A Return to Grace: Luther's Life and Legacy (2017) - full transcript

In an age of kings and princes,

power was in the hands of a few,

and then a man came

who challenged an empire with
little more than an idea.

His story would involve millions,

and it would inspire generations
in the search for the truth.

His name, Martin Luther.

Every word Luther says
in this movie is textual

of his writings and talks.

I can not and do not want to retract.

A fearless monk named Martin Luther



he had just infuriated the
most powerful leader in Europe,

Emperor Carlos V.

And Charles wanted Luther dead.

Luther did not have an
army to protect him.

However, it had a different
kind of protection,

popular support.

Thanks to the recent invention
of the written press,

Luther's protest against the church,

It had made him the
first European celebrity.

It was the first theologian
he had to the media with him.

The burning of Luther's
writings would not stop

the inevitable confrontation
between the old and the new.

The medieval versus the modern.

His bad reputation made him
someone you couldn't dismiss,



nor from whom you could get rid.

Get rid of Martin Luther

it would be the concern of the most
powerful people in the world for decades.

The way was prepared for one
of the millennium battles,

that of a bustling monk
with media knowledge

against the emperor, the
Pope, and even Henry VIII.

Daily life in 15th century
Europe was not easy.

Half of the children
would not become adults.

Diseases were increasing
and food was often scarce.

There were no guarantees
for the poor and desperate,

beyond the occasional gifts
of those more fortunate.

Life was a little better
in the city of Mansfeld,

thanks to the thriving copper industry,

where a manager named Hans
Luther was rising in rank.

Hans realized that he
would need a solution.

to the constant legal debates

that decreased their operations.

In early 1490,

He found the answer in his son, Martin.

I was preparing him for
a college education,

with an eye to a
career as a lawyer.

There were frequent conflicts

between miners and smelters.

DOCTOR - PROFESSOR
SEMINAR CONCORDIA

And Luther's father believed َ

that it would be useful to
have a lawyer in the family

to help solve some
of those problems.

At his early twenties,

Martin Luther had met his
father's expectations,

and earned a bachelor's and
master's degree in record time.

But when he started studying
law, something was wrong.

Father.

Luther left the studies suddenly,
halfway through the year,

and returned home to see his father.

Hans' wishes for a lawyer
in the family would vanish.

?Who do you want to be?

Martin wanted to please his father,

but his law courses
seemed banal to him.

- Please... - What is it?

Answer my question.

Especially in light
of serious concerns

and Martin's fears that they were
about to reach a breaking point.

Get out.

Father...

Like most of the people of that time,

Luther saw acts of
nature as acts of God.

For Luther,
the intensity of this storm

brought back his conscience.

Luther made a promise that night.

If his life was spared,
he would become a monk.

The man must first shout
that he sees no hope.

In this riot,

Salvation will begin.

When man thinks he is lost,

the light appears.

In a few days, Luther arrived
at an Augustinian monastery,

leaving behind the right

and all the expectations of his father.

Hans thought his son
was wasting his life.

Furthermore, an oath of celibacy
meant having no grandchildren.

DOCTOR - PROFESSOR PAC
ح FICO LUTHERAN SEMINAR

His father was not
happy with his decision

entering the monastery

and let him know.

The decision to become a monk
should not have been an impulse.

Martin Luther's
heart was already sad

and fearful of an almighty God
with impossibly high standards.

DOCTOR - WESTMINSTER TEOL
س GICO TEACHER SEMINAR

For Luther, his feelings of guilt
were accompanied by feelings of fear.

DOCTOR - AUTHOR

"MART ح N LUTERO AND
THE LASTING WORD OF GOD"

I was afraid of a vengeful God.

Luther hoped that he would
punish himself for his sins

satisfy God.

It was hitting,

I fasted for days,

I slept outside, in the cold.

But those extreme measures
did not seem to work.

Luther still felt guilt for his sins.

I myself, more than once,

I fell into the abyss of despair,

to the point where I never
wished I had been created.

