Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 - February 18, 1546) 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. 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."

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, this critique becomes more noticeable, and 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, and it was this discovery that 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 t...

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...ilip Broadhead. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble Books, 1984.

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George, Timothy. Theology of the Reformers. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1988.

Loewenich, Walter von. Luther's Theology of the Cross. Translated by Herber J.A. Bouman. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1976

Lohse, Bernhard. Martin Luther: An Introduction to his Life and Work. Translated by Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986.

Luther: Man between God and the Devil. Translated by Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart. New York: Image Books, Doubleday: 1982.

Rupp,Gordon. Patterns of Reformation. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969.

Watson,Philip S. Let God be God!: An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther. London: Epworth Press, 1947.