MARTIN LUTHER : rebel in an age of upheaval

576 Pages·2017·6.9 MB·English

by  Heinz Schilling

R R
MA TIN LUTHE

MARTIN
LUTHER
R
EBEL IN AN AGE OF UPHEAVAL
HEINZ SCHILLING
translated by
R
ONA JOHNSTON
1
3
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Acknowledgements
Looking back now this book is complete, I recognize above all my debt of
gratitude to Detlef Felken, who years ago first tempted me to tackle a
biography of Luther and then became an enthusiastic and a knowledgeable
reader who unfailingly supported the project and provided his counsel.
Without him, this book would not exist. In another way this statement is
equally valid for my colleagues on the board of the Verein für Reforma-
tionsgeschichte (Society for Reformation History), of which I have been a
member throughout a lifetime of research—first deputizing for Bernd
Moeller, whose influence as president was so formative, then from  to
 as president, and now again as an ordinary member. Without the
interdisciplinary discussions that they encouraged, I would not have found
mywayfrommyinitialhomeinstructuralhistoryatFreiburgandBielefeld
to a biography of Luther, and to its theological component in particular.
IamalsogratefulforfruitfulcontactwithReformationhistoriansinEurope
beyond Germany and in North America, facilitated in particular by more
than a decade and a half as European editor of the journal Archiv für
Reformationsgeschichte / Archive for Reformation History.
Following on from many generations of research on Luther and on the
Reformation,today’sbiographer of Luthercan drawon outstanding source
editions and hundreds of articles and monographs—an obvious legacy,
perhaps,butstilldeservingofgratefulacknowledgement.Twocontributions
standout,thatoftheeditorsoftheWeimarEdition(WeimarerWerkausgabe)
of Luther’s works and that of Martin Brecht, author of the three-volume
biography of Luther. Responsibility for this interpretation of Luther in the
context of his own age and as he figures for us today is, however, entirely
mine.Ihopethatthisbookwillinspireinterconfessionalandinterdisciplinary
debateaboutLuther’shistoricalsignificanceandtheworldwideimpactofthe
Reformation, much as Brecht’s work stimulated discussion of the loss of
the Reformation, crushed historiographically between research on the late
Middle Ages, on one hand, and on confessionalization, on the other. This
viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
debate could provide a scholarly platform for the political commemoration
of the th anniversary of the Reformation, in .
IthankKarinHeilmannforproducingatypescriptofthefirstchapterand
forsubsequenttechnicalassistanceinmovingfrommanuscripttocomputer.
Ruth Slenczka made her expertise available when it came to selecting the
images.IwishalsotothankAnjaWagnerandClaudiaHäßler,whoasthey
tracked down literature and checked the citations, developed their own
enthusiasm for Luther.
Mywifereadthisbookcloselyandcriticallyandindebatinghowthetext
should be formulated embodied most effectively the role of a ‘Mr Käthe’.
Berlin,earlysummer
Contents
List of Figuresand Maps xi
Abbreviations xv
Translator’s Note xvii
Prologue 
PART ONE: CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION,
AND FIRST YEARS AS A MONK, –
I. —New Departures for Christendom 
II. Childhood and Youth 
III. Crisis and Flight to the Monastery 
PART TWO: WITTENBERG AND THE BEGINNINGS
OF THE REFORMATION, –
I. Wittenberg—‘On the Edge of Civilization’ 
II. Eleutherios—The Birth of a Free Man 
III. The Reformer—Standing His Ground before Church,
Emperor, and Empire 
IV. Beginning to Labour for the Cause 
V. Contesting Interpretation within the Evangelical Camp 
VI. Arrived in the World—Marriage, Family, and a Large
Household 
PART THREE: PROPHETIC CONFIDENCE,
BUT TEMPORAL FAILURE, –
I. Evangelical Renewal of Church and Society 
II. ‘But We Christians Are Part of a Different Struggle’—Facing
the Demands of the World 