Columbus and His Influences

 25 years prior to Martin Luther's post on the door of Wittenberg, Columbus would discover the new world.  What is interesting in reading about the Inquisition in Spain is that Jews in Spain would find the that new world made it possible for them to leave the oppression in Spain and settle in the New World away from the persecution.  This originally was how the Jews migrate to the New World and eventually settle in places like Argentina.  From some of Columbus's writings, there is evident that his own crew even comprised of some Jews. 

The Influence of the Printing Press and Johann Gutenberg.

If one to consider one of the biggest influences in the Reformation, it was the printing press.  Johann Gutenberg developed the printing press by the end of the 1400's and in its development the printing press began to developed and refined over the decades to come.  By the time of Martin Luther's 95 thesis was nailed to the door of the Whittenberg church, the printing press was able to print out pamphlets quite nicely.  By mid 1500's books were also able to be made to be smaller and more portable.  With the advent of translating the Bible into other languages at the same time, the printing press may be one most overlooked influences in contribution of the Reformation.

Let the Lion Roar!

In hearing about this movie and understanding the about how the Hebraic influence of the faith has been challenged over the centuries, even within churches, this movie aims to recover the Hebraic influences of the faith and how anti-Semitism has developed over the ages. A must see!

Luther's Prayer to St. Ann

Not too many know this but during the thunderstorm in which he swore to God about becoming a monk, that Luther also prays a prayer to St. Ann, mother of Mary to deliver him from the thunderstorm.  Luther does change his approach about the prayers to saints later and it is addressed in his 95 thesis. He states that the saints do not intercede before Jesus but rather we can go directly to him in prayer. 

Luther's Struggle with Rebellion

If you study Martin Luther's writings long enough, you will understand his distaste for rebellion.  In fact the reason why he flips on supporting the Peasant's  revolt is that he begins to see it as an act of rebellion toward the state of Germany.  That act begins to shape Luther's theology toward a more Augustine approach. Luther saw himself as a reformer not a rebel and noted that rebellion was not to be condoned.  Most of the flips and flops in Luther's theology and ideas do show a resistance to actions of rebellion, but it led to him accepting the German state as having God granted authority, a Constantine/Augustinian idea.  It may have been a reason why later he writes to noblemen on how to deal with Jews in his frustration in failing to convert the ones living in Germany.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Another contemporary of Martin Luther was Niccolo Machiavelli  who lived during the same period.  I bring up Niccolo because much of his writings affected the politics of the kings of Europe much like Martin Luther's writings did. In fact I do believe that part of the Reformation owes some credit to the pragmatism of Niccolo.  One thing that is interesting that some may not know about Machiavelli was familiarity of the Scripture and that he comments a section of The Prince on the leadership of Moses and the strategies he used.  He actually has an admiration for Moses.  Too often the wisdom of  Niccolo is seen as wicked with his “the ends justifies the means” perspective but in observation the writing is structured to give kings advice on maintaining sensible rule while dealing with political adversaries.  As Kings would break off from the ruling influence of the papacy, such advice was more considered and would shape the politics of Europe and the Western World from that point on.

31 things you may not have known about Reformation Period and Martin Luther

It is the first of October and thought I would post 31 days about things that possibly was not known about the Reformation and Martin Luther.


The first that may have simple been not known was that Ulrich Zwingli was a Reformer and a contemporary of Luther.  In one sermon, he actually connected the Eucharist to the Passover. Phillip of Hesse, a prince in Germany, hoped that Zwingli and Luther could work together to unite the direction of the Reformation.  The one area that Luther and Zwingli could not get pass was in dealing with the doctrine over the Lord Supper. Luther wanted to keep it literal and Zwingli wanted to treated as a symbolic representation of Christ's Body. This was an impasse that was never resolved by them.