A Detailed Analysis of Martin Luther's Political Philosophy

This essay provides an overview of Martin Luther's contributions to political philosophy, examining his role as a theologian and reformer. It discusses his 95 theses against indulgences, his views on individual interpretation of scriptures, and his clashes with the Roman emperor. The essay also explores Luther's perspective on the relationship between philosophy, reason, and revelation, highlighting his belief in their importance for society. Furthermore, it delves into Luther's influence on the development of German patriotism and legislation, as well as his complex legacy regarding political quietism. The essay concludes by summarizing Luther's key ideas and their lasting impact on political thought and practice.

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Martin Luther was a professor of theology born in Germany. He was also a composer,
monk, and priest. He was born on 10th November 1983 in a peasants’ family in Esleben. His
father was a minor in a copper mine. In his early life, his father sent him to the Latin school
by his father and took admission in the University of Erfurt in Law Department. He
completed his bachelors and master’s degree in 1505 in a short time (Marius, 2009). One of
major incidence happened in his life was facing the severe thunderstorm on a road of Erfurt
on 2nd July 1505. It was a bolt of lightning that struck on the ground near Martin and he
screamed please “help me, St. Anne! and I will become a monk”. After that, he became a
successful monk. He was awarded the doctor of theology on 19 October 1512 and in 1517 he
nailed 95 these which were widely distributed in all part of Germany done a lot of historical
work later (Bainton, 2013). In this particular essay, the work done by Martin Luther in
Political philosophy will be discussed.
Martin Luther was a famous monk, priest and gain may followers after organizing a
new church in May 1522 in Eisenach. In 1533 he became the dean of theology at the
University of Wittenberg. In 1525 he married to Katharina Von Bora and had six children. In
1517, The 95 theories published by Martin Luther were against indulgences. His ideas spread
across Europe and France very quickly. On 18 February 1546 during his trip to Esleben, he
died (Kolb, 2009).
In his 62 years life journey, he has done a lot of work in political philosophy. He was
the initiator of the reformation and was the only reformer who has church name after him
worldwide. He was also a good translator of the Bible into the German language. He was not
considered as the political philosopher in the conventional sense. As he has completed his
master’s degree in theology he was mainly a theologian and his approach to politics was
secondary. He was not like another philosopher such as Hobbes and Rousseau but he was a

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political theologian. In October 1517 the revolution was commenced Against the Papalism
when Luther published his 95 theses and pasted it on the door of a church at Wittenberg
(WRJEDT, 2003). The churchmen believed that people can find salvation through the
sacraments of them. The claim was made by the church and stated that only God is
authorized to perform the miracles. It might present the body and blood of Christ as the
sacrifice for the sins of people. This claim was challenged by Luther and rejected the claims
(Luther, 2013).
Martin Luther proposed that individuals had the right to follow the scriptures and take
their own decision which is based on the knowledge they have and adopt the faith. He made
and a declaration that the priests should not be allowed to have the right and power to forgive
the individuals for their sins. According to him forgiveness should not be dependent upon the
priestly absolutions but on the repentance. The Roman emperor had pressurized the rulers of
states in Germany to turn against Martin Luther, this was denied by a number of princes and
they issued a protest against them and stated that their main duty is for gods more than the
emperor. Because of this protest, the opponent labeled them from Protestants. Luther had
clashes with the emperors but he was not against the government, he was well aware of that
the Christian principles cannot be ruled by the society alone and the civil power had an
important role to play (Kolb, 2009).
Given Luther’s philosophy and the famous phrase proposed by him that philosophy is
the “devil’s whore,” it would be easier to assume that Martin Luther had only contempt for
the philosophy and reason. He believed that philosophy and reason could play an important in
people’s lives and in the life of the community groups. However, he also mentioned that
these roles should not be confused or misunderstood with the correct use of the philosophy
with the improper philosophy (Smith, 2012). According to him, the philosophy and reason

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that are properly used can help the society and the people greatly. In addition, if it were used
improperly then it would be a great threat for both (Marshall, 2018).
Martin Luther asks for scripture and the right reason When Cardinal Cajetan
demanded Martin Luther’s recantation of the theses proposed by Luther. Reason helps to
organize, clarify, and aid to the faith. Philosophy helps people to realize that God is
impassable and omnipotent; the revelation benefit individual to find out that Jesus Christ died
for the sins of humankind. The reason is considered as the devil’s whore as it asks the
unfavorable questions and searches for answers in the different and wrong direction. For
theology to start, revelation is considered the only adequate place. Reason must always be
secondary. Luther was against the thought that the rulers should only form a Christian
community. He was self-consciously trying to cut out proper realms for the revelation and
reason or philosophy. Each had an adequate and proper role that had the ability to enables
humanity to thrive. The chaos only became an issue when these two got confused. It is not
possible to understand Luther’s relationship to the philosophy and his thoughts of philosophy
without properly understanding that key concept (McGrath, 2011).
Luther's political side is tangled with the foundation of new democracy. The
viewpoint that the people are accountable to God at the end, and answerable for their fate,
formed a basis for ethical self-direction that fixed the tone for the total reformation. Social
equality requires self-sufficient and self-directed people. Luther’s emphasis on understanding
the Bible and other storybook works also directed to the growth of people capable of
accepting political literature and debating the political issues. Families of Protestant
and culture nourished community dispositions best for the development of new democracy
(Naphy, 2011).

