Thesis. It is important first, to examine some vital events and people in Luther’s life in order to understand exactly where he was coming from (both physically and mentally). Luther saw the world and formed his thoughts; among these were Aristotle, Augustine, the Occamists, the Medieval Mystics, and Erasmus. Luther’s views agreed and differed with these others in such a way that would change philosophical and moral thought and the history of the world forever, whether Luther desired this or not. Luther lived in the times that Thomas Hobbes called “nasty, brutish and short.” The plague was running rampant all over Europe. Ordinary people like Luther’s family, slaved and suffer while heads of great churches and monasteries profited. The times were violent German peasants exercised the right to feud and settle their disputes outside of the courts using weapons and force. Obviously, the life expectancy of people at this time was not much to brag about, and the quality of life was even less. Luther was fortunate to live to a hardy 62 years of age. Who could possibly be more vital to his life than Luther’s parents, Hans and Margaretta. Martin was reared in a religiously conservative peasant household in Germany. Life was rugged and devout at the same time. Hans was a miner who prospered under the guidance of St. Anne and later came to own six foundries, but the family was not rich: Margaretta still had to go to the woods to collect firewood for the family. Martin’s parents were by no means educated, and they still harbored pagan religious beliefs along side their Roman Catholicism. For them the woods and winds and water were peopled by elves, gnomes, fairies, merman and mermaids, sprites and witches. Sinister spirits would release storms, floods, and pestilence, and would seduce mankind to sin and melancholia. Luther’s mother believed that they played such minor prank...
