In this course we will discuss the history of some ideas that have been hugely influential in the modern west and that were taken out to the rest of the world. The discussion centers on an extraordinary and historically important figure, a sixteenth century German man named Martin Luther. Luther is recognized today as the originator of many of the most significant ideas that continue to affect and shape who we as modern people are and how we see the world and ourselves for better and for worse. In the first section, we will explore why Luther thought the Bible was the most important volume for everyone to have and read. Included here will be a careful consideration of Luther's anti-Judaism, which contributed to western antisemitism and some of the greatest horrors of the twentieth century. In the second section, we will talk about the idea of freedom and how Luther's understanding of freedom in Christ affected the way modern thinkers understood what it means to be human in community. Important in this section is the consequential contradiction between freedom and slavery in western thought and their co-existence in western societies. The third section will be all about the many complicated relations between religion and politics. NOTE: Students wishing to sign up for free access to all instructional course content should click on the "Sign-In" button in the upper right hand corner. Those who wish to take the course and complete a certificate that requires payment, please click the Enroll button on the left side of this page.
Luther and Church Reform
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From the course by Northwestern University
Luther and the West
58 ratings
Meet the Instructors
Christine HelmerArthur E. Andersen Teaching and Research Professor, Professor of Religious Studies and German
Department of Religious Studies
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The Church reigned supreme over this world and the next,
with the two swords firmly in its hands.
How could one excommunicated heretic defend himself against such awesome power?
Remember, that Luther had discovered a life-saving message in the Bible:
the good news of Christ is God's gift of forgiveness for all.
To answer this question, Luther turned to the biblical passage
that had long served to justify the Catholic Church's spiritual power.
In Mathew, chapter 16, verses 18 and 19,
Jesus says to his disciple, Simon Peter, “You are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
This passage was usually understood to refer to two powers,
or keys, given by Christ to the Church.
The key for binding was the Church's power to excommunicate.
The key for loosing was the church's power to forgive.
To this day, two crossed keys adorn the papal flag.
But to whom exactly did Jesus give the keys?
Medieval theologians thought the answer was Peter,
whose name in New Testament Greek literally means “rock.”
Construction of the most important church in Western Christianity,
Saint Peter's Basilica,
was begun in Luther's time
upon the stone under which it was believed Peter's bones were buried
after his martyrdom.
Just as Jesus said it would be,
the main Church of Catholicism was built on Saint Peters' bones.
All popes are living representatives of Christ on earth in direct
succession from Saint Peter.
As such, they are given Christ's power over souls to excommunicate or to forgive.
In other words, theologians in the middle ages, read verse 18
(that Christ would build his church on Peter the rock)
joined together with verse 19 (Jesus gift of the keys).
Both verses are inscribed in Latin in large letters
around the interior wall of St. Peter's for the world to see.
Luther did not agree with this theological consensus.
He struggled with the question of whether Jesus was really giving the popes power
over sinners.
His own eternal life rested on verses 18 and 19:
if Jesus had granted the pope the power of the two keys,
then Leo X’s excommunication damned Luther for all eternity.
But Luther had come to understand that Christ revealed God’s will to
forgive sinners,
not to condemn them.
If Jesus had granted the Pope the power of the two keys,
then Leo X’s excommunication damned Luther for all eternity.
But Luther had come to understand that Christ revealed God's will to
forgive sinners,
not to condemn them.
Luther's new interpretation of Matthew 16 challenged the very heart of papal power.
The passage did not legitimate the pope's rule, Luther concluded.
Instead, it communicated the gospel of forgiveness.
Christ, not the pope, rules the church by the keys.
The two keys, moreover, are not equal, Luther said.
The key of forgiveness truly represents Christ on earth
when it makes forgiveness available to all who are burdened by sin and guilt.
The key of excommunication should only be used
In the most extreme cases of willful and unrepentant evil.
Luther's interpretation of this important passage in Matthew changed
the relationship of Christ to the Church.
All Christians, not just the ordained clergy,
can faithfully apply the key of forgiveness to each other.
Does this mean that Luther wanted to do away with the priesthood?
No, but he saw all Christians as the people of
God on earth.
This is what the Roman Catholic document on the Church,
Lumen Gentium, would say centuries later.
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