Hilario zapata biography of martin luther

Miraculously avoiding capture, Luther was able to organize Christian schools, write instructions for pastors and teachers Larger and Smaller Catechismcompose hymns including the well-known "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"put together numerous leaflets, and even publish a hymnbook during this time. Shocking both friends and supporters, Luther was married on June 13, to Katherine von Bora, a nun who had abandoned the convent and taken refuge in Wittenburg.

Together they had three boys and three girls and led a happily married life in the Augustinian monastery. As Luther aged, he suffered from many illnesses including arthritis, heart problems, and digestive disorders. However, he never quit lecturing at the University, writing against abuses of the Church, and fighting for religious reforms.

Inthe famous Augsburg Confession the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church was published, which Luther helped to write. And in he completed translation of the Old Testament in German. His theological writings are considerably extensive.

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Some of his later works contained violent writings with crude and offensive language, creating enemies amongst his fellow reformers, Jews, and of course, Popes and leaders in the Catholic Church. During an exhausting trip to his hometown of Eisleben, on a mission of reconciliation to settle an inheritance dispute between the princes of Mansfeld, Luther succumbed to death on February 18, Two of his sons and three close friends were at his side.

His body was taken back to Wittenburg for his funeral and burial at Castle Church. His grave is located directly in front of the pulpit where he preached, and it can still be seen today. More than any other church reformer in Christian history, the impact and influence of Luther's contributions are hard to adequately describe. His legacy, though highly controversial, has marched on through a parade of equally zealous reformers who modeled Luther's passion for letting God's Word be known and understood personally by every man.

It's no exaggeration to say that almost every branch of modern Protestant Christianity owes some portion of its spiritual heritage to Martin Luther, a man of radical faith. By Mary Fairchild. As time dragged on and it seemed that a compromise would never be reached, some Catholics suggested that a general council of church leaders should meet to provide a solution.

Yet the popes at Avignon and Rome would not agree to be judged by followers from the other side. In the situation became even more complicated when a group of five hundred high-ranking bishops, called prelates, met in a council at Pisa, Italy. The prelates decided that both popes should be removed and a new one should be elected.

The popes of Avignon and Rome would not accept this solution, and for a while there were three popes claiming to be the legitimate ruler of the Roman Catholic Church. Sigismund of Luxembourg, the king of Hungary —; ruled — and king of the Romans —37; Holy Roman Emperor —37wanted the papacy to be controlled by a council, not by a pope who made his own decisions.

This idea had been suggested years earlier but had not been accepted by church officials. This time Sigismund hoped to get enough backing to accomplish his goals. In he called a number of important churchmen to the Swiss town of Constance for a meeting. The council met untilwhen it was decided that all of the existing popes should be removed and a new one elected.

Pope Martin V —; reigned —31 was then named the only rightful leader of the Roman Catholic faith. The other three popes did not want to step down, but none of them had enough support to stay in power. Although the Council of Constance ended the Great Schism, the question remained whether future popes would be required to meet with councils before making decisions about church policy.

By the papacy had become so corrupted by power that most of its energies were exhausted by selling church offices, raising taxes and tithes one-tenth of church members' income to support its standing army. Simultaneously, the Black Death —s; a widespread epidemic of a disease called the plague had devastated Europe. The plague had destroyed the social and spiritual lives of Europe's peasant and working classes, whose faith in the church's earthly power was needed for Catholicism itself to survive.

To make matters even worse, two of Europe's great political and religious powers, France and England, were engaged in the Hundred Years' War, which brought further turmoil. Indeed, it seemed to many in Christendom the name then given to Europe that the Roman church had failed and that the time was ripe for a "reformation" of both the church and the political powers that helped implement its policies.

The most influential supporters of reform were Meister Johannes Eckhart c. The protest movement that eventually became known as the Protestant Reformation is best understood through their works. In addition, the invention of "moveable type" and the mass production of the Gutenberg Bible in the mid-fifteenth century spread word concerning a key aspect of Protestant ideology: that every person might individually, without the help of a priest, discover Christian salvation through his or her own understanding of the Bible.

Wycliffe, for instance, was a principal figure in the Protestant hilario zapata biography of martin luther. He was the first person to translate the Bible from Latin into English so that lay readers—those outside the church—could read it. Wycliffe, whose followers were called Lollards, also rejected the Catholic belief in communion a ceremony in which wine and bread represent the body and blood of Jesus Christ as a "miracle.

Because of the power of the Catholic Church at this point, both Wycliffe and Eckhart were quickly condemned as heretics those who violate the laws of God and the churchas were many of those Protestants who followed them. Indeed, the growing schism, or break, between Catholics and non-Catholics would create a bitter and unresolved crisis in both religion and politics.

