Forget about where one might stand theologically, there are a multiplicity of ways to tell the story of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Its development in the broader context of the Renaissance; the influence of the Ottoman Turks on European leaders’ decision making; the tension between German lands and Italy; even a psychological approach delving into Luther’s relationships with both his earthly and spiritual fathers.
But in this episode of DW’s The Germans, the focus is, appropriately, on Luther’s role in the development of a German people. It’s the fourth episode in this excellent series, and it takes viewers into the 16th century, during one of the most exciting and consequential periods in all of Western history.
Born in 1483, in the small town of Eisleben, Luther went on to ignite the most divisive cataclysm the Church had ever seen. Throughout Luther’s dramatic 62 years, he played a role in myriad theological, social, and political events. He is one of the rather few figures in history of whom it can rightly be said that his life and thought changed the course of the world.
How, then, to select only a few events of his life and explicate their import in a single episode? It’s no easy task, but the creators have done an admirable job at showing how Luther’s theological ideas brought the German people together, including through language and culture.
After the grand spectacle of the Diet of Worms, in 1521, and the immediately following Edict from the hand of Emperor Charles V (a staunch Catholic), Luther’s life was at grave risk. But Frederick the Wise, elector of the lands where Luther lived in Germany, gave him protection. And in an event as delicious and exciting as in any novel, a carefully orchestrated faux-kidnapping of Luther brought him to the safe confines of Wartburg Castle.
It was there that Luther translated the New Testament into German. (By 1534, the documentary informs us, Luther had finished and published a German translation of the complete Bible.) Although he had published and distributed some pamphlets in German prior to this — thanks to the new technology of the printing press — this was monumental.
One can imagine the extraordinary implications. A 16th-century person now able to read (or at least hear) the most fundamental book of their life in their own language. The consequences were powerful and wide-ranging. As the documentary succinctly puts it, “[Luther’s] Bible led to a standardization of the German language, which in turn fostered a stronger sense of common identity among German speakers.”
But the ties that bound some of the Germans together went beyond that of a common language. An extended effect of Luther’s New Testament was that it empowered German peasants — newly confident in their ability to interpret scripture for themselves — to fight for a better existence. Angered by a bevy of grievances, including a new tax, a large conglomeration of peasants led a major revolt, beginning in 1525.
Rather surprisingly, Luther gave only nominal support to the peasants’ complaints; then, later on, he outright opposed their movement. The documentary states, “Luther advocated the preservation of divinely appointed authority to secure his Reformation. He sacrificed the peasants. The end of a people’s hero.”
Well, sort of. That last statement, depending on how exactly one interprets it, is perhaps a bit hyperbolic and broad, unless it’s speaking solely about the end of the Peasants’ Revolt. There may have been many who were greatly disappointed by Luther’s stance, but he hardly permanently lost huge swathes of support because of it. Indeed, he remained a “people’s hero” for years onward, and never stopped being a figure of enormous authority, inspiration, and leader for a great number of Germans. (But that’s enough squabbling over a couple sentences in this fine documentary.)
In 1546-47, it was increasingly clear just how much Luther had changed the landscape of a once religiously unified realm. United by the ideas of Luther, powerful German princes grouped together to carry out a pact that had begun many years before with the creation of the Schmalkaldic League. They intended to stand up to the imperial forces of Charles V, who wanted to put an end to the ideas and influence of the pesky reformer.
Charles went on to win the Schmalkaldic War, and quite decisively. Yet the pervasiveness of Luther’s ideas, in spite of the loss, shows the depth of influence he achieved. Germans — as well as others — became increasingly emboldened to worship how they pleased; princes fought for the political and religious autonomy to allow whatever brand of religion they wanted in their own territories. Things had changed, drastically and permanently.
Indeed the end of Luther’s life did not mean the end of the explosive Reformation. Just as when he was alive, his powerful ideas continued to sow unity and division, clarity and confusion, peace and chaos. But undeniably, it helped create an overall unity among Germans, in part through Luther’s revolutionary translation of the Bible.
Spectatio 