Fatal Discord

by Michael Massing

  nine editions appeared: Universal Short Title Catalogue (http://ustc.ac.uk/index.php).

  Amsdorf urged him to write against it: Brecht, Preservation, 80–82.

  decided to read Erasmus’s prefaces: Ibid., 79, 84; Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” 189.

  “How hard it is”: Luther’s Correspondence, vol. 2, no. 798, to Wenzel (Wenceslas) Link, June 14, 1528, 445.

  a collegium biblicum: Luther’s Works, vol. 35, “Defense of the Translation of the Psalms,” 206; “‘Pray tell,’” 213–214.

  Luther used HERR: Ibid., vol. 35, “Preface to the Old Testament,” 248–249.

  “The Jews think”: Luthers Werke, Tischreden, vol. 5, no. 5535, 220; Reu, Luther’s German Bible, 265.

  tried to get rid of the Hebraisms: Luthers Werke, Tischreden, vol. 2, no. 2771a, 648; Reu, Luther’s German Bible, 269.

  read the Old Testament as a record of Christ: Baron, in A Social and Religious History of the Jews, vol. 13 (221–222), observes, “By thus strengthening the forces of German nationalism, Luther’s Bible version, as well as his newly introduced German prayers, indirectly helped further to undermine the position of German Jewry.”

  the complete Bible was done: Brecht, Preservation, 98–100; Füssel, Book of Books, 59–66; Pettegree, Brand Luther, 191.

  more particular and insular: As Eisenstein notes (Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, 189), “Vernacular Bible translation took advantage of humanist scholarship only in order to undermine it by fostering patriotic and populist tendencies.”

  the fifth and final edition of his own New Testament: Elliott, “‘Novum Testamentum editum est,’” Bible Translator,” 67.1: 19, 2016; Bentley, Humanists and Holy Writ, 123.

  tenth and final edition of the Adages: Barker, Adages of Erasmus, x–xviii.

  grown increasingly disenchanted with Freiburg: Smith, Erasmus, 419; Halkin, Erasmus, 258.

  Bonifacius Amerbach came to get him: Froude, Life and Letters of Erasmus, 413.

  “I still have ill-wishers here”: Ibid., 418.

  One kept him sitting: Opus epistolarum Des Erasmi Roterodami, vol. 11, no. 3095, to Gilbert Cognatus, February 12, 1536, 282.

  only by dictating: Halkin, Erasmus, 258.

  was to Christoph Eschenfelder: Opus epistolarum Des Erasmi Roterodami, vol. 11, no. 3086, January 27, 1536, 272.

  most of his close friends: Huizinga, Erasmus, 184.

  CHAPTER 43: ENEMIES OF CHRIST

  “He lived and died as Epicurus”: Luthers Werke, Tischreden, vol. 4, no. 3963, 37.

  “Doctrine and life”: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” 110.

  Many biographers pass quickly: Ibid., vol. 50, xiv.

  began to avoid him: Friedenthal, Luther, 520.

  suffered a near-fatal bout: Ibid., 448; Brecht, Preservation, 185–188, 229; Roper, Martin Luther, 367–368.

  the Diet of Nuremberg adopted: Luther’s Works, vol. 50, xiii–xiv; Holborn, History of Modern Germany, vol. 1, 217–218.

  had a new house built: “Wittenberg,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.

  Among those who noticed: Brecht, Preservation, 148–152.

  Johann Agricola wanted: Ibid., 156–168; “Agricola, Johann,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.

  good works seemed in short supply: Brecht, Preservation, 250–256.

  began a series of lectures on Genesis: Ibid., 136–141; Luther’s Works, vol. 1, ix. The Genesis lectures take up the first eight volumes of the English edition of Luther’s collected works.

  John Frederick: Friedenthal, Luther, 509.

  the church in Electoral Saxony: Ibid., 512–513; Brecht, Preservation, 287ff.

  about to enter a period of rapid growth: “Lutheranism,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation; Holborn, History of Modern Germany, vol. 1, 219–221.

  The most dramatic case: Brecht, Preservation, 73–74, 287–288; “Lutheranism,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.

  Similar changes were taking place: Holborn, History of Modern Germany, 219–221; Cameron, European Reformation, 268–269.

  Scandinavia was turning Protestant as well: Elton, Reformation Europe, 84–88; “Lutheranism,” “Sweden, Lutheranism in,” and “Denmark, Lutheran Church of,” in The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church.

  brought Bugenhagen: Elton, Reformation Europe, 86; “Bugenhagen, Johann,” in The Encyclopedia of the Lutheran Church.

  one of his most serious missteps: Brecht, Preservation, 205–209; Roper, Martin Luther, 349–352; Bainton, Here I Stand, 293.