Much more so than today, church and state were almost indistinguishable from each other in their function and power. For instance, the Holy Roman Empirewhich had been founded in as a uniting force in Europe, was closely allied with the church. The early protests against the Roman Catholic Church did not really attract a popular following until Luther's lifetime.

To understand the Protestant Reformation, one must first learn about Luther, the man who began the Reformation with a single defiant act: he dared to publicly criticize the church. At various points in his life Luther was an author, a professor, a friar member of a religious ordera priest, a father, and a husband—in fact, he was so busy and so productive that many people claimed he must have seven heads.

For some, Luther was a hero and the father of the most important religious revolution in Western non-Asian history, but to others he was a heretic who endangered the future of Christianity. Who, then, was this man who not only challenged the corrupt religious practices of the church, but also changed the course of human history? His parents were of peasant stock, but his father had worked hard to raise the family's social status.

Hans Luther began his career as a miner, then became the owner of several small mines that brought the family a fair degree of financial comfort. This process took nearly a decade, however, and life for the nine Luther children five boys and four girls was sometimes difficult. Young Martin was severely beaten by both his mother and his father for relatively minor offenses.

This type of discipline was common at the time, and the Luther children grew up in a family that firmly believed in "tough love. Seven years later he was sent to a better school in Magdeburg, Germany. Inafter he had shown academic excellence, he enrolled in a school located in Eisenach, Germany. Here he met Johann Braun, a dedicated cleric who became his role model.

Luther's early education was typical of late-fifteenth-century practices. To a young man in his circumstances, only the law and the church offered likely avenues to success. His parents believed that the financial success of their children would guarantee the elder Luthers comfort in their old age. Hans Luther had a dislike for the priesthood, a feeling that probably influenced his decision that Martin should be a lawyer.

Hans believed that if Martin became a lawyer, he would be able to increase the Luther family's prosperity. Martin was enrolled at the University of Erfurt in He received a bachelor of arts degree in and a master of arts degree in In the same year he enrolled in the faculty of law, giving every sign of being a dutiful and possibly wealthy son.

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Although Martin seemed poised for a prosperous future in the legal field, he privately yearned to become a priest. The years between and were filled with religious crises that would take Luther away from the study of law forever. He was extremely pious, a quality that was instilled in him by his parents and early teachers. Aware that the material world was extremely close to the supernatural world, he believed the forces of good and evil had a direct effect on the everyday lives of human beings.

A series of events would confirm this for young Martin and change his life. A serious accident in and the death of a friend a little later began to affect Martin's religious development. Then, on July 2,while Luther was returning to Erfurt after visiting home, he was caught in a severe thunderstorm. He fell to the ground in terror, and he suddenly vowed that he would become a monk if he survived.

This episode, as important in Christian history as the equally famous and parallel scene of Saint Paul 's conversion, changed the course of Luther's life. Two weeks later, against the opposition of his father and to the dismay of his friends, Luther entered the Reformed Congregation of the Eremetical Order of Saint Augustine at Erfurt. Luther took his vows in and was ordained a priest in Upon ordination, a nervous Luther conducted his first mass, a worship service at which communion is taken.

In hilario zapata biography of martin luther at the service was Hans Luther, who was still angered by his son's choice of vocation. Martin felt he was unworthy to be a messenger of Christ, but he explained to his father that he had to enter the monastery because of his experience in the thunderstorm. Martin was determined to prove himself to his father, and he dedicated himself to the rigorous life of a monk.

His supervisor, Johann von Staupitz —recognized that Martin was academically brilliant, Staupitz urged him to become a teacher. Having reconciled with his father, Martin was selected for advanced theological philosophy of religion study at the University of Erfurt, which had connections with his monastery. In Luther was sent to the University of Wittenberg founded in to lecture in arts.

Like a modern graduate student, he was also preparing for his doctorate degree in theology while he taught. He lectured on the standard medieval texts, such as the Book of Sentences by the Italian religious scholar Peter Lombard c. Luther also read for the first time the works of Saint Augustine a. On October 19,Luther received his doctorate in theology.

After completion of his degree came the second significant turn in Luther's career: he was appointed to succeed Staupitz as professor of theology at Wittenberg. Luther was to teach throughout the rest of his life. Whatever fame and notoriety his later writings and statements were to bring him, Luther's true work was teaching, a duty he fulfilled diligently until his death.

