LUTHERANISM: ORIGIN AND HISTORY, PRINCIPLES AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2024

The Lutheranism is a religious movement and doctrine spread by the German monk Martin Luther, who emerged as a response to the corruption that was intruded the Catholic Church then. Broadly speaking, Luther defended the need to return to the purity of Christianity, eliminating indulgences and the excessive power of the pope.

Luther's followers are also known as Protestants, as a consequence of the Diet of Spira, which occurred in 1529. This consisted of a protest carried out by Lutherans against the wishes of Emperor Charles V to maintain the Catholic union in the German Empire.

Martin Luther was the founder of Lutheranism. Source: pixabay.com

One of the main aspects that Luther criticized in his theses was the fact that the Catholic Church trafficked indulgences in order to forgive the sins of believers in exchange for donations. This money was used to pay for the excesses of the papacy, which implies that it was not used for the common good or to help the poor.

According to historians, Luther was obsessed with the idea of ​​the utter unworthiness of the human being. This led the German friar to consider that man does not have the ability to intuit the laws of God. Thus, Luther's view of human beings is closer to the Augustinian principle of the nature of fallen man.

For Luther, man's powers of reason are carnal and absurd; none of the human capacities has the power to approach God. This opinion differs clearly from that of Erasmus of Rotterdam, who believed that man could use reasoning to understand God.

Luther's vision of man consists of a being who is "bound to sin", so he does not have the tools to please God nor can he control his will. The only thing that man can do in this case is to try to follow the commandments not because they are just, but because God has willed it that way.

Origin and history

Historic context

At that time, Europe was in a forceful process of transformation, which generated a change in the relations linked to the political, social, economic and religious.

For some scholars such as the historian and philosopher Johan Huizinga, the Middle Ages were in a kind of autumn, so society was clamoring for a new way of perceiving the world; in other words, humanity required a change of episteme.

It was then a period of transformation in late medieval thought, when a destructuring of Catholic unity occurred; this began to show the outlines of a new religious and political reality.

Beginning of the Reformation

The Reformation is a historical problem for connoisseurs, since it is a subject that has been constantly debated between modern and late medieval historians. In colloquial terms, the Reformation is defined as a kind of coup that ended with a time and began a new reality.

At that time Europe was agitated by social changes: Christianity began to divide and, at the same time, a mass of intellectuals emerged who spread their ideas through the printing press. This invention was crucial for the diffusion of the great human questions; among these were the thoughts of Luther.

One of the antecedents of the Reformation occurred in the 14th century, when the pope moved to Avignon, which showed how this character was diminishing his power and authority to become another bishop within the French court.

Luther in Witterberg

Martin Luther was a priest and scholar who taught theology at the University of Witterberg, located in Germany. As he entered into a deep knowledge of the sacred scriptures, Luther realized that in the Bible there was no justification for many practices of the Church.

Through his knowledge, he realized how corrupt the Catholic Church had become and how distant it was from the true practices of Christianity.

Luther tried to mediate his differences with the institution; However, his views were quickly condemned by the papacy, so the thinker decided to start the first Protestant movement.

The ninety-five theses:

Excerpt from the 95 theses of Martin Luther

Questioning the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, also known as the Ninety-Five Theses, was a list of propositions written by Luther in 1517, which formally began the Protestant Reformation and fostered a schism in the institution of the Catholic Church, completely changing European history.

Previously, since 1914 Luther had been concerned with the collection of indulgences; however, these had not yet reached their peak. In 1517 these abuses of the Church became more common and Luther lost patience.

One day when he met with his parishioners, he realized that they had come from buying indulgences. The individuals claimed that they would no longer change their lives or have the need to repent since, thanks to the acquisition of these documents, their sins had been forgiven and they could enter Paradise.

It was then that Luther reacted to the seriousness of the matter; However, he dedicated himself to learning well and studying in depth the sacred scriptures in order to write his theses, among which his Treatise on Indulgences stands out. These texts were made up of a meticulous analysis of the matter.

Beginning

Martin Luther

The dual nature of God for Luther

In the Lutheran principles a God of dual nature can be perceived: in the first instance, it is an entity that has decided to reveal itself through the word; therefore, it can be preached and revealed. However, there is also the "hidden God", whose infallible will is not within the reach of men.

Likewise, Luther did not consider salvation possible through the free will of man; for the author, good deeds cannot save any soul since some men are predestined to be saved and others are predestined to damnation.

This means that the destiny of all souls is fixed by the omnipotent being and there is no possibility of changing it.

Luther's doctrine

According to scholars, Luther's doctrine was the product of an epiphany: in 1513 the author managed to establish a bridge between the divine omnipotence and the justice of man.

After this he devoted himself to studying the Epistles to Romans, the Galatians and the Hebrews; the result of that study was a whole new theology with which he dared to challenge the papacy.

The core of Luther's principles resides in his doctrine of "justification by faith alone," where he states that no one can hope to be saved by virtue of their actions. However, there is the "saving grace" of God, which consists in the favor of the almighty to save anyone.

So, the goal of the sinner is to achieve "fiducia"; that is, a completely passive faith in the justice of God and in the possibility of being redeemed and justified by the work of merciful grace.

Consequences

Luther's ideas - especially those related to indulgences - were all the rage across Europe and began the Protestant Reformation, causing great social and political change on this continent.

However, Luther affirmed that the question of indulgences was not the most important of his treatise compared to the other elements that were questioned there. Luther's actions brought a long list of consequences, among these the following stand out:

The break with Rome

After the publication of the ninety-five theses, the Catholic Church fractured in such a way that its rupture gave rise to a large number of Christian denominations, among them Lutheranism and other currents that remain valid in modern times.

Rise of Anglicanism

Later, the postulates of Luther allowed King Henry VIII to break relations with the Roman Catholic Church, which gave rise to a new form of Christianity that was known as Anglicanism, a format according to which the king was the head supreme of the institution.

Lurking between Protestants and Catholics

As a consequence of the Reformation, the Churches of European countries -such as Portugal and Spain- started inquisitorial courts, with the aim of persecuting and assassinating Lutherans and Protestants throughout the continent.

However, Protestantism was not far behind in terms of persecutions either; For example, in England it was decided to destroy the monasteries and convents of Catholic origin, expropriating their property and murdering their inhabitants.

Promotion of education and literacy of the masses

Authors such as Woessmann assure that Luther was interested in allowing all Christians to read the Bible, which is why universal schooling was promoted in places of Protestant inclination.

Likewise, through the Catholic Reformation -which arose after the Protestant as a consequence of this-, the Church of San Ignacio de Loyola appeared together with its Jesuits, who were in charge of founding schools not only in Europe but throughout the world, especially in the Americas.

References

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2. (SA) (nd) The Religious Reform (16th century): Lutheranism, Calvinism and Anglicanism. Retrieved on February 7, 2019 from Educa Madrid: educa.madrid.org
3. (SA) (nd) The principles of Lutheranism. Retrieved on February 7, 2019 from Educommons: educommons.anahuac.mx
4. Castro, H. (2009) The Lutheran Reform: The problem of rupture. A look at the image of Luther and the destruction of Unity. Retrieved on February 7, 2019 from Dialnet: Dialnet.com
5. Fernández, M. (1920) Luther and Lutheranism: studied in the Spanish version sources. Retrieved on February 7, 2019 from Traditio: traditio-op.org
6. Prenter, R. (sf) Lutheranism and current Protestant theology. Retrieved on February 7, 2019 from UPSA: summa.upsa.es