A minor German heresy?

November 3, 2017 6:15 AM

How Martin Luther Changed The World

Luther's Reformation At 500

Why Can't Christians Get Along, 500 Years After Reformation?

The 95 Theses: You Won't Believe What #32 Is! - The original viral post
The other reformation: Beer

posted by the man of twists and turns (19 comments total)

Just been watching Wolf Hall (having read it previously) and (for those not already familiar with it) it is about (among other things) the Reformation era in England and what it was like to live in a time where you could be tortured or burnt alive for reading an English translation of the bible.
posted by memebake at 7:02 AM on November 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Another good historical breakdown of those times that really shows how 'agents' and 'crowds'dealt with new ideas and each other vs the existing orthodoxies.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 7:19 AM on November 3, 2017

Well, that explains why there was a NYT crossword this week with Martin Luther as its theme. I did surprisingly well.
posted by lunasol at 7:40 AM on November 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

and on a day when you go in thinking "oh, great, another Halloween theme", no less.
posted by madcaptenor at 7:45 AM on November 3, 2017

Nailing the Myth

Or, at least, so we are told. One of the central claims of Peter Marshall’s lovely 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation is that this event probably never happened. In claiming this, he is following a well-trodden path, as he readily admits: the German Catholic historian Erwin Iserloh already suggested in the early 1960s that the historical evidence for the ‘theses-posting’ (the German, Thesenanschlag, conveys far better the force of the supposed event), which allegedly occurred on All Saints’ Eve 1517, was very dubious. But Marshall also has a new story to tell, one that is concerned with anniversaries and is often far more interesting than the many repetitive accounts of Luther and the Reformation that have appeared this year. That is the story of how the Thesenanschlag gradually came to assume such a central role in European and American cultural memory, generating the modern idea of the ‘Reformation’.
This is a story worth telling, for, as Marshall rightly points out, Luther’s supposed actions continue to permeate much of modern culture.

Religious Competition and Reallocation: The Political Economy of Secularization in the Protestant Reformation[PDF]

Using novel microdata, we document an unintended, first-order consequence of the Protestant Reformation: a massive reallocation of resources from religious to secular purposes. To understand this process, we propose a conceptual framework in which the introduction of religious competition shifts political markets where religious authorities provide legitimacy to rulers in exchange for control over resources. Consistent with our framework, religious competition changed the balance of power between secular and religious elites: secular authorities acquired enormous amounts of wealth from monasteries closed during the Reformation, particularly in Protestant regions. This transfer of resources had important consequences. First, it shifted the allocation of upper-tail human capital. Graduates of Protestant universities increasingly took secular, especially administrative, occupations. Protestant university students increasingly studied secular subjects, especially degrees that prepared students for public sector jobs, rather than church sector-specific theology. Second, it affected the sectoral composition of fixed investment. Particularly in Protestant regions, new construction shifted from religious toward secular purposes, especially the building of palaces and administrative buildings, which reflected the increased wealth and power of secular lords. Reallocation was not driven by preexisting economic or cultural differences. Our findings indicate that the Reformation played an important causal role in the secularization of the West.

a technological tale for Reformation Day
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:18 AM on November 3, 2017 [5 favorites]

Great post!

Every year on the Sunday before Halloween, my church organist plays Bach's Toccata and Fugue in d minor for the postlude, as sort of an homage to the not-quite-Christian holiday. This year, the service was all about Luther and the anniversary, and so he played Bach's St. Anne's fugue instead. (My OCD brain hurt until I got into the car and pulled up the d minor piece on YouTube, whew.)
posted by Melismata at 9:04 AM on November 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

Or, at least, so we are told.

On the other hand, Eric Metaxas writes in a short op-ed in the Wall Street Journal (paywall, sorry, try the library) which points out that he did not nail it, rather he gave it to a church custodian who would have pasted it. That it would have shared space with other more mundane notices (lost kitten, reward offered). That it was in Latin and therefore meant for the clergy. That it was others who (without his knowledge or approval) read, translated, printed, and distributed it. A lot.

That the whole thing got rather out of hand and that all ML originally wanted was a frank discussion on indulgences.

Can't prove it by me. I only know what I read.
posted by BWA at 10:00 AM on November 3, 2017

The Lutheran church near me had Reformation Fest last weekend to celebrate the Quincentenary. Signs advertised Adult Confirmations, brats, games for all ages, and a carve-a-pumpkin-like-Martin-Luther contest with fabulous Lutheran prizes.
posted by quaking fajita at 10:29 AM on November 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

fabulous Lutheran prizes

...well, they're OK prizes. We're trying. We know they could be better.
posted by Wolfdog at 10:32 AM on November 3, 2017 [9 favorites]

clearly Luther breakfasted on a marvelous pastry that gave shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done
posted by Countess Elena at 10:37 AM on November 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

I am just reporting what the sign said! "Fabulous Lutheran Prizes" was specifically mentioned.
posted by quaking fajita at 10:46 AM on November 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

Lots of bible translations were available way before Luther's stunt.
posted by farlukar at 12:06 PM on November 3, 2017

clearly Luther breakfasted on a marvelous pastry that gave shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done

Clearly so.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:34 PM on November 3, 2017 [3 favorites]

It certainly is better than his later and arguably more influential work.
posted by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 2:41 PM on November 3, 2017 [4 favorites]

You can relive the action for yourself in kittenm4ster's HAMMERSTREIK 1517 on the PICO-8 forums. (Featuring two secret endings!)
posted by Lirp at 6:10 PM on November 3, 2017

Just heard about this today: The Other Reformation: How Martin Luther Changed Our Beer, Too.

In the 16th century, the Catholic Church had a stranglehold on beer production, since it held the monopoly on gruit — the mixture of herbs and botanicals (sweet gale, mug wort, yarrow, ground ivy, heather, rosemary, juniper berries, ginger, cinnamon) used to flavor and preserve beer. Hops, however, were not taxed. Considered undesirable weeds, they grew plentifully and vigorously — their invasive nature captured by their melodic Latin name, Humulus lupulus (which the music-loving Luther would have loved), which means "climbing wolf."

posted by jenkinsEar at 7:38 PM on November 3, 2017

MacCulloch's The Reformation is a good overview of what all was going on at the time.

Roper's Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet is a recent biography that's all right, if a bit flat. She does do a good job of showing how Luther's ideas tended to evolve considerably, even though he would be vehement that whatever he was thinking right then was the only correct answer.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:02 PM on November 3, 2017

Mapping the Reformation -- maps of reformation churches in the US, with some comments on implications
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:59 PM on November 3, 2017

1/"Remember: Even if social media eventually increases human freedom, it might do so via centuries of bloody wars..."
2/"Our mistake wasn't in thinking the internet would increase freedom..."
3/"Our mistake was in thinking it would be a smooth process..."
4/"Protestantism is as much an effect of the technology of printing as it is a movement that seized upon the new tech to spread its message."
posted by kliuless at 10:49 PM on November 4, 2017