Martin Luther Essay. Words8 Pages. Martin Luther. Martin Luther (November 10, - February 18, ) was a Christian theologian, Augustinian monk, professor, pastor, and church reformer whose teachings inspired the Lutheran Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Protestant and other Christian traditions Sep 26, · For this essay, I chose the 95 Theses by Martin Luther as my primary source. This primary source is a historical document that cause major uproars throughout Europe. The 95 Theses were written by Martin Luther in October of The 95 Theses were ninety-five statements written by Martin Luther in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church Jul 26, · In , Martin Luther was ordained as a priest. Between the years of to , Martin Luther studies several books of the bible and he acknowledges that faith was a gift from God. In , martin criticized Pope Leo X for selling indulgences. This motivated Martin Luther to write a letter to the Archbishop of Mainz in Germany
Short and Long Essay on Martin Luther King for Students
Martin Luther was arguably one of the most influential Germans, or even people, in human history. The Reformation and Great Schism had effects that rippled throughout Europe at the time and reshaped the direction of history in ways that we still see today.
However as people tend to focus on the wider reaching effect that Martin Luther had on the martin luther essay his effect and influence on a micro level is often overlooked.
That is why for this paper I will be exploring the impact that Martin Luther had on the creation of German nationalism. When people think of German nationalism many immediately go to the nationalism prominent in Germany, some may even go to the nationalism prominent in when William the First officially created the Martin luther essay nation-state.
However, as will be discussed in this paper, the first real wave of German nationalism to emerge on a mainstream level was brought about by Martin Luther. During the 14th century what martin luther essay now call Germany was a collection of hundreds of various small, centralized states sharing very little aside from a common language, all vying for power.
The whole area was a rapidly increasing powder keg with regional powers such as Brandenburg and Saxony all looking to break away from the suffocation of the church and the emperor and assert their own authority.
This desire was highlighted by the two Gravaminas created by the German prince estates, martin luther essay, one in and another indetailing the various complaints of the princes and what they perceived as threats to their various estates. The overlaying sentiment was one of disapproval towards the expansion of power by the Emperor as well as the financial and political influence of the Church Whaley pg As this friction was growing in the complex geopolitical landscape so was the idea of a need for German identity.
Yet this was a difficult identity to compose due to the segregation of the German people into these various states and territories. That is where Martin Luther came in. Luther was instrumental in disseminating nationalistic ideals to the wider ethnic German populations.
That is not to say that Martin Luther created German nationalism from scratch. German nationalistic sentiments had been floating around since the 15th and early 16th century thanks to the printing press and educated german classes that made up the early humanist movement. Humanists had began using the printing press to mass produce old roman ethnographic studies of the germanic tribes, specifically Germania a study done by Tacitus that praised their war-like traditions and honorable cultural values Haug-Moritz This effectively created the fledgling discourse on the German identity as the humanists began to appreciate their shared past that as this point they seemed so far removed from.
They began to draw parallels between their ancestors struggles for independence from their roman overlords and their current struggle for independence from their italian overlords in the form of the Catholic church Benario Yet the humanist movement had a problem: they could not reach the masses.
The rhetoric martin luther essay the humanists was far reaching but mostly among the educated higher classes and the problem still remained that the church still held a spiritual grasp over the general public Kistner This is where Luther comes in.
Luther became the bridge, probably unwittingly, for humanist ideas when his 95 theses were translated into German. After utilizing this widespread audience Luther also aimed for political support from the various German princes by incorporating the same worries that were put forth in the Gravaminas as he began to champion the idea of a German people by speaking out against their mistreatment by the various external powers that influenced their states.
This is seen overwhelmingly in his most directly political writing To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate. The writing is focused mainly on secular matters, something rare for Luther, listing out various social and economic reforms that he thought were necessary for the German people. Many of these reforms and issue were in line with what was presented in the Gravaminas and some of them where even taken directly from it and recognized by him.
Essentially Luther was calling for the leaders of these states to lead the reform since the corrupt church was not going to do it, not only was he calling for the leaders to do this but he was calling for them to do it for the good of the German people. In this writing Luther espouses the desire to take the central authority of the German church out of the hands of the foreign catholic church and the foreign cardinals and place in the hands of the German princes of the German estates.
Luther had done this from the beginning, In his earlier works he always argued not just from the perspective of a Christian but a German Martin luther essay. An attack by the evil church on the good pieous Germans. What good German would allow their martin luther essay to be sucked dry by some corrupt foreign power? We can see even more of this nationalistic sentiment in earlier passages of To the Christian Martin luther essay. Like many other nationalistic leaders he writes of his own people in contrast to other peoples.
Italy calls us beasts. France, England, and all other lands mock us. Who knows, what God wishes to and will make out of the Germans.
We see another very strong example of nationalistic feelings is found in his criticism of the Diet of Augsburg, Warning of Martin Luther to His Dear Germans, martin luther essay. In Emperor Charles V convened a diet in an attempt to smooth the rising tensions from protestantism and try to unite the states against a rising threat of invasion posed by the Turks by declaring the supremacy of the Catholic church yet he tried to accomplish this essentially through threats to squash the Lutherans with troops, martin luther essay.
