Martin Luther ( LOO-thər; German: [ˈmaʁtiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is considered one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history.
Born in Eisleben, Luther was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. He came to reject various teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, in particular the view on indulgences and papal authority. Luther initiated an international debate on these in works like his Ninety-five Theses, which he authored in 1517. In 1520 Pope Leo X demanded that Luther renounce all of his writings, and when Luther refused to do so, excommunicated him in January 1521. Later that year the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, condemned Luther as an outlaw at the Diet of Worms. At the time of Luther's death in 1546, his excommunication was still in effect.
Luther taught that justification is not earned by any human acts or intents or merit. He preached it instead is received only as the free gift of God's grace through the believer's faith in Jesus. Luther held that good works were a necessary fruit of living faith, part of the process of sanctification. Luther's theology challenged the authority and office of the pope and bishops by teaching that the Bible is the only source of divinely revealed knowledge on the Gospel, and opposed sacerdotalism – the belief that a priesthood was needed as an intermediary between God and individuals or humanity; he considered all baptised Christians to be a holy priesthood. Those who identify with these, as well as Luther's wider teachings, are called Lutherans, although Luther insisted on Christian or Evangelical (German: evangelisch), as the only acceptable names for persons who professed Christ.
Luther's translation of the Bible into German (1534) made the Bible vastly more accessible to the laity, which had a tremendous impact on both the Church and German culture. It fostered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the writing of an English translation, the Tyndale Bible. His hymns influenced the development of singing in Protestant churches. His marriage to Katharina von Bora, a former nun, set a model for the practice of clerical marriage, allowing Protestant clergy to marry.
Luther expressed staunchly antisemitic views, calling for the expulsion of Jews and the burning of synagogues. These works also targeted Roman Catholics, Anabaptists, and nontrinitarian Christians. While Luther did not advocate the murder of Jews, some historians contend that his rhetoric encouraged antisemitism in Germany and the emergence, centuries later, of the Nazi Party.
Martin Luther was born on 10 November 1483 to Hans Luder (or Ludher, later Luther) and his wife Margarethe (née Lindemann) in Eisleben, County of Mansfeld, in the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was baptised the next morning on the feast day of Martin of Tours.
In 1484 his family moved to Mansfeld, where his father was a leaseholder of copper mines and smelters and served as one of four citizen representatives on the local council; in 1492 he was elected as a town councillor. The Lutheran scholar Martin E. Marty describes Luther's mother as a hard-working woman of "trading-class stock and middling means", contrary to Luther's enemies, who labelled her a whore and bath attendant.
Luther had several brothers and sisters and is known to have been close to one of them, Jakob.
Hans was determined to see Martin, his eldest son, become a lawyer. He sent him to Latin schools in Mansfeld, then Magdeburg in 1497, where he attended the Brethren of the Common Life, a school operated by a lay group, and Eisenach in 1498. The three schools focused on the trivium: grammar, logic and rhetoric. Luther later compared his education there to purgatory and hell.
In 1501, at age 17, Luther entered the University of Erfurt, which he later described as a beer house and whorehouse. He was made to wake at 4 am for "a day of rote learning and often wearying spiritual exercises." He received his master's degree in 1505.
In accordance with his father's wishes, Luther enrolled in law, but dropped out almost immediately, believing that law was an uncertain profession. Luther instead sought assurances about life and was drawn to theology and philosophy, expressing interest in Aristotle, William of Ockham, and Gabriel Biel. He was deeply influenced by two tutors, Bartholomaeus Arnoldi von Usingen and Jodocus Trutfetter, who taught him to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers and to test everything himself by experience.
Philosophy proved to be unsatisfying to Luther because it offered assurance about the use of reason but none about loving God, which Luther believed was more important. Reason could not lead men to God, Luther felt, and he thereafter developed a love-hate relationship with Aristotle over Aristotle's emphasis on reason. For Luther, reason could be used to question men and institutions, but not God. Human beings could learn about God only through divine revelation, he believed, leading him to view scripture as increasingly important.
There are two stories told of Luther's sudden decision to become a monk: Melancthon's story is that Luther was shocked by the sudden death of a university friend, Hieronimus Buntz. The cause of this death has been variously speculated as lightning, plague, pleurisy, or even that Luther killed him in a duel.
The other story is that on 2 July 1505, while Luther was returning to university on horseback following a trip home, a lightning bolt struck near him during a thunderstorm. He later told his father that he was terrified of death and divine judgement, and he cried out, "Help! Saint Anna, I will become a monk!" He came to view his cry for help as a vow that he could never break. He withdrew from the university, sold his books, and entered St Augustine's Monastery in Erfurt on 17 July 1505. One friend blamed the decision on Luther's sadness over the deaths of two friends. Luther himself seemed saddened by the move. Those who attended a farewell supper walked him to the door of the Black Cloister. "This day you see me, and then, not ever again," he said. His father was furious over what he saw as a waste of Luther's education.
Luther dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage, and frequent confession.
Luther described this period of his life as one of deep spiritual despair. He said, "I lost touch with Christ the Savior and Comforter, and made of him the jailer and hangman of my poor soul." Johann von Staupitz, his superior and frustrated confessor, concluded that Luther needed more work to distract him from excessive introspection and ordered him to pursue an academic career.
On 3 April 1507, Jerome Schultz, the Bishop of Brandenburg, ordained Luther in Erfurt Cathedral.
The following year, in 1508, Luther began teaching theology at the University of Wittenberg. He received two bachelor's degrees, one in biblical studies on 9 March 1508, and another in the Sentences by Peter Lombard in 1509. On 19 October 1512, he was awarded his Doctor of Theology.