All language subtitles for Martin Luther: A Return to Grace | Full

(somber music)

(thunder booming)

- I cannot and I will
not retract anything!

(dramatic music)

(murmuring)

- [Narrator] A brash young
monk named Martin Luther

had just infuriated the most
powerful leader in Europe,

Emperor Charles the Fifth

and Charles now
wanted Luther dead.

(dramatic music)

Luther had no army
to shield him.

Instead he had a different
kind of protection,

popular support.

Thanks to the recent invention
of the printing press

Luther's protest
against the church

had transformed him into
Europe's first celebrity.

- The very fact that we're
still talking about it

500 years after the fact

says that Luther
was on to something.

- [Narrator] Burning
Luther's writings

would not stop the
inevitable showdown

of the old against the new,

the medieval versus the modern.

- His notoriety made him a
figure you couldn't just dismiss

or get rid of.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Getting
rid of Martin Luther

would now preoccupy the most
powerful people on earth

for decades.

The stage was set

for one of the biggest
battles of the millennium

featuring a boisterous
media-savvy monk

against the emperor, the
pope, even Henry the Eighth.

(ominous music)

The origin of the conflict

flowed from a deceptively
simple question,

a riddle of sorts that Luther
had wrestled with for years.

The question goes like this,

am I a good person?

(ominous music)

(melancholic music)

(cheering)

Even children understand
the difference

between good and evil.

Regardless of age
most every person

recognizes they have
sometimes strayed away

from the good and
toward the bad.

A natural response is
to work a bit harder

in the hope that one's good
deeds outweigh the bad.

(groaning)

(cheering)

It follows that if
there is a heaven

most people assume
they'll get in

because they believe
they've been good enough

to earn whatever
reward is out there.

Martin Luther did not.

(sinister music)

To him, being good enough
for God made no sense at all.

(applauding)

Instead, his conscience
would convict him

as an unworthy sinner.

- His conscience was still
constantly troubling him

because he viewed
Jesus as a judge,

not as a savior.

- What was his struggle?

His struggle was, in a way,

the same thing we all
are going through,

how do I get God's love?

How do I get salvation?

How can I, a big, ugly,
wretched sinner, be saved?

- [Narrator] For decades

Martin Luther felt
his guilt so deeply

he couldn't imagine a way out.

In his mind, good deeds
could never save him.

He fell into despair.

Then Luther found an opening,

an idea so unexpected,
so revolutionary

it would upend the church and
reframe history going forward.

(footsteps echoing)

(gentle music)

Daily life in 15th century
Europe wasn't easy.

Half of all children would
not live to see adulthood.

Disease was rampant, food
often in short supply.

For the poorest
and most desperate

there was no safety net

other than the occasional gift

from those with
something to spare.

(gentle music)

(perky music)

(metal clanging)

Life was slightly better
in the city of Mansfeld

thanks to a thriving
copper industry

where a manager named Hans
Luther was moving up the ranks.

Hans came to realize
he'd need a solution

to the constant stream
of legal arguments

that slowed his operation.

In the early 1490s he saw
the answer in his son Martin,

grooming him for a
university education

with an eye toward a
career as a lawyer.

(shouting in foreign language)

- There were conflicts,
frequent conflicts,

between the miners
and the smelters

and I think Luther's father
thought it would be helpful

to have a lawyer in the family

to help resolve some of
those kinds of problems.

(birds chirping)

(melancholic music)

- [Narrator] By his early 20s

Martin Luther had fulfilled
his father's expectations

to the letter earning
bachelor's and master's degrees

in record time.

But as he began law school,
something wasn't right.

- Father.

- [Narrator] Luther left
school suddenly mid-term

and traveled home to
meet with his father.

- That's just it, son.

- [Narrator] Hans' hope
for a lawyer in the family

was about to be dashed.

- Who do you want to be?

- [Narrator] Martin wanted
to please his father,

but his law courses
seemed trivial.

- Please.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Answer my question.

- [Narrator] Especially in light

of Martin's deeper concerns,

fears that were about to
reach a breaking point.

- Get out.

- Father.

(melancholic music)

(thunder booming)

- [Narrator] Like most
people of the era,

Luther saw acts of
nature as acts of God.

(rain falling)

For Luther the
intensity of this storm

brought his conscience
to the surface.

(melancholic music)

(thunder booming)

- And when the thunderstorm
came and the lighting struck,

he was shocked into thinking

what am I going
to do before God?

If that lighting
bolt had hit him

I think he wondered what
was going to happen to him.

(thunder booming)

- [Narrator] That night
Luther made a promise.

If his life was spared,
he would become a monk.

- [Luther] Man must first
cry out that he sees no hope.

In this disturbance
salvation begins.

When man believes himself
to be utterly lost,

the light breaks.

(bouncy music)

- [Narrator] Within days

Luther arrived at an
Augustinian monastery,

casting off law school

and all the expectations
of his father.

(bouncy music)

Hans believed Martin was
throwing his life way

plus a vow of celibacy
meant no grandchildren.

(thudding)

The decision to become a monk

wasn't likely a spur
of the moment choice.

(melancholic music)

Martin Luther's heart
was already heavy,

fearful of an all powerful God

with impossibly high standards.

- That crushed him,
that just crushed him.

Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart,

with all thy soul,
with all thy mind,

and that just crushed him

because he could never
satisfy a God like that.

If he could never keep
the law perfectly,

which, of course, he couldn't,

and perfection is
the minimum standard,

that's the minimum
demand is perfection,

then God would always
be angry with him.

(thudding)
(deep breathing)

- [Narrator] Luther hoped

that punishing
himself for his sins

would be pleasing to God.

He beat himself,
fasted for days,

(melancholic music)

slept outside in the cold,

but the extreme austerity just
didn't seem to be working.

Luther still felt
the guilt of his sin.

- I was myself more than once

driven to the very
abyss of despair

so that I wished I had
never been created.

Love God?

I hated him!

- A monk that was driven,
that was unable to sleep

because he's saying,
"Am I doing everything

"that the church requires?

"Am I obeying all the rules
of my religious orders,

the Augustinian?

"Have I said the right prayers?

"Uh-oh, I better do this
or I'm going to hell."

- He tried and he tried.

And the more he tried,

the more frustrated he became.

So what he was looking
at God as this angry God.

- He was still troubled
by his conscience.

He was still troubled by the
sin that was inside of him

and he never felt that he
was good enough for God.

- His problem was
that he didn't believe

any of what he was
doing as a monk

was really helping him
to escape God's judgment.

(chanting)

- [Narrator] Luther's
supervisor and friend,

Johann von Staupitz,

understood that the
church's rite of confession

was designed to bring relief
to those burdened with guilt,

forgiveness for
every kind of sin.

(chanting)

Luther confessed, but he
found little reassurance.

While some monks

might make their confession
in a few minutes,

Luther could go on
and on for hours.

- It is not I.

It is not I!

- [Narrator] Fearful that
even one un-confessed sin

might be his undoing.

- When Luther would be
in the pangs of despair,

Staupitz is the
one who would say,

"Luther, you need to
learn to know God."

- We have accounts of him
leaving the confessional

after several hours of
pedantically cataloging

everything he'd done wrong

and then him going
straight back in again

because he'd
forgotten something.

One has to feel sorry, I think,

for the person he
was confessing to.

It was a full time job.

(chanting)

- [Narrator] Despite
his internal struggles,

Luther was a good student

and earned the
respect of his peers.

- He was an incredibly
hard worker.

Because of this, and because
of his native intellect

and because of his passion,

he advanced in the monastic
community very quickly.

(somber music)
(chanting)

- [Narrator] After two
years of preparation,

Luther was ordained,

celebrating his
first mass in 1507.

(chanting)

For Martin, this was
a moment of raw fear

as he felt the full weight of
his unworthiness before God.

Once again, Luther's
conscience was condemning him.

(melancholic music)

- Who am I that I
should lift up mine eyes

or raise my hands to
the divine majesty

and shall I, a
miserable little pygmy,

say, "I want this,
I ask for that,"

for I am dust and
ashes and full of sin

and I am speaking to
the living eternal

and the true God.

- [Narrator] As a priest,

Luther believed he had now
reached his highest calling.

