Martin Luther: Ninety-five Theses

About the Author

Luther was born on November 10, 1483, as Martin Luder (later Latinizing his name) in the town of Eisleben in what is now Germany. (At the time, Germany was a loose collection of independent states, each ruled by a noble, that were part of the Holy Roman Empire.) Early in life, he was content to follow his family's wishes and enter the family copper business. But on July 2, 1505, his life was altered when, according to legend, he was knocked off his horse by a lightning bolt. Grateful that his life had been spared, he vowed to become a monk and entered the monastery of the Augustinian monks at Erfurt, where he devoted himself to an ascetic life of fasting, prayers, and pilgrimages.

In 1507 Luther was ordained as a Catholic priest. After earning bachelor's degrees in theology in 1508 and 1509 and a doctorate in theology in 1512, he joined the theology faculty at Wittenberg University. He also served as a parish priest at Castle Church in Wittenberg. On October 31, 1517, he purportedly nailed the Ninety-five Theses to the door of Castle Church, though many historians dispute that he actually nailed the document to the church door (a story started by a fellow theologian but never confirmed by others), believing instead that he sent it to a small number of bishops. Soon the theses were translated from Latin and, with the help of the recently invented printing press, distributed throughout Germany and then all of Europe. Luther's life was tumultuous after the publication of the Ninety-five Theses: He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and branded a heretic and an outlaw. Eventually, he settled in Wittenberg, Germany. On June 13, 1525, he married Katharina von Bora, who in time gave birth to their three sons and three daughters.

In the final years of his life, Luther, who was often known to be rude, who had an irascible temper, and whose anti-Semitism modern Lutherans are quick to repudiate, continued to preach and write, publishing a German translation of the complete Bible in 1534 and numerous books and tracts. He engaged in disputes with various religious factions that, he believed, were advocating extreme views, among them the Baptists. In his final years, he suffered from health problems, and the death of one of his daughters in 1542 was a blow from which he never fully recovered. In early 1546 he was traveling to his birthplace, Eisleben, when he began complaining of chest pains. He died early on February 18, 1546, and on February 22 was laid to rest at Castle Church in Wittenberg.