“Where are the preachers, jurists, and physicians to come from, if grammar and other rhetorical arts are not taught? For such teaching is the spring from which they all must flow.” Martin Luther, “A Sermon on Keeping Children in School,” Luther’s Works, vol.46, p. 252.
Dr. Luther knew that the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) was the foundation of all learning. Certainly, he promoted that study of the trivium and the biblical languages as the necessary prerequisites for biblical studies. However, Luther also asserted that the study of these liberal arts led to the general improvement of society through the training of the minds of children toward higher subjects. The three higher faculties in the late Middle Ages were theology, law, and medicine. Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546.
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