Martin Luther
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MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
<strong>Luther</strong>haus, Wittenberg<br />
The <strong>Luther</strong>haus is a writer's house museum in <strong>Luther</strong>stadt Wittenberg, Germany. Originally built 1504 as<br />
part of the University of Wittenberg, the building was the home of <strong>Martin</strong> <strong>Luther</strong> for most of his adult life and<br />
a significant location in the history of the Protestant Reformation. <strong>Luther</strong> was living here when he wrote his<br />
95 Theses.<br />
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This UNESCO site began in 1504, built to be a monastery for the Augustinian order. At that time,<br />
it was known as the Black Monastery because of the color habits worn by the monks. <strong>Luther</strong><br />
moved into the monastery in 1508, and it is here that he wrote his treatise. The monastery was<br />
dissolved as a result of the Reformation, but <strong>Luther</strong> continued living there and was joined by his<br />
wife and family in 1525. After <strong>Luther</strong>'s death, the former monastery was taken over by the<br />
university and served as a residence for visiting scholars.<br />
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In 1507, <strong>Luther</strong> was ordained to the priesthood. In 1508, he began teaching theology at the<br />
University of Wittenberg. <strong>Luther</strong> earned his bachelor's degree in biblical studies on March 9, 1508<br />
and a bachelor's degree in the Sentences by Peter Lombard, the main textbook of theology in the<br />
middle Ages, in 1509. During the winter of 1508-09 he was sent to the University of Wittenberg,<br />
(then in its infancy founded 2 July, 1502), While teaching philosophy and dialectics he also<br />
continued his theological studies. On 9 March, 1509, under the deanship of Staupitz, he became<br />
Baccalaureus Biblicus in the theological course, as a stepping-stone to the doctorate. His recall to<br />
Erfurt occurred the same year.<br />
One of the incidents of the Roman mission, which at one time was considered a pivotal point in his<br />
career, and was calculated to impart an inspirational character to the leading doctrine of the<br />
Reformation, and is still detailed by his biographers, was his supposed experience while climbing<br />
the Scala Santa. According to it, while <strong>Luther</strong> was in the act of climbing the stairs on his knees, the<br />
thought suddenly flashed through his mind: "The just shall live by faith", whereupon he immediately<br />
discontinued his pious devotion. The story rests on an autograph insertion of his son Paul in a Bible,<br />
now in possession of the library of Rudolstadt. In it he claims that his father told him the incident.<br />
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