Frederick, Elector of Saxony
Wittenberg
Movement: first splits in evangelical movement during Luther’s absence
1522 German
New Testament: Luther's translation (done while in Wartburg)
published
1524 Erasmus' On the Freedom of
the Will - break with Luther
1525 Luther's On the Bondage of the Will
1525 Peasant's
revolt in Germany
The Twelve
Articles of the Swabian peasants
Luther’s responses to peasants:
Friendly
Admonition to Peace (in Hillerbrand)
Against
the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants (link on web page)
Open
Letter on the Harsh Book against the Peasants
Betrothal
to Katherine von Bora
1529 Marburg
Colloquy: Sacramentarian Controversy with Zwingli, reformer of Zurich
Luther’s Small Catechism
(1529) Luther’s Large Catechism (1530)
1530 Augsburg
confession: becomes classic statement of Lutheran orthodoxy
Make a library visit to
Suzzallo (sorry, but no indulgences attached to
this visit : )
American edition of Luther's Works, German Weimar Ausgabe (Collected Works)
edited by J. Pelikan
& H. Lehman compiled
1883-2009
56 volumes BR 330/E5
136 volumes BR330/A2
Biographies: Lyndal Roper, Martin
Luther: Renegade and Prophet (2017)
very readable
Heiko Oberman,
Luther: Man between God and the Devil (1982) theological focus
Roland Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of
Martin Luther (1955, reprinted
1995)
the
standard earlier biography