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Reformation Basics

Introducing the Reformation

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Learn more about the historic Reformation era with a rich biography of Martin Luther, a timeline exploring the progression of the movement, a slideshow of key figures, an interactive map of Reformation events, fun quizzes, and more!

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Welcome

Rick Steves introduces the 500th anniversary of the Reformation and invites readers to learn more about this historic era with resources from Fortress Press.


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Martin Luther

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More books have been written about Luther, the great German Reformer, than about any figure in history except Jesus Christ. Martin Luther (1483–1546), born in Eisleben, studied law at the University of Erfurt. In 1505 he joined a closed Augustinian friary in Erfurt, after taking a dramatic vow during a thunderstorm. Luther was ordained in 1507, and after studying theology was sent to the University of Wittenberg to teach moral theology. In 1510–11 he visited Rome on business for his order, and in 1512 became a doctor of theology and professor of biblical studies at Wittenberg. After a long spiritual crisis, Luther finally came to understand the nature of God's righteousness. He rejected all theology based solely on tradition, and emphasized the personal understanding and experience of God's Word. Centrally, he believed justification is not by works, but by faith alone.
Luther's views became widely known when he posted his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg, attacking the teaching behind the sale of indulgences and the church's material preoccupations. Luther was excommunicated in 1521, and again refused to recant before the Diet of Worms in April 1521, unless his ideas were refuted from Scripture. For his own safety, he was seized and taken to the Wartburg Castle, under the protection of Frederick of Saxony. There he devoted his energies to translating the New Testament into German, so that the Bible might be read by all. Eight months later, in 1522, Luther returned to Wittenberg and set about reforming public worship, emphasizing preaching the Word, the eucharist, and congregational singing. In 1530 Luther approved the Augsburg Confession drawn up by Melanchthon.
Luther's teaching and personal experience are closely linked. He always proceeds in the same way: from Scripture to personal conviction to declaration and preaching. For Luther, God's only communication with humankind is through his Word. Christ is the essence of Scripture, and in Christ the Word becomes flesh. God speaks only to those who have faith; faith is God’s gift, not our achievement. Luther saw God behind everything in the world.

Timeline

Quiz

Updates

Reformation Resources for Class and Study
January 8, 2016
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Endorsements

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This altarpiece painting in Wittenberg church by Cranach illustrates Luther preaching and illustrates how Christ is to be at the center of a sermon, wherein Christ comes to us and we are brought to Christ.

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Title-page woodcut for Luther’s sermon on indulgences and grace, showing a man approaching a church building with rosary in his left hand and perhaps a slip of paper in his right.

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Portraits of Luther's father Hans and mother Margaretha painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder in 1527.

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Indulgence for priests and other clergy issued at the insistence of J. Tetzel, to support the rebuilding of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and to repay the loan with which Albert of Brandenburg obtained the pallium.

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The title page of Exsurge Domine, the papal bull excommunicating Luther, promulgated in Rome in 1520.

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The single-sheet printing of the Ninety-Five Theses by Michael Lotter in Liepzig. Now in the National Library in Berlin.

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Portrait of Martin Luther (1483-1546) from the German translation of The Babylonian Captivity of the Church by the artist Hans Baldung Grien (d. 1545) depicting the reformer as an Augustinian monk expounding on the Bible.

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This engraving of the crucifixion is by the artist Hans Schäufelein (ca. 1480 - ca. 1539), as found in Martin Luther’s Operationes in Psalmos of 1519.

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Image of infant baptism from a 1545 printing of Luther’s Small Catechism

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This historiated title-page border of Luther’s Treatise on Good Works features the crest of the printer, Melchoir Lotter, the Younger, at the foot. It has been attributed to Lucas Cranach, the Elder, or to his workshop.

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Luther is shown as an Augustinian monk debating the pope, a cardinal, a bishop, and another monk at the Diet of Worms in 1521.

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Jacobus Latomus (c.1475-1544) was a distinguished member of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Leuven and an adviser to the Inquisition.

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Portrait of Duke John Frederick by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1531.

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A title page of Hieronymous Emser's translation of the New Testament into German, published 1527 in Dresden, Saxony.

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The title page of Luther's On the Bondage of the Will.

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Portrait of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam with Renaissance Pilaster Hans Holbein the Younger (1498-1543).

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Wenceslaus Linck, the publisher of the Confession of Faith, had been an Augustinian monk and professor at Wittenberg along with Luther, and was a pastor in Nuremberg.

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Portrait of Luther's wife Katharina von Bora painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder, c. 1530.

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A portrait of Philipp Melanchthon by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553).

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In this painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder, Johannes Bugenhagen, Luther's friend and confessor in Wittenburg, is pictured holding the keys of the kingdom.
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