Luther's father wasn't so sure,

wondering if Martin's
call to the monastery

came not from God,
but from the devil.

(melancholic music)

Luther's friends in the
monastery had no such worries.

Soon afterward they chose
Luther to go as their emissary

on a journey,

the longest Luther would
take in his entire life.

He walked 800 miles
across The Alps to Rome.

(gentle music)

Rome was the seat of
the Catholic church

and Luther expected a
deeply reverent city

reflecting wise
and pious leaders.

What he got instead
was disillusionment.

No one in Rome seemed to
take God very seriously.

The depravity here in
the church's holy city

led Luther to wonder

if anything the church
had told him was true.

- [Luther] Where
God builds a church,

the devil puts a chapel.

- Of course, the brothels
and the alcohol abuse

and the beggars.

- He's outraged by what he sees,

but so is everyone else.

- There was a lot of
sort of open jesting,

almost mockery, about
the church in Italy

that would not have
been common in Germany.

- The problem was that
once he was in Rome

and he started saying masses,

he realized that he was the
one who was pious and devout

and the Italian
priests were not.

They continued to urge him,
"Go faster, go faster!"

And he wanted to take time

and to spend time in
getting things right.

The Italian priests, ah,
this was a business to them.

(footsteps echoing)

- [Narrator] After
returning from Rome,

Luther's distress grew.

(melancholic music)

Staupitz long believed

the best way to
relieve Luther's angst

was to keep the young monk busy.

He'd previously persuaded Luther

to earn a doctorate in theology.

- Staupitz also knew that
Luther was the person

who had a mind for
learning and theology.

He basically forced Luther
into getting this doctorate.

Luther protested, did
not want to do that.

- [Narrator] Now
a new challenge.

Staupitz arranged a
position for Luther

in the faculty of the new
university in Wittenberg.

Luther's quest continued.

- He leads me
beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

You at the back.

What does this mean?

No?

(melancholic music)

Anyone?

No?

- [Luther] If it had not
been for Doctor Staupitz,

I should have sunk in hell.

Johann told me I should
become a professor of theology

and a preacher.

I told him that would
be the death of me.

He replied, "Oh,
that's quite alright.

"God has plenty of work
for clever men in heaven."

(melancholic music)

(gentle music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] The
city of Wittenberg

was something of a backwater

and the university
wasn't well known.

But that began to change in 1517

when a traveling friar
named Johann Tetzel

set up his controversial
fundraising scheme nearby.

Tetzel told the townsfolk

that the documents he was
selling called indulgences

could erase the
consequences of their sins.

The appeal was irresistible.

Many from Luther's
church in Wittenberg

were taken in by
Tetzel's claims.

- A practice that surely
looks an awful lot of the time

like something like
salvation for sale.

- Luther recognized right away

that the problem
with indulgences

is that they were leading
people to a false understanding

of what repentance was.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Traditionally
the medieval church

saw confession, not indulgences,

as the way to address
humanity's moral problem.

Sins are unacceptable to God,

but confessing to a priest

could bring forgiveness
and restoration.

Yet even those who
confessed regularly

still expected many
years in purgatory

before they could reach heaven

until Johann
Tetzel's indulgences

offered to shortcut
the process for money.

- What's this?

(speaking in foreign language)

This is extortion!

A scheme completely
opposed to religion.

It's only intent is profit
for unprincipled men.

- I think he saw a great
dishonesty with it,

that you were fleecing people,

people who were
already struggling.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] The corruption
was not just a local problem.

The tentacles stretched
all the way back to Rome.

- One of the external reasons
and contributing factors

to the success of the
Protestant Reformation

everybody knows was namely
the corruption at the time

of the Catholic church,
which we can't deny.

- [Narrator] Saint
Peter's Basilica in Rome.

In 1517 it had not
yet been built.

There were plans, but
the work was stalled

because Pope Leo the Tenth
didn't have the funds.

- He's engaged in trying
to kind of update buildings

in the city of Rome itself

to transform it into
a nicer place to live,

so he needs money.

- [Narrator] Funds were raised

through the sale of indulgences.

And no one sold them more
aggressively than Johann Tetzel.

As an unabashed salesman,
Tetzel was unmatched.

He'd tell peasants

their dead relative's were
screaming in pain in purgatory

begging for relief which a
simple coin could provide.

- Tetzel was a self promoter
from start to finish.

I mean this guy was
just a (laughing)

I mean, a fake,
right, to the bottom.

- They would persuade
poor peasants to
give their last coins

to get mother out of
purgatory, this sort of thing.

Luther had a perfect
fit over this.

- He thought it was a sham,

that they were given the
impression, at least,

that their sins were forgiven,

the slate was wiped
clean, when, in fact,

nothing could have been
farther from the truth.

They were spending their money
for something that was false.

- [Narrator] From
Luther's perspective

the sale of indulgences was
leading people away from God.

- Before long all the
churches, palaces,

walls, and bridges of Rome
will be built out of our money!

Why doesn't the pope

build Saint Peter's
out of his own money?

He is richer than Croesus.

He would do better
to sell the basilica

and give the money
to the poor people

who are being fleeced by
these hawkers of indulgences.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] To
address the problem

he invited an academic
debate on the issue.

He began by writing 95
debate topics, or theses.

(somber music)
(booming)

Then, in the most iconic
moment of the era,

Luther nailed his 95 theses

to the church door
in Wittenberg.

- Those who believe that through
these letters of indulgence

they are made sure of
their own salvation

will be eternally damned,
along with their teachers.

- I think when Luther went to
the door of the castle church

and nailed the
theses on the door

nobody paid any attention.

- [Narrator] No one
wanted to debate Luther.

(bouncy music)

The entire Reformation might
have stalled right there

except for a new invention

that had recently
arrived in Wittenberg,

a game changing technology
called the printing press.

(bouncy music)

Before the printing press,

making books was an
excruciating process.

Each word was painstakingly
written out by hand.

It could take years to create
just one copy of a book.

In the mid 1400s
Johannes Gutenberg

perfected the movable
type printing press,

a process that could
turn out in seconds

what formally took months.

But the printers still
had one problem, content.

They needed material
that would go viral,

create controversy,
and boost sales.

Nothing really caught on

until they found Martin
Luther's 95 theses.

It was perfect.

Without Luther's knowledge

printers began churning out
copies by the thousands.

- [Luther] It is a mystery to me

how my statements were
spread to so many places.

They were meant for
academic circles.

They were written
in such a language

that the common people could
hardly understand them.

- The printers are
always looking for stuff

that's gonna sell.

Challenging indulgences
and their validity,

that was a topic

that I think the printers
thought would sell.

- They spread like wildfire.

10 days they're in Spain.

That's incredible.

- How shocked he was
that everything he said

was suddenly out there.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Although
the 95 theses

were written for
academics, not peasants,

one thing was clear to all,

the document denounced
the sale of indulgences.

Luther had struck a nerve,

rousing dormant perceptions

that the pope had too much power

and wanted too much money
from the German people.

- This is mine.

- Oh, really?

- Where did you get these?

- It's everywhere.

- [Narrator] At first
Luther was unaware

his ideas were propagating.

- These have been printed.

- Yes.

- [Narrator] It
soon became clear

he was something of a celebrity,

the author of an
accidental bestseller,

a work that boldly proclaimed

the corruption on
everyone's mind.

- It was this suspicion
that the whole thing

was a kind of spiritual con.

It was a matter of
Luther, as it were,

simply lighting the tinder
that was already there

and the thing blew.

- He draws this
picture and he says,

"I see them in Rome now drinking
their fine Italian wines

"and laughing about the
stupid beer drinking Germans

"whose tax money had
paid for it all."

(melancholic music)

- [Narrator] When a
copy of the 95 theses

reached Pope Leo the
Tenth, he dismissed it

thinking Luther
was a minor player

who posed little threat
to the Catholic church.

It would rank among the
biggest miscalculations

in church history.

- When Leo first heard
of the 95 theses,

some say that he said, "Oh,
this is just a drunken monk

"in Germany and he'll
feel differently about it

"the next day."

(melancholic music)

- [Narrator] Despite
the newfound attention,

Martin Luther had no desire
to start a revolution in 1517.

He thought the 95 theses would
help the Catholic church,

not divide it.