  Disillusionment with the reformer grew: Friedenthal, Luther, 520; Brecht, Preservation, 147; Roper, Martin Luther, 359–360, 366–367.

  Writing to Martin Bucer: Luther’s Works, vol. 50, no. 287, October 14, 1539, 190–191.

  was not an original thinker: Ozment (Age of Reform, 372) calls Calvin “the least original of the major reformers.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation, under “Calvinism,” observes that “Calvinist (and Reformed) teachings were in most respects close to those of Luther, as Calvin himself repeatedly emphasized in his attempts to promote Protestant unity.”

  began as a humanist: On Calvin, see McGrath, Life of John Calvin; John T. McNeill, The History and Character of Calvinism; Elton, Reformation Europe, 147–168; Ozment, Age of Reform, 352–380; MacCulloch, Reformation, 189–192, 230–240; Hillerbrand, The Reformation, 170–217; Walker, History of the Christian Church, 471–480; Eire, Reformations, 286–317.

  His first work in print: McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 104–105; McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 60–61. The reference to Erasmus is at http://media.sabda.org/alkitab-7/library/calvin/cal_sene.pdf, 5.

  became known as the “accusative case”: Ozment, Age of Reform, 354.

  underwent a “sudden conversion”: Calvin’s firsthand account is in Hillerbrand, Reformation, 175–176. See also McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 107–118; Ozment, Age of Reform, 354–356; Elton, Reformation Europe, 148–149; McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 69–78.

  plastered with inflammatory placards: McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 74–75.

  the Institutes: Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols., ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles. On the work’s origins and structure as well as its general contents, see McNeill’s introduction, xxix–lxxi. See also his History and Character of Calvinism, 119–128; Elton, Reformation Europe, 150–156; Eire, Reformations, 292–296; McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 136–174; Rice and Grafton, Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 162–163.

  often compared to Thomas Aquinas: See, for instance, Harbison, Christian Scholar, 139.

  From both Luther and Augustine, he took the idea of predestination: The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., vol. 15, 437.

  “All are not created”: Institutes, vol. 2, 926 (Book III, chap. 21, sec. 5).

  “bitterly loathe”: Ibid., vol. 1, 256 (II.2.1).

  this decree was horribile: Ibid., vol. 2, 955 (III.23.7). See also McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 167.

  the idea of the “elect”: Calvin describes the nature of the “eternal elect” in Institutes, vol. 2, 920–932 (III.21). See also Eire, Reformations, 295–296; McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 258. (The last quotation has been edited for clarity.)

  usually put the ratio: MacCulloch, Reformation, 237.

  “light of divine providence”: Institutes, vol. 1, 224 (I.17.11).

  “that he has been received” Ibid., vol. 1, 224 (I.17.11).

  These ideas about predestination: See McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 166–169.

  prepared to travel to Strasbourg: For firsthand accounts and contemporary documents on this phase in Calvin’s life, see Hillerbrand, Reformation, 179–183. See also Ozment, Age of Reform, 361–362; Elton, Reformation Europe, 156–158.

  He went to Strasbourg: McGrath, Life of John Calvin, 100–102; Ozment, Age of Reform, 363–365; MacCulloch, Reformation, 191–192; Eire, Reformations, 298–299.


  sent Calvin several messages: Hillerbrand, Reformation, 185–187.

  set out to cleanse the city: MacCulloch, Reformation, 230–240; Elton, Reformation Europe, 159–161; Eire, Reformations, 299–303; Ozment, Age of Reform, 366–368; McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 184–196.

  Ecclesiastical Ordinances: An abridged version is in Hillerbrand, Reformation, 188–194.

  many parents erupted in anger: MacCulloch, Reformation, 233.

  his temper: Even his close colleague Theodore Beza acknowledged that Calvin was “naturally of a keen temper”; see Hillerbrand, Reformation, 209–210.

  Jacques Gruet: Ibid., 199–200; McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 170–171; Ozment, Age of Reform, 368.

  the case of Michael Servetus: On Servetus, see Roland H. Bainton, Hunted Heretic: The Life and Death of Michael Servetus, 1511–1553; Ozment, Age of Reform, 369–371; MacCulloch, Reformation, 237–238; Lindberg, European Reformations, 267–270.