؟ Love God?

,I hated it!

DOCTOR - CARDINAL
ARCHBISHOP OF NEW YORK

He was a motivated monk, who couldn't sleep

because I thought: "؟ I'm doing everything

what the church expects of me?

؟ Am I obeying the rules of
my religious order, Augustine?

Did I say the correct sentence?

I better do it right or I'll go to hell. "

Luther's supervisor and
friend, Johann von Staupitz,

understood that the rite
of confession of the church

it was designed to bring relief
to those burdened with guilt.

Forgiveness for each type of sin.

Luther confessed but did
not find much relief.

While some monks confessed
in just a few minutes,

Luther could be hours and hours.

I was afraid that just one
unspoken sin could be his downfall.

He went to confession, he
repented, he atoned for himself,

but I still thought:

"I still don't feel saved,

I do not feel happy,

I'm not at peace

I'm still in agony.

I can't win and
receive God's love,

his compassion and his salvation. "

That was his concern.

Despite his internal struggles,
Luther was a good student

and earned the respect of his peers.

He was incredibly hard-working.

DOCTOR - AUTHOR "MART
ح N LUTERO: ONE LIFE"

Because of that and his innate intellect,

and because of his passion,

He advanced very fast in
the monastery community.

After two years of preparation,
Luther was ordered,

and celebrated his first mass in 1507.

For Martin,
that was a moment of complete panic,

since he felt the full weight
of his lack of merit before God.

Once again,
Luther's conscience condemned him.

As a priest, Luther believed that
he had reached his highest calling.

Luther's father was not so sure.

He wondered if Luther's call
to the monastery came from God.

or the devil.

Luther's anguish grew.

Staupitz was sure that
the way to alleviate it

was to keep him busy.

He had already persuaded Luther
to do a doctorate in theology.

Now, a new challenge.

Staupitz landed a job for Luther

at the faculty of the new
university in Wittenberg.

Luther's mission continued.

"He was guiding me through calm waters.

He restores my soul. "

AND...

You, back there.

?What does this mean?

?Not?

?Someone?

?Not?

The city of Wittenberg
was something of a branch.

And the university was not known.

But that started to change in 1517,

when a traveling friar
named Johann Tetzel

he created his controversial
fundraiser nearby.

Tetzel told the citizens
that the documents he sold,

called "indulgences",

they could erase the
consequences of their sins.

The attraction was irresistible.

Many were misled by
Tetzel's statements.

A practice that seemed...

DOCTOR - AUTHOR
"CHANGING THE CHURCHES"

... many times like...

Something like the sale of salvation.

?What is this?

، It's extortion!

A conspiracy opposed to religion.

He only wants to make money
from men without principles.

Corruption was not
just a local problem.

The tentacles stretched
all the way to Rome.

ROMA SACRO EMPIRE ROMANO

One of the external reasons and
one of the contributing factors

to the success of the Protestant Reformation,

Everybody knows,

was the corruption of that time

in the Catholic church,

which cannot be denied.

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome,

in 1517, it had not yet been built.

There were plans,

but the work had been
stopped because Pope Leo X

I didn't have enough funds.

I was committed to trying...

DOCTOR - AUTHOR
"EARLY MODERN EUROPE"

... update the buildings
in the city of Rome,

to transform it into
a nice place to live,

for which he needed money.

Funds were raised with
the sale of indulgences.

And no one sold them more
aggressively than Johann Tetzel.

No one could compete with
such a blatant seller.

He told the peasants
that their dead relatives

they screamed in pain in purgatory,

who asked for relief,

which could grant a simple coin.

Tetzel promoted himself
from start to finish.

I mean, this guy was...

It was a fake wherever you saw it.

From Luther's perspective,

selling indulgences
alienated people from God.

Soon, all the churches, the palaces,

the walls and bridges of Rome
will be built with our money.

؟ Why does the pope not build
San Pedro with his own money?

He is richer than Crassus.

