Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary Blog Post #3

Martin Luther, shown in 

portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder,

 initiated the Protestant Reformation 

in 1517.

Martin Luther was a headstrong believer. He believed in the truth and would fight to make sure the truth was expressed across the nation. He defended the truth with his blood and death. I think that the reactions Luther received from the Catholic Church about his 95 Theses may have seemed as a bit of an overreaction, but the Catholics do have the right to be offended by Luther because he basically targeted the Catholic religion by wanting to create a division between the religions and singling out Catholicism. The Catholics’ reaction can be seen as valid because Luther did single out their religion by trying to separate their religion from the rest. Although Luther is willing to put his life in danger for what he believes in, which he claims is the truth, he was in the wrong with how he attacked the Catholic religion. Even though Luther did initiate the Reformation and the Catholics’ reactions, I don’t believe his life should be in danger. Everyone’s life has value and everyone makes mistakes, but Luther ended up becoming a very important role model of the German-speaking lands.

Luther’s 95 Theses being hung on the door 

of the castle church in Wittenberg. As all good 

Lutherans “know,” the Reformation began 

when the 95 Theses was posted on 

that door.

Because a unifying cultural, economic, and political center does not exist in every language territory, especially in German-speaking lands of central Europe, developing a unifying dialect was a little more complicated.

Central Europe, where unifying a common 

dialect was a little more complicated.

Besides the Dutch and the Swiss, the rest of the German-speaking lands adopted a common language and because of this, the role of Luther, especially through his Bible, was crucial. Luther lucked out on his own geographical location as well because by being located in the middle of the German-speaking lands the dialect that exists in the area could more easily function as a bridge to other regions. For instance, if Luther was located completely north or completely south of the German-speaking lands, he would have a much more difficult time developing a dialect that could be understood throughout the entire German-speaking lands. Luther was most important for the German-speaking lands in the way that he employed the language in a creative and effective way in works that were printed and distributed in mass quantities throughout the German-speaking lands. The Reformation was the first movement to take advantage of the printing press, and Luther’s use of the printing press created remarkable results. With the use of the printing press, Luther printed works of every sorts, like pamphlets, the catechism, and the Bible, which communicated directly with the ordinary people who embraced his faith and held similar beliefs of his. They were also able to use Luther’s vision of the German language and gradually make it their own. Luther was able to bring everyone together from the German-speaking lands by developing a common dialect and utilizing the printing press to distribute documents like the Bible to a wide variety of people across the German territories. His beliefs were expressed and received by the German people, which in turn they formed their own beliefs with the use of Luther’s visions.

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