- It was never Luther's intent

to separate from the
Roman Catholic church,

yet it's when his beliefs

and the truths that
he was teaching

were rejected by
the Catholic church,

that's when the split happened.

It wasn't by Luther's choice.

- Avoid those who search for
your soul in a money bag.

- [Narrator] In his
sermons and writings,

Luther continued to critique
what he saw as fixable errors

in church practice.

- Suppose you say that I will
never again buy an indulgence.

I reply, "Good!"

My will, desire,
plea, and counsel

are that no one
buy an indulgence.

Let the lazy and sleepy
Christians buy indulgences.

You run from them.

Some now want to
call me a heretic.

I consider such
blathering no big deal,

especially since the
only ones doing this

have darkened minds

and have never even
smelled a Bible.

- [Narrator] Before long the
heretic label began to stick.

(somber music)

Luther assumed

that when Tetzel's corrupt
sale of indulgences

was brought to the
pope's attention,

the church would take
corrective action.

But unlike modern popes,

Leo wasn't overly concerned
with the details of theology.

In this era, popes focused
more on political matters.

- They're chosen

because they will be
effective administrators

of a giant, wealthy,
complicated institution.

They're chosen because
people think, hm,

this person would be
a really good CEO.

They are a CEO of the largest
institution in Western Europe.

- [Narrator] A member of
the powerful Medici family

of Florence, Leo
enjoyed the luxury

the papal coffers could provide,

and Luther's opposition
to the sale of indulgences

threatened the flow of
money to the Vatican.

- When Luther posted
his 95 theses,

it struck at Leo's money stream.

The indulgences were
the stream of money

that came to Rome to
finance all that Leo did.

When the 95 theses were posted,

that was one of the
threats of those theses.

- [Narrator] Leo wanted Luther
brought to Rome for trial.

But the extradition was blocked
by Luther's powerful prince,

Frederick the Wise of Saxony,

who wanted to protect
his star professor.

- If he had been sent to Rome,

we may have never
heard of Luther again.

(chanting)

- [Narrator] Luther would now
be questioned on German soil

in the city of Augsburg.

- Now I must die.

What a disgrace I
will be to my parents.

- [Narrator] Luther's
questioner was Cardinal Cajetan,

one of the most skilled
theologians of the era.

- [Cajetan] Stand, minister.

- [Narrator] For Luther,

Cajetan had all the authority
and power of the pope himself.

- He once described it
as kind of the bad cop.

He's trying to break him.

Kind of bring the big man in,

bring the interrogator in,

and sort of break
Luther if you can.

- [Narrator] But when
Cajetan asked Luther

to retract his statements
about indulgences,

Martin would not.

Cajetan produced the
official papal pronouncements

that allowed for the
sale of indulgences.

- Ah, yes.

You said that the merits
of Christ are a treasure.

This says that he
acquired a treasure.

To be and to acquire do
not mean the same thing.

Do not think we Germans
are ignorant of grammar.

- [Narrator] Luther then
grounded his position

in an even more
outrageous statement.

- His holiness abuses scripture.

I deny that he is
above scripture.

- [Narrator]
Cajetan was appalled

by Luther's blatant
contempt for papal authority

and his rudeness.

- Cajetan is not a
clear Christian thinker.

He is about as fit to
deal with this situation

as a donkey is to play the harp.

- Take it back, recant.

No discussion, just you recant.

And Luther says,
"Wait a minute, no."

That strikes us as
being rude, perhaps,

but Luther is frustrated
by the inability,

the seeming inability to
get people to talk to him.

- [Narrator] Luther's friends

believed his scandalous
statements put him
in grave danger.

They persuaded him
to escape the city,

slipping past the guards,

scurrying back to the
relative safety of Wittenberg.

(bouncy music)

A more cautious man
might have laid low,

but Luther did the opposite,

agreeing to a very public
debate in the city of Leipzig.

The event captured the
popular imagination

like a heavyweight prize fight.

Between rounds there
was even a jester

to entertain the crowd.

(bouncy music)

Luther's opponent, Johann Eck,
scored points as a debater

but his performance was
not a crowd pleaser.

Many saw Eck as vain,

seeking only to
enhance his reputation.

Luther, in contrast, knew
exactly how to connect

with his listeners.

- I am being misunderstood
by the people.

So let me be clear
in my own language.

I simply assert that a simple
laymen armed with scripture

is to be believed above a
pope or a council without it.

(laughing)

- It's a sparring match.

The great debaters of the day

would have been akin

to the rock stars and
movie stars of our day.

- As for the pope's
decree on indulgences,

I say that neither the
church nor the pope

can establish articles of faith.

These must come from scripture.

God once spoke through
the mouth of a donkey.

(laughing)

I will tell you
straight what I think.

(somber music)

I am a Christian theologian.

I want to believe freely

and be a slave to the
authority of no one

whether council,
university, or pope.

(shouting)

- [Narrator] One
thing was clear,

Luther had rejected
the pope and the church

as the ultimate
source of authority.

Instead, he hangs
everything on the Bible.

- At the time, Luther, I
think, is sort of astounded

that he finds
himself saying this,

but later on he actually gives
Eck credit for, in a sense,

helping him to see
the implications

of his own ideas more clearly.

- There were a number of issues

that Eck brought
up in that debate

which Luther had
not thought through.

And it forced him now

to begin to wrestle
with some of the issues

that he was being attacked on.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Luther's rejection
of the pope's authority

remains the central difference

between Protestants and
Catholics to this day.

(gentle music)

Pope Leo wasn't happy
about Luther's statements,

but he measured his response

hoping to stay on the good side

of Luther's prince and
protector, Frederick the Wise.

Frederick had something
Leo desperately wanted,

influence on the choice
of the next emperor.

In the early 1500s Germany
didn't exist as a nation.

The German people lived in a
patchwork of separate fiefdoms,

free cities, and principalities.

These German states, and others,

were cobbled together
to form a loose union

called the Holy Roman Empire

ruled by the aging
emperor Maximilian.

His death in early 1519

triggered the election
of a new emperor,

and just seven powerful men
called electors had a vote.

Frederick was one of the seven.

Pope Leo, who had no vote,

none the less wanted to
influence the outcome.

So rather than
alienate Frederick,

the pope kept his hands
off Luther for a time.

(gentle music)

(bright music)

As part of the arrangement,

Luther agreed to stay quiet.

He tried.

But when the opposition
derided his ideas,

Luther went on a
writing spree in 1520,

churning out some of the
most significant works

of his career,

bestsellers that were
the talk of Europe.

The first titled

To the Christian Nobility
of the German Nation

laid out Luther's
ideas for church reform

and addressed a
particular injustice

that Luther found
disturbing and un-Christian.

The Catholic church
had long considered

priests, monks, and nuns
as having a higher calling

than regular Christians.

To Luther, this was all wrong.

He saw the Bible leveling
the playing field.

- [Luther] Priests,
bishops, or popes

are not superior to
other Christians.

A cobbler, a smith, a farmer,

each has the work of his trade,

like priests and bishops,

and everyone must benefit
and serve every other.

- Your vocation, my vocation,
everybody else's vocation

is the same in terms
of acceptance to God.

I have a responsibility, then,

as a mother, a father,
a laborer, a scholar,

to do my best for the
society in which I live.

- Luther's views on
this were radical.

They revolutionized a society.

- He often made the point

that somebody doing
the simplest job,

whether it was a
milkmaid or a farmer,

was serving God just
as effectively and
just as commendably

as a priest who was
overseeing a worship service.

- He said the farmer out
in the field pitching dung

is doing a greater work for God

than the monk in a monastery
praying for his own salvation.

- Luther is the
one who has said,

"It is the attitude with
which you pursue your calling

"that makes it Godly and holy,

"not the calling itself."

- [Narrator] Luther's assertion

that in God's eyes peasants
were on equal footing

with monks and
priests was radical.

Soon commoners demanded
more from their princes

and many monasteries
emptied out,

their purpose no longer clear.

It was the kind of message
the public was ready to hear

and Luther the writer knew just
how to grab their attention.

(perky music)

The printers sold every
copy of the treaties

they could print.

Luther's fame grew.

- No copyright laws,

so people would buy a copy

and then they'd reproduce it,

which was exactly
what Luther wanted.