It would be better if he sold the basilica

and give the money to the poor,

who are being plucked by
these indulgence sellers.

To take care of the problem,

organized an academic debate on the subject.

He began to write 95 topics
for debate or thesis.

Then, at the most iconic
moment of the time,

Luther nailed his 95 theses to the
door of the church in Witternberg.

Those who believe that through
these letters of indulgence

they make sure they are saved,

they will be eternally doomed,

along with their teachers.

The result was indifference.

No one wanted to debate with Luther.

All the reform could
have stopped there

If not for a new invention that
had recently arrived in Wittenberg.

A revolutionary technology
called the written press.

Before the written press,

the process of making
books was excruciating.

Every word had to be
meticulously handwritten.

It could take years to create
a single copy of a book.

In the middle of the XV century,

Johannes Gutenberg perfected a
type of mobile written press.

One that could generate in
seconds what formally took months.

But the printers
still had a problem,

the content.

They needed material
to go viral,

to create controversy,

and increase sales.

Nothing accomplished the task

until they found the 95
theses of Martin Luther.

It was perfect.

Without Luther knowing,

the printers began to
issue thousands of copies.

It was a match that was lit in 1517,

a campfire,
whose flames are still burning.

They spread like wildfire.

In ten days he was already in Spain.

It is incredible.

DOCTOR - AUTHOR
"ENCOUNTERS WITH LUTHER"

He was very surprised
that everything he said

suddenly he was exposed.

Although the 95 theses were written
for academics, and not for peasants,

there was something that was clear to everyone.

The document denounced
the sale of indulgences.

Luther had touched a sensitive point,

and aroused the perception that
the Pope had too much power

and that he wanted too much
money from the Germans.

- This is mine. - ?Seriously?

Where did you get it?

It is everywhere.

At first Luther did not know
that his ideas were spreading.

They were printed.

Yes.

He soon realized that
he was like a celebrity.

The accidental author of a best seller.

A job that boldly announced
corruption to everyone.

Avoid those who seek
your soul in a purse.

In his sermons and his writings,

Luther continued to criticize what he saw

as repairable errors of the church.

Suppose they say:

"I will never buy an indulgence again."

I would say: "Good".

My will, my desire,
my supplication and my advice

is that no one buys an indulgence.

Let lazy Christians
buy indulgences.

You stay away from them.

Some want to call me a heretic.

I don't care much about that gossip.

Especially when those who do this

they have dark minds

and they have never even smelled a bible.

Soon, the heretic
label became permanent.

Church leaders tried
to contain Luther.

Luther would be interrogated
in the city of Augsburg.

Now I must die.

I will be a disgrace to my parents.

Luther's interrogator
was Cardinal Cayetano,

one of the most experienced
theologians of that time.

For Luther, Cayetano had the authority
and power of the pope himself.

And once described him
as some kind of bad cop

trying to break it.

MAG ح STER IN DIVINITY -
PROFESSOR COLEGIO MART ح N LUTERO

I wanted them to bring the questioned,

for the interrogator to enter

and try to break
Luther, if possible.

But when Cayetano asked Luther

to retract his statements
on indulgences,

Martin did not.

Luther based his position on an
even more egregious statement.

His Holiness abuses the Bible.

I deny that he is
above Holy Scripture.

Cayetano was outraged by
Luther's lack of papal authority,

and for their lack of respect.

Cayetano does not think
clearly as a Christian.

You are so qualified to
deal with this situation

like a donkey to play the harp.

And certainly some
of Luther's friends

they were concerned
about their disrespect

towards such important characters.

Luther's friends believed
that his scandalous statements

they put him in grave danger.

They persuaded them to
escape from the city.

Sneaking through the guards,

and fleeing to the known
security of Wittenberg.

A more careful man would
have kept a low profile,

but Luther did the opposite

when he agreed to hold a very public
debate in the city of Leipzig.

Luther's opponent, Johann Eck,
earned points as the controversialist,

but his performance did
not captivate the audience.

People don't understand me.

