Let's All Learn from Luther

Martin Luther is one of the underappreciated great leaders of history. Of course everyone knows him for creating a new faith, but not many knew how much deeper his story went—I included until I started taking German.

Martin Luther

Culturally he created a new way of thinking. He made a huge impact in German speaking areas because he brought everything that was going on in the Holy Roman Empire down to their level. As they said in the movie he showed them how to “believe freely” by attacking the Empire and the Pope and showed everyday Christians that they could stand up to Rome. We talked about this in my Landmark Discoveries in Science last year. Before revolutionaries like Luther, most printed items were written in the “elite” languages like Latin and Greek which uneducated peasants could not understand. Luther brought the elite problems to those average people and gave them a sense of empowerment that lead to the eventual break away from the Empire and Church.

The printing press helped Luther communicate to everyone in a language they understood

As a leader I think Luther was a genius. Like I said, he brought the problems of the elite down to peasant level, but he did so with humor and wit so that he attracted an enormous audience of followers. He was incredibly effective when it came to getting people interested in his movement. I believe if he were around in the present-day he would be outcast not only for saying such caustic and crude things about high-up people, but also for refusing to apologize and insisting more people listen to him. With things like the “Occupy Movement” and the protestors of current issues, I think leaders should take some political advice from Martin Luther in how to attract and appeal to larger audiences to actually make their movements happen. They mentioned near the end of the film that his movement spread to the world including the pilgrims in America who moved for religious freedom. If only we could go back to his ideals and use them to make a difference in the things that matter today.

Maybe if they read up on Luther they could learn how to be effective so they don't have to!

At the end of the day, Luther was quite the mover and shaker. But like many things, his ideas were twisted and he got far too involved with his own cause. I think it’s sad he became depressed and even a little crazy after he was excommunicated and even sadder that his movement was twisted into something violent and out of hand. While his building blocks were great for the rest of the world to begin with, he spent the end of his life trying to fix something he was not even responsible for and had to watch his dream turn into a war between those in charge and those being ruled over—kind of a funny ending for a theologian who just wanted people to be allowed to live more freely, but under a religion more fitting to average people.