  The Restitution of Christianity: McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 173–174; Bainton, Hunted Heretic, 128–147.

  took half an hour to die: Bainton, Hunted Heretic, 212.

  “God makes clear”: Quoted in Roland H. Bainton, The Travail of Religious Liberty (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1951), 70.

  Sebastian Castellio: See Roland H. Bainton, “Sebastian Castellio, Champion of Religious Liberty,” in Castellioniana: Quatre Études sur Sébastian Castellion et l’Idée de la Tolérance, 25–77; McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 168–169, 176; “Castellion, Sébastien,” in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation.

  Erasmus’s spirit lingered: Bainton (“Sebastian Castellio,” 48) takes note of this spirit but says Basel’s tolerance impact should not be exaggerated; he does, however, cite Erasmus’s writings as a key inspiration for Castellio (53–56). Castellio in fact cited excerpts from those writings (as well as some of Luther’s) in his own work.

  Concerning Heretics: Concerning Heretics, Whether They Are to Be Persecuted and How They Are to Be Treated (an anonymous work attributed to Sebastian Castellio), ed. Roland H. Bainton; could “endure another,” 122; “banishments, chains,” 122; “could not devise,” 123.

  “To kill a man”: Ibid., 271.

  one of two key sources of Unitarianism: Peter W. Williams, America’s Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-First Century, 150.

  strengthened Calvin’s position: McNeill, History and Character of Calvinism, 176–77; MacCulloch, Reformation, 238.

  four of Calvin’s chief opponents: MacCulloch, Reformation, 239.

  an estimated fifty-eight people: Eire, Reformations, 300–301.

  Calvin looked to spread his ideas: Ibid., 303–309; Elton, Reformation Europe, 163–168; Ozment, Age of Reform, 372; Hillerbrand, Reformation, 205–206.

  restored to the Reformation a dynamism: Elton, Reformation Europe, 168.

  a “diabolical reverie”: Quoted in ibid., 154. See also MacCulloch, Reformation, 240–245.

  On War Against the Turk: Luther’s Works, vol. 46, 161–205; “the servant of the devil,” 174–175; “repentance, tears,” 184; “a new law,” 197.

  little familiarity with the Koran: Sarah Henrich and James L. Boyce, “Martin Luther—Translations of Two Prefaces on Islam,” Word and World, 16(2): 250–266, Spring 1996. See also Brecht, Preservation, 354–357.

  the dramatic shift taking place in his attitudes: A good resource on Luther’s views of the Jews is Schramm and Stjerna, Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People. See also Brecht, Preservation, 334–351; Roper, Martin Luther, 378–385; Oberman, Luther, 292–297; Marius, Martin Luther, 372–380; Mullett, Martin Luther, 241–250.

  issued a mandate: Schramm and Stjerna, Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People, “Letter to Josel of Rosheim,” 126–128. (In 1432, the Jews had already been forbidden to take up permanent residence in Electoral Saxony.)

  “to chase all the Jews out”: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” 426.

  On the Jews and Their Lies: Luther’s Works, vol. 47, 137–306; “boastful, arrogant rascals,” 156; “real liars and bloodhounds,” 156; “vilest whores,” 167; “steal and murder,” 227; “is such a noble,” 261; “have been accused,” 264–265; “we are even at fault,” 267; “set fire to their synagogues,” 268; the houses of the Jews, 269; “on pain of loss of life,” 269; “for they have no business,” 270; to “earn their bread,” 272; “we must drive them out,” 292.

  strongly echoed: David Price notes this link (Johannes Reuchlin, 218).

  issued a harsh new mandate: Brecht, Preservation, 349–350.

  “If it is Christian”: Collected Works of Erasmus, vol. 7, 49.

  “Never before”: Luther’s Works, vol. 47, 135.

  one of several virulently anti-Jewish works: Another was On the Ineffable Name and on the Lineage of Christ, an assault on the supposed claim by some Jews that Jesus had performed his miracles through sorcery. The tract was filled with references to excrement and the Devil; Luther also referred favorably to the image of the Judensau that was engraved on the exterior wall of the town church in Wittenberg. (See my chapter 10.) See also Schramm and Stjerna, Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People, 177–180.