So let me be clear
in my own language.

I only say that a simple layman

armed with Holy Scripture,
one can believe more than the pope

or that a tip without it.

As for the pope's
decree on indulgences,

I say that neither the church nor the pope

they can establish articles of faith.

Those must come out of Holy Scripture.

God once spoke through a donkey.

I will tell you what I think bluntly.

I am a Christian theologian.

Want to believe freely

and not be a slave to anyone's authority,

either from a council,
from a university or from the pope.

One thing was clear.

Luther had rejected
the pope and the church

as the highest sources of authority.

Instead,
it depended entirely on the Bible.

LE س N X

Pope Leo was not happy
with Luther's statements,

but he measured his response.

As part of the arrangement,
Luther agreed to remain silent.

I tried it.

But when the opposition
ridiculed his ideas,

Luther began to write again in 1520

and produced some of the most
significant work of his career.

Sales successes that
made Europe speak.

The first, to the Christian
nobility of the German nation,

He unveiled Luther's ideas
on the reform of the church.

For a long time, the church considered
that priests, monks, and nuns

they had a higher calling than
that of the rest of the Christians.

For Luther, that was wrong.

He watched the Bible
level the playing field.

DOCTOR IN THEOLOGY ح A -
EDITOR "LUTERO COMENTADO"

So, a maid who cleaned a room

not just cleaning a room,

I was doing God's work.

DOCTOR - TEACHER OF THE LIGHT
SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY OF CHICAGO

I think Luther gave
value to vocations,

who believed that all
the things that people do

they have value.

AUTHOR "MART ح N LUTERO AND
THE LIFE OF VOCATION س N"

And so Luther's view on
the subject was radical.

Revolution َ to society.

Suddenly, the commoners
demanded more of their princes,

and many monasteries emptied,

since its purposes
were no longer clear.

It was the kind of message
that the public wanted to hear.

And Luther, the writer,
knew just how to get his attention.

The printers sold all the copies of
the treaties that they could print.

Luther's fame grew.

Luther fed the controversy with
particularly intense language.

He was almost incapable of being moderate.

He saw himself engaged in
an epic battle for souls.

A battle that required strong
words, not civilized chatter.

You are murderers,
traitors, liars,

the worst trash of the
worst people on the planet.

They are full of the
worst demons in hell.

، So full,
they can't do more than throw up

and cast out demons!

It was very common from all
sides of the reform debates

make personal attacks
on your opponents

and say absolutely
horrible things about them

and their mothers and all their relatives.

He is a pig, a donkey, a dung heap,

the spawn of a viper,
a lying jester,

an idiot with a foamy mouth
and a prostitute's face.

DOCTOR - AUTHOR
"THE SCANDALOUS DOG"

I had fits of anger

that they made him sometimes express
himself in somewhat crude language.

I ask you to blow your nose,

to lighten your head
and clear your brain.

I was still talking like
a farmer or a miner,

so their language was colorful,

excessive and fun.

We are allowed to laugh,
have fun and hug our wives,

whether they are naked or clothed.

Yeah, it was fun reading Luther in part

because it was expressed in a
way, how to say it?

very earthy.

Sometimes in a way that
we call eschatological.

I mean, sometimes it was raw.

At this point,
Luther's understanding of the relationship

between God and people he was
beginning to be their focus.

The central question that
Luther was trying to answer

it is one that almost everyone does.

"؟ What makes me a good person,

a person of good in the eyes of God? "

What is normal for religious rhetoric

that is, "Well, God does
this, but you must do this."

Luther was punished for a long
time for not feeling worthy,

he was tormented by the guilt of his failures,

and even his devotion as
a monk could not help him.

، The honest person lives only on faith!

، The honest person lives only on faith!

Your Highness, please sit down.

Please sit down.

Luther's advances were triggered by a
passage from Epistola to the Romans,

that made him believe that
God's favor could not be earned,

not even partially,
doing good deeds.

Instead,
he saw justice as an award

that God gave to those
who had faith in Jesus.

