Martin Luther

Who is Martin Luther?

Martin Luther was born in Eisleben in 1483 and became an Augustinian friar and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg. Troubled by Church practices, especially the sale of indulgences, he issued his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517, an act traditionally seen as igniting the Protestant Reformation. Summoned before the Diet of Worms in 1521, he refused to recant his writings and was declared an outlaw. Sheltered at the Wartburg castle, he translated the New Testament into German, later completing the whole Bible, a work that shaped the modern German language and made scripture accessible to ordinary readers. He taught justification by faith alone and the authority of scripture, rejecting papal supremacy. He married the former nun Katharina von Bora, wrote hymns and catechisms, and profoundly influenced Western Christianity. He died in Eisleben in 1546. Some of his later polemical writings, including attacks on Jews, are now widely condemned.

Sources: Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses (1517) · Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther (Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1950) · Lyndal Roper, Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet (Bodley Head, 2016)