He did not receive
any commissions or
anything like that.

He just wanted to get
the material into print.

- There's a freshness to
Martin Luther's writings

that's unmistakable.

A very fun and interesting
writer to read.

- That kind of
social media savvy

was something that got
Luther a great hearing

and became one of the most
published men in Europe

at the time.

- [Narrator] In his
other writings in 1520,

Luther attacked the
supremacy of the pope

and challenged the Catholic
view of the sacraments.

- In 1520 Luther
didn't have an editor

and he didn't edit
his own works, either.

He wrote as he thought, as he
was working through a problem,

in response to an attack,
in response to a question.

- He also had a
great sense of humor

and didn't mind
being provocative

and loved to argue and
debate and trade barbs,

and sometimes at a
level of coarseness

that would not be allowed in
university discourse today,

arguing and debating with
his Catholic opponents.

He was never dull.

You may have disagreed with him,

but he was never dull.

- [Narrator] Luther
fueled the controversy

by using especially
extreme language.

Moderation was nearly
impossible for him.

He saw himself engaged in
an epic struggle for souls,

a battle that called for
strong words, not polite talk.

- [Luther] You are
murderers, traitors, liars,

the very scum of all the
most evil people on earth.

You are full of all the
worst devils in hell,

so full that you can
do nothing but vomit,

and out come devils.

- It was quite common

on all sides of the
Reformation debates

to make personal attacks
on your opponents

and to say absolutely
awful things about them

and their mother and all
sorts of other relatives.

- At times he does get
a little carried away

and he does attack
people personally.

He's sorry for that,

but in the heat of battle

you sometimes say things
that maybe you later regret.

But he doesn't regret

what he's been saying
about God's word.

- [Luther] I beg you,

blow your nose a bit

and make your head lighter
and the brain clearer.

- He knew regular,
ordinary people's life

and he retained a sort
of charming earthiness,

some people would
call it profane,

but I think that that just kept
him hooked into real people

and real peoples' lives.

- [Narrator] By now,

Luther's understanding
of the relationship

between God and people
was coming into focus.

The central question
Luther was answering

is one that nearly
everyone asks.

What makes me a good person,

a righteous person
in God's eyes?

- He went to the monastery

because he wanted to be good.

He wanted to match
the requirements

that the Roman Catholic church
thought he should match.

But he encountered
in his own life

his inability to do what needed
to be done to appease God.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Luther
had long been tortured

by his feelings of unworthiness,

tormented by the
guilt of his failings

that even his devotion as
a monk could not remove.

- The righteous
will live by faith.

I had conceived a burning desire

to understand what Paul meant
in his letter to the Romans.

But thus far there
had stood in my way

that one phrase, the
righteous will live by faith.

I thought righteousness
was the grim wrath of God

with which He punished sin,

so I hated Saint Paul
with all my heart.

I meditated night and
day on those words

until at last, by
the mercy of God,

I paid attention
to their context.

The righteous person
lives by faith alone!

The righteous person
lives by faith alone!

(dramatic music)

All at once I felt I
had been born again.

Immediately I saw the
whole of scripture

in a different light.

(knocking)

I ran through the
scriptures from memory

and found that other words
had similar meanings,

the work of God, that
is what God works in us,

the power of God by which
He makes us powerful,

the wisdom of God by
which He makes us wise,

the strength of God,
the salvation of God,

the glory of God.

This sweetest phrase
of Paul was now for me

the very gate of
paradise itself.

- [Narrator] Luther's
breakthrough,

triggered by a passage in
the Bible's Book of Romans,

was his understanding that
God's favor could not be earned,

even partially, by
doing good deeds.

Instead, he saw
righteousness as a gift

given by God to those
with faith in Jesus.

- He began to understand
that that righteousness

was not something that
he could give God,

but that God gave to
him because of Jesus,

because of what Jesus had done.

- What makes it possible

for us to have a
relationship with God?

Not because I'm
such a good person,

but because of all that
Christ has done for me.

The emphasis on Christ
doing this for me,

a poor miserable sinner.

- Grace simply means that when
it comes to our salvation,

our relationship with God,

sinners who don't
deserve anything from God

receive it from Him as a pure
gift of His love, His grace.

It doesn't depend on anything
in us, anything that we do.

It's entirely God's
view toward us sinners.

- It was a change
that took us away

from focusing on
what we could do

to put us in good
standing with God.

That change was monumental.

- Christ's suffering,
death, and resurrection

has accomplished everything.

Your good works do not
earn your salvation,

not in the least.

No.

Grace is a gift
for you from God.

- [Narrator] To many hearers,

Luther's ideas sounded
ridiculous, too good to be true.

It seemed more logical

that God would judge
people by their deeds.

But Luther was frightened
by that view of God

because he saw himself as a
man who could not stop sinning.

- We are all sinful and
we all need God's grace.

Now the problem is is that
some of us don't realize

that we are all sinful and
that we all need God's grace.

- [Narrator] Luther's ideas
then faced an obvious follow up.

If God frees people

from the need to do good
works to earn heaven,

then what should Christians
do with that freedom?

Again, Luther saw
the answer clearly.

- Here is the truly
Christian life.

When a man applies
himself with joy and love

to serving others
voluntarily and for nothing,

doing only what is
helpful, advantageous,

and wholesome for our neighbor,

since by faith

we already abound in all
good things in Christ.

- The more you read Luther,

the more you begin
to hear Luther say,

"Look, you now are living
a life in this world

"on this earth and God
has given you a rich field

"in which to be a useful
person to your neighbor.

"And so I want you to
serve your neighbor

"as you are now free
to serve your neighbor

"and to love your neighbor."

- When you didn't have to
worry about your future,

you were free to care for
the futures of others.

- If you were
caught all the time,

as Luther put it,
turned in on yourself

and life is just about you
and what you and all that,

what a pitiful life

when you don't have
the eyes to see others

whom you could love.

- Now you can live who you
really are, a loving person,

to love your neighbor.

- My concern is to do
what's best for my neighbor,

what's best for
the people I know,

what's best for my society,

what's best for the whole world.

- Your neighbor's need became
the measure of what you did

rather than some
eternal calculus

that said you've gotta
do so many good works

in order to get
in good with God.

- You are free.

(laughing)

Well, that's a lot of fun.

It's about as counter
cultural as it gets.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Back in Rome,

Pope Leo was not
overly concerned

about Luther's view of
freedom or salvation,

but he was increasingly annoyed

at Luther's questioning
of church authority.

- To a large extent,

the Catholic church doesn't
wanna dispute about doctrine.

As far as they're concerned,
doctrine, it's not an issue.

The issue is how to
control one and another

of a long line of
medieval heresies.

- [Luther] In all
good things in Christ.

- [Narrator] Leo tried
controlling Luther

by issuing a papal bull,

a formal document
that required Luther

to disavow his writings.

(speaking in foreign language)

(chattering)

- Please.

Please.

(dramatic music)

(shouting in foreign language)

The time for silence is over.

The time to speak has come.

(shouting)

- [Narrator] The delivery
of the papal bull

stirred up unrest among
Luther's supporters.

Luther himself took
his boldest step yet,

burning the bull.

- It is better that I
should die a thousand times

than I should
retract one syllable

of the condemned articles.

And as they excommunicated me
for the sacrilege of heresy,

so I excommunicate them

in the name of the
sacred truth of God.

Christ will judge whose
excommunication will stand.

Amen.

- [Narrator] There was
no turning back now.

Yet Luther's outward
daring belied a conscience

that was not always
so confident.

- [Luther] Do I really think
that I know everything?

What if I'm wrong?

I will be destroying 2,000
years of the work of the church

and betraying millions of
people to damnation and hell.

- That challenge drove him

to go back and rethink,

to deal with his doubts,
and to find certainty.

And Luther found that
certainty in the scriptures.

That's what he did.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] When he heard that
Luther had burned the bull,

an incensed Pope Leo
renewed his demand

that Luther appear in
Rome for a hearing.

Luther's luck seemed
to have run out

until his supporters
arranged for one last option,

an appeal to the most powerful
man in the Western world,

the emperor.

(somber music)

When Emperor
Maximilian died in 1519

his grandson Charles was
elected to replace him.

He was only 19 years old.

