Luther was born at Eisleben in the province of Saxony. Although descended from peasant stock, Luther's father, Hans, became a prosperous copper miner at Mansfeld and was able to provide a superior education for his son. Luther received both his bachelor's and master's degrees from the well-regarded University of Erfurt before beginning legal studies there in accordance with his father's wishes. He soon abandoned the law, however, and entered the monastery of the Augustinian Hermits at Erfurt upon undergoing a profound religious conversion experience. In 1507 Luther was ordained a priest. At the urging of his mentor, Johann von Staupitz, he pursued theological studies and earned a doctorate from the newly founded University of Wittenberg in 1512; upon graduation Luther accepted the chair in biblical theology at the university. He taught philosophy and Biblical literature while grappling with the question of salvation: how could God love and forgive human beings so flawed that they could never possibly live up to his laws? An exploration of the Book of Romans provided Luther with his answer, and he formulated his doctrine of justification through faith alone. Luther believed that faith, not good works, was the means of redemption, and that the suffering and death of Jesus Christ provided both the basis and the proof of God's unconditional love. The tenet that salvation ultimately depended on the willingness of sinners to embrace God's grace and mercy through acts of faith implicitly attacked the Sacrament of Penance since it meant that only God, not clerics, had the capacity to absolve people of their sins; thus Luther condemned the Church's practice of selling indulgences. He became particularly critical when Dominican Johann Tetzel peddled indulgences in Saxony to raise funds for the building of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Luther posted his objections on the door of the church in Wittenberg in the form of a series of theological propositions, The Ninety-Five Theses (1517). This document was widely disseminated and discussed throughout Europe and created particular excitement in Germany. The Ninety-Five Theses prompted Johann Tetzel to compose his own list of theses as a retort and to hold a public burning of Luther's work. Luther's students retaliated by conducting their own burning of Tetzel's work. The controversy increasingly alarmed church elders in Rome. In 1518 Pope Leo X ordered Luther to appear before Cardinal Cajetan in Augsburg and recant his views within sixty days. He refused and instead demanded that his opponents offer Biblical proof that his beliefs were wrong. Luther spent the next several years defending his beliefs to his fellow monks, and even traveled to Leipzig to publicly debate with theologian Johann Eck, a blatant critic of his theology. In 1520 Leo X issued the papal bull (or official proclamation) Exsurge domine which branded Luther as a heretic. Luther responded by publicly burning the bull before the students, theologians, and townsfolk of Wittenberg. The Pope officially excommunicated Luther several months later and ordered him to stand trial before Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at a special council, the Diet of Worms. It is here that Luther is said to have proclaimed, "Here I stand: I can do no other. God help me. Amen." Facing certain imprisonment or death, Luther was taken into hiding at Wartburg castle by friends operating under the protection of Elector Frederick III of Saxony. He spent the next eight months in concealment, devoting his time to translating Scripture into German and writing intensively. When danger had passed, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where he continued to teach throughout most of the remainder of his life. In 1525 he married Katharina von Bora, a former nun, and together they had six children in a happy marriage. Luther continued his prodigious literary output throughout his lifetime. Biographers have claimed that he was highly temperamental and expressive, given to periods of doubt and despair, pain and joy; his energy was boundless and the passion of his convictions sparked a reforming spirit in many of his contemporaries. Luther's last few years were marked by declining health; he died in 1546 and is buried at Wittenberg.