Bydue to the efforts of Luther and his colleague Philip Melanchthon —Wittenberg was to become the most popular university in Germany. Inhowever, it lacked the prestige of Erfurt and Leipzig and was insignificant in the eyes of the greatest of the old universities, the University of Paris. Wittenberg was not the place for an academic who aspired to a prominent career, but Luther was dedicated to being a teacher, not to being financially successful.

His rapid rise came from his native ability, his boundless energy, and his dedication to the religious life. Luther had a good relationship with the Duke of Saxony, also known as Frederick the Wise —who gave his full financial support while he attended the university. This relationship led to Luther becoming one of the most prestigious professors at Wittenberg, even before publishing his works on grace a divine virtue given by God and beginning the infamous indulgence controversy.

Luther had been exposed to two competing philosophical systems during his education: scholasticism and nominalism. Scholasticism was derived from the philosophies of the Italian religious scholar Saint Thomas Aquinas —who had in turn borrowed ideas from the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle — b. The main concept of scholasticism was that rigorous formal logic thinking based on reason should be used in all philosophical and theological inquiries.

Any question could be answered by studying and thinking about it in a logical, organized way. Nominalism, on the other hand, was derived from the philosophies of the English scholastic William of Ockham c. Those who followed nominalism maintained that God was infinitely remote, or removed, from humans, and that the human intellect could not understand the majesty of God.

Luther believed both of these philosophies held merit. Luther dedicated himself to his studies, but he remained continuously afraid of God's wrath and power. While at the monastery he began to experience new religious crises that were based upon his acute awareness of the need for spiritual perfection and his equally strong conviction of his own human frailty.

These conflicts caused him almost to despair before the overwhelming majesty and wrath of God. Nevertheless, Luther was a productive writer and he published his lectures on Peter Lombard in He went on to publish his lectures on the Bible: the Psalms —15Saint Paul 's Epistle Letter to the Romans —16and the epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews — During these years, his biblical studies became more and more important to him.

Besides teaching and study, however, Luther had other duties. Beginning in he preached in the parish church and served as regent member of the governing board of the monastery school.

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In he became the supervisor of eleven other monasteries. Overwhelmed by his duties, Luther worried about the state of his soul. Luther's crisis of conscience centered upon his fears of imperfection. He wondered how his personal efforts could begin to satisfy a wrathful God. These fears were intensified in when he began to closely study the works of Saint Paul.

Luther began to despair while attempting to interpret the passage in Saint Paul's Epistle to the Romans, which says that the justice of God is revealed in the Gospels four books in the New Testament that tell the story of Christ and his teachings. How can mankind satisfy this angry God, he asked himself. Soon he felt he had found the answer in Saint Paul's text.

Luther claimed that God had to punish humanity because people were inherently sinful, yet because God was righteous he gave the gift of faith to those who would take it. Only faith in God's mercy, according to Luther, could save man. Good works became less important to him than faith. Luther used the term "works" to refer to both church liturgy and the more general sense of "doing good.

The idea that faith was more important than deeds was not new. An estimated forty-three other theologians, including Staupitz and Saint Augustine, had come to conclusions similar to Luther's. What was new, however, was Luther's relationship with God: unlike traditional Christians, he no longer found himself afraid of God, whom he believed to be a loving deity.

These new beliefs, which Luther formulated between andcaused him to ask new theological questions, as well as to challenge certain elements of church life. The most famous of these is the controversy over indulgences pardons for sins. In a great effort to dispense indulgences was proclaimed throughout Germany. In spite of reservations about this practice, indulgences were believed to be a way to escape punishment in the afterlife.

This belief was held not only in Germany, but also across Catholic Europe. As Luther became more and more convinced that indulgences were a threat to true faith, his comments about the issue brought him into direct conflict with the pope. Indulgences began as gifts of money given to the clergy in appreciation or gratitude for forgiveness. Soon, however, indulgences began to represent an outward showing of grief for sins.

People would pay for indulgences to prove to the church and others that they were truly repentant for their sins. The medieval church distinguished between guilt and punishment for a sin: a person could atone for guilt through Jesus Christ, but penance, or penalties, for sins could be ordered by a priest. Indulgences, therefore, could be used to reduce the penalties for sin.

In the thirteenth century, the Catholic Church formulated what was called the "treasury of merits," which was a spiritual bank of sorts that "contained" the good works performed by Jesus Christ, the saints, and all pious Christians. In other words, because Jesus and the saints had lived better lives than necessary to get into heaven, their good deeds had been left on Earth in the treasury of merits.

Good deeds from this treasury could be redistributed in the form of indulgences. One would give money to his or her clergyman, who would in turn make a "withdrawal" from the spiritual bank. This system was supposed to reduce the punishments one suffered in purgatory the place where believers feel the dead go to atone for their sins before either going to heaven or being cast into hellbut many did not understand it.

