Martin Luther

Episode of Series “Empires”.
Born in Germany at the height of the Black Death, Martin Luther was raised in a Europe dominated spiritually, economically and politically by the Roman Catholic Church. This two part series, narrated by Liam Neeson, explores the life of this important revolutionary thinker. In episode one, “Driven To Defiance”, we are taken through Luther’s early childhood and years as a student where his deepening spiritual faith leads him to a vocation as a monk. But on making a pilgrimage to the Vatican in Rome, he discovers a corrupt and bloated Church and a degenerate and cynical priesthood. The experience leads him to the writing of the 95 Theses, a call to arms against religious corruption and a return to the gospels of Jesus Christ. Central to the theses is Luther’s attack on the Catholic Church’s selling of Indulgence which are meant to ensure a dying person’s passage to Heaven. In calling for a spiritual renewal of Christianity, Luther’s 95 Theses lay the foundations for Protestantism. In episode two, “The Reluctant Revolutionary”, the Catholic Church responds to Luther’s attacks by charging him with heresy. But a fortunate historic confluence - the invention of the printing press - allows for the first time the wide dissemination of Luther’s ideas and beliefs which find popular support all across Europe. Luther attacks the Church hierarchy at his trial and his protests leads to revolutionary upheaval across the continent. The episode examines both Luther’s radical impact but also his refusal to support the peasant revolutionaries inspired by his rhetoric. Luther can imagine a spiritual revolutionary order but not an economic revolution. His vehement and ruthless attacks against the poor, the peasantry and against the Jews will resonate in Protestantism through the ages and lead to a tension in the Christian faiths which will see Catholicism brave the Reformation and paradoxically regain strength in the modern world as the Christian Church for the poor and the oppressed. Whatever the contradictions of his faith and life, the religious revolution inspired by Luther is undoubtedly one of the greatest singular moments in European history.