- He was raised to be a king,

but he was still 19 years old.

- [Narrator] Charles
was now in charge

of a collection
of semi-autonomous
territories and states

which all wanted their say.

- He was very, very frustrated

and he has people opposing
him on every side.

It's just constant conflict.

This is the life of a Habsburg
emperor in the 16th century.

It's not a good time to
be emperor of anything.

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] The needs
of the German people

were not important to Charles,

but he did want to
keep his empire united

and he believed the key to
cohesion was a unified religion.

A policy that made Martin Luther

an unwelcome thorn in his side.

But Charles had
to tread lightly.

Public support for
Luther was enormous.

So in an attempt to
appear fair-minded,

Charles agreed to a formal
hearing on German soil

in the city of Worms in 1521.

- Because people knew that
Luther was going to be there,

he was a media
star by this point,

and so lots of people came.

- People crowded around him.

They treated him as a saint.

They cheered.

They were all excited about
Luther's arrival in Worms.

- [Narrator] Anticipation
ran high for this showdown

between the powerful emperor
and the lowly but popular monk.

- When he finally got
to the gates of Worms,

the crowd went wild.

- Tell your master

that if there were as
many devils at Worms

as tiles on its
roofs I would enter.

I will have a debate!

I must.

(ominous music)

(somber music)

- [Narrator] As he
approached the hearing,

the gravity of the
situation began to sink in.

(banging)

Many assumed Luther would
be burned at the stake

before the day was over.

- Burning at the stake,

it's terror violence
exercised by the state

in order to maintain
social control.

It's very powerful,
very disturbing.

- [Narrator] In the
center of the room

was a collection of
books written by Luther.

He was asked to disavow
all his writings,

to publicly retract
his statements,

and so spare himself.

(banging)

- [Man] Silencio!

(somber music)

(speaking in foreign language)

- This touches God and His word.

This affects the
salvation of souls.

Of this Christ said, "He
who denies me before men,

"him will I deny
before my father."

To say too little or too
much would be dangerous.

I beg you, give me
time to think it over.

(booing)

- There is a little fear
and trepidation there

because Luther recognizes
that these are all people

that could snuff his life out.

- This might be it for him.

So, yeah, he's very nervous
about what might happen here.

- Everybody else
pretty much understood

that Luther was either
to recant or die.

- [Narrator] Luther was granted
the night to think it over.

- How dreadful is the world.

Behold how its mouth
opens to swallow me up,

and how small is
my faith in You.

God help me against the
wisdom of this world.

My God.

My God, do you not hear me?

Where are You?

My soul belongs to You.

God.

Help me.

(somber music)

(ominous music)

- [Narrator] The next day,

Martin Luther would face the
emperor Charles the Fifth

one last time.

(banging)

- [Man] Silencio!

- I ask that your
most serene majesty

and your lordships

may deign to note

that my books are not
all of the same kind.

There are some in which I
have discussed religious faith

and morals simply

so that even my
enemies themselves

are compelled to admit
that these are useful.

Even the bull, although
harsh and cruel,

admits that some of my
books are inoffensive.

Allowing them to be condemned
is utterly monstrous.

Thus, if I should
begin to disavow them,

I ask you, what
would I be doing?

Would not I alone of all men

be condemning the very truth

upon which friends and
enemies equally agree?

I have written another book

against some
distinguished individuals,

those, namely, who strive to
preserve the Roman tyranny.

I do not set myself
up as a saint.

Therefore, your
most serene majesty,

expose my errors,

overthrow them by the
writings of the prophets

and the evangelists.

If I am shown my errors,

I will be the first to
throw my books on the fire.

- [Narrator] Luther was still
deflecting the question,

frustrating his questioner

who finally asked Luther for
a simple straight answer.

(shouting in foreign language)
(suspenseful music)

- Since you desire
a simple reply

I will answer without
horns and without teeth.

I do not accept the authority
of popes and councils,

for they have
contradicted each other.

Unless I am convinced by
scripture or clear reason,

my conscience is captive
to the word of God.

I cannot and I will
not retract anything

since it is neither safe nor
right to go against conscience.

(suspenseful music)

May God help me.

Amen.

(shouting)

- He had a chance
to save his neck,

but after he had a chance
to test his own commitment

and is it what I
really believe in,

he was willing to die for it

and he never changed from that.

- Just the meeting
just blew up at him.

Late afternoon, April, dark,

torches providing the
only light, and bang.

- He does take his stand,

not a stand because
he's so strong,

but he takes a
stand on God's word.

He cannot recant
because God's word

won't let him go back on
what he has been saying.

(melancholic music)

- [Narrator] The
cheering crowds at Worms

gave Luther a few moments
of seeming freedom,

but he was about to become
the most wanted man in Europe.

Charles signed a decree
condemning Luther,

ordering that he receive
punishment for high treason.

Charles realized it would
not be politically wise

to arrest Luther in the
midst of the adoring crowds,

so he honored a
previous agreement

to give Luther safe passage,

a few precious days of furlough

before the sentence
would be enforced.

(bouncy music)

Luther took the opportunity
to head for home

but he never made it.

(ominous music)

(dramatic music)

(galloping)

Martin Luther was dead.

That's what most Germans assumed

when they heard
about the kidnapping.

But the event was
an elaborate rouse

staged by Frederick the Wise

to ensure Luther's safety.

(gentle music)

(lively music)

Luther's hideout was a secret
room at Wartburg Castle.

He grew a beard as a disguise.

His codename Knight George.

- He even signed
some of his letters,

not with his real name,
but with another name

and to try and keep
people kind of off balance

so they couldn't find him.

- [Narrator] Martin Luther
disliked the isolation

of the castle, but it
didn't slow down his work.

Here he embarked

on one of the most significant
projects of his life,

translating the New Testament

into the language of the people.

Luther finished the
translation in just 11 weeks.

- [Luther] So many
people are anxious

to have the Bible in German.

I wish this book could
be in every language

and dwell in the hearts
and minds of all.

- [Narrator] If,
as Luther believed,

the Bible is the ultimate
source of knowledge,

then everyone should
be able to read it.

- He was a master at
the German language

and so he tried to write
for the common person,

the common German peasant.

- He translated the
Bible into German.

He said so every plowboy
could read God's word.

- Joseph is speaking to Mary

in the most beautiful German
you could possibly imagine.

(laughing)

- This is a dramatic
shift that takes place

at this particular time.

A shift that reverberates
down into our own world.

We pick up Bibles,

you can go into any
book store and get 'em.

It was different
back in those days.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] The translation
was an immense success

that would unite the German
tongue for the next 500 years.

- [Luther] To translate,

we must listen to the
mother in the home,

the children on the street,

the common man in
the marketplace.

We must be guided
by their language,

the way they speak,

and do our translating
accordingly.

I sometimes searched and
inquired about a single word

for three or four weeks.

If anyone does not
like my translations,

well, they can ignore them.

- Luther's translation, really
more than anything else,

unified the various
German idioms

or branches of German
that were out there

into a unified German language
that we know it today.

(bouncy music)

- [Narrator] Luther
never received any money

from the printers who
published his Bible,

or any of his bestselling works.

Even a small royalty
would have made him rich

given that he wrote
nearly a quarter

of all the books sold in Europe.

(bouncy music)

But Luther wasn't worried
about any loss of income

because he quickly grasped
the power of the press

to spread ideas and that's
what mattered to him.

- The interesting thing is
how quickly Luther said,

"I can get my ideas across

"if I just make friends
with the printers."

- He paid great attention

to what fonts the
printers would use.

He was very careful to make sure

that his books looked
as beautiful as he
wanted them to look

in order to have an impact.

- When you think
of Martin Luther,

you can't just think of
him as a church reformer.

He was also the first
living bestselling author.

- He brings these
theological, biblical,

sometimes abstract
things down to earth.

It's almost like he
transport himself

right there in
those biblical texts

and he takes the
reader with him.

- [Narrator] Luther's
exile at Wartburg Castle

went on for months.

(lively music)

He began to hear stories

of how the movement he started
was veering off course badly.

(glass shattering)
(shouting)

In Wittenberg,
anti-Catholic mobs

were smashing church
windows and destroying art.

So called prophets were
proclaiming they had knowledge

superseding the Bible.

