The Value of Katie

"I would not exchange my Katie for Paris or all of France, for Venice or all of Italy, for God has given her to me and has given me to her."

We Are All Priests

"Because we are all priests of equal standing, no one must push himself forward and take it upon himself, without our consent and election, to do that for which we all have equal authority. ... there is no true basic difference between laymen and priests, princes and bishops, between religious and secular, except for the sake of office and work, but not for the sake of status. ... Christ does not have two different bodies, one temporal, the other spiritual.  There is but one Head and one body."

Luther, "To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation", written in 1520.

On Prayer: First and Last Business of the Day

Peter Beskendorf, Martin Luther's barber, asked the good doctor for some guidance on how to prepare for prayer.  Luther wrote a  brief work on the subject for his barber entitled "A Simply Way to Pray" in 1535.  The following is the introduction and a brief excerpt from that work.

Dear Master Peter:  I will tell you as best I can what I do personally when I pray.  May our dear Lord grant to you and to everybody to do it better than I!  Amen.

It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night.  Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, "Wait a little while.  I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that."  Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day. 

Water

Dr. Luther once received a letter requesting an answer to a question:  Is it permissible to baptize with warm water?  Luther responded,

"Tell the ninny that water is water, whether it is cold or warm."

Did Luther fear women?

A young Christian sister of mine was reading some material for a course she is taking and that material claimed Luther feared women.  She said there were no references indicating how this conclusion was drawn.  Furthermore, the author did not define what he meant by "fear".

Having read Luther for many years, this statement does not appear valid to me.  While the good doctor "feared" Katie from time to time, I don't recall ever reading anything which indicated a general fear of women.

In an attempt to provide some quick assistance to my friend, I collected some statements about Luther and from Luther on women.  I thought I would share them on this blog.

Quoting at length Heiko A. Oberman from his "Luther: Man Between God and the Devil" (1982), published by Doubleday:

"Instead of glorifying virginity and celibacy Luther discovered marriage and the houshold to be a worthwhile, fulfilling profession. From our present-day perspective his respect for the woman as housewife and mother does not do justice to her other gifts. The woman of today has long since proven herself outside the family.

"The complaint that women are restricted to 'children, church and, kitchen' does not, however, apply to the distribution of roles in Luther's marriage. Catherine's perceptible independence may have tempted him to sigh: 'If I ever have to find myself a wife again, I will hew myself an obedient wife out of stone.' But his patriarchal irony should not cause us to jump to conclusions. The oft-criticized traditional roles passed down to us date back to the Middle Ages and have persisted in large parts of Europe--with or without Luther's assistance. Luther did not consider it unmanly for fathers to wash diapers and make beds. People may sneer, but 'God rejoices with all angels and creatures.' Conversely, he had his reasons for leaving the family finances and the administration of their property to his wife. Even if men could bear children the world would go to rack and ruin without women, because they know all about 'spending and saving'--and that is what politics and government are all about!

 "There were also limits to his reevaluation of woman: he thought her less 'intelligent' than the man and felt she should not 'rule the roost' in politics and ecclesiastical government. Nonetheless, Luther disposed of two gross prejudices that had shaped the clerical image of women. The first, which the 'Hammer against the Witches' ('Malleus Maleficarium'; circla 1487) had once again drummed into the Inquisitors, was that women were sexually insatiable hyenas and thus a constant danger to men and their society. The second prejudice reduced women to 'bearing children,' the procreation of the human race and the reproduction of the male. Luther was familiar with and disgusted by both of these contemptuous theses. And though he advocated a distribution of roles because he believed women could not cope with pressure as well as men, he thought they were under the same burdens and of equal value as creatures." pages 276-277.

From Luther's own "Table Talk" (i.e., his own words):

"God denied to women all authority in public affairs, as we see, because they have not the strength for office in either the state or the church."

"Women have by nature the art of speech, which men acquire only by great industry. But it is in household affairs that this is true; in public life this rhetorical ability does not avail. For that, men have been created, not women."

"My advice to all who wish to marry is that they should not treat the matter as a joke. And do not follow simply the inclinations of the flesh, but pray, pray. For once having taken a wife, it is not permitted to draw back if the affair should turn out badly; for the wife given in marriage is herself a dowry. Simply pray, for it is necessary. If moreover the wife should be disagreeable, she must be borne with, for she belongs in the home."

"Many good things come from a wife: the blessing of the Lord, children, community of all things and other things so good that they might overwhelm a man. Suppose there were no women, not only the house and household but even the state would perish. Even if we could beget children without women we could not get along without them."

Are those the words of a man who "feared women"? Again, it depends on what the author meant by fear. Luther exalted marriage, family, and the wife/mother of the household. Yes, he clung to the EXISTING view that women had no role in the political or church leadership role but not out of fear.

The Signs of the Day of Judgment

"The first thing for us to understand is that although the signs preceding the judgment day are many and great, they will all be fulfilled, even though none or very few men take note of or esteem them as such.  For two things must take place according to the Word and prophecy of Christ and the apostles:  first, that many and great signs will be made manifest; and secondly, that the last day will come unawares, the world not expecting it, even though that day be at the door.  Though men see these signs, yea, be told that they are signs of the last day, still they will not believe, but in their security mockingly say:  'Thou fool, hast thou fear that the heavens will fall and that we shall live to see that day?'"

Luther's introduction to a sermon on Luke 21:25-36, first delivered in 1522.

The King

"Where the heart receives the king with a firm faith, it is secure and does not fear sin, death, hell, nor any other evil; for he well knows and in no wise doubts that this king is the Lord of life and death, of sin and grace, of hell and heaven, and that all things are in his hand.  For this reason he became your king and came down to us that he might deliver us from these tyrants and rule over us himself alone.  Therefore, he who is under this king cannot be harmed either by sin, death, hell, Satan, man or any other creature.  As his king lives without sin and is blessed, so must he be kept forever without sin and death in living blessedness."

Serving God

"Whoever adheres to God's Word and does what God has commanded him in his calling is adorned with divine adornment, yes, is adorned with God himself.  For this reason there is nothing more beautiful than serving God, that is, doing according to God's Word and command.  In short, it is wisdom and power at its highest, to know how one ought to serve God, and with faith in Christ to do according to God's Word and will, and ever to be found in such precious adornment.  May our dear God and Father help us to achieve this through Christ our Lord.  Amen." 

Luther on Matthew 6:24-34, 1532.