For him, this was good news,

and it was not the news
they had been receiving.

Now he has what he considers
good news for his people,

instead of bothering them

with more and more things to do

and more and more standards
they have to meet.

Christ's suffering, death,
and resurrection accomplished it all.

Your good works
will not save you,

in the least.

Not.

Grace is a gift

that God gives you.

Luther's ideas faced
obvious follow-up.

If God sets people free

from the need to do good
deeds to earn heaven,

So what should a Christian
do with that freedom?

Again Luther saw
the answer clearly.

This is the true Christian life.

When a man is dedicated
with happiness and love

to serve others voluntarily
and for nothing,

doing only something that helps,

beneficial,

and honest for our neighbor.

Since by faith

we are already linked to all
the good things of Christ.

So, when you didn't have
to worry about your future,

you were free to worry
about the future of others.

If you met all the time,

as Luther said,
focused on yourself,

and life revolves around you

and what you... All of that.

What a miserable life

when you don't have eyes to see others,

others whom you could love.

So now you can live
as you really are,

a loving person,
you can love your neighbor.

That's what reform was about.

Completely,

since everything is anchored to that.

In all the good things in Christ...

Leon tried to control Luther
by issuing a papal bull

a formal document
that required Luther

you will deny his writings.

Peace.

The time for silence is over.

It is time to speak.

The delivery of the papal bull

unleashed unease among
Luther's followers.

Luther took his
riskiest step thus far,

burn the bull.

If they excommunicated me
for the sacrilege of heresy,

I will excommunicate them

in the name of God's sacred truth.

Christ will judge which
excommunication will be upheld.

Amen.

You could no longer go back.

MAXIMILIANO CARLOS

When Emperor Maximilian
died in 1519,

her grandson, Carlos,
was chosen to replace him.

I was only 19 years old.

He was raised to be a king,

But I was still 19 years old.

The needs of the Germans
were not important to Carlos,

But he did want to keep
his empire together.

And he believed that the key to
cohesion was a unified religion.

A policy that made Martin Luther an
unnecessary nuisance on his side.

But Carlos had to be careful.

Luther's public support was enormous.

So, in an attempt to
appear disinterested,

Carlos agreed to have a formal
hearing in German territory,

in the city of Worms in 1521.

Since people knew that
Luther was going to be there,

he was already a media star,

many people participated in the event.

There was anticipation for this
confrontation between the mighty emperor

and the humble but popular monk.

AUTHOR "THE PROTEST OF LUTHER"

And when I finally got
to the gates of Worms,

the crowd went wild.

Tell your masters that if there
were so many demons in Worms

like tiles on the roofs, I would enter.

، I'll have a debate!

I must do it.

As he approached the audience,

he began to understand the
seriousness of the situation.

Many assumed that Luther
would be burned at the stake

before the day ended.

Burning someone at the stake
was violence, terrorism,

exercised by the state

to maintain social control.

And it is very powerful,

very disturbing.

In the middle of the room
there was a collection of books

written by Luther.

He was asked to deny all his writings,

to publicly retract
his statements,

and thus he would be saved.

This could be your end.

So, I was very nervous
about what could happen.

Since they want a simple answer,

I will give them to you without horns or teeth.

I do not accept the authority
of the popes or the councils,

since they contradict each other.

Unless I am convinced
by Holy Scripture

or some clear reason,

my conscience is captive
to the word of God.

I do not want and I can not retract anything

since it is not safe or correct
to go against one's conscience.

God help me.

He had the opportunity to save his life.

But then he had the opportunity
to test his commitment,

and: "Is this what I really believe in?"

I was willing to die for it.

And he never changed his mind.

The media went wild.

It was April, late at night,

it was dark there were torches

that gave the only illumination,

and suddenly ، paf!

Since he was kind
of the drama master,

sneaked out of the place

and disappeared for a while.

Charles signed a decree
condemning Luther,

ordering him to receive a
punishment for his high treason.

