|
|
School of Education |
Introduction To Education EDF 1005 Unit I Lesson VIII Origins of Teaching: The Reformation | |||
Personal Information Associate Professor, Senior |
Links
| ||
Introduction to the Lesson The purpose of this eighth lesson in the unit is to introduce the education student to the role of the Reformation in influencing the mental models, concepts, constructs and methods of teaching and learning in the western world. The student will be exposed to the ideas of the Reformation and their history and power in shaping educational practices. From http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Lu1.htm Martin Luther was born in 1483 into a relatively wealthy family. Martin Luther's father was involved in the copper trade. In 1497, Luther was sent to a school in Magdeburg which was run by the Brethren of Common Life. In 1501 he went to the University of Erfurt which was a stronghold of "schoolmen". In 1505 Luther graduated with a MA. The "nominalists" of Erfurt claimed that Man had limited intelligence and that he could never fully understand the Divinity. A knowledge of God could only come through the revelations contained in the Bible. Luther believed that he was full of sin and the belief that God was separate from Man had an enormous impact on him. In July 1505, Luther joined the Augustinian Friars at Erfurt - "to find God". He joined the extremely strict Observant order and excelled in their discipline. However, he found no peace of mind. The Roman Catholic Church taught that an individual could gain favour with God by what were called "good works". Luther believed that he ,as a sinner, was condemned in the eyes of God and that nothing could help him. Despite doing many good works, Luther found no peace of mind. In 1508, Luther was sent to the Augustinian house at Wittenburg to teach at the university. In 1510, Luther was sent to Rome to make an appeal to the head of the Augustinian order which was the result of an internal squabble within the order itself. The head of the order was expected to a make a decision. While in the centre of Christianity, Luther used the opportunity to show his love of God when he climbed the Santa Scala on his knees. He found no peace and in fact he returned to Wittenburg in even more torment. From 1511 to 1517, Luther lectured on the Psalms and St. Paul’s Epistles to the Romans. It was by studying these that he found the solution to his torment : 1) Man could not get near to God by his own doing as Man was too sinful as original sin had driven him towards evil. 2) Man could do nothing - only God could intervene to set him free from sin. Man could not force God to intervene. 3) All sinners should live in hope - if God had sent Jesus into the world then he had to have faith in Man. 4) Only through faith alone could you find salvation. There was nothing new in this as St. Paul and St. Augustine had emphasised this. However, Luther believed that the Holy Spirit was at work in him and that this sign to him was a sign of regeneration. By 1517, Luther was still re-assessing his thoughts when John Tetzel entered Germany selling indulgences which Luther believed would fool people into believing that they could buy their way out of sin with no thought of faith whatsoever. Also these people would believe that they were going to Heaven when in fact they would go to Hell. How could they be repentant when self-loathing and self-disgust was needed ? Luther believed that there could be no short cuts to this and that God could not be fooled by sinners pretending that they were repentant. Luther’s main complaint against the Catholic Church was that it was supporting a system that left sinners in sin - and this was the institution that was meant to save lost souls !! In October 1517, Luther pinned his "95 Theses" to a church door in Wittenburg. This was his views on indulgences. There was nothing unusual about this process. It was the standard practice to put up an idea you had for others to read and then to comment on. Luther’s work was in Latin, therefore it was not meant to be read by anyone else other than an academic. His thoughts were not a direct attack on the Catholic Church rather an attack on Tetzel and indulgences. What happened next is unclear. Someone took down the pamphlet and translated it into German and had it printed. Once in circulation the "95 Theses" gained much attention. In fact, so much attention that Luther tried to withdraw the pamphlet but he was too late. The Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht of Brandenburg-Hohenzollern under whom Tetzel was operating, sent a copy to Rome requesting that Luther be prohibited from expanding on his ideas. Wittenburg was in the archbishop’s diocese. Pope Leo X assumed that it was a "monkish quarrel". He did not hold this view once he read the copy. He summoned Luther to Rome to answer charges of heresy and rebelling against church authority. The man appointed to lead the church’s attack against Luther was Cardinal Cajetan - a major intellect in the Catholic Church. Cajetan was also Papal legate in Germany. Frederick the Wise of Saxony (Wittenburg was in Saxony) decided that Luther should not be handed over until he had a chance to defend himself. Ironically, Frederick’s collection of relics did not impress Luther! In one respect Luther had luck on his side. The Holy Roman Emperor was Maximilian. He could not intervene in this affair as he was trying to get the support of Frederick to get his son, Charles, crowned King of the Romans. Frederick was one of the seven Electors. In October 1518, Luther went to Augsburg to argue his case against Cajetan. The latter argued that all should be obedient to the Catholic Church claiming