- I think it pained Luther

to see that people that
he loved and trusted.

while he was gone his tempering
influence was removed,

like the control rods were
pulled out of the reactor.

- There's a lot of confusion

about what this
Reformation is really about

to the point where Luther
feels compelled to return

to try to calm everybody down.

- [Narrator] To
quell the unrest,

in March of 1522
Luther ended his exile

and returned to Wittenberg.

- We are the children of wrath,

and all our works,
intentions, and thoughts

are nothing at all.

God has sent us His
only begotten son

that we may believe in Him

and that whoever trusts in
Him shall be free from sin

and a child of God.

We must do to one another

as God has done to
us through faith.

For without love,
faith is nothing.

(somber music)

And here, dear friends,

have you not grievously failed?

I see no signs of
love among you.

- [Narrator] He preached
civility, patience,

and non violence.

Order returned for a time.

- He came back to Wittenberg

and then started that
series of sermons

where he said, "Look,
we do not force people

"to believe what we believe

"and we do not inflict
harm on other people

"because they
believe differently."

- By the time that that
series of sermons is done,

everything has been calmed down.

Instead of a revolution,

we're back to reformation
in the church.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] In early 1523

Martin Luther received
a secret letter

from nine nuns hoping
to escape their convent.

In most German territories
this would be simple.

But these nuns lived in
the staunchly Catholic land

of Duke George.

Anyone who helped them leave
faced a penalty of death.

Luther devised a
covert operation.

A local merchant would
bring the normal delivery

of pickled herring to
the nuns' cloister,

but when he left, the empty
wagon wouldn't be empty at all.

The plan worked perfectly

but then Luther
had a new problem,

what to do with a wagon
load of young women

who had no means of support.

In time, he would find
suitable homes or husbands

for all but one.

The holdout, Katharina von Bora,

didn't like the arrangements
Luther would make for her,

eventually rejecting
several marriage proposals.

But she was willing
to marry Luther.

By this point, Luther
was 41 years old

and getting pressured by
his friends to find a wife.

- Luther's friends kind of say,

"Well, how about her?"

And so he thinks,
hm, well, okay.

And they convince him that
she would be a good person

to become his wife.

- Luther had a number of other
possible matches for Kate

and she refused them.

Finally in frustration he
has Amsdorf go and ask her,

he's not brave enough
to do it himself,

has Amsdorf go and ask her,
"Well, who would you marry?"

And she says, "Well,
either you Doctor Nikolaus,

"or Doctor Luther."

(chanting)

- [Narrator] Martin finally
agreed to marry Katharina.

Although it wasn't because
of any romantic feelings,

at least not at first.

Luther explained that
the reason he married

was to please his father
and to spite the pope.

Over time, Martin came
to love Katie dearly.

She was intelligent,
resourceful,

and savvy with finances in
ways that Martin was not.

- We remember her as
Katharina von Bora

and not Mrs Martin
Luther for a reason.

She stood on her own.

She didn't belong to anybody.

- To be married to somebody

as rough and bold
a Luther could be,

she had to kind of match him.

- [Narrator] Katie managed
orchards, brewed beer,

slaughtered pigs, and gave
birth to six children.

(gentle music)

At any given time
the Luther home,

a former monastery, housed
more than a dozen guests.

Katie managed it all skillfully.

- He would sort of
turn to her and say,

"Well, by the way, sweetie,

"we're gonna have 40
extra folks for dinner.

"Find something
for them to eat."

- She brewed beer,

she had a garden,

she kept the finances.

Luther was free with money.

He would give money away.

He was very generous.

Katharina understood
that you couldn't do that

without inflicting
some harm and hardship

on your own family.

So she tried to
curtail some of that.

(gentle music)

(chuckling)

- Think of all squabbles
Adam and Eve must have had

in the course of
their 900 years.

Eve would say, "You
ate the apple."

And Adam would retort,
"You gave it to me."

Thank you.

- It's impossible to keep
peace between husband and wife

if they do not overlook
each other's faults.

I wouldn't give up my Katie
for France or for Venice.

- [Narrator] In an era
when it was illegal

for a man to will his
estate to his wife,

Luther did it anyway.

So great was his
respect for Katharina.

- Luther talks in glowing
terms about marriage,

about his wife, Kate,
about his children.

You see another side
of Luther in the family

that you probably wouldn't
have seen otherwise.

- [Narrator] It had
been many centuries

since any clergy in
the Western church

had a wife and children.

The Catholic hierarchy

had long declared chastity
superior to sexuality.

But Luther championed
sex within marriage

as a gift from God.

His family life was
a daily expression

of his belief that spouses
and children are a blessing.

A school for character that far
surpassed the celibate life.

(somber music)

In 1527, Luther fell ill.

Sickness was no stranger.

In the past he'd suffered
debilitating kidney stones,

gout, insomnia, dizziness,
and ringing in his ears.

But the most challenging
of all hit hard this year,

a recurrence of his deep
bouts of depression.

At times he would lock
himself in his room for days.

- There's a specific word
that he basically coined,

it's infektion,
that is an attack.

Some people translate it as
anxiety or something like that.

It is spiritual attack.

- Luther was depressed
for a long period of time

and he just couldn't get
out of this depression.

- [Narrator] In this,
his most severe attack,

Luther felt utterly
abandoned, full of doubt,

alone in the universe,

as if God had died.

(somber music)

By late summer 1527 it might
have seemed like God had died

as grotesquely
masked plague doctors

arrived in Wittenberg

to try and stop an
outbreak of the plague.

The needs of others were enough

to finally break
Luther's malaise

and he began to minister to
the sick and console the dying.

Many evacuated the city,
but Martin and Katie stayed,

even though Katie was
several months pregnant.

Her child, Elisabeth, would
die a few months after birth.

- Suffering, which was
such a thing to fear

and to be avoided in
Christian spirituality,

now, for Luther,
became an opportunity
to love the neighbor.

Luther's advice
during the hard times

is to reinterpret
those hard moments

as occasions for beauty
and occasions for love.

- [Narrator] In
these most dire times

of death and abandonment,

Luther wrote his most powerful
hymn, A Mighty Fortress.

♪ He helps us free
from every need

♪ That hath us now overtaken

♪ The old evil foe

♪ Now means deadly woe

♪ Deep guile and great might

♪ Are his dread arms in fight

♪ On earth is not his equal

- [Narrator] The title might
suggest a hymn about battle,

but for Luther A Mighty Fortress

was about comfort and
hope in times of trial.

(gentle music)

- I think, to a degree,

it's somewhat
biographical of Luther

when you think of all
that he had gone through,

what is it like to be
excommunicated by your church,

what is it like to be
banned by your emperor,

to be truly a man on the run,

a man living underneath
the death penalty,

where does a man go
for fortress and refuge

at a time like that?

At the end of the
day there is only one

and that's the Lord who
is our mighty fortress.

- [Narrator] Luther
restructured worship gatherings

to include more music,

lively songs sung
by the congregation.

- They could sing while
they were plowing the fields

or making shoes,

and those hymns
then did sink deeply

into the religious consciousness
of people across Germany.

- Music wasn't so much

about setting a proper
mood for worship

as it was about
delivering the message.

I've often thought
that Luther's music

is really about what God
reveals to us in Christ.

It proclaims the good
news of Jesus to us.

It puts the good news of Jesus

in the mouths of God's people.

- [Narrator]
Incorporating more hymns

was just one part of
Luther's larger strategy

to revitalize the
church service or mass.

He advocated the mass
be conducted in German

as well as Latin

so that the common people
could understand it.

And Luther placed new
emphasis on the sermon

as a method of
teaching lay people,

who had much to learn.

- Sermons were
not a regular part

of medieval Catholic worship.

So Luther's going to make
that a very important part

because people need
to hear the word,

they need to know
what the word means

to them as individuals.

- Now he's the leader
of a reform movement

that has to figure out a way

to really make itself a
real thing, a real force,

and not then to simply hand
the Bible to every person

and say, "Make of
it what you will."

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] Luther's plan
to reform local congregations

faced a major setback in 1528

when he visited nearby churches

and learned just how poorly
trained the priests were.

Some didn't even have a Bible.

- [Luther] How do you do?

