To what extent was Luther pushed by his Catholic opponents into the extreme position he adopted in 1521?
To what extent was Luther pushed by his Catholic opponents into the extreme position he adopted in 1521?
Until 1517 Luther had shown no inclination towards a rebellion with the papacy but was in fact rather humble towards the authority of the Pope and respected him greatly. The purpose of Luther's 95 theses of 1517 was to bring to the Pope's attention the abuses being committed in his name thinking that the Pope, Leo X, did not know of the dealings of his clergy. This rather naive belief in the purity of the Pope shows just how much Luther respected his authority in 1517.
But this was all to change due to the events that take place between 1517 and 1521, ending with Luther calling the Pope an Antichrist, dismissing the Pope's assumed role as God's representative on Earth and completely breaking away from the Church. Such an extreme attitude meant that he was easily identifiable in those times as a heretic and so liable to be put to death and yet Luther would not recant being so convinced that his position was the right one in God's eyes.
From this we are able to see the differences in the Luther of 1517 and of 1521, but what were the events and who were the people that played a part in effecting such a dramatic change in the Augustinian monk? Even though the Pope was not Luther's initial target or enemy he does become his biggest opponent since it was the Pope controlling the papacy's dealings and also he represented for Luther the things that were wrong with the Church. Luther's other opponents during this time included Tetzel, Prieras, Cajetan, Von Militz and Eck. These men become involved in the eventful discussions and debates with Luther to try and protect the Church's position in society.
It was John Tetzel, a Dominican friar and his selling of indulgences that provoked Luther into his first action, which was the 95 theses of 1517. The 95 theses and the following "Sermon on Indulgences and Grace" were very respectful in tone with Luther wanting to avoid confrontation with the papacy as much as possible. At this point Luther was concerned about the fact that people believed that they were able to buy forgiveness for sins committed and did not think that the clergy should be promoting such an idea. He did not know of the financial matters ...
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It was John Tetzel, a Dominican friar and his selling of indulgences that provoked Luther into his first action, which was the 95 theses of 1517. The 95 theses and the following "Sermon on Indulgences and Grace" were very respectful in tone with Luther wanting to avoid confrontation with the papacy as much as possible. At this point Luther was concerned about the fact that people believed that they were able to buy forgiveness for sins committed and did not think that the clergy should be promoting such an idea. He did not know of the financial matters involving Tetzel's loan that had paid off his bishopric and the Pope's share of the money for the building of the St Peter's, that lay behind his indulgence campaign in 1517. But, the papacy were quick to react to what they thought was an attack on papal authority and the Church's financial running, by demanding that Tetzel provide a counter-attack. This was the first of the many confrontational reactions the Church takes when dealing with Luther. Tetzel's "156 Propositions in Defence" of 1518 could only further provoke and anger Luther, with his students burning a copy of the tract.
Luther's grievances with the indulgence question lay in his inability to accept that the forgiveness of sins could be bought and that the Pope had the power to forgive what God was meant to. This lead him to question the reality of the Pope's authority and he started to look for alternative sources of authority. When Luther dismissed the Church Council's authority too, he started to look to Scripture for guidance and found that he could accept and promote only things that were based in Scripture. So much so, that even when Prieras, a rival Dominican, attacked Luther in his "Dialogus" of 1518, Luther was able to dismiss him saying "His ideas are his own, that is laid down without scripture."
Such allegations against the Church were bound to make the Pope act and he did with his efforts to try and get Luther to recant. In Augsburg, 1518, Cajetan was sent to lead Luther's disciplinary hearing. Luther attended believing that he would be given a fair chance to explain his arguments, but Cajetan had other ideas; he was under the Pope's directive to either get a retraction form Luther or to arrange his arrest and so, Cajetan in his confrontational questioning of Luther at the hearing, forced Luther to admit that he believed papal decree was not sufficient authority, that the Pope was fallible and even say that the Pope was an Antichrist. Luther based all these statements on Scripture, taking his stand here more than ever.
Luther's further dealings with the papal system caused him great disillusionment with the papacy. After Augsburg, he tried to appeal directly to Leo X but this was met by the papal bull of Nov 1518 condemning the errors of "certain monks" and with the dispatchment of Carl Von Militz to try to arrest Luther. These actions could only create more resentment between Luther and the Church and push Luther further away.
In 1519 at Liepzig, Luther attended another debate aided by Carlstadt and opposing Johann Eck, a very strong debater. These debates lasted for several weeks with Eck forcing Luther to put forward some indefensible arguments. Eck was declared the winner but what had happened at Leipzig was not about who won but the fact that Luther had been forced by Eck to take each if his arguments to their logical conclusion. So what had been a suggestion that the Pope was exceeding his powers became a claim that the Pope had no special powers, and what became clear was that there was no possibility of Luther reaching an agreement with the Church. Luther was so emboldened that he was proudly accepting the label of being a Hussite, even though John Huss had been tried and burned as a heretic.
Although the debates and the attacks by the papacy against Luther all pushed him more and more into taking the stand that he did, there were other factors to consider as well.
If we consider Luther alone, we see that he had problems coming to terms with the idea of God being a harsh, punishing figure as was being taught by the Catholic faith. Luther wanted to be forgiven for his sins but became quite depressed with his own inadequacy. How he came terms with this was with his increasing study of the Bible. Luther started to realise that salvation was gained by faith and not by what acts you committed, therefore Luther was now able to see God in a more loving light. This new understanding of God made Luther feel much more secure in his position and he was able totally defend his statements since he truly felt that he was carrying out God's word as it was written in the Bible. Luther felt that he was influenced by God and was doing God's work. This attitude meant that he wanted to leave the church anyway on the grounds of his beliefs being different to those of the Church.
From this we can evaluate the extent to which the Church itself and Luther's catholic opponents pushed him away and how much Luther himself pulled away to take the stand that he did in 1521.
It is evident that Luther's various opponents between 1517 and 1521 played a massive role in pushing him towards searching for alternatives to what the church was offering. The Church's rough handling of Luther also caused him to resent it. It was very confrontational and this forced Luther to react, which he did by forming his own ideas about God and faith. I think that the biggest factor of the schism between the Church and Luther was the debate at Leipzig with Eck. There, Luther was forced to make a stand on many issues and was now openly attacking the Church. But Luther's own personality played a part in his stance against the Church. Had Luther not been so religious and fervent in his beliefs, once he realised them, then he would have had no motivation to take on the immense strength and power of the Church. His unfaltering belief that he was doing as God intended him to do meant that as much as the Church pushed him away, Luther could only react by also pulling himself away. In other words, Luther himself had to have wanted to break away from the Church eventually, and this was enabled and partly caused by the opponents he came up against.
Rania Kashi 14/11/00