Major Works

During his life Luther created a body of written work that was extraordinary for both its range and its quantity. He is credited with composing more than 450 essays, 3000 sermons, and 2600 letters. Luther also composed numerous hymns, including the well-known "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"). The Ninety-Five Theses, in which Luther chastised the practice of granting indulgences, inaugurated his public career as a polemicist. Its appearance elicited disapproval but not wholesale condemnation from ecclesiastical officials; Luther responded to church criticism of his views with a vigorous flurry of new writing that further exacerbated strained relationships. In Eyn Sermon von Ablasz und Gnade (1518; Sermon on Indulgence and Grace), Luther challenged the scope of papal authority. He furthered his doctrinal attack in a group of seminal essays collectively known as the Reformationsschriften (Reformation Writings), published in 1520. In An den Christlichen Adel deutscher Nation: Von des Christlichen Standes Besserung (Address to the Nobility of the German Nation) Luther asserted the need for greater German autonomy from the secular influence of the church, proposing a reduction in the amount of monetary tribute collected from the German people and sent to Rome. Luther also called for an end to celibacy for clergy in the same treatise. He outlined some of his most radical departures from church dogma in De captivitate Babylonica ecclesiae praeludium (On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church). Most of the seven sacramental rites of the church, along with the doctrine of transubstantiation, a cardinal tenet of Roman Catholicism, come under attack in On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. Another important essay, also published in 1520, Von der Freyheyt eynes Christen Menschen (The Freedom of a Christian Man), outlines in halcyon rhetoric the joys and duties of Christian life. Luther laid out his doctrine of faith, not good works, as the basis for Christian salvation in Von den Guten Wercken, Treatyse of Good Workes (1520). Collectively these early essays contain the essence of an emerging Lutheran canon. Luther continued to write throughout his life and the remainder of his work includes two important catechisms, hundreds of essays, hymns and prayers, and thousands of letters and sermons. In order to supplement their income, Luther and his wife took in students as borders. Many recorded dinner conversations with their guests are gathered in Trschreden (1566; The Table Talk).

Critical Reception

Luther's appearance on the world stage was not a historical anomaly. The Renaissance of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries had fostered a burgeoning interest in education and created a cultural climate fertile for intellectual growth. The appearance of Johannes Gutenberg's printing press facilitated the dissemination of new ideas and promoted a return to the reading of Scripture and literary texts. The humanists called for a return to the reading of ancient texts and the writings of the early church fathers as an alternative to scholasticism. Scholastics sanctioned teaching theology in accordance with contemporary church doctrine and practices while stressing the role of the individual in his salvation. This view was at odds with the evangelical component of Luther's belief that redemption resulted from acts of faith. The humanists shared common ground with Luther's faith in the ability of the individual to direct the spiritual aspects of one's life without the intercession of clerical mediators. Desiderius Erasmus, a leader in the humanist movement committed to reforming the church from within, was an early champion of Luther but his support waned when he feared that Luther's attacks were destabilizing the church. While Erasmus feared that Luther went too far, many contemporary rebels felt he did not go far enough. The moral authority of the ecclesiastics had come under siege by Luther's time. Many of the Renaissance popes were notorious for living lives that were less than exemplary, given to venality, nepotism, and greed. Luther struck a particularly resonant chord with a laity eager for spiritual renewal. Excoriated by Roman Catholic Church elders, Luther was championed by members of dissident groups throughout Europe. He experienced some disfavor with the populace, however, when he issued a stern pamphlet condemning the rebellious actions of serfs and artisans during the Peasants' War (1524–26). Although Luther did call for a more democratic church in which all believers, not just clerics, shared in the priesthood, he never abandoned his belief in a divinely ordered state. All members of society, according to Luther, were required to submit to secular authority except in the most extreme circumstances. Still, Luther won many converts and remained the catalyst for the growth of Protestant sects throughout Europe. In Switzerland the Reformation began in Zurich under the guidance of Ulrich Zwingli, a priest influenced both by the Christian Humanists and Luther. Another important evangelical, John Calvin, galvanized religious reform in both Switzerland and France. In 1530 Philipp Melanchthon, a prominent Luther disciple, presented the doctrines of Protestantism in The Augsburg Confession before a tribune called by Charles V at Augsburg, Germany. Ultimately the church failed to stave the schisms that ended her unqualified supremacy in the West. New European principalities emerged and promoted their own state-sponsored churches. Luther's confrontation with the institutional power of the church helped open the door to the questioning of other entrenched social and political institutions. Thus, Luther's challenge to Rome not only irreparably altered the theological world, but influenced the course of Western political and social history as well. Contemporary scholarship on Luther and the Reformation increasingly focuses on Luther's psychic profile, the influence of medieval piety, the socio-economic conditions of fifteenth-century Europe, and the emergence of modern nation-states.