(speaking in foreign language)

Please, tell me how have
church attendances been?

How many pastors are
all together incompetent

and live like dumb brutes
and irrational hocks?

The common people have
no knowledge whatsoever

of Christian doctrine and yet
now that the gospel has come

they have nicely learned
to abuse it like experts.

Good God, man.

(speaking in foreign language)

Have you done anything to
rectify church attendances?

(speaking in foreign language)

Please, may I see inside?

- I think Luther
initially is a bit naive

in how things are
going to play out.

But he realized after
they went around

and visited these churches

is that nobody
really knew anything

about the Christian church

or the things that they knew
were just strange and odd,

including the priests and
the pastors were uneducated.

- He says, "Ah, God,
what misery we beheld.

"The common people know
almost nothing of Christ.

"Some pastors don't
even have Bible."

- Luther says that
many of the priests

didn't know the 10 Commandments,

didn't know the Apostles' Creed

or the Lord's Prayer if
you can imagine that.

- For God so loved the
world He gave His only son.

- [Narrator] Luther
thought parents

should teach their children
about the 10 Commandments,

the Lord's Prayer, and other
fundamentals of the faith.

With his own children,

he often turned
teaching into a game.

- [Luther] Yes.

- [Narrator] A coin
in the correct sleeve

meant a reward for
the right answer.

- Who's next?

By far the most important of all

is namely the command of God

who urges parents so often
to instruct their children.

Faith or love?

Indeed, for what purpose
do we old folks exist

other than to care
for, instruct,

and bring up the young?

I have a little
something for you.

Ta-da!

- He himself was so capable

that he could indeed
communicate at the lowest level

to children.

Or he could communicate
at the highest level

to the greatest of theologians.

- [Narrator] Part
of Luther's response

was to create an
educational tool,

a basic textbook of the
faith called a catechism.

- His Small Catechism
is very parallel

to what Luther was going for

in the revisions of the service.

Simple in common words that
spoke to everyday people,

pure and apt speech
that was easily learned,

easily memorized, wonderful
summaries of God's truth.

(bouncy music)

- [Narrator] Long
before comic books,

Luther understood
the power of images

to communicate to young people.

His catechism was
richly illustrated

with explanatory woodcuts.

Luther tapped
artist Lucas Cranach

to illustrate the catechism

and many of Luther's
other works.

New inexpensive printing methods

meant that for the
first time in history

storytelling images could
be widely disseminated

as a new kind of
educational tool,

a tool Luther embraced.

- For example, the
very first version

of Luther's Small
Catechism published in 1529

was actually published
on large sheets of paper

and these were really kind
of designed as posters.

You could pin 'em up on a wall

and people could come
by and see the pictures

and see the message that's
conveyed there in the text.

- [Narrator] In more and
more homes across Germany

the sheets of the
catechism hung side by side

with images of Luther.

- Luther's picture
hung in people's houses

because they loved him

and they thought that he
was doing something great

and good for them

and they had a passion to see,

even if they didn't
understand the theology,

they thought that he was helping

take down the
corruption of the church

and that was a very,
very attractive thing.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] By late 1529

Luther's reforms had spread

to nearly two dozen
German territories,

now labeled with the
new term Protestant.

Despite growing popular
support for Luther's ideas,

the Protestants faced a
renewed military threat

from the emperor.

(somber music)

To strengthen their position,

a meeting of Protestant leaders

was held in the city of Marburg.

The plan was to iron out
theological differences

and build solidarity.

But if the goal was
mutual agreement,

Martin Luther should
have stayed home.

Nothing in his personality

would suggest an
ability to compromise

on matters of theology,

especially with his Swiss
counterpart, Huldrych Zwingli.

The sharpest difference
between Zwingli and Luther

centered on the sacrament
of the Lord's Supper.

Zwingli saw the bread and wine

as a symbol of Jesus'
body and blood.

Luther believed the body and
blood were actually present

in a mysterious
but very real way.

As the meeting wore on,

Luther wrote the relevant
scripture in chalk

and covered it up.

Then he lifted the tablecloth

and revealed what he'd written.

- This is my body.

Here is our scriptural proof.

You have not yet moved us.

- He was adamant about
holding on to what God said,

what the scripture said,

because it was Christ's
last will and testament

when He said, "This is my
body," that's what it was.

- [Narrator] To Zwingli,
this was another example

of Luther's
condescending attitude.

To Luther, it was
an illustration

of how he would never retreat

from what he believed to be a
clear teaching of the Bible.

- These are the words
of my Lord Jesus Christ.

Hoc est corpus meum.

So I must believe the
body of Christ is there.

- Ultimately what
Luther was saying

is that I may not
understand this,

I don't pretend to
understand it all,

but this is what God says

and I'm not gonna play
with what God says.

- Luther says, "When
I run into something

"that doesn't correspond
with my reason,

"I doff my doctor's cap

"and assume that the Holy Ghost

"is a little bit smarter
than Doctor Luther."

- I think he thought
Zwingli was a rank skeptic

when it really came down to it.

Not really a real believer.

- [Narrator] As a result

there would be no grand
alliance of the Protestants

against the emperor.

Luther didn't care at all.

His concerns were
theological, not political.

- I pray God you come to
the right understanding.

(somber music)

- That's a tradition
dividing disagreement.

When they disagree
at Marburg in 1529

it's the fountainhead of the
still existing distinction

between Reformed and
Lutheran Protestantism.

- It is the point at which
the Lutheran tradition

and the Reform
tradition diverged.

Today we have Lutheran churches

and we have Reformed churches

and they are separate entities.

That separation finds
its historical origin

in the failure to reach
agreement on half a point

at the Colloquy of
Marburg in 1529.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] By 1530,
Emperor Charles the Fifth

had a break in his many wars

and once again
returned to the matter

of the territories
aligned with Luther,

summoning leaders to Augsburg,

promising to weigh
their opinions.

Luther couldn't attend because
he was still an outlaw,

a condemned heretic in the
eyes of the Catholic church.

He got as close as
safety would allow,

the castle at Coburg
120 miles away.

The event stretched
on for months,

frustrating Luther as
he sat on the sidelines

waiting for updates.

- He was frustrated,
he was impatient,

he was impatient with the
communications back and forth,

he was impatient that he
didn't get regular letters,

the letters he expected
to get from them.

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] In Augsburg,

the Protestants
submitted to Charles

a statement of their faith
called the Augsburg Confession.

In effect they
were asking Charles

to accept their terms to
reunite the Christian world.

- The Augsburg Confession
has been identified

as a Lutheran confession,

and it was given by
Lutherans at Augsburg.

But it confesses
universal truths

that every Christian can
understand and appreciate.

- [Narrator] Back
at Coburg Castle,

Luther's frustration
turned to grief

when he received a letter

announcing the
death of his father.

- [Luther] My beloved
father departed this life

at one o'clock on Sunday.

(mournful music)

This death has cast
me into deep mourning.

Although it is consoling to me

that he fell asleep softly

and strong in his
faith in Christ.

Yet his kindness and the memory
of his pleasant conversation

have caused a deep
wound in my heart.

(mournful music)

- [Narrator] Charles
rejected the Protestants

and gave them an ultimatum.

Return to the Catholic church
or face a military invasion.

Charles' move backfired badly.

His threat solidified
the Protestants

and led to preparations for war.

(melancholic music)

Despite the saber rattling

no one really wanted
war in the early 1530s.

The Protestant princes could
not match the Emperor's army

and Charles the Fifth now
had a new preoccupation,

the fate of his aunt,
Catherine of Aragon,

who was the first wife
of Henry the Eighth.

Henry wanted an annulment
of his marriage to Catherine

so he could marry Anne Boleyn,

but the pope would not allow it.

More precisely, it was
Catherine's nephew,

Emperor Charles the Fifth,

who was pulling the strings,

pressuring the pope

because he wanted to keep the
English throne in his family.

Back in Germany,

churches that aligned
with Luther's teachings

began to call
themselves Lutherans,

a name Martin Luther
himself detested at first.

- The first thing I ask

is that people should
not make use of my name.

They should not call
themselves Lutherans,

but Christians.

For what, or who,
is this Luther?

The teaching is not mine.

Nor was I crucified for anyone.