  savage Judaeophobia: See Mullett, Martin Luther, 246–247. The editors of the American edition of On the Jews and Their Lies (Luther’s Works, vol. 47, 268) observe that “it is impossible to publish Luther’s treatise today . . . without noting how similar to his proposals were the actions of the National Socialist regime in Germany in the 1930’s and 1940’s.” The editors referred specifically to Kristallnacht—the night of November 9, 1938, when rioters destroyed hundreds of synagogues and damaged thousands of Jewish businesses and homes—and directed readers to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, William Shirer’s firsthand account of Germany from 1934 to 1940. “It is difficult to understand the behavior of most German Protestants in the first Nazi years,” Shirer writes (236), “unless one is aware of two things: their history and the influence of Martin Luther. The great founder of Protestantism was both a passionate anti-Semite and a ferocious believer in absolute obedience to political authority.” Luther’s call to Germany to rid itself of its Jews, deprive them of their money, set fire to their synagogues and schools, and destroy their houses “was literally followed four centuries later by Hitler, Goering and Himmler.”

  This may go too far. As much as Kristallnacht seemed a fulfillment of Luther’s proposals, there is no evidence that the Nazis were following them; Hitler did not need Luther to come up with his program of annihilation. What Luther did do, however, was give his sanction as the founder of Protestantism to a worldview that, by dehumanizing the Jews and demonizing them as the “other,” made them seem deserving of murderous hatred. Along with his insistent demands for total obedience toward the state, such feverish rhetoric created an environment in which the Nazis’ exterminationist program would find broad support and Protestant ministers would stand silently by.

  On November 11, 2015, a synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany, as part of the commemoration of the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Reformation, unanimously adopted a declaration on “Martin Luther and the Jews,” expressing “shame,” “sorrow,” and a “history of guilt” at Luther’s “undisguised hatred of Jews” and its consequences. “The fact that Luther’s anti-Judaic recommendations in later life were a source for Nazi anti-Semitism” constitutes “a burden weighing on the Protestant churches in Germany.”

  Against the Roman Papacy: Luther’s Works, vol. 41, 263–376; “the miserable devil,” 264; “a true werewolf,” 358; a “farting ass,” 281; “a brothel-keeper,” 357; “long donkey ears,” 376; “the most hellish father,” 336; “Whoever does not kiss,” 337; “Sodomists,” 287; deserved being “struck down,” 288–289; “We should take,” 308. See also Brecht, Preservation, 357–367.

  continue to rage for centuries: See Roper, Martin Luther, 372.

  his exasperation
boiled over: Brecht, Preservation, 262–264.

  he wrote to Katharina: Luther’s Works, vol. 50, no. 312, July 28, 1545, 273–281.

  caused an uproar in Wittenberg: Brecht, Preservation, 263–264; Luther’s Works, vol. 50, no. 312, introductory note, 273–277.

  Enrollment at the university: Schwiebert, Luther, 607; more than one hundred pastors, 622–623.

  the printing industry: Pettegree, Brand Luther, 280.

  ninety-one printings: Brecht, Preservation, 101.

  the preface he prepared for it: “Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin Writings,” in Dillenberger, Martin Luther: Selections, 3–12.

  the new bastions being built: Friedenthal, Luther, 526.

  asked Luther for help: Luther’s Works, vol. 50, no. 313, to Count Albrecht of Mansfeld, December 6, 1545, 281–284; Brecht, Preservation, 369–374.

  “I’m like a ripe stool”: Luther’s Works, vol. 54, “Table Talk,” 448.

  in a letter to Katharina: Ibid., vol. 50, no. 316, February 1, 1546, 290–292.

  gave four sermons: Ibid., vol. 50, 317.

  about fifty of them were living in Eisleben: Luther gives this figure in his February 1 letter to Katharina, ibid., vol. 50, 291.

  An Admonition Against the Jews: Schramm and Stjerna, Martin Luther, the Bible, and the Jewish People, 200–202.

  was so overcome by dizziness: Luther’s Works, vol. 50, 318; Brecht, Preservation, 375–376.

  On February 19: Luther’s Works, vol. 50, 318; Brecht, Preservation, 378–379.

  Melanchthon praised: His oration is at http://www.bartleby.com/268/7/9.html. See also James Michael Weiss, “Erasmus at Luther’s Funeral: Melanchthon’s Commemorations of Luther in 1546,” Sixteenth Century Journal, 16(1): 91–114, Spring 1985; Brecht, Preservation, 380–382.

  AFTERMATH: ERASMUS

  the Counter-Reformation: H. Outram Evennett, The Spirit of the Counter-Reformation, 1–22; Rice and Grafton, Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 169–177; Elton, Reformation Europe, 129–137.