Carlos realized that he would not be wise

arrest Luther in the
midst of his followers,

so he honored his prior agreement
to grant Luther safe conduct.

Some precious days of leave
before the sentence was executed.

Luther took the
opportunity to return home,

but it never came.

Martin Luther was dead.

That is what the Germans assumed when
they heard about their kidnapping.

But Luther's story
was not yet over.

In fact, he was about
to enter a new chapter.

Luther's hiding place was a
secret room in Wartburg Castle.

He let his beard grow to camouflage himself.

His code name was "Caballero Jorge".

Martin Luther did not like
the solitude of the castle,

but that did not diminish his work.

Here, he embarked on one of the most
significant projects of his life.

Translate the New Testament
into the language of the people.

Luther finished his
translation in just 11 weeks.

I used َ words that
people in the fields

could understand and relate to.

José speaks to Mar ي a

in the most beautiful
German you can imagine.

Luther's exile at Wartburg
Castle lasted for َ months.

He began to hear stories
of how the movement

it had begun to stray... Seriously.

In Wittenberg,
the anti-Catholic crowd

broke windows in churches
and destroyed works of art.

The supposed prophets proclaimed
that they could replace the Bible.

MAG ح STER IN DIVINITY -
SPEAKER MINISTRIES TIME OF GRACE

It hurt Luther to see that those
people he loved and trusted,

they would forget his
influence while he was gone.

As if the reactor control
lines had been removed.

To calm the agitation,

in March 1522,

Luther ended his exile and
returned to Wittenberg.

We must give each other what
God gave us through faith.

I predicted respect,

patience and non-violence.

The order came back for a while.

When he returned to Wittenberg,
he was completely alone.

I think if I couldn't have
made a good impression on him

to people at that time,

it would all be over.

So it was an extraordinary moment.

In early 1523,

Martin Luther received a secret letter

of nine nuns who hoped
to escape the convent.

In most of the German
territory, that would be simple,

but these nuns lived on
unconditionally Catholic land

of Duke George.

Whoever helped them escape
would face the death penalty.

Luther devised a covert operation.

A local vendor would take
your usual pickle order

to the cloister of the nuns.

But when he left,
the empty cart would not be empty at all.

The plan worked perfectly.

But then Luther
had a new problem.

؟ What to do with a
cart full of women

that they had no way to support themselves?

In time,
I would find them suitable homes,

or husbands to all but one,

Catalina de Bora.

She did not like the arrangements
that Luther proposed,

and came to reject various
marriage proposals.

But she was ready
to marry Luther.

At that time, Luther was 41 years old

and his friends pressured
him to find a wife.

Luther's friends said,
"What do you think of her?"

And he replied َ: "Okay".

And they convinced him that she would
be a good person to be his wife.

Finally,
Martín agreed to marry Catalina,

Although it wasn't because
I had romantic feelings,

at least not at first.

Luther explained that
the reason why he married

it was to please his father
and to annoy the pope.

In time,
Marti came to love her very much.

She was smart, resourceful,

and skilled with finances
in ways that Luther was not.

We remember her as Catalina de Bora

and not like Mrs.
Martin Luther for a reason.

She was left alone,
she didn't belong to anyone.

To marry someone as tough
and bold as Luther was,

she must have been with him.

Catalina ran orchards,
brewed beer, slaughtered pigs,

and gave birth to six children.

At one point, the home of the
Luther, a former monastery,

It accommodated more
than a dozen guests.

Catalina handled it skillfully.

He would approach her and say:

"By the way, honey,
forty more people will come to dinner.

Find something for them to eat. "

In a time when it was illegal
for a man to inherit his wife,

Luther did it anyway.
So great was his respect for Catherine.

He was not a feminist,

but his vision of humanity

it was as exclusive as you could
expect from a 16th century man.

In 1527, Luther fell ill.

The disease was not something strange.

In the past,
I had had kidney stones,

gout, insomnia,

dizziness and ringing in the ears.

But that year the most
challenging of all hit him.

