Is it possible that Luther may have been suffering from Alzheimer's or Dementia later in life which is why some of his writings were...not very charitable to say the least? Those brain diseases were not understood in the 1500s by any means.
Hi
@RileyG good to have you here; you're joining a LOT of us here who moved from CF. Several of us were once on staff there.
I've personally never read it theorized that Luther had Alzheimer's. I don't think his speech requires or even suggests that. And of course, those are diseases that USUALLY impact older people, TYPICALLY a "old person" problem. Luther was 62 when he died... and it's very likely he died from a digestive disease he had for many years or from a heart attack - not Alzheimer's.
Some points....
1. We look back 500 years from OUR perspective to evaluate what others wrote - including the tone used in those writings. Today we look back with our VERY "PC" mentality and value, our embrace of Mr. Rogers (!), looking back five centuries in the past to an age when things we very debative, scholars were "in your face", it was scholarly to state things in a very polemic way. WE with our Mr. Rogers "niceness" look back at that "in your face" polemics and are horrified. I would NOT defend the approach five centuries ago (what you politely called "uncharitable" - nicely "PC" of you) - I find it despicable and I think it made matters worse, but then I'm a part of that modern "PC" mentality, I think everyone should be more like Mr. Rogers. BUT we need to see history in context. We need to "judge" people in the context of when and where they lived.
2. Luther said a LOT! There are books recording jsut what Luther himself said - hundreds. It seems LOTS got written down - if not by him then by an ever present host of students and followers (students often wrote down every joke and comment he made -sometimes after too much beer - in what collectively is known as "Table Talk" ) - and some of this is pretty disgusting. When Luther was writing officially... aware it would be recorded and widely read, he was USALLY nice (again, typical of the day) but with the printing press (a fairly new invention) and the greatly increased literacy rate, stuff that would be private became much more public. So we have a situation we still see today... where some famous person says something they THOUGHT was private but became public. Again, should a politician or actor or athlete say ANYTHING that can't be heard by a child or their pastor? NO! But it happens. It happened then, too... much more commonly.
3. Luther was a sinner. He did bad things. He said some bad things. NO ONE disputes that, including Luther. And it's obvious that he became increasingly frustrated as he aged. Partly I'm sure because these were tough times and partly because he struggled a lot with health, he was persistently in pain and suffering from a digestive disorder. And his frustration perhaps impacted his speech. Should it have done so? No! But I don't think it 's entirely shocking that it did. Again, context.
The point HERE is whether the frequent (very modern) accusation that Luther was Anti-Semitic is correct. Since World War II, we hear this a lot; it's even found in history classes. But it's not true. Luther (like most Christians THEN) was against all religions that denied Christ and rejected the Gospel: he was anti-Jewish RELIGION. He was not anti-Jewish RACE. Hitler twisted this to serve his purposes but he's twisting Luther. Again, context. Today, lots of Christians think all religions are equal and all equally can and should be embraced and defended... relativism reigns among many - but Luther lived in a age when they believed in Truth and falsehood and when Christians believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that there is salvation in no other... to deny and reject Him is to be condemned and to threaten the Gospel. In THAT context, the very common repudiation of unchristian religions is understandable. But again, this was anti-Jewish RELIGION, not anti-Jewish RACE.
Blessings on your Lenten observation.
- Josiah
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