This was rejected by a large portion of princes and Luther, martin luther essay, an outlaw at the time, in turn wrote a scathing rebuttal to the Diet and the proposals Marius This particular writing is important because Luther not only writes directly to the German people as his people but also begins to equate Christianity, true Christianity, martin luther essay, to Germany, martin luther essay.
What will the Turk and his entire Empire say, when they hear such an unheard of action from our Empire? What will the Tartars and Moscovites say to it? This passage is noteworthy because he refers to all Germans as individuals, not only to a German nation in the sense of just the elite ruling class but every German individually. This is further shown by him even writing this in German in the first place. Like most intellectuals of the time he was fluent in Latin and wrote many of his writings including his seminal piece, The 95 Theses, in Latin.
Yet many of his social writings were in German such as To Christian Nobility and Warning of Martin Luther. This combined with the audience he was writing to highlights the fact that he was not aiming to reach a specific demographic like writers before him. He was not aiming for only the educated upper class or only for whatever population of Europe could read at the time.
He was aiming specifically for those who spoke German to call them to action for the good of their homeland and their people. He is calling upon the German people, not just the princes but every German, to act as a people and for the good of themselves to rise against and resist the power of the Church and the Emperor. Luther was aware of the gravity of his statements as this Warning came at a tense time in the Holy Roman Empire after the Diet of Augsburg where the Emperor was threatening to end the Protestant uprising with force, calling into question the honor of all Germans and for all Germans to be ashamed was a very powerful statement and not one that was taken lightly.
At this point Luther had started something large than him and larger than he could have imagined. His movement has splintered into different factions and moved past the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. It would go on to split Europe into the Protestant north and Catholic south eventually leading to the 30 years war and the Treaty of Westphalia, arguably one of the most important events in political history. As stated before Martin Luther himself did not begin the nationalist ideas but what he did was arguably more important, he took those ideas a was able to help them transcend class barriers as well as taking the political power of the ideas already vested in them by the German princes and the upper class and not only giving them a religious validity that martin luther essay needed to full convince the still spiritual masses but even shaping Christianity into a specific German value that need to be protected like any martin luther essay value, martin luther essay.
It is unclear if Luther wanted a united Germany or simply freedom for the German people from foreign exploitation. Whatever his personal goals he was without a doubt the loudest and fartherest reaching voice calling for nationalistic sentiments and became an icon for it.
Over three centuries after his death in12 years after Germany officially became a country, Martin Luther was given his own jubilee, martin luther essay. He influenced many leaders of the Nazi party, martin luther essay, his ideas and likeness appearing in many pamphlets. Hitler heralded him as one of the greatest reformers and champions for the German spirit in Mein Kampf Paras In his quest to free his homeland from foreign influence he became something larger than he ever could have imagined, something that would not only change the world but changed his homeland he loved multiple martin luther essay over.
Martin Luther and German Nationalism. com, martin luther essay, Dec 07, Accessed July 31, commartin luther essay, Dec We will send an essay sample to you in 2 Hours. If you need help faster you martin luther essay always use our custom writing service. Would you like to hone and perfect your paper? I'll help you contact an academic expert within 3 minutes. Topics: Catholic ChurchChristianityHumanismItalyMartin LutherNationalism, martin luther essay.
Category: Culture, martin luther essay. Pages : 8. Words : Download: Print: Order Original Essay. How it works. An Open Letter to the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate, Philadelphia: A.
Holman Company, Whaley, Joachim, martin luther essay. Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume One: From Maximilian I to the Peace of Westphalia, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Brecht, Martin. Martin Luther. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, Marius, martin luther essay, Richard.
Martin Luther: The Martin luther essay Between God and Death. Cambridge: Belknap Press, Sherman, Franklin. Edited by Franklin Sherman, Translated by Martin H. BrinksJan Herman. Did you like this example? Cite this page Martin Luther and German Nationalism. The deadline is too short to read someone else's essay. WRITE MY PAPER. Having doubts about how to write your paper correctly? GET QUALIFIED HELP, martin luther essay. Leave your email and we will send a sample to you. Email Get sample, martin luther essay.
Luther and the Protestant Reformation: Crash Course World History #218
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Martin luther Essays. Martin Luther’s Religious. Using the attached worksheet and outside research, answer the following questions with at least a sentence paragraph. Martin Luther: Biography and Facts. Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther and Foundation of the Protestant Martin Luther Essay. Words8 Pages. Martin Luther. Martin Luther (November 10, - February 18, ) was a Christian theologian, Augustinian monk, professor, pastor, and church reformer whose teachings inspired the Lutheran Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines of Protestant and other Christian traditions Dec 07, · Words: Download: Print: Order Original Essay. How it works. Martin Luther was arguably one of the most influential Germans, or even people, in human history. The Reformation and Great Schism had effects that rippled throughout Europe at the time and reshaped the direction of history in ways that we still see today
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