The Protestant Reformation, which challenged the Catholic Church’s supremacy in Europe, grew in response to criticisms of the Church throughout the 15^th century. During the Renaissance, the study of Greek and Roman philosophy and literature was revived, as literacy rose and ancient texts were rediscovered through contact with Islamic culture. The study of language as a science also began to develop. The Renaissance humanists desired to find the purest, most accurate copies of Greek and Roman texts. The philologist Lorenzo Valla applied this practice to the Vulgate Bible of St. Jerome by comparing Jerome’s Vulgate with the Greek codexes from which the Vulgate was translated. Valla uncovered several mistranslations in Jerome’s work, which in turn led theologians to question the infallibility of the Latin Vulgate, thereby undermining church authority. In addition to such humanist attacks as Valla’s criticisms of the Vulgate, the Church was suffering from internal crises. Royal authorities had begun to exercise more control of the Catholic Church within their respective territories, as seen in the Gallican Church in France, the Spanish Church, and towards the end of the 16^th century the Anglican Church in England. Furthermore, the Black Death had crippled the Church both by killing the most devout clergymen and also by showing the Church’s inability to deal with such a crisis. The populace looked to the Church to remove what they saw as a punishment from God, and when the Church failed, the laity began to see the Church as corrupt. The so called “Babylonian Captivity” of the Church, which began with the transfer of the Papacy to Avignon in the first half of the 13^th century and culminated with the election of three concurrent popes, was not resolved until the Council of Constance in 1415. The Council was able to restore legitimacy to the Roman Pope, but only by placing the authority of a Church council above that of the Pope through its decree of Sacrosancta. The decision of Constance, rather than reinvigorating the Church, further weakened its authority by creating a power struggle between Pope and church council that lasted into the 16^th century.

Whereas the humanists attacked the Church from an intellectual level, and desired the elimination of the corruption they perceived in the church hierarchy, the Reformers attacked the Church’s theology in an attempt to reform the doctrines and beliefs which constituted Catholic orthodoxy. Beginning with Martin Luther’s 95 Theses which attacked the sale of Indulgences by John Tetzel, the Reformation ended the Catholic Church’s control of Western Christian thought, and it continued the process of undermining the secular authority of the Roman Catholic Church, which had been initiated by the Gallican and Spanish Churches. Bishops and abbots, who had previously ruled as feudal Lords in Europe, began to be stripped of their secular authority. Starting in Germany and then progressing throughout Europe, the monasteries were closed, Church tithes were replaced with taxes from the nobility and ruling class, and Church courts were abolished within Protestant lands. Thus the Reformation facilitated the rise of the modern nation state. It was the three magisterial Reformers, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin, working alongside the rulers and magistrates of their various regions, who had the most success instituting new religious ideas at the onset of the Reformation.

The Augustinian monk Martin Luther was the focal point of the Protestant Reformation. He was the first of the magisterial Reformers, and his writings, actions, and beliefs set the stage for the Reformation. Although earlier theologians had attempted similar reforms, none had met with Luther’s success. For example, Jan Hus, who held many theological beliefs similar to Luther’s, was burned at the stake as a condemned heretic by the Council of Constance. Owing to the success of Luther’s attack on the authority of the Church, most modern examinations of his writings and the events surrounding the early Reformation focus on the political and social consequences of Luther’s works. The posting of the 95 Theses is remembered as the event which touched off the Reformation, rather than for its specific theological criticism of the doctrine of Indulgences. Similarly, Luther’s attack on Church authority in his Disputation Against the Scholastics is less prominent, in modern examinations of Luther, than are the proceedings at the Diet of Worms. In condemning Luther, and forcing him to withdraw, the later forced Luther to work against the Church and the Government both of which opposed him. The condemnation ended any hopes of a peaceful settlement between the Reformers and the Church. Scholars tend to focus on the Diet even though it is his statements in the Disputation and elsewhere that earned Luther his excommunication. Notwithstanding this focus on events which facilitated or altered the course of the Reformation, Luther’s reforms were prompted by his profound religious beliefs and his intense desire to teach and promote his theological beliefs. Understanding the development of Martin Luther’s theology, and how the writings of earlier theologians influenced his theology, is a crucial step in understanding how the Protestant Reformation as a political phenomenon came to pass.

Luther’s theological development can be divided into four major periods. The early education of Luther consisted of his theological training as a monk until the beginnings of his teaching at Wittenburg. This was a period during which his theological beliefs were still largely in the process of forming. The second period, from his early lectures on the Book of Romans until his excommunication by the Diet of Worms, represents the most profound period in the development of Martin Luther’s theological ideas. The third period consisted of his brief residency at the Wartburg, where he was hiding from the supporters of the Emperor and those who wished to see him burned as a heretic. During this period, as Luther translated the New Testament from Erasmus’ Greek texts into German, his beliefs reached their maturity. The final period in Luther’s developing theology, his post-Wartburg period, was one in which he took on the active roll of a magisterial Reformer in Saxony.

Luther’s religious beliefs and theological concerns throughout these periods are related to Luther’s changing relationship with the German mystics and his understanding of mystical theology. The implications of Luther’s theological beliefs during his lectures on Romans and his first series of lectures on Galatians became apparent, and it was during this same period that Luther discovered both the works of Johannes Tauler and the mystical tract Eine Deutsche Theologie. The timing of Luther’s discovery of these mystical works is crucial to understanding the development of his theology leading up to the Diet of Worms. How did his relationship with mysticism affect his theology, and what theological conflicts arose from Luther’s understanding of mysticism? It will also be important to study how his understanding of mysticism affected his interpretation of St. Paul, whom Luther, in many ways, viewed as a kindred Spirit, especially following the Diet of Worms.

No less important than his initial discovery and acceptance of German mysticism, is Luther’s eventual rejection of this theology. Politically Luther’s break from mysticism became apparent after he left the Wartburg during his conflict with Thomas Muentzer and Luther’s former associate Andreas Bodenstein von Karlstadt. Yet while the break with mysticism became apparent only at this time it is important to trace the development of Luther’s theology leading up to this break. The timing of his break with mysticism, and how this timing was concurrent theological developments, is crucial in understanding his later conflict with the Saxon Radicals.

The next several chapters will explore the development of Luther’s theology, and its changes over time, in relation to his understanding and acceptance of the mystical theology of Johannes Tauler. This examination will focus on Luther introduction to Tauler, just prior to the start of the Reformation, his conflict with mysticism just prior to entering the Wartburg, and finally the conflicts that arose due to his rejection of mystical theology. Finally attention will be paid to the political impact of Luther’s break with mysticism, and the political consequences of Luther’s developing theology.