How did I, poor, stinking
bag of maggots that I am,

come to the point

where people called the children
of Christ by my evil name?

I am no ones master,
nor do I wish to be.

I simply want to
share with all men

the one common
teaching of Christ

who alone is our Lord.

But by the 1530s, the
movement and the name

had become entrenched,
bigger than the man himself.

- You run from them.

- All of a sudden
you're a Lutheran,

now you're associated
with somebody's name.

That's why it's imperative
that we as Lutherans

understand who Luther was

and what Luther was doing

and what his intentions were.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Martin
Luther didn't age well.

Now in his late 50s, his
body seemed decades older

as illness after
illness took their toll.

(somber music)

Luther hoped to hand the
reigns to his right-hand man,

the brilliant
Philipp Melanchthon.

But in the summer of 1540

Melanchthon suddenly fell
ill and seemed near death.

Luther visited, offering a
prayer for his old friend.

- Lord.

I know that You are
our God and Father.

If You do not heal him,

the result will be
disaster for us.

The entire situation is Yours.

It cannot be Your will

for this man to die in
his despondent condition.

- He's blunt, he's bold,

and he doesn't hesitate
to talk back to God.

- He starts in

and he prays just as
urgently and compellingly.

"You sent this man to help us

"and now he's sick with grief.

"You better make him well!"

He's not petitioning,
he's demanding.

- [Narrator]
Melanchthon recovered,

lifting Luther's spirits.

But not long after,

Luther faced the most
devastating emotional blow

of his entire life when
his 13-year-old daughter,

Magdalena, fell ill.

- When you love a child
and something breaks.

You could just see the
raggedness of his heart.

- [Narrator] Raising children
taught Luther about patience,

love, and now grief.

Magdalena would die with
her father at her side.

(mournful music)

- [Luther] I love her very much.

But dear God, if it be
Your will to take her,

I submit to You.

I pray God that I and all of us

may have such a death,
nay, such a life.

This is my one
petition to the Father

of all consolation and mercy.

We have all lost in her the
most dearest of friends.

Her bright presence,

her eye so full of trust,

all drew forth our love,

especially as we knew

that she shared both
our joys and sorrows

as if they had been her own.

She is our precursor
into the regions beyond

where we shall all be gathered

on our dismissal from
this vale of tears

and this corrupt world.

Amen.

- And that event, then,

if you read letters
that came afterwards

when he is comforting
people who lost loved ones

or children or wives,

he again and again brings up,

"I know what you're
going through.

"I still think
about my Magdalena.

"I still think and miss her."

- Like every parent,

he felt that rage at
what you cannot control

and having to submit and endure.

But it also forced him

to really to see how
important the gospel was

that he would see
his beloved again

thanks to the
resurrection of Jesus.

- Please.

Please.

We are all beggars
before God, this is true.

For it is in the gospel

that the righteousness
of God is revealed.

The righteousness that is
by faith from first to last

just as it is written.

The righteous will
live by faith alone.

(somber music)

(weeping)

- [Narrator] On
February the 18th, 1546

Martin Luther affirmed
his beliefs one last time

before passing away.

- So that he could find the
faith to say at the end,

"Don't you believe
all of these things?"

"Yes, I do."

- [Narrator] With Luther dead,

Charles the Fifth

finally carried out
his longstanding threat

to send armies into territories
loyal to the Reformation.

(crying)

His troops marched on Wittenberg

and destroyed the farm
Luther had left to his wife.

(melancholic music)

Charles' military victory
belied his eventual failure

to reunite the empire under
a single unified religion.

Once he came to realize

that not even his army could
stop the Protestant tide,

Charles resigned as emperor

and lived out his last days
as a monk in quiet solitude.

(bouncy music)

No Protestant church

subscribes to everything
Luther wrote and said,

but his ideas have
left an indelible mark

on the lives of nearly one
billion Protestants today.

- One of the most
important things Luther did

was to shift attention
back to Christ

and what Christ did.

If you have doubts about
your status before God,

don't look at yourself.

Look to Christ and that
shift is a fundamental shift

and a critical shift
for every human being.

- The main point
of the Reformation

is that God showed the sinner

that righteousness, this
right standing before God,

is not something that you earn,

it's not a condition that
God demands you meet,

but righteousness is the
gift that God gives us

because of what Jesus did
on the cross for the sinner.

- He was a biblical theologian

and then we have to understand

that we also have to be
biblical theologians,

not just the trained pastors,

but everybody has to be
a biblical theologian,

and we can be.

That means study the scripture.

- [Narrator] Luther's
lasting influence

extends far beyond
even the church.

He unleashed new
ways of thinking

that continued to profoundly
shape the secular world.

For example, as a vocal advocate

for the education of children,

Luther helped pave the way

for the now ubiquitous
public school system.

- He saw that teaching
people to read,

teaching people to write,
was good for society.

- Luther was concerned

about educating, in
particular, the youth

because he recognized

that they were the
future of the church.

He runs into a bit of a problem

because the people
are more interested

in what kind of a job are
my kids going to have,

how much money will
they be able to make?

Materialism is not a
21st century phenomenon.

- He was always irritated

with people who ran a business

and decided that they were
gonna take little Wolfgang

right out of school

and making him work
at the jewelry store.

- Faith or love?

- [Narrator] Luther included
the need to educate women

at a time when no
other prominent figures

thought that worthwhile.

- Within the 16th
century context,

to advocate that all girls
should receive a basic education

was revolutionary.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] Luther likely

would not have supported
the American Revolution,

but he inadvertently set
in motion cultural changes

that led to democracy
in America and Europe.

- He lets the genie out
of the bottle in some ways

on issues that will
ultimately bear fruit

in notions of democracy.

- You cannot even, I think,
see the democratic revolutions

of the 18th century

without taking into account

Martin Luther's
contribution to it.

- In Medieval times,

there was really very
little distinction

between the government
and the church.

Both were kind of immeshed

in a joint super
vision of society.

I think Luther was
probably the first

to really clearly
delineate the fact

that these two entities,
both established by God,

have different roles.

- We're members, we're
citizens of two kingdoms,

the eternal kingdom
of the church,

which is concerned with my soul,

which is concerned
with my life of faith,

and the kingdom of the world

in which I am a citizen
of this country,

that country, this
town, that town, so on.

I have duties in both kingdoms.

- He did not see those as
competing with one another.

They each had a sphere.

While you would seem to
have to pick or the other,

Luther embraced both

and he wanted people

to be great citizens of
their particular region

and he he also wanted them
to be awesome citizens

and subjects of king Jesus.

(somber music)

- [Narrator] Luther
laid the groundwork

for Western democracy in
one other important way.

He was the first to prove
the power of the media

to amplify the
marketplace of ideas

and to serve as a
check on government.

- Luther is sort of
a media rock star.

He recognizes what
the technology can do

and he's going to use that
technology to the fullest.

- He's able to
communicate to people

in a way that not only
that they'll listen to,

but will move them to action.

I think that's really a gift.

- [Narrator] Despite his impact,

Martin Luther wanted
very little to do

with politics or secular life.

Luther's focus
always was the quest

for the right relationship
between God and people

and how to show love
for others in need.

- I simply taught, preached,
and wrote God's word.

Otherwise I did nothing.

While I drank beer
with my friends,

the words so greatly
weakened the papacy

that no prince or emperor

ever inflicted such
losses upon it.

But I?

I did nothing.

The word did everything.

- He speaks to the very basic
universal hunger we have

to find our ground of being

and to find an orientation

that helps us to explain why
am I here, where am I going,

and that all that has an impact

on how we actually
live in this world.

- [Narrator] The millions
of words Luther wrote,

taught, and preached all
boil down to one idea,

the breakthrough and
understanding that
changed his life

summarized in just two
words, God forgives.

And a forgiven person
wants to help others.

These were the words

young Martin Luther
desperately needed to hear,

the idea he most
wanted to tell others.

500 years later he still is.

(somber music)

(bell ringing)

(lively music)

♪ A mighty fortress is our God

♪ A trusty shield and weapon

♪ He helps us free
from every need

♪ That hath us now overtaken

♪ The old evil foe

♪ Now means deadly woe

♪ Deep guile and great might

♪ Are his dread arms in fight

♪ On earth is not his equal

(lively music)