THE LAND OF LUTHER
Road to the Reformation
Days later, a man named Junker Jorg (Squire George) appeared at Wartburg Castle — a disguised Martin Luther, who had been taken by agents of his benefactor, Prince Frederick the Wise. Safely hidden behind Wartburg’s stout walls, Luther spent nearly a year making his next stand against the Vatican, diligently translating the New Testament from original Greek sources (previous German Bible translations were done from Latin translations, so were not as accurate). Luther’s text helped shape standard written German — making Wartburg, in a sense, the birthplace of the modern German language.
At Wartburg Castle, stop at the museum. A few opulent rooms were lavishly redecorated during a surge of German pride in the late 1880s, and paintings show how it looked before reconstruction. A highlight here is the humble Luther Room, where Luther hunkered down to translate the New Testament.
Our last stop is little Wittenberg, Luther’s adopted hometown, which has a gigantic history that belies its straightforward townscape. One of its top sights is the Church of All Saints (a.k.a. Castle Church), with Luther’s modest tombstone inside, and where Luther posted his 95 Theses. The act wasn’t quite as defiant as it sounds, since the church door already served as sort of a community bulletin board — but the strong arguments Luther made about church corruption were revolutionary.
Nearby is the Town Church of St. Mary, where Luther was married, where his children were baptized, and where he preached more than 2,000 times. This is where what many consider to be the first Protestant church service took place, on Christmas Day in 1521.
A few blocks further you’ll find Luther House, his former home. It’s now an excellent museum displaying original paintings, manuscripts, and other Luther-era items, including his pulpit, famous portraits of Luther and the other reformers by Lucas Cranach and Luther’s original German translations of the New Testament as well as the complete Bible.
After he broke with Rome, the 42-year-old Martin Luther married 26-year-old Katherine von Bora, a former nun. It was here that she gave birth to six children (the couple also adopted four orphans). It was a happy marriage. Luther wrote, “Marriage is a better school for the character than any monastery, for it’s here that your sharp corners are rubbed off.”
Luther House’s centrepiece is the Lutherstube, the room with benches, a stove and the table where Luther engaged in spirited conversations with his colleagues. Notice the names scratched into the ceiling, left behind by visiting VIPs (on the door, protected by glass, is the signature of Russian Czar Peter the Great).
After Luther’s death in 1546, until the dawn of the 20th century, the Reformation helped open the way for fundamental changes in Western society. With a less controlling role of the church in everyday life, secular forces were free to flourish. Lutherland’s sights are physical reminders of courageous accomplishments of the Reformation — and the enduring example Martin Luther set for those who dare to speak truth to power.
On Oct. 31, 1517, Luther challenged Roman Catholic doctrine by posting his 95 Theses (discussion topics) on a church door. This started a chain of events that would split the Christian faith, plunge Europe into a century of warfare, cause empires to rise and fall ... Rick Steves