Martin Luther Essay -- essays research papers

Martin LutherMartin Luther was a German theologiser and religious reformer, who started theProtestant Reformation, and whose vast influence during his time period make himone of the crucial figures in modern European history. Luther was born inEisleben on November 10, 1483 and was descended from the peasantry, a fact thathe often stressed. Hans Luther, his father, was a strapper miner. Luther receiveda sound primary and secondary education at Mansfeld, Magdeburg, and Eisenach. In1501, at the age of 17, he enrolled at the University of Erfurt, receiving abachelors grade in 1502 and a masters degree in 1505 . He then think tostudy law, as his father had wished. In the summer of 1505, he wedded hisstudies and his law plans, sold his books, and entered the Augustinian monasteryin Erfurt. The decision surprised his friends and appalled his father. after inhis life, Luther explained his suprising decision by recollecting severalbrushes with death that had occurred at the time, making him aware of thefleeting character of life. In the monastery he observed the rules oblige on anovice but did not find the pacification in God he had expected. Nevertheless, Luthermade his profession as a monk in the fall of 1506, and his superiors selectedhim for the priesthood. Ordained in 1507, he approached his prime(prenominal) celebration ofthe mass with awe. After his ordination, Luther was asked to study theology in articulate to become a professor at one of the many youthful German universities staffedby monks. In 1508 he was assigned by Johann von Staupitz, vicar-general of theAugustinians and a friend and counselor, to the new University of Wittenberg(founded in 1502) to give introductory lectures in incorrupt philosophy. He receivedhis bachelors degree in theology in 1509 and returned to Erfurt, where hetaught and studied.In November 1510, on behalf of seven Augustinian monasteries, he made a seeto Rome, where he performed the religious duties customary for a pious visitorand was floor by the worldliness of the Roman clergy. Soon after resuming hisduties in Erfurt, he was reassigned to Wittenberg and asked to study for thedegree of doctor of theology. In 1512, after receiving his doctorate, he took all over the chair of biblical theology which he held till his death.Although still equivocal of Gods love and his own salvation, Luther wasactive as a preacher, teacher... ...ependence ofrulers from papal charge won him the support of many princes. His fame madeWittenberg an intellectual center.By 1537, Luthers wellness had begun to deteriorate, and he felt burdened bythe resurgence of the papacy and by what he perceived as an attempt by Jews totake payoff of the confusion among Christians and reopen the question ofJesus messiahship. Apprehensive about his own right for this situation,he wrote a violent polemic against the Jews, as well as polemics against thepapacy and the radical wing of the reformers, the Anabaptists. In the winter of1546, Luther was asked to settle a controversy between two young counts whoruled the area of Mansfeld, where he had been born. Old and sick, he went there,resolved the conflict, and died on February 18, 1546, in Eisleben. Luther left substructure a movement that quickly spread throughout the Western world. Hisdoctrines, especially justification by faith and the final authority of theBible, were adopted by other reformers and are shared by many Protestantdenominations today. As the founder of the 16th-century Reformation, he is oneof the major figures of Christianity and of Western civilization.