The Luther Decade: On the Trail of Martin Luther
(Reprint from Germany.info of March 3, 2015)
The
year 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the "big bang" of the
Reformation, Luther's legendary posting of his theses on the church
door in Wittenberg. The Luther Decade is an occasion for celebration
and reflection.
Wittenberg is a pretty, almost sleepy medium-sized
town. It is close to the border between the eastern German states of
Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, and with less than 50,000 inhabitants
one might be inclined to call its a largish small town, which would of
course insult the citizens of Wittenberg. After all, the town is not
only located on one of Germany's longest rivers, the Elbe, it also has
a proud history. And this is tangible everywhere. There is no shortage
of testimonies to the Renaissance in Wittenberg.
Luther, the
Reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546), is inseparably linked with
Wittenberg, which is why one should really refer to the town as
Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Which only very few people do, because this
long title is simply too awkward. What is more, many people seem to
think: why all the fuss about a renegade monk called Luther?
Yet at
the moment it looks as if all this is gradually changing. Luther, who
has always lived on in the hearts of Protestants, is being brought
closer to other inhabitants of the town and its surroundings step by
step. Not least because so many tourists, especially from abroad and
overseas, come here in search of Martin Luther's trail. After all, the
Luther monuments in Saxony-Anhalt have been under UNESCO protection
world heritage sites since 1996. Luther tourism is certainly an
economic factor and a very welcome one, not only in Wittenberg, but
also in Eisleben (Wittenberg's little sister in the Mansfelder Land
district, between Halle and the Harz district, where Luther was born
and also died), as well as in Eisenach in Thuringia.
It was there,
up in the Wartburg, that the person the Roman Church outlawed as
"Junker Jörg" lived in hiding for a time and in 1521 and 1522 worked on
his German translation of the Bible. This was a momentous cultural act,
of that there can be no doubt. For many people, the Book of Books is as
topical today as it was then – even in eastern Germany where, during
more than 40 years of Communist rule, the citizens had their faith
driven out of them. This was successful to a degree, which is something
that the Christian churches of both major denominations - Catholic and
Protestant - unanimously lament.
So the imminent jubilee of the
Reformation is coming just at the right time. For this jubilee, the
Evangelical Church in Germany has instituted a special position for a
prelate, which has been filled by the theologian Stephan Dorgerloh,
whose task is to coordinate and manage events on site. His office is in
the Town Hall of Wittenberg - there could scarcely be a more prominent
place for it.
The Luther Decade? This refers to the period up to
2017, the year that will mark the 500th anniversary of the "big bang"
of the Reformation, Luther's legendary nailing of his theses to the
door of Wittenberg's Schlosskirche. In those 95 Theses, Luther
denounced the Roman Catholic Church's sale of indulgences - and
criticized the conditions that prevailed at the time with pertinent
references to the Bible. The posting of the theses took place on
October 31, or Reformation Day, which is a public holiday in the mainly
Protestant central German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and
Thuringia.
Holidays are always welcome everywhere, even in more
secular times. And if traders then sell a tasty morsel called a
Reformation Roll, as they do in Wittenberg, then this is also very
welcome. But what does Reformation actually mean? And what does it mean
today? These are topics which the Reformation Decade will be devoting
attention to – and not just for the tourist industry, which already
brings welcome revenue to the citizens of Wittenberg, Eisleben and
Eisenach. Initially, it seemed as if both these issues were
non-starters. The global economic crisis put a stop to travel,
especially among the many Christians in the United States; and the
debate about the current meaning of the Reformation got going only very
slowly, at least in the public eye. Yet the consequences of the work of
Luther and his friend and ally, the theologian Philipp Melanchthon, can
be felt everywhere: first in the development of the German language and
German thought, then in the upheavals extending from the Enlightenment
to 20th century modernism. Two outstanding testimonies to it are only a
few kilometers away from Wittenberg: Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom and
the Bauhaus.
Nevertheless, it was still some time before Luther's
protest against medieval restrictions and impositions was seen in the
context of emancipation and liberation, and consequently as something
very contemporary and timely. And before it was accepted as something
that not only went far beyond the framework of a local event, but was
also worthy of our greatest attention and should be celebrated and
subsidized with state funds. After all, as Stephan Dorgerloh pointedly
put it in 2010, this is about more than just a town festival in
Wittenberg.
Meanwhile, however, things are really moving: a pilgrim
path follows Luther's trail through central Germany; theme years and
various events are being organized to structure the decade, up to and
including the major celebrations; and in early 2011, the state
government in Magdeburg held out the prospect of tens of millions of
euros, among other things, for the refurbishment of Wittenberg Castle.
Once
again, it was an artist who played a vital role in getting the public
discussion off the ground. "Aided and abetted" by Dorgerloh, in summer
2010 Ottmar Hörl set about occupying Wittenberg's Market Square with
800 colorful Luther gnomes - representing the missing larger-than-life
father of the Reformation, whose monument otherwise dominates the
square and now has to be refurbished.
The public outcry, not only
from the circles of conservative theologians, was enormous. However,
the enthusiasm was just as passionate. Hörl had not actually toppled
the figure of Martin Luther from his plinth and trivialized him, but
had merely humanized the Reformer with his army of faithful plastic
copies, and in doing so had also recalled those questions which many
people, also in Wittenberg, prefer to avoid answering: the question of
Luther's anti-Semitism, for example. Yet concealment does not suit the
image of the Reformation.
Thanks to Hörl's action, the protected
Luther came down from his pedestal, so to speak, to stand at eye level
with people. Children found this astonishing, teenagers and tourists
thought it was funny, and many believers regarded it as disrespectful.
But suddenly a debate had been initiated, a bit of a rumpus raised.
Luther's temporary "descent" from his plinth certainly did no damage to
the idea, or the commemoration, of the Reformation - nor to the sale of
various souvenirs. The state of Saxony-Anhalt is sure to become Luther
State, and its capital is called Wittenberg.
By Andreas Montag for Deutschland Magazine
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