Review of Martin Luther

In this movie review, the film biography of Martin Luther that was released in 1953 will be discussed. Overall, the film is about the life of Martin Luther who was enrolled in law in accordance with his father's wishes but left this study due to the motivation to enter monastic life. He had a keen interest in theology and philosophy. On the other hand, he could not find spiritual peace in his new life despite the regimen of ascetic piety. Nowadays, Martin Luther is known as a man who changed the world by making reformations to the Catholic Church. In this essay, the changes that Martin Luther made to the Catholic Church as well as the life of Martin Luther and the decisions he made will be considered. The film begins with an overview of the time and the place of the life of Martin Luther. Storyteller John Wiggin indicated that power was in the side of the Roman Catholic Church and the Emperor of the Holy Roman. He makes emphasis the teachings of the church on that time by specifying: "the church had largely forgotten the mercies of God and, instead, it emphasized God's implacable judgments". At that time, Christianity was mixed with paganism, it represented "the world as it is filled with evil spirits", and the church could give absolute obedience of the people for protection from eternal damnation. Further, this specification told by narrator John Wiggin made clear Luther's conflict with the church of that time. Despite the wishes of his father, Luther left the study of law and decided to enter St. Augustine's Monastery. Even though he entered into monastic life and followed the regimen of ascetic piety very strongly, he could not feel the spiritual peace that he attempted to find. On the way to spiritual peace, he realized that he cannot love God. He thought that it would be easier to find God for laypeople by having the Holy Scriptures in their native language. However, he was scolded by his prior for this opinion. After receiving a degree of Doctor of Theology at Wittenberg, he still had an internal struggle in accepting the religious practice. He did not stop to search for something that he was looking for and came up with a thought that only faith in Jesus Christ is needed for salvation. This "reformatory discovery" was reached via studying the Epistle to the Romans. When he tells his thought to mentor Staupitz, he remained unconvinced. On the other hand, Luther used the word "sola" which means alone in the margin of his Latin Bible. This was written to represent his strong belief in the doctrine of justification by faith to Jesus Christ alone. Martin Luther denied many teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Particularly, he rejected the indulgence which is a way to diminish punishment due to sins. According to the lecture, indulgence was in the form of money and, in the later Middle Ages, growth of abuses happened. More specifically, professional pardoners did the unlimited sale of indulgences, and the Church gave permission to use indulgences as funding for the projects of that time. In the course of the film, in 1517, Archbishop Albert promulgated a special jubilee indulgence in Germany with the permission of Rome Pope Leo X. During the celebration, Luther met one drunken parishioner who was convinced with the idea that there is no need to go to confession for him anymore since he has bought an indulgence. After that, Martin Luther sermonized against the abuse of indulgences appealing: "Beloved, you cannot buy God's mercy". Then, he posted his the Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the church. Other Luther's publications including the Ninety-Five Theses made the pope furious. In addition to those publications, his refusal and answer, ending with, "Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen." resulted in ex-communication by the pope and recognition as an outlaw by the Emperor. Despite the difficulties from the Catholic Church and the Emperor, he did not change his way of thinking. Martin Luther believed that salvation and eternal life are not earned by good deeds but those can be attained as the gift from God via the belief in Jesus Christ. He taught that people cannot buy God's grace. He emphasized that scriptures are promises and instructions given by God, and lay people should have access to the scriptures in their native language. The film represents how Luther prays and expresses gratitude to God for his loyalty at the end. Knowing the fact that at that time the body of those who rejected the teachings of Church could be burnt, it is important to mention the bravery of Martin Luther. It is also important to mention that at the time of Martin Luther other people also contributed to the birth of reformation. One of them is Huldrych Zwingli who was the "third man of Reformation" and agreed with the point that only scriptures are the law. However, they could not agree with the justification. Particularly, Zwingli believed that good works are a precondition for justification while Luther taught people are justified by God's grace. Finally, the film represents Martin Luther's contribution to the emergence of the Protestant Reformation. It shows the life of a man who wanted to find spiritual peace in religion and could not do that by practicing in the Catholic Church. However, he did not give up and found the answer by studying many books. I think one of the meanings of the film might be about learning and checking by yourself before believing to someone. He is represented as hardworking man who came up with his thought through studying several scriptures, and wanted everyone could have access to study the religion.