Martin Luther
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MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY<br />
PROF. M. M. NINAN<br />
possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need. 46With one accord they<br />
continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their<br />
meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,…<br />
Acts 4: 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said<br />
that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.<br />
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord<br />
Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as<br />
many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold<br />
35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.<br />
He was a speaker of fire and brimstone of coming of the new age of these egalitarian world with<br />
emphasis on signs and wonders confirming his words.<br />
Omnia sunt communia,<br />
‘All property should be held in common’ and should be distributed to each according to his needs,<br />
as the occasion required. Any prince, count, or lord who did not want to do this, after first being<br />
warned about it, should be beheaded or hanged.<br />
Revelation and Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas Müntzer (1993)<br />
The people will be free and God alone will be their Lord.<br />
Letter to the Princes as cited in The German Peasants' War and Anabaptist Community of Goods, p. 109<br />
The stinking puddle from which usury, thievery and robbery arises is our lords and princes. They<br />
make all creatures their property—the fish in the water, the birds in the air, the plant in the earth<br />
must all be theirs. Then they proclaim God's commandments among the poor and say, "You shall<br />
not steal." They oppress everyone, the poor peasant, the craftsman are skinned and scraped.<br />
Letter to the Princes, as cited in Transforming Faith Communities: A Comparative Study of Radical Christianity, p. 173<br />
A German Church Office, composed in order<br />
to raise the treacherous cover under which<br />
the light of the world was concealed, and<br />
which now shines forth with these hymns and<br />
godly psalms to instruct and build up<br />
Christianity in accordance with God's<br />
unalterable will and bring about the downfall<br />
of the lavish mimicry of the Godless.<br />
This was a complete and fully translated<br />
liturgy, one that Müntzer had been developing<br />
since at least Easter of 1523. He then went<br />
on to develop the German Evangelical<br />
Communion Liturgy in 1524.<br />
”It can no longer be tolerated, we ascribe some power to the Latin words, as if they were magical<br />
spells, and let the poor people go out of the church more ignorant than when they came in... That is<br />
why I have translated the psalms into a German style and form, rather according to their meaning<br />
than the actual words, but still adhering to the steadfast teaching of the holy spirit.”<br />
German Church Liturgy developed<br />
by Muntzer (1523)<br />
66