Darleen hopkirk biography of martin luther

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  • –––, 2017, “Scholasticisms in Martin Luther’s Thought”, in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion, John Barton (ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press. The Catholic sale of indulgences shown in A Question to a Mintmaker, woodcut by Jörg Breu the Elder of Augsburg, c. Translated as Luther: An Introduction to his Thought, R.

    A. Wilson (trans.), Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1970.

  • Erikson, Erik H., 1958, Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History, New York: Norton.
  • Helmer, Christine, 2019, How Luther Became the Reformer, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
  • ––– (ed.), 2020, The Medieval Luther, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2020.
  • Hendrix, Scott H., 2015, Martin Luther: Visionary Reformer, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Leppin, Volker, 2010 [2017a], Martin Luther: vom Mönch zum Feind des Papstes Darmstadt: WBG.

    Translated as Martin Luther: A Late Medieval Life, Rhys Bezzant and Karen Roe (trans.), Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2017.

  • Melanchthon, Philip, 1546 [1834–60], “Oratio in funere D. Martini Lutheri”. This pivotal moment intensified the Protestant Reformation, and despite his outlaw status, Luther’s influence persisted.

    xi–cvi.

  • Urban, Linwood, 1971, “Was Luther a Thoroughgoing Determinist?”, The Journal of Theological Studies, 22(1): 113–139. Thus, set within a worldly arena, Luther here and elsewhere[9] is happy to affirm the value and function of reason, and philosophy’s high estimate of its significance.

    However, Luther then goes on to argue that precisely because philosophy is confined to reason that operates within empirical constraints,[10] and is unaided by revelation, faith, and scripture, it cannot hope to tell us the whole story about human beings and the world, for which the extra resources available to theology are required, which can thereby put all this in relation to God and so define “the whole and perfect human being” (1536, WA 39.I: 176/LW 34:138).

    Luther’s Influence

    Luther’s thinking exerted a considerable influence not only on his own time and on his immediate contemporaries, but also on those who have come after him. Luther began his education at a local school and then moved on to study at the University of Erfurt, earning a Master’s degree in 1505.

    His life took a sudden turn when, after narrowly escaping death during a thunderstorm, he vowed to become a monk.

    His refusal led to his excommunication by the pope and his designation as an outlaw by the emperor. Luther’s influence permeated various spheres, including education, politics, and culture, ushering in societal changes that resonate even today. (WA 18:661–2/LW 33:102–3, citing Erasmus 1524 [1969: 47])

    Luther raises various objections to Erasmus’s definition (for Erasmus’s replies, see 1529 [1999: 261–91]).

    Luther was clearly attracted to the need for inner experience, and spoke of achieving a kind of union with or participation in God, while attaching great merit to some writings in the mystical tradition, particularly the sermons of John Tauler and the Theologia deutsch, a late fourteenth-century work which was transmitted to him by some Augustinian brothers.

    His translation of the Bible democratized access to the Scriptures, fostering biblical literacy among laypeople.

    However, Luther’s teachings also led to religious wars, persecutions, and divisions that reshaped Europe. However, rather than continuing with his legal training, later in the same year Luther chose instead to enter the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, much to the annoyance of his father—and as Luther explained it later, on the basis of a vow made in a violent thunder storm to St Anna (the patron saint of miners), that this is what he would do if he was spared.

    Comprising 40 theses, the first 9 present the view of human beings and our relation to the world proposed by “philosophy or human wisdom”, which is then contrasted with the view taken by theology (see Ebeling 1977, 1982, 1989; but cf. His teachings emphasized individual faith, the importance of Scripture, and the idea of the “priesthood of all believers.” However, he is also criticized for some of his controversial views, particularly his writings against Jews.

    How did his works lay the foundation for the Protestant Reformation?

    Martin Luther’s contributions to Christianity and Western civilization are unparalleled.

    doi:10.1017/S0022046903008005

  • Oehlschläger, Gerhard, 2003, “Der junge Luther und Aristoteles”, LutherJahrbuch, 70: 93–125.
  • Oliva, Adriano, 2012, “Luther et la philosophie: Sur un ouvrage récent”, Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques, 96(2): 293–312.

    Luther’s response is that while these authorities may have said there is free choice, in their actions they have not shown they possess it, while they also have all conceived of it in rather different ways, so it is not clear that there is any consensus here at all—and at the same time, Luther argues that the all-important figure of Augustine is on his side, not Erasmus’s as the latter had claimed.

    Luther’s criticisms of Duns Scotus, Gabriel Biel and William of Ockham on these issues elsewhere in the Disputation make clear how he sees them as relating to this fundamental Aristotelian error, while his reference to Augustine’s anti-Pelagianism in the first two theses equally makes clear the theological mistake that Luther sees in all such views.

    This turned him against many of the major teachings of the Catholic Church. 96–124.

  • –––, 2006, “Divine and Natural Law in Luther and Melanchthon”, in Lutheran Reformation and the Law, Virpi Mäkinen (ed.), Leiden: Brill, pp. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.265
  • Eckermann, Willigis, 1978, “Die Aristoteleskritik Luthers: ihre Bedeutung für seine Theologie”, Catholica, 32: 114–30.
  • Ghiselli, Anja, Kari Kopperi, and Rainer Vinke (eds.), 1993, Luther und Ontologie, Helsinki: Luther-Agricola Society.
  • Grane, Leif, 1962, Contra Gabrielem: Luthers Auseinandersetzung mit Gabriel Biel in der Disputatio contra scholasticam theologiam 1517, Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
  • –––, 1969, “Luthers Kritik an Thomas von Aquin in De Captivitate Babylonica”, Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 80: 1–13.
  • –––, 1970, “Die Anfänge von Luthers Auseinandersetzung mit dem Thomismus”, Theologische Literaturzeitung, 95: 241–250.
  • Hägglund, Bengt, 1955, Theologie und Philosophie bei Luther und in der occamistischen Tradition, Lund: C W K Gleerup.
  • –––, 1957, “Was Luther a Nominalist?”, Concordia Theological Monthly, 28(6): 441–452.
  • Hampson, Daphne, 2001, Christian Contradictions: The Structures of Lutheran and Catholic Thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    darleen hopkirk biography of martin luther

    Image: Luther with a swan (painting in the church at Strümpfelbach im Remstal, Weinstadt, Germany, by J. A. List)

    • Martin Luther’s legacy is vast and multifaceted.