M artin Luther was born in Eisleben on the 10th of november in 1483. He was the oldest son of the copper miner Hans Luder. Hans Luder and his wife Margareta Zeigler moved to Mansfeld half a year later, where Martin Luther acquired his first religious knowledge as a young boy , more exactly in the school of the city, which was marked by severeness and religious conservatism. However, these elements wasn't lacking in the home, either, in which way Martin Luther's predisposition for melancholy and anxiety came to foster an incipient expression in his character. He found his refuge in deepened studies of the bible and a devotion towards religious ascetism. His parents, whose economical status had been strengthened by time, thought it best to reconsider the residence of the family. They moved on to Eisenach, after a relatively short stay in Magdeburg, where Martin Luther was admitted into the royal home of his relative Cunz Cotta and his wife Ursula.

I n 1501, Martin Luther was enroled at the well-reputed university of Erfurt to study sholastic science according to Duns Scotus, together with classical languages. Since he accordingly to the guidelines of the path that his father had determined for him acquired his master's degree, and had begun to study law, he broke with his former life and became a monk The famous flash of lightning is often mentioned as the triggering factor, which immediately caused the spiritually unstable young man to fall to his knees before God and promise that he will become a monk. However, it is clear that Martin Luther had counted over his earnings at the prospect of judgement day well before this. He had been upset over the death of a friend, as well.Yet Luther must have felt doubtful even after the concluded agreement with God, and it was merely the calculated weight of such a promise that compelled him to fullfill the agreement. Martin Luther was included into the monastery of the Augustinian Hermits in Erfurt in the summer of 1505 to fullfill a novice time of one year under severe circumstances. This life meant religious duties such as confession, fasting, prayer and self mortification. He could resume his studies after the end of the novice year , but remained true to his calling and was ordained a priest in 1507, to be relocated to the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg, as he had gained employment as a teacher at the city's university through the means of Staupitz. Martin Luther remained here for the rest of his life, with only a few short interruptions.

M atin Luther also received an important influence from Staupitz, as he fixed Luther's attention at the act of love of Jesus Christ. Martin Luther had even earlier begun to doubt in the religious value of one-sided mortification and ascetism, while he had the opinion that one reveals an urge to earn salvation by one's own force in that way. Thus, you withhold the honour from God and do not devote yourself. In connection to the support from Staubnitz, among other things, Martin Luther could take back some of the religious foundations from the New Testament that he had lost in the Old Testament. A stay for one month's time in Rome in 1511 meant yet another step in the development towards certainty for Luther, in what way he could watch numerous examples of destructivity in the religious institutions. After the return to Wittenberg, Martin Luther was conferred a doctor's degree in theology in1512 and could take over the profesorship of Staupitz to work as a teacher at the faculty of theology they had there.

M artin Luther consolidated his thoughts during his studies of the book of Psalms and Paul's letters to the Romans and Paul's letters to the Galatians. A true belief does necessarily manifest itself in good deeds and a good living, but does not find any compensation for the grace and mercy of God through these manifestations. The human will is seen in the connection with God always bound, namely to what it wants and by being put in a specific life connection. By seeking to establish a share in the salvation through one's deeds makes man guilty of self-asserting, which is the most fundamental sin. True freedom exists only if man is redeemed through faith from the will to provide for oneself. Hereby Luther found, albeit largely bound by nominalism, a reconciliation between the healthily humane and christian religiousness as demand on the individual. Any harsher remarks against the religious customs of that period did not come about until the 97 theses in september 1517, where the forms of education and the pauline doctrine of righteousness was asserted, among other things. In connection to a campaign with sale of indulgence that was aranged by pope Leo X in order to collect money for the church of Peter in Rome, Martin Luther felt urged to make further attacks. On the 31th of october in 1517 he tacked 95 theses about the indulgence, penned in latin, on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, to bring about a disputation regarding the forms of the indulgence in this way.

B y way of introduction, Leo X did not wish to concern himself with the indulgence struggle in any way. What eventually forced him to do so was bitter people around him together with the incredible popularity and distribution that Luther's theses gained in their translated form, in which way the power of the whole papacy came to be attacked on a crucial point. The pope launched a heresy process against Luther in 1518, who could barely get out of it thanks to the considerable support of Fredrik. The turnabouts around this was quite complicated and people tried to get hold of Luther with the help of the order discipline in the general chapter of the Augustinian hermits in Heidelberg and through the cardinal protector by the name of Pucci. After Luther had been summoned to an interrogation before the papal legate Cajetanus,where he had engaged in a conversation with Luther, who on his side had remained unyielding in his faith and outspokenness, Luther's opposition against the authority of the pope had been further consolidated, as well.

I n the summer of 1519, the prominent scholastic doctor Johan Eck had challenged Luther's official, Andreas Karlstadt, to a disputation at Leipzig, and had also attacked Luther, who participated in the disputation, as well, because of this. The subject that was principally to be discussed by Eck and Luther was the primacy of the pope. Luther meant that the rigth of the pope was derived from the world of man, rather than a direct gift from God. Now Luther was compelled through a direct accusation, to consider the thoughts of Hus, that was executed for heresy. He flinched before the comparation at the beginning, but admitted after having the time to consider the matter, that Hus had displayed proof of true christianity, at least partially. Luther's last ties to the established, human authorities was undone by the conversations at Leipzig so that the Bible remained as the only guiding rule.

