500 years since 95 Theses, Martin Luther's legacy divides some of his descendants

[sandensea]

Five centuries ago, Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation. The anniversary prompted a recent meeting of his descendants to discuss the legacy Luther left when he nailed his theses on a church door.

Many Protestants around the world are celebrating the start of the Reformation five centuries ago. As the story has it, on the eve of All Saints' Day, October 31, 1517, a renegade monk named Martin Luther hammered 95 theses that challenge Catholic doctrine onto a church door in Germany. And he launched a movement that forever changed Christianity.

But as NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports, not everyone is comfortable with the German theologian's legacy, including some of his descendants.

Luther led a backlash against increasing corruption in the Catholic Church, especially the sale of indulgences that were supposed to help the buyer get to heaven. He also helped unify the German language.

But there's a lot about Luther that makes the descendants uneasy, including his rants against Jews who failed to convert. Luther's words were used over the centuries to justify German anti-Semitism, including during the Nazi era.

"I would say Luther, in our time, would not survive," Christian Priesmeier, a descendant of his, said. "So he would be not a political person who would change anything."

He is optimistic, however, that Luther's church and the Catholic Church will finally reconcile.

At: http://www.npr.org/2017/10/21/559215320/500-years-since-95-theses-martin-luther-s-legacy-divides-some-of-his-descendants

Intolerant, uncompromising and stubborn, Luther nevertheless changed history 500 years ago today.

[pokerfan]

1. Just a little bit anti-Semitic...

Luther's attitude toward the Jews took different forms during his lifetime. In his earlier period, until 1537 or not much earlier, he wanted to convert Jews to Christianity, but failed. In his later period when he wrote this particular treatise, he denounced them and urged their persecution.[1]

In the treatise, he argues that Jewish synagogues and schools be set on fire, their prayer books destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, homes burned, and property and money confiscated. They should be shown no mercy or kindness,[2] afforded no legal protection,[3] and "these poisonous envenomed worms" should be drafted into forced labor or expelled for all time.[4] He also seems to advocate their murder, writing "[W]e are at fault in not slaying them".[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jews_and_Their_Lies

[sandensea]

2. The man had an undeniably dark side.

I nevertheless wanted to post this in recognition of the 500th anniversary of one of Christianity's key turning points: the posting of the 95 theses at Wittenberg.

As for Luther, it's a a shame he couldn't use his faith to learn to coexist a little better. I'm not religious at all myself; but I do believe that's one of the key lessons we come to this world to learn (and it's not always easy, God knows).

Thank you for that very informative post, pokerfan - as relevant now as it ever was.

[guillaumeb]

3. Luther was a man of his time.

Anti-Semitism is a hatred that persists in many countries, and the self-described Nazis in the US are testament to this continuing hatred.

[sandensea]

4. Well said.

History is seldom black and white - and many of its salient figures least of all.

[guillaumeb]

5. Perfection eludes us all.

And when I think that I have attained it, my wife reminds me otherwise.

An interesting post.

[sandensea]

6. Ha!

Made my day. Thanks!