A reappearance of his
deep bouts of depression.

At times, he would lock
himself in his room for days.

There was a specific
word that I used to say.

It is amphechtung.

MAG ح STER IN DIVINITY TEACHER
- LCMS

That is an attack.

Some people translate it as
anxiety or something similar.

It is a spiritual attack.

In this, his most severe attack,

Luther felt totally abandoned,

full of doubt, only in the universe,

as if God had died.

In the late summer of 1527,

it seemed that God had died.

Doctors covered in grotesque
masks arrived in Wittenberg

to try to stop an
outbreak of the plague.

The need for others was enough to
get Luther out of his discomfort

and serve as
minister to the sick

and comfort the dying.

Many evacuated the city,

but Martín and Catalina stayed

despite the fact that Catalina
was several months pregnant.

Her daughter Elizabeth would die
a few months after her birth.

Suffering,
which was something that was feared,

and that it was to be avoided
in Christian spirituality,

had become an
opportunity for Luther

to love your neighbor.

Luther's counsel
in difficult times,

was for those difficult
moments to be reinterpreted

like opportunities for beauty,
opportunities for love.

In those extreme times
of death and abandonment,

Luther wrote his most powerful hymn.

"Strong Castle".

Strong castle is our God

Defense and good shield

The title might suggest
a hymn about the battle,

but for Luther it was
about comfort and hope

in times of trial.

Martin Luther did not age well.

Already in his 50s,
his body seemed decades older,

since the diseases
had wreaked havoc.

Luther faced the most devastating
emotional blow of his entire life

when her 13-year-old
daughter, Magdalena, fell ill.

When you love your child
and something breaks...

It's like you can see
how broken his heart was.

Raising children taught
Luther about patience, love,

and now about pain.

Magdalena died with her father by her side.

I ask God that I and all of us

let's not have such a death,

neither...

such a life.

His brilliant presence.

His eyes full of confidence,
coming from our love.

And that event,

if you read the letters that came later,

when he comforted people
who had lost a loved one

or a son or his wife,

he said over and over:

"I know what you're going through,

I still think of Magdalena,

I still think about it and I still miss it. "

Magdalene's death triggered a
dark period in Martin Luther.

In a few weeks, he would write his
most infamous and disturbing work.

A surprise attack on the Jews.

He read the Bible through
the eyes of Christ

and he was never able to commit
to any other kind of reading,

which is a problem if
you are talking to a jew.

The document promulgated
burning synagogues

and expels the Jewish people.

Modern Lutherans and their
churches have officially disowned

Luther's anti-Semitic writings,

but books are still a
black stain on his legacy.

We must also take into account

that Luther's willingness to
get involved in that matter

it came from a context of a
society that was not tolerant.

There was no modern
notion of tolerance.

Twenty years before,

Luther had written about
the Jews in positive terms.

In 1523, he wrote a piece titled,
Jesus Christ Was Born Jewish,

in which he argued
that it is duty

of Christians to
be kind to the Jews

who lived in their cities,

in order to make
Christ want them

so I can take them to church.

He assumed that when his
new view on the Bible

were explained to the Jewish
people, they would be converted.

DOCTOR - AUTHOR "HISTORY,
LAWS AND CHRISTIANITY"

Of course that was
terribly innocent.

They were the product of centuries

of medieval persecution and all that.

And they would not convert to Christianity.

And that was something that
Luther could not understand.

Towards the end of his life,
he became more and more angry

and thought: "Come on, Jews.

They had 1500 years to think about
it, the time is up. "

Probably because he
believed his time was up.

At that time, Luther's texts did
not lead to violence against Jews.

But 400 years later,

Adolf Hitler's regime would
unearth Luther's sayings

and he would use them to justify his
campaign against the Jewish people.

The Nazis took phrases from Luther

to reinforce their opinions.

You could use Luther phrases
to reinforce anything.

He said all kinds of things.

