Martin Luther: Reluctant Revolutionary

Throughout his life, Martin Luther played an important part as a cultural, political and religious revolutionary.  Because Martin Luther did not give up, I think, is one of the main reasons why his beliefs got so far and reached out to so many different people. 

A picture of
Martin Luther

 Martin Luther was a part of the cultural revolutionary because through his writings he was able to persuade all types of people that what the church was saying was wrong and that what he was writing about was true. The video even mentioned that once he managed to get people to believe what he was saying, it was hard for them to go back to what they had been thinking before about the church and the Pope. Martin Luther’s thoughts even went farther than only in Germany. Different places, such as, Geneva, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium were soon reading what he had to say about the church. Having his word spread to different location in Europe, I think, was a large step because now word was getting out even more about his thoughts and what needed to change.

The 95 Theses Martin Luther wrote
and posed on the church doors

 I believe Martin Luther was seen as a political revolutionary when he first wrote the 95 Theses and nailed it to the church, which made attacked toward the church and the Pope. I also see this as political because Luther knew how to write so that he could communicate with all of the different types of people who were reading his writings. He even went as far as to make illustrations for those who could not read so that they too could understand the points he was trying to get across. Later on Martin Luther also published his words into books and pamphlets by using the printing press to get his word out even more. He was doing anything he could to get his word out to try to get people to see the same way that he was seeing and to get them on his side.

Wartburg Castle where Luther
translated the bible to German

One of the huge reasons that Martin Luther was part of the religious revolution was because translated the Bible into German while he was captive in a castle. He did this so that everyone would be able to see what the Bible was saying and so they could understand it. I think that by doing this he was reaching out even more for everyone to see that what he was saying about the church was true when they actually had the chance to read the Bible to see what it was saying. Martin Luther also did not like the idea that the church was telling everyone one that they had to come there to be safe or that there had to be a middle man between the people and God. I think that this was a big deal to Luther because in the religion Lutheran there is not a priest that you have to go and confess to, it is only the people and God. I think that the Lutheran religion might be like this because one of Martin Luther’s goals was to set down a new system of faith.

I think that the main reason Martin Luther was important to the German speaking lands was because he was the person who translated the Bible into German for everyone to see what the church was really saying. He also found that there were only two original sacraments when there was said to be seven. Luther pointed out that the other five sacraments were placed there so that it would force everyone to come to church so that they could be accepted into Heaven. The church was forcing people to do things that they came to believe were a necessity when really they were not. With Luther pointing this out it brought

A map showing where Martin Luther
was from in Germany