A Brief History
Religious reformer Martin Luther refused to recant during his trial for heresy on April 18, 1521, but what might you not know about him?
Digging Deeper
10. Luther received a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Wittenberg in 1512.
He had earlier earned two bachelor’s degrees. He received a bachelor’s degree in Biblical studies in 1508 and another bachelor’s degree in the Sentences by Peter Lombard in 1509.
9. Although Luther believed that “holy war” or religious wars were against God’s will, the same war fought for secular reasons were permissible, or even desirable!
Meanwhile, Luther’s pamphlets against the Church and the hierarchy led many peasants to believe he would support an attack on the upper classes in general. Although Luther sympathized with some of the peasants’ grievances, as he showed in his response to the Twelve Articles in May 1525, he nevertheless reminded the aggrieved to obey temporal authorities.
8. Luther believed that Islam was “the tool of the devil” and that the Papacy and the Catholic Church was the anti-Christ.
Nevertheless, he also said, “Let the Turk believe and live as he will, just as one lets the papacy and other false Christians live.”
7. In 1523, Luther married a nun that he had helped escape by hiding her and 11 other nuns in herring barrels!
Luther said, “The Lord has plunged me into marriage!” He failed to mention that the Lord gave the 41 year old Luther a 26 year old wife.
6. Luther preached against wealthy people having an outsized share of property and money
Yet, when his teachings led to peasants revolting against the nobility and the Catholic Church, Luther recommended the rich should “smite, slay and stab” the rebels!
5. He was excommunicated and declared an “outlaw”!
In the over 400 years since his excommunication, Luther has never been pardoned or reinstated by the Catholic Church.
4. A cornerstone of Luther’s beliefs was that it was wrong of the Catholic Church to sell “indulgences” which was basically paying the Church to avoid punishment for one’s sins.
Hitting a religion’s source of income is a sure way to incur its wrath!
3. Luther was fiercely anti-Jewish, and recommended that Jewish homes and temples should be destroyed!
His anti-Semitism may have contributed to the anti-Semitism experienced in Nazi Germany during the 1930’s and 1940’s that resulted in the Holocaust!
2. His translation of the Bible from Latin to German caused the German language to become standardized and influenced future translations of the Bible, especially into English.
1. Luther recommended farting at demons to keep them away!
He claimed this technique worked for him!
Question for students (and subscribers): Religious reformer Martin Luther refused to recant during his trial for heresy on April 18, 1521, but what might you not know about him? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. Forgotten Books, 2012.
Luther, Martin. Works of Martin Luther – With Introductions and Notes (Volume I). FQ Books, 2010.
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1793 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1793">54 Comments
Martin Luther was a man of his time and culture – and deeply flawed in many ways. He was NOT the first who tried to reform the Roman Catholic church, but that takes nothing away from the personal courage he displayed in acting on his beliefs or the good he accomplished during his lifetime. FYI, I am a ELCA Lutheran.
Interesting article but how do we know it was written in truth? If so, it sounds as though his logic was very flawed.
A very interesting article with insight into some of the interesting things Martin Luther did that arent well know to the public. Cool read.
And many believe in the whitewashed version of Martin Luther. No one’s as perfect as we want them to be…
Farting at demons still cracks me up. I’ll have to try that someday.
His double standards are appalling. Encourage a revolt against the papacy and then encourage the papacy to kill the rebels? The whole farting thing is so out there it is hard to believe.
From what it looks like, Martin Luther was a hypocrite. First he is slaying the Catholic Church about how they run things. And then he is saying how the Jewish people were bad horrible people and that they should die.
I do not agree with his ideals of killing Jews. This is not Christian or ethical. I have no opinion on his ideals against the Catholic church. As far as the farting, he was probably just giving himself a reason to fart out loud.
Honestly, I think Luther was a bit crazy.
Seems like he just screamed for attention and did certain things to see the crazy outcome of it all
He brought on some change but I don’t think he was all there in the head.
he seems like a crazy hypocrite to me.
It’s amazing to me how much the Jewish people have been persecuted throughout history. Pretty much from the times of the ancient Egyptian society until the end of the Holocaust was (seemingly) almost endless amounts of persecution physically, emotionally, or religiously. It makes me a bit sad that these kinds of attitudes are / were so systematically ingrained into our culture (although thankfully it seems to be at an all time low historically speaking). For a person who wanted everyone to essentially “become their own priest,” he certainly wasn’t very accepting of other ways of life. I suppose it’s only a mark of the time and the culture. Although it worries me that certain people who hold beliefs similar to that of Martin Luther still hold these types of attitudes towards Jewish people.