HITLER THREATENS WITH
RETALIATION AGAINST THE JUD ح OS

Ironically, in the same decade

when Hitler was beginning to use
Luther to justify his oppression,

An American visiting Germany
used Luther to the contrary.

BAPTIST WORLD CONGRESS 1934
- BERL ح N, GERMANY

The American was so captivated

with the story of Martin Luther's
fight against oppression,

who changed his name

from Michael King to
Martin Luther King Sr.

MAG ح STER IN DIVINITY DIRECTOR
OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN CLERGY

When he arrived from
Germany, he said to his son:

"We will change our
names to Martin Luther

and we will be Martin Luther King,

and Martin Luther King Sr.
and Martin Luther King Jr. "

And that resonated a lot
in the black community.

He saw something there,

regarding Martin
Luther, who caught him

and said, "This is who we are."

LUTHER'S LEGACY LASTS
ON NON-VIOLENT PROTESTS

The fact that Luther could
deploy a massive change

no need to use weapons

it continues to give hope to
the oppressed around the world.

HOPE WE WILL OVERCOME IT

I think Luther became a model
of how to defend himself,

based on faith,
against institutions and individuals

that hurt other people.

On February 18, 1546,

Martin Luther affirmed
his beliefs one last time

Before die.

In the mid and late 16th century

the many strands of reform

would join together to
create a rope strong enough

to establish Protestant
churches across most of Europe,

after the Americas and the world.

PROTESTANTS

No Protestant school subscribes
to all that Luther said and wrote.

But his ideas have
left an indelible mark

in the lives of nearly
a billion Protestants.

METHODIST - LUTHERAN - BAPTIST - EPISCOPAL
- PENTECOSTAL - PRESBYTERIAN

And so we will vindicate Luther

and we will affirm what
Luther has to say and teach,

At the same time we will
disagree with Luther.

I would say that Luther is important because,

agree with him or not,

he asked some of the most basic
questions about human existence.

Luther's lasting influence
extends beyond the church.

He unleashed new ways of thinking

that continue to deeply
shape the secular world.

...Christian life.

For example, as an advocate
for children's education,

Luther helped create the path of
the current public school system.

He saw me teach people
to read and write

it was good for society.

Faith and love.

Luther included the
need to educate women

at a time when no prominent
figure believed that.

In the context of the sixteenth century,

enact women to receive
basic education

he was revolutionary.

Like an impoverished stranger

who faced kings and popes,

Luther continues to inspire belief

that individuals can make
a change without violence.

From the Civil Rights movement
to countless protests,

Martin Luther still nurtures
an ideology of hope.

He spoke bravely.

He said the words that had to be said.

And I think that is what resonates
the most in the Third World.

It is freedom and the
ability to say a word

it could not have
been said otherwise.

Ideas do matter.

And perhaps ideas are
more powerful than armies.

Luther probably would not have
supported the American revolution.

CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
A STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVES

OF THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA
IN A GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE CONGRESS.

But, without realizing it,
he started a cultural movement that led

to democracy in the United
States and in Europe.

I let the genie out of the
bottle, so to speak,

on issues that, ultimately,
will bear fruit on democracy.

We can't even see, I think,
the democratic revolution

18th century

without taking into account the
contribution that Martin Luther had.

Luther created the way
for western democracy

otherwise important.

He was the first to demonstrate
the power of the media,

in amplifying the market for ideas,

in serving as a government review.

Despite its impact,

Martin Luther did not want to get
involved in politics or secular life.

Luther always focused on
finding the right relationship

between God and the people.

And how to show love to
other people in need.

I simply spoke, prayed,
and wrote the words of God.

If I didn't do that, I didn't do anything.

And while I drank beer with my friends,

the words so weakened the papacy

that no prince or emperor

it could inflict losses on them.

But I...

I did not do anything.

The word did it all.

He speaks to the
universal hunger we have

to find our reason for being

and find an orientation
that helps us explain

why we are here and what we do here.

And all of that has an impact
on how we live in this world.

Very few have played such an
important role in shaping the world.