Historia et Memoria

“There is no doubt that the monastic vow is in itself a most dangerous thing because it is without the authority and example of Scripture.  Neither the early church nor the New Testament knows anything at all of the taking of this kind of vow, much less do they approve of a lifelong vow of very rare and remarkable chastity.” Martin Luther, The Judgment of Martin Luther On Monastic Vows, LW 44:252 [emphasis added]

Martin Luther wrote these words in late 1521 on the nature of monasticism.  Originally, he intended this work on monastic vows (over 100 pages in the English translation) to be a guide for those now leaving the monastic life.   As early as 1520, he had criticized the practice of mandated priestly celibacy and wrote that priests should be allowed to marry.  In this work, Dr. Luther took on the idea of monastic vows.  When someone joined a monastery or certain religious orders, he or she took vows of chastity.  Compared to marriage, it was a lifelong commitment to remain celibate, not to marry, and resist carnal temptation.

Monasticism and other forms of the specialized religious life proliferated after the twelfth century to the sixteenth century.  This included male and female forms of the religious life.  Even many quasi-monastic groups appeared that sometimes became formal religious orders appeared.  Luther had taken a vow as an Augustinian hermit to remain chaste for his life too.  After 1517, he clearly began to struggle with the reasoning behind such vows. However, he did not fully reject monastic vows publicly until 1521.  Although this book did not appear in print until March 1522, Luther already prepared a second edition by June 1522.  Luther’s colleague, Justus Jonas, wrote a German translation of Luther’s original Latin in the same year. 

This work demonstrates the logical conclusion from Luther’s theology of justification by faith in Christ and his view of the authority of Holy Scripture.  He argues that monastic vows from their inception were human inventions and not commanded by God.  In fact, God, according to Luther, ordained the opposite from creation as he wrote in The Estate of Marriage in 1522.  

“Don’t let yourself be fooled on this score, even if you should make ten oaths, vows, covenants, and adamantine or ironclad pledges.  For as you cannot solemnly promise that you will not be a man or woman (and if you should make such a promise it would be foolishness and of no avail since you cannot make yourself something other than what you are), so you cannot promise that you will not produce seed or multiply…And should you make such a promise, it too would be foolishness and of no avail, for to produce seed and to multiply is a matter of God’s ordinance [geschöpffe], not your power.”  [LW 45:19] 

Martin Luther did not marry until 1525.  Perhaps, he did not find the right woman for him, but he wrote that he did not plan to marry before that time.  Katharina von Bora, a former Cistercian nun, changed that plan.  However, Luther had already come to a theological conclusion about his own (and Katharina’s) monastic vows of chastity.  Vows are not based on true faith in Christ and go against the foundation of his understanding of the Bible, as he explained: 

“Now it must be seen more generally that monastic vows are without faith.  It has been proved, and established by irrefutable testimonies, that everything which is not of faith is sin, and that it is faith alone which effects the remission of sins and restores certainty, serenity, and freedom from sins to the conscience.  Good works, however, or, to give them their proper name, the fruits of faith, do not really pertain to the remission of sins and a serene conscience, but are the fruits of a forgiveness already granted and still present, as well as a good conscience.” Martin Luther, The Judgment of Martin Luther On Monastic Vows, LW 44: 279. [emphasis added]

By 1526, Martin the troubled theologian and monastic hermit had become Martin the husband and father.  Notice the difference in his appearance in 1525:

BAG13642 Portrait of Martin Luther, 1525 (oil on panel) by Cranach, Lucas, the Elder (1472-1553); 40×26.6 cm; © Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, UK; (add.info.: Luther (1483-1546) German religious reformer;); German, out of copyright

On March 6, 1522, Martin Luther returned permanently after an approximately ten-month stay in the Wartburg Castle.  The electoral duke of Saxony, Frederick the Wise, had sent Luther to the Wartburg after the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, issued the Edict of Worms in May 1521.  The imperial decree made Luther an outlaw.  It also could implicate anyone who supported him.  In Luther’s absence the leadership of the early reform movement in Wittenberg fell to his young colleague, Philip Melanchthon.  Other theologians, like Andreas Karlstadt, began to implemente reforms to the liturgy and called upon the townspeople to remove images and statues from churches.  The Wittenberg town council approved many of these reforms in early 1522.  

Beginning on March 9, Luther preached eight sermons in eight days.  These sermons were later published and became known as the Invocavit Sermons because they were preached starting on Invocavit Sunday in Lent.  In these sermons, Luther took on the issues that had caused problems in his absence: changes to the divine service (the Mass) and the removal of images from churches.  However, he argued with great conviction that the gospel cannot be enforced by law and even what may be good changes can be done too quickly.  First, Luther stated that the people must be taught why these changes are necessary, then, after a time of instruction, officials should make the necessary changes.  He also stated that God’s preached word and right teaching would bring about more lasting change. He expressed it famously in this manner:

“For where the heart is not good, I care nothing at all for the work.  We must first win the hearts of the people.  But that is done when I teach only the Word of God, preach the gospel, and say: Dear lords or pastors, abandon the mass, it is not right, you are sinning when you do it; I cannot refrain from telling you this.  But I would not make it an ordinance for them, nor urge a general law.  He who would follow me could do so, and he who refused would remain outside.  In the latter case the Word could sink into the heart and do its work.  Thus he would become convinced and acknowledge his errors, and fall away from the mass; tomorrow another would do the same, and thus God would accomplish more with his Word than if you and I were to merge all our power into one heap.  So when you have won the heart, you have won the man–and thus the thing must finally fall of its own weight and come to an end.  And if the hearts and minds of all are agreed and united, abolish it.  But if all are not heart and soul for its abolishment–leave it in God’s hands, I beseech you, otherwise the result will not be good.” Martin Luther, Eight Sermons at Wittenberg (1522), in Luther’s Works 51:76 [Emphasis added]