Martin Luther had such a unique journey through religion. His work completely changed the landscape of Christianity forever.
The cornerstone of Luther’s ideals such as outlawing the availability of indulgences was very sound. It is hard to believe that came in the same breath as his rampant anti-semitism
Martin Luther definitely paved the way for Christianity, and was very sound in areas of the church. However, some of the other areas of his life did not reflect the standards of being a “good” Christian.
Martin Luther obviously had some very good ideas such as outlawing indulgences and working against the general corruption of the Catholic Church. However, some of his other ideas ranged from absurd to somewhat frightening. The extent of his hatred towards the Jewish people is very overwhelming and over the top, even for the general air of anti-Semitism that pervaded the period of time in which he lived.
Martin Luther had ideas that seemed to please not many people other than himself, and his views seemed often questioned but he did have followers. His 95 theses were his major breakthrough but his beliefs in anti-semitism was alarming to read about, especially with the Holocast and how some of those were eventually put into effect
It seems that although Martin Luther had good intentions at reform, he also had some very ridiculous ideas such as farting at demons to keep them away.
Although Martin Luther had some well thought-out ideas, he also had some very crazy ones as well.
He had some crazy ideas for reform and went about it the wrong. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened had he just stayed a monk.
Martin Luther had very interesting ideas.
I still cannot believe that whole farting thing. One of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard.
Weird how into religion he is, but how much he wanted to kill people like the Jewish is a little crazy
I’ve read his 95 theses plenty of times over the years, and always assumed he was a man of righteousness and equality. I would not have been surprised to learn this was not completely the case, but his anti-antisemitism and and how much against Islam he was is somewhat of a let down to me.
im going to explain to people that I fart around that it is ok because then we are safe from demons!
It is crazy how radical some of his beliefs were and how rational others were. There is so much disparity between these!
#1 is pretty funny! What does farting have to do with demons in the first place??
The title of this article sure is accurate, I knew very little about Martin Luther going in to reading this. But now I know that he had some very extreme views towards some religions.
As crazy as some of those beliefs may have been, I feel that those strong views on other religions were typical of a religious leader of the time.
I’m curious if #1 is metaphorical or literal …
Farting keeps everyone away. Not just demons.
It is crazy that his wife was only twenty-six! Also, I never knew his view on Islam was so strong or that he was never pardoned by the church! Interesting list!
Martin Luther certainly had some interesting views when it came to religion. His view on Islam and farting being two that really stood out.
#1 is the best one, because of what Sammi said
i never knew that about him having a doctor degree from the college of whitenburg. he really was a smart man during these times. since i found out he had a wife that was only 26 years old when he was 41 at the time and how harsh his views were on the other relgions at the time mainly Islam
The next time I come across a demon i’ll make sure I remember #1
Look, I understand where Luther was coming from, but some of this is legitimately crazy. His overall idea of reform in the church was necessary at the time, but some of the other ideas he had were just strange…
Loved that he stood up against indulgences. It takes a brave man to stand up against a powerful religion.
I liked the mention of the importance that he translated the bible into German. It shows the importance of his influence on German culture.
Another interesting contradictory historic figure, for how much good there was in many of his ideas, there was as many equally crazy.
I love that they mentioned his importance of the translation of the bible into German.
I find it crazy that the church causes so many different events to happen, good and evil. I think its interesting that the bible was translated to German and I am sure other languages, that goes to show that the bible influences many other cultures and that is a thing that many people can actually agree on.
It takes a lot of bravery to stand up like that
Luther had an incredible amount of bravery in order to stand up to the catholic church and point out what he saw flawed in their system
I think Luther was very fearless when he decided to go up against the catholic church.
I’m assuming the farting technique never really caught on…
He must have felt blessed to have that young of a wife at that age !
The way to get shit done is to bring in farts. I like his way of thinking.
#7 surprised me
I couldn’t imagine stuffing myself in a barrel
Farting to keep demons away. That is too funny. But, I’m not fond of farting.
if luther believed him self so righteous why would he help nuns break the rules by helping them run away
The demon farting….