Saturday was Day 2 of our
Luther Tour. We began in Erfurt, the town where Martin Luther pursued his master’s
degree. It was 1501 and he was 18 years old. Back in Luther’s day, Erfurt was a
much larger town than little Eisleben where Luther was born. It still is much bigger, today.
Luther’s parents wanted
him to be a lawyer and Erfurt was a good place to study law. So, Luther dutifully
enrolled and received his master’s degree in grammar, logic, rhetoric and
metaphysics. He was able to practice law
but he came to realize that that he had no interest in law. One day, in 1505, while
on his way back to Erfurt, Luther was in a bad thunderstorm and became
disturbed in spirit. He pulled along at the side of the road and cried out to
St. Anne, the patron saint of miners, (His father was a miner.) saying that if
he was spared he would give himself over to God.
So, when he returned to
Erfurt, he knocked on the door of the monastery there and told them he wanted
to be a monk. Luther was put aside in
the dormitory for six weeks to give time for the monks and Luther to be sure
that his decision was sure and motives were pure. Luther took his vows in the church
connected to the monastery in 1506. The church still exists. Below is a picture of where he likely took his
vows.
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| Monastery dormitory where Luther stayed |
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| Luther as a younger monk |
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| Inside the monastery church where Luther took his vows. |
The monastery in Erfurt is
an Augustinian monastery. This is
significant because Luther later relied heavily on the writings of Augustine
while developing and defending his own theological perspectives on scripture
and the Holy Fathers of the church. The monastery was also very rigid and
orderly in daily expectations and regulations.
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| Luther's room where he studied and prayed. |
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| What he wore. |
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| Monastery Library. |
While Luther was in the
monastery at Erfurt, he was criticized by his mentor for spending too much time
studying the Bible and was told that so much studying of it would lead to
endless disagreement, debate and dissension.
He was encouraged, instead, to spend more time meditating while doing
menial tasks and also to simply focus on Christ.
The Erfurt monastery
still operates to serve groups for conferences and spiritual retreats. We saw several people who were there and conducting religious exercises while we were there.
Next, we traveled across the city to see the
grand Cathedral where he later took his vows as a priest in 1507. Standing in front of this cathedral and then going inside of it was enough for me to understand what might have gotten to Luther. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. However, as I was overwhelmed by the beauty, I could not help to realize that the beauty came as the result of indulgence money. Luther must have thought the same thing.
In Erfurt, Luther also enrolled at the University of Erfurt to study theology. In between visiting the
monastery and the cathedral, we visited many other chapels and churches
throughout the city and noted the shops and streets lined along the river
there. There is a interesting Methodist
church in Erfurt which is built into the opening passageway to one of the
oldest streets in the city where many of the merchants are located. We also
came to learn Erfurt was popular for being able to manufacture the color, blue
and that some of the breweries in Erfurt had some unique procedures for
developing their beer. I will spare you
the details. You can thank me later.
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| Cathedral (on left) where Luther took his vows to be a priest. |
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| Entrance to the cathedral |
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| A wooden depiction of Jesus in a casket. |
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| Where Luther took his vows to become a priest |
After taking pictures of
the cathedral, Chip and I enjoyed a warm, cozy lunch at a little café that was
built into the wall about halfway up the steps to the church. We had traditional bratwurst, hot chocolate and sweets there.
Upon leaving Erfurt, we
travelled to Coburg Castle. This was not
our original plan because this does not follow the timeline of Luther’s
life. However, our bus tour plans had to
be adjusted due to accommodation issues.
At Coburg, we were guided through a special exhibit that was created for
the 500th Anniversary of Luther’s 95 Thesis. We were not allowed any photos because they
had a lot of original pieces of art and rare documents on exhibit in
there. I will explain more about the
significance of Coburg to Luther’s life in another blog. Until then, suffice it
to say that Coburg is amazing, beautiful and enormous. It is everything you imagine
a castle to be and it was another incredible day packed with so many new sights
to see and so much more information to take in. Tomorrow, we go to Worms.
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| Coburg by night |
