The Encyclopedia of World Religions

268 S Luther, Martin

insisted that people attain a right relationship with God only as a result of God’s grace, not of anything that they do. They learn about God’s gift through the Bible, the ultimate religious authority, and they accept it through faith. Luther called these ideas the GOSPEL , as dis tinct from the law, which human beings cannot fulfill and which therefore leads to condemna tion. But Luther was not one to resolve opposi tions quickly. God’s Word, he said, always comes to human beings as both law and gospel. Chris tians are at one and the same time justified and sinful. And God himself, as human beings experi ence him, has two aspects: the hidden God who insists on justice and the revealed God of grace and mercy. Luther teaches in his Small Catechism that people should respond to this God with fear, love and trust. SIGNIFICANCE By the 1520s Luther’s dispute with the leaders of the Catholic Church had incited people with some what different perspectives to rebel as well. The result was a split of Western European Christian ity into two branches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant churches ( see P ROTESTANTISM ). In response, the Catholic Church reformulated its teachings at the Council of TRENT (1545–63) and eliminated abuses about which the devout had complained for years. But Luther’s significance was more than reli gious. Even though the Reformation resulted in religious fragmentation and wars, it helped to crystallize a feeling of political and cultural inde pendence among German peoples. And because Luther insisted that God comes to human beings not through human actions but through God’s Word, his interest in and impact on the German language was immense. His writings, especially his translation of the Bible, helped to establish a common German idiom and made him a pioneer in the development of modern German literature. Further reading: Susan C. Karant-Nunn and Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, eds., Luther on Women: A Sourcebook (New York: Cambridge University

Portrait of Martin Luther (Scala/Art Resource, N.Y.)

through March 1522 he lived in hiding at the Wart burg Castle overlooking Eisenach. After returning to Wittenberg, he devoted the rest of his life to organizing the breakaway church. He translated the Bible as well as the Mass ( see LITURGY ) into Ger man. To encourage congregational participation in WORSHIP , he wrote a number of hymns, such as the well-known “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” And he wrote two catechisms, a smaller and a larger one, for use in teaching laypeople the fundamen tals of the Christian faith. In 1525 Luther married a former nun, Katherina von Bora. Together they had six children. He died in Eisleben, the town of his birth, on February 18, 1546. TEACHINGS At the center of Luther’s thought stands the notion of justification. Following the apostle Paul, Luther