that the church had access to the truths not contained in the Bible as it was a divine institution. Luther stood by his beliefs that if it was not contained in the Scriptures it was not relevant. Luther left Augsburg with it being obvious that there was a gulf between him and Cajetan. Luther appealed to the General Council of the Church. This would have been a fruitless exercise but Luther was helped by the death of Maximilian in January 1519. Charles was not elected until June 1519 so from January to June the Electors had huge power and this included Frederick of Saxony. By now Luther had achieved national fame and Frederick would have been foolish to hand him over to the Catholic Church and at this point Charles was not strong enough to assert his authority. In July 1519, Luther met the famous German theologian John Eck. Eck accused Luther of being a Hussite. Luther said that the doctrine of Hus had contained some truths and that he should not have been condemned. Luther had now moved well beyond his original position in that he 1) he denied the authority of the popes 2) he denied the authority of the general councils and 3) he re-iterated "justification by faith alone." In 1520 Luther developed his ideas further. In July 1520, Leo X issued a papal Bull - "Exsurge Domine". This condemned Luther’s beliefs and ordered the public burning of Luther’s work. Luther was ordered to recant on the threat of excommunication. Luther burnt a copy of the Bull in Wittenburg and the book of canon law. Interestingly, the Bull condemned Luther as the "bull who has got into the vineyard"......(Leo had a healthy liking for wine). In July 1521, Luther was formally excommunicated and Charles was ordered to enforce this by the pope. Charles V was a devout catholic but he could not risk antagonising the German princes and public due to Luther’s popularity in the northern states. Charles condemned Luther’s beliefs and forbade the publication of his works. Luther was summoned to Worms to defend his case before an Imperial Diet. Luther set out from Wittenburg on April 1521 on a triumphal journey but aware that John Hus had been granted safe conduct by the authorities but had been condemned and burnt at the stake. It was at Worms that Luther made his "Here I Stand" speech. 1517, Martin Luther was to do something, albeit by accident, that was to change the face of the world as it was then known in Western Europe, and introduce the German Revolution. Luther had been troubled for a number of years by his faith and this was made worse when in 1517 John Tetzel was empowered by the pope to sell an indulgence to pay for the restoration of buildings in Rome, primarily St. Peter’s. Luther believed that the people of Wittenburg, Saxony, were being conned into believing that they had been forgiven for their sins and that this simply was not happening. This whole episode was symptomatic of what any referred to as the "rotteness" of the Church. In response to this action by Tetzel, Luther wrote a pamphlet called "The 95 Theses" which was an obvious criticism of indulgences. The pamphlet contained ninety five points that he felt should be argued at an academic level - they were not for general public discussion. There are two reasons for thinking this: The pamphlet was written in Latin which was the traditional language of the scholar then and beyond the understanding of most people including the rich and even members of the European royal families some of whom were not literate in their own language let alone Latin ! The pamphlet was not released to the general public to read but it was pinned to the church door in Wittenburg for other scholars to read and to discuss in preparation for a full discussion at a later date. This was the traditional manner for a scholar to bring attention to his work to other academics to allow for a full discussion. There was nothing revolutionary about what Luther did - it was the standard accepted practice of those academics who attended the university at Wittenburg. What happened next makes it appear that Luther was a revolutionary but this was not so. Someone took down the pamphlet and made a copy of it. It would be normal for a number to be made available for all the academic staff at a large university. Someone then had it translated into German and it was printed off for the general public to have greater access to it. When Luther found out what had happened he tried to get back to original copy but to no avail. The " 95 theses" had gone public and was no longer merely a topic for academic staff. The majority of people could not read or write in 1517 but it was common for a person who could read to do so out in the public domain (such as a market square) if he believed that he had something of interest that others might want to hear. This is how the information in the pamphlet spread within Wittenburg and the surrounding area and many people in Wittenburg clearly identified themselves with what was stated in the pamphlet about indulgences especially as they were the ones who had to pay for them and were very much out of pocket when this happened. Saxony in 1517 relied heavily on agriculture for its wealth and therefore traders came into the city and left to go to the outlying areas where they lived. It is probable that this is how the thoughts of Luther spread so quickly. Do note that his ideas would not have spread if they had meant nothing to the people in north Germany. The non-payment of money towards indulgences could potentially save these people a lot of money. The impact of word-of-mouth communication to Luther was huge but difficult for historians to quantify. It is possible that towns were more likely to convert to Lutheranism