A t the same time as the disputation, in june of 1519, Karl V had succeeded the late Maximilian as emperor with the support of his elector, Fredrik, and Leo X was no longer depending on Fredrik's continous assistance, and could attack Luther with full force. In the summer of 1520 a bull was issued, accompanying the publication of three of Luther's reformatory writings, in accordance to which Luther had 60 days to withdraw his heretical standpoints or he and all his followers would be banned and his writings would be destroyed. Luther's demonstrative response, to burn the bull together with the canonical law in front of several doctors and students on the 10th december in 1520 made the pope execute the threat of excommunication. Luther had gained such a strong position among the humanists and the people by now, that Fredrik could force Karl V to try Martin Luther at the summoned Imperial diet of Worms, where Martin Luther was granted a safe-conduct. At the diet Martin Luther was asked whether or not he wanted to withdraw the contents of the gathered writings that he had composed. After one day of consideration Martin Luther answered by dividing his writings into three categories, the first was made of edifying writings, which should not be possible to censur even by his antagonists, and the second category was made of writings that criticised the papacy and certain present, destructive laws, which could not be withdrawn as the criticism was completely correct. On the other hand did he admit that the writings in the third category, where he launched attacks on certain individuals, could have shown proof of violations by way of exception. Now Luther was called upon for an unambigous and straight answer instead of the previous one. He answered that he did not wish to withdraw anything, that could not be proven to go against the Bible or common sense. He did not wish to speak against his conscience under any circumstances as his conscience constituted the nearest link to God for him. The given answer upset the emperor, that towards the end of the convention brought a decision about declaring Martin Luther immediate imprisonment where ever he was to be found, in the name of the empire. The decision meant that Luther was declared an outlaw, and could be attacked and killed by anyone without legal consequences. His safe-conduct letter was written for 21 days , which gave him a certain protection during his home journey.

L uther was during his journey from the convention attacked and taken away by a few knights who proved to belong under elector Fredrik. Now, Martin Luther was put under the protection of Fredrik in his castle by the name of Wartburg. A rumour was set afloat about Martin Luther's death, not least from the viewpoint of Fredrik's own safety. It was during his time in Wartburg that Martin Luther composed the first part of his church book of sermons and also translated the New Testament into german so that each and everyone could study it without being able to understand latin. Martin Luther remained at the castle of Wartburg for 10 months. The spiritualistic branch of the reformation movement had consolidated its position after a crisis at that point. Martin Luther travelled against Fredriks will to Wittenberg where he intervened to stabilize the situation and to carry through his organizational ideas.A peasant rebellion broke out in 1524 and Luther tried to bring reconciliation about at first. However, the movement displayed a more violent nature shortly, upon which Luther changed his mind and urged the princes to quench the rebellion by force, which also is what happened. The strong position that he had among the peasantry previously was observably diminished by this course of events.

I n 1525 Martin Luther married a wife, formerly a nun of a royal family by the name of Katarina von Bora. It had more and more from Luther's side been a firm standpoint that christendom should approach God directly, and not merely indirectly, through the priesthood. Much of his translations from latin into german together with his opposition against the use of affected culture with the idolization of relics and indulgence trade, came from these standpoints. Now he also wanted to break the institution for the affected, priestly sublimation that the celibacy supposedly meant, by his own good example. It is the church in its entirety that is given the sacraments and the word, granted that the priest must offer the administration and mediation of the given means of mercy. The daily deed of the priest should be considered to rest on the same principles as the laymans, at the side of the priesthood. Thus is the priest to be acknowledged the same marital liberties that the layman enjoys. Now Martin Luther himself became both liked and remembered for his way of life. Later on some of his conversations with the many friends that was invited into the home,among other things, was collected in a compilation called Martin Luther's table conversations.

M artin Luther still carrried on with his translation of the Bible which had begun earlier in Wartburg. The complete translation was published in the year of 1534. Luther had before then composed the larger and the smaller catechisms, two works that was meant to support the religious education. The larger catechisms, which was published in 1529, was dedicated to priests and teachers, while the smaller catechisms was intended to facilitate the education of children at home and in school as an easily accessible textbook. A new anti-catholic publication, called the Schmalkaldic articles, was issued in 1538.

L uther's enemies had in consequence of the religious and political complications never been able to get hold of him, but the evangelists were at the time of the convention at Augsburg in 1530, which had been summoned by the emperor to resume the religious question, still at strife with their antagonists. Luther could not present himself because of the earlier act explanation. The augsburgian confession, which in its final form was signed by a number of princes and cities across the nation, and was composed by a man called Melanchton, implied an appeal to the emperor. It was pointed out that the christian faith, as it was proclaimed by the reformists, stood in harmony with the original nature of the church. This confession, which was written in the most compromising and skillfull way, made a deep impression on most of those present when it was propounded to the emperor on the 25th of june in 1530. The Worm's edict was delayed with yet another seven months. The Lutheran followers held a meeting in Schmalkalden at this point, where it was decided to form an union for mutual defence against each and every one that threatened their cause. This union and further complications abroad forced the emperor to put the conflict on ice.

E ventually, Martin Luther's physical health began to yield. He was stricken by kidney stone, pain in the heart and problem with his stomach, which is why his literary productivity went down. His wife Katarina had a miscarriage in 1539 and Luther spent much time by her bedside. On the 20th september in 1542, Magdalena, the daughter died and Luther was stricken by depression.The last time of Martin Luther's life meant difficult personal misfortunes and ill-health for Luther. He died on the 18th of february in 1546 in Eisleben.

   Kåre Andersson