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Luther’s part in the evolution of German patriotism and legislation is more
challenging. Luther appealed to German domestic pride in conflicting Rome, as demonstrated
in his first Appeal to the Christian Dignity of the German Realm. It also showed his high
respect for German princes. The point to which Luther was reliant on upon their defense, and
his disposition to side with the recognized order in the Peasant’s War, have resulted in the
charges of Lutheran quietism in the aspect of political unfairness. This was constant with
Luther’s conventional social and governmental views as to the God-ordained nature of
established society. Numerous have demanded that the Lutheran inheritance of political
quietism enabled the increase of Nazism in 20th century Germany (Mjaaland, 2015).
His political instructions were not as comprehensible as his work in theology. In his
Demand to the German Graciousness of 1520 Luther charged the papacy, the bishops or
leaders and the monastic instructions, and blasphemous or superstitious spiritual practices and
advised rulers to restructure them. His truthful claims were frequently extravagant and his
used language was particularly coarse, although amazingly vivid (Stanford, 2017). Although
Martin Luther’s ideas were pastoral and spiritual, his education had strong suggestions for
political philosophy and exercise. Salvation by belief alone, Christian freedom and the
priesthood of entirely followers had – and were intended to have – huge practical effects for
the life and church organization. The greatest clear agency to spread Luther’s reforms all over
Christendom was the papacy. Nonetheless by 1520 Luther was now describing it as a fake
and rapacious “tyranny” (his favorite name for it) that seized the leadership of Christ and the
power of Scripture, and certainly as the Antichrist expected by Revelation for the past days
(Wilson, 2014).
His Request to the Nobleness of the German Country of 1520 defined an intense
restoration that needed unprecedented alterations in churches and thus also to polities,
specified how diligently the political and the ecclesiastical order were tangled; in 1530 the

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Admonition to the Clergy Gathered at the Reichstag at Augsburg massively pushed the range
of reforms and modifications. The ability for the civil disorder was huge, especially specified
the interruption of church amenities, iconoclasm, and the physical offensives on the ministry,
which in turn motivated resistance from unreformed “Romanists.”. He placed forward a quite
dissimilar view in the year of 1523, in his best developed political writing, On Secular Power.
He now debated (echoing Augustine) that humankind belongs to one of two realms (Reiche):
the religious and the worldly (or secular, temporal: weltlich) (Schilling, 2017).
To evangelicals in common and to Lutherans in specific, Luther left an uncertain
inheritance of political believed. He prided himself on having refurbished the power of
secular supervision that papal tyranny had overthrown. But his determination on political
compliance made the Restructuring susceptible to being condensed to political and
philosophical subservience to leaders and reserved shared efforts at expansion and extending
the Reformation. Therefore, he did his cumulative the ecclesiastical part of secular leaders at
the cost of both churchgoers and priests (Mullett, 2003).
Luther was suffering from sicknesses a various time in his life, received excessive
relief from his family, plain religious movements which he had published for kids. On the
return journey to his hometown Eisleben, he fell sick and died on February 18, 1546.
Martin Luther was the theology professor and a monk, composer, and priest. He was
born in Esleben on the tenth of November 1983. He was past graduated from the University
of Erfurt. He faced an incidence on 2nd July 1505 in which got stuck and that incidence turned
him in monk. On 19 October 1912, he was awarded doctorate degree in theology. In 1517 he
published 95 theses and pasted on the door of the church. In 1525 he married to a nun named
Katharina Von Bora and had six children. His work in political philosophy includes turning
against the Papalism in 1517, prospering that the people had right to follow the scriptures and

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taking their own decision, he also turned against the emperors and stated that forgiveness
should not dependent on the priests but on the repentance. He believed that philosophy and
reason can play an important role in society and help the people greatly. He demanded
scriptures and the reason when Cardinal Cajetan asked recantation of Martin Luther. He also
appealed the German national pride in opposing Rome, as mentioned in his primary appeal to
Christian Dignity of the realm of German. His teaching had a strong suggestion for the
political philosophy and practices. On 18th February 1546, he got sick and died on his way to
his hometown.

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References
Bainton, R. H. (2013). Here I stand: A life of Martin Luther (1st ed.). Tennessee, United
States: Abingdon Press.
Kolb, R. (2009). Martin Luther: Confessor of the faith (1st ed). New York: Oxford University
Press.
Luther, M. (2013). On the Freedom of a Christian: With Related Texts (2nd ed.). USA:
Hackett Publishing.
Marius, R. (2009). Martin Luther: the Christian between God and death (3rd ed). USA:
Harvard University Press.
Marshall, P. (2018). A World Ablaze: The Rise of Martin Luther and the Birth of the
Reformation. German History, 36(2), 276-277.
McGrath, A. E. (2011). Luther's theology of the cross: Martin Luther's theological
breakthrough (2nd ed.). New Jersey, US: John Wiley & Sons.
Mjaaland, M. T. (2015). The Hidden God: Luther, Philosophy, and Political Theology (1st
ed.). Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press.
Mullett, M. (2003). Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses: Michael Mullett Defines the Role of
the 95 Theses in the Lutheran Reformation. History Review, (46), 46.
Naphy, W. G. (2011). The Protestant Revolution: From Martin Luther to Martin Luther King
Jr (3rd ed.). New York, US: Random House.
Roper, L. (2010). Martin Luther's body: the “stout doctor” and his biographers. The American
historical review, 115(2), 351-384.

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Schilling, H. (2017). Martin Luther: Rebel in an Age of Upheaval (1st ed.). UK: Oxford
University Press.
Smith, P. (2012). Life and Letters of Martin Lu Cb: Life & Martin Luther (1st ed.). USA:
Routledge.
Stanford, P. (2017). Martin Luther: Catholic Dissident. (1st ed.). UK: Hachette UK.
Wilson, D. (2014). Out of the storm: The life and legacy of Martin Luther (2nd ed.). London:
Random House.
WRJEDT, M. (2003). 6 Luther’s theology. Retrieved from:
http://www.howheal.com/archives/2015/150703_bio3.pdf