Martin Luther | Biography, Reformation, Accomplishments, Quotes, & Facts

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• 1525 Luther was isolated from various other reformers in a controversy over the meaning of the Eucharist

• Meanwhile, on his journey back to Wittenberg, Luther was “kidnapped” by soldiers of Frederick and taken secretly to Wartburg Castle

• the discussions failed over his refusal to repudiate a single sentence from the 41 cited in the papal bull

• declared Luther and his followers (some of whom were identified by name) to be political outlaws, and ordered his writings to be burned

• most thought he was dead

• began work on what proved to be one of his foremost achievements—the translation of the New Testament into the German vernacular

• Attempts to carry out the Edict of Worms were largely unsuccessful

• the movement for reform was too strong.

• After the Edict of Worms, however, the cause of reform, of whatever sort, became a legal and political struggle rather than a theological one

• crucial decisions were now made in the halls of government

• by 1523 various other reformers, including Thomas Müntzer, Huldrych Zwingli, and Martin Bucer, had arisen to challenge Luther’s primacy of place and to put forward a more radical vision of reform

• summer of 1524, large numbers of peasants in southwestern Germany staged a series of uprisings that were partly inspired by Luther’s reform proposals

• though they also addressed long-standing economic and political grievances

• the Peasants’ War, had spread to much of central Germany

• manifesto titled “The Twelve Articles of the Peasants”;

• should be judged by the Word of God, a notion derived directly from Luther’s teaching that the Bible is the sole guide in matters of morality and belief

• Zwingli argued that these words had to be understood symbolically

• Luther argued strenuously for a literal interpretation

• Catholic territories were determined to suppress the new Lutheran heresy, if necessary by force.

• establishing a united Protestant political (and military) front