Some thought they could buy their way out of hell and into heaven. By the fifteenth century many had begun purchasing indulgences for family members who were already dead. It was widely believed that people could sin as much as possible and still buy their way into heaven. In Pope Leo X —; reigned —21 announced his intentions to commission the building of a basilica, or church, over the supposed grave of Saint Peter in Rome.

The church is now known as Saint Peter's Basilica. Leo sanctioned the sale of indulgences to raise money for the construction. That same year, an experienced indulgence salesman, a Dominican friar named Johan Tetzel —arrived in a town not far from Wittenberg to begin raising money for the construction. Luther wrote a letter of protest to his archbishop, Albrecht von Bradenburg.

Initially, Luther's protest fell on deaf ears, for the archbishop was sharing the profits of indulgence sales with the pope. Luther attached his Ninety-Five Theses, or propositions for debate, to the letter. He questioned the value of indulgence sales and reprimanded the church for its financial exploitation of Germany. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers.

Academic debates about theological questions were commonplace at Wittenberg, and had someone not translated Luther's theses from Latin into German they might have gone unnoticed. The translation made them accessible to theologians, scholars, and anyone else who could read German. Soon the theses gained worldwide attention. Most modern scholars agree that Luther never intended to begin a worldwide reform movement within the Catholic Church.

He merely wanted to spark academic debate about a serious issue. He had condensed his Ninety-Five Theses down to "Twenty-Eight Theses on Indulgences" and was excited about engaging in academic debate on the importance of salvation through faith. Luther wanted to put forth the idea that the Scriptures the text of the Bible are the sole authority for Christianity.

He was warmly received by his fellow Augustine monks, who openly gave their support with cheers. Many of those in attendance would later become the first generation of Luther's followers. Luther quickly became a German folk hero, spearheading the campaign to end religious corruption. Meanwhile, back at the Vatican, Pope Leo X —notorious for hobbies such as hunting and traveling that kept him away from his papal duties—realized that Luther's condemnation of indulgences represented a threat to the church's source of income.

Leo, who was the son of the influential Italian banker Lorenzo de' Medici see "Florence" in Chapter 2intended to stop Luther from making more noise about the issue. He ordered a meeting for August 7, Luther asked his prince and supporter, Frederick the Wise, for guidance. Having already sought council from his own advisor, Frederick did not believe Luther to be a heretic and allowed him to stay at Wittenberg.

As one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor electors were German princes entitled to vote for an Emperor and a leading Christian, Frederick put pressure on the Vatican for the hearing to be on German soil. Although nervous about the meeting, Luther was also excited to meet such a revered theologian. Luther was well versed in the writings of Thomas Aquinas, on which Cajetan was a leading expert.

Luther hoped the two would be able to discuss Aquinas, which would serve as a launching point to dialogue about the new opinions of Luther. Upon meeting at the palace of the Fuggers a wealthy banking familythe two men took an instant disliking to one another. While Luther looked for debate, Cajetan wanted Luther to submit to the authority of the church.

Luther refused, and the two parted on bad terms. Hearing that he was to be arrested, Luther fled from Augsburg to the safety of Nuremberg. After a while, Luther returned to Wittenberg, where Frederick the Wise allowed him to continue teaching. Frederick hoped that the controversy would go away, and Luther agreed to stop writing or speaking publicly about his opinions on indulgences.

Neither of them could foresee the controversy that was about to be unleashed. In Luther agreed to a debate with the theologian Johann Eck — to be held at the University of Leipzig. Eck was a professor at the University of Ingolstadt and an extremely skilled debater. Eck realized he could earn celebrity and win favor with Rome by dismantling Luther's theological positions.

A staunch supporter of the church, he was determined to defend the sacred institution. The debate, held in early July, was originally scheduled to take place between Eck and Luther's colleague Andreas von Karlstadt — When Eck quickly demolished all of Karlstadt's arguments, it was Luther's turn to join the debate. Eck outwitted Luther by challenging his positions, claiming they were similar to those of Jan Hus.

Hus was a priest from Bohemia now Czechoslovakia who had been excommunicated from, or kicked out of, the church and executed in by the Council of Constancea committee of Catholic officials meeting in the town of Constance, Switzerland see "Bohemia" in Chapter 4. One of his crimes was criticizing the practice of selling indulgences. Hus angered many church leaders and state officials, who often split the money raised from indulgences.