as more people lived in them and the opportunity was there for communication to spread quickly. Rural areas tended to be much more conservative in general but these areas in north Germany were to support Luther as well as urban areas. The response of the public to Luther’s work was outside of his control in the sense that once a respected academic was seen to be questioning the stance of the Roman Catholic church, then it is likely that other less educated people might follow suit. It is unlikely that it would be the other way round! Luther’s attempt to retrieve that pamphlet prove that he was not setting out to do something drastic or revolutionary. His failure to do so was to have massive consequences for Europe and lead to the Reformation. The Social Consequences of the Reformation The social consequences of the Luther and the German Reformation was marked and they came close to undermining the support given by the north German princes to to Luther and the Reformation. In the early C16 the population of Germany was growing. There was pressure on land and land prices increased. Landlords attempted to re-introduce feudal labour which would have greatly increased their hold over the peasants. This caused great resentment amongst the peasants and they started to support a man called Thomas Muntzer who openly called for greater social equality. In 1525, a major revolt took place in the Black Forest. This was the so-called "Peasants Revolt". Violence had occurred as early as 1524 but on an infrequent basis. In 1525 this anger spilled over into a mass revolt involving possibly as many as 250,000 people. The peasants issued their "Twelve Articles". This was a list of their religious and social demands and included demands that ministers should be elected by the whole congregation and that they should teach the Holy Gospel in a pure and simple form. They also demanded fair rents for land and no serfdom. Though these might have appeared to have been fair demands, the men of property (and therefore of power) were horrified. Some leaders wanted slight change to suit the times but no-one in authority wanted equality. In April 1525, Luther had shown support for the peasants in his "Friendly Admonition to peace concerning the Twelve Articles of the Swabian Peasants". This openly criticised lords but especially bishops and "mad priests". However, Luther also criticised the peasants use of force and he clashed with them over their claim that serfdom should be abolished. The peasants argued that Jesus had died on the cross for all people great and small, and therefore there should be no inequality. Luther argued against this by writing that "this article would make all men equal and turn the spiritual kingdom of Christ into a worldly kingdom - and that is not possible……..a slave can be a Christian and have Christian liberty." By the spring of 1525, 250,000 peasants were in revolt. Southern Germany suffered especially badly. North-east and North-west Germany were not affected. To the general populace, Luther seemed to support the peasants religious demands but not their social or economic ones. But Luther hit a major problem. The rebels started calling themselves "Lutherans" and Luther feared that once the revolt had finished he and his new movement might face a severe backlash which could seriously undermine it. Would the princes who had supported Luther in some states see him as a threat to law and order ? Without their support Luther was in a vulnerable position with regards to the emperor. Luther penned "Against the murderous, pillaging hordes of peasants". This called for very severe punishment for the rebels and indicated that Luther was opposed to any form of social upheaval which threatened the position of the state leaders. The state leaders raised an army to defeat the rebels which was duly completed at the Battle of Frankenhausen in May 1525. After this, resistance amongst the peasants collapsed and savage reprisals took place. It is thought that as many as 100,000 died during these reprisals. Why is this revolt important ?
Regardless of what occurred in 1525, Luther failed to make any headway in the staunchly catholic southern states of Germany. The four points above primarily relate to the north of Germany. WAS LUTHER A REVOLUTIONARY? What exactly is "revolutionary" ? Politically, it is a momentous event that within a short space of time overthrows an established order. Put crudely, it is a major upheaval which usually has important short and long term impacts.
However, on closer analysis, arguments against this
approach can be forwarded.
Finally, if Luther was deemed to be revolutionary, why was he only banned from the Empire after Worms? If he was so obviously a revolutionary, why was he not burned as a heretic? This lesson was developed to address elements of competency # 3, #4 and #10 on the functions of the educational process (teaching and learning) and schooling for education majors who are taking EDF 1005 in partial fulfillment of the graduation requirements for an Associate of Arts degree in Teaching (Elementary), Teaching (Secondary), Early Childhood and Exceptional Education. Competency #3 reads (in part) as follows: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the significant ideas, events, and people that have shaped American education by
Competency #4 reads (in part) as follows: The student will examine the various functions of the educational process and schooling by
Competency #10 reads (in part) as follows: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the teaching and learning process by
(A complete list of all the competencies for EDF 1005 is provided below by clicking on the link titled competencies) | |||
