Contributor

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

While the story about Martin Luther nailing his Ninety-five Theses to a church door is apocryphal, he did send the document on October 31, 1517, to Archbishop Albert of Mainz, who passed it along to Pope Leo X in Rome. Printed copies of Luther’s protestations circulated widely in Germany. Shortly after his excommunication in 1521, he was ordered to appear before the Diet of Worms, where he refused to recant any of his claims and purportedly remarked, “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me.”

All Writing

Voices In Time

1546 | Eisleben

In the Same Boat

Martin Luther sees both sides.More

When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.

—Martin Luther, c. 1540

God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars.

—Martin Luther

Voices In Time

1520 | Wittenberg

Papal Fallibility

Martin Luther has some complaints. More

They are trying to make me into a fixed star. I am an irregular planet.

—Martin Luther, c. 1530

British philosopher, logician, and social critic Bertrand Russell.

Conversations

Martin Luther & Bertrand Russell

Voices In Time

1518 | Wittenberg

Going Viral

Martin Luther’s unwanted celebrity.More

Voices In Time

1530 | Veste Coburg

To Spite the Devil

Martin Luther drinks his demons away.More

That which the sober man keeps in his breast, the drunken man lets out at the lips. Astute people, when they want to ascertain a man’s true character, make him drunk.

—Martin Luther, 1569