After Hus was executed he became a national hero and his followers went on to stage the Hussite Revolt — He is now considered one of the forefathers of the Protestant Reformation. Luther was pushed into a corner, and he was forced to declare that the Council of Constance had been wrong in its condemnation of Hus. The University of Leipzig had been founded by student and faculty refugees who had fled from Prague during the height of the Hussite Revolt, and Luther's position proved unpopular with the audience.

Luther refused to accept any reading of the. Luther's prince and supporter, Frederick the Wise, was one of seven electors responsible for choosing a new emperor after the death of Maximilian I —; ruled — on January 12, Charles was a member of the house of Habsburg, a family of rulers based in Austria and in Spain. Charles had inherited the throne of Spain from his grandparents, Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, and had also inherited his rule over the Low Countries present-day Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.

Many politicians, the pope among them, hilario zapata biography of martin luther that the naming of Charles to the throne would give too much power to the house of Habsburg. The same was true of Francis I of France, who belonged to the house of Valois. If made ruler of the Holy Roman Empirethe Frenchman would have a kingdom as large as that of Charlemagne, a ninth-century Frankish king who ruled much of Europe.

Pope Leo was extremely worried about the election of a Habsburg or a Valois because each house controlled an Italian city-state that was close to Rome. Charles was king of Naples, and Francis ruled Milan, so either man would be ideally positioned to overtake the papacy. The pope asked Frederick the Wise to name himself as a candidate.

Leo was certain that Frederick, a Saxon who was fiercely devoted to the hilario zapata biography of martin luther, was no threat to the papacy. Trying to be even more persuasive, Leo promised that if Frederick should be elected, he could chose any person he wanted to be made an archbishop. Leo was assuming that Frederick would choose Martin Luther for the post.

The physical pain and emotional strain of being a fugitive might have been reflected in his writings. Some works contained strident and offensive language against several segments of society, particularly Jews and, to a lesser degree, Muslims. Luther died following a stroke on February 18,at the age of 62 during a trip to his hometown of Eisleben.

He was buried in All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, the city he had helped turn into an intellectual center. Luther's teachings and translations radically changed Christian theology. Thanks in large part to the Gutenberg press, his influence continued to grow after his death, as his message spread across Europe and around the world. We strive for accuracy and fairness.

If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Jesus Christ. Saint Nicholas. Jerry Falwell. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Saint Thomas Aquinas. History of the Dalai Lama's Biggest Controversies. Saint Patrick. Pope Benedict XVI. John Calvin. Dalai Lama. Education At 14, Luther went hilario zapata biography of martin luther to Magdeburg, where he continued his studies.

If he recanted, his life would be saved. If he did not, he would be declared a heretic, which was a death sentence in those days. Although he had a letter granting him safe passage to and from Worms, when this expired he knew he could be killed by anyone and they would not be punished. The civil government would likewise put him to death, as they had countless others who crossed Rome.

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason-for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves-I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God.

Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me. Luther took a stand that his highest authority was going to be the Word of God, regardless of what the church taught. To protect his life, his friends kidnapped him and hid him away in Wartburg Castle. Here he hid for ten months in disguise. He grew a beard and took the name Junker Jorge, or Knight George.

He was not simply laying low. During his time in exile, Luther undertook the translation of the New Testament into the language of the German people. Remember, at this time Scripture was only available in Latin. Reading and studying Scripture was something reserved only for the academics and the elite. Luther did not simply take the Vulgate and translate the Latin into German.

He translated his German New Testament out of the original Greek. Within three months Luther had translated the whole of the New Testament. This is an amazing feat, and is even more so considering the monumental impact that this translation would have on the German people. For the first time, an ordinary believer could read the Bible for themselves.

Luther was helped by his friend and fellow reformer Phillip Melanchthon a much better Greek scholar and, having begun the New Testament in November or December ofcompleted it in March of — just before he left Wartburg Castle to return to Wittenberg. After some revising, the German New Testament was made available in September of Luther immediately set to work on translating the Old Testament.

The first five books, the Pentateuch, appeared in and the Psalms were finished in By the entire Bible had been translated. This was not the first German translation, but it was the finest and became the primary Bible of the German people. Luther knew that for the people to return to the truth of the Gospel — that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, they needed Scripture in their own language.

If Luther had done nothing else, had never preached a sermon, had never written a treatise, had never insulted a pope, had never taken a stand at Worms, his translating of Scripture into German would have propelled the Reformation onward. Because the Bible was no longer in a foreign language, but the language of the people, the Reformation was not dependent on the works of any of the Reformers but depended instead on the Word of God.

The people consumed the Word at an phenomenal rate. On Wittenberg printer sold about a hundred thousand copies in 40 years, which is an enormously large number at that age, and these copies were read and reread by millions of Germans.