Luther On Education: Including A Historical Introduction And A Translation Of The Reformer's Two Most Important Educational Treatises

by Martin Luther, F.V.N. Painter (Translator)

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

288 pages, Paperback

First published February 29, 2000

About the author

Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a German monk, theologian, university professor and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation and changed the course of Western civilization.

Luther's theology challenged the authority of the papacy by holding that the Bible is the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians under Jesus are a spiritual priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received only by true repentance and faith in Jesus as the Messiah, a faith given by God and unmediated by the church.

Luther's confrontation with Charles V at the Diet of Worms over freedom of conscience in 1521 and his refusal to submit to the authority of the Emperor resulted in his being declared an outlaw of the state as he had been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Because of the perceived unity of the medieval Church with the secular rulers of western Europe, the widespread acceptance of Luther's doctrines and popular vindication of his thinking on individual liberties were both phenomenal and unprecedented.

His translation of the Bible into the vernacular, making it more accessible to ordinary people, had a tremendous political impact on the church and on German culture. It furthered the development of a standard version of the German language, added several principles to the art of translation, and influenced the translation of the English King James Bible. His hymns inspired the development of congregational singing within Christianity. His marriage to Katharina von Bora set a model for the practice of clerical marriage within Protestantism.

Much scholarly debate has concentrated on Luther's writings about the Jews. His statements that Jews' homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed were revived and used in propaganda by the Nazis in 1933–45. As a result of this and his revolutionary theological views, his legacy remains controversial.

Reviews

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published in 1889, this work is still one of the only book-length studies on Luther's educational philosophy. The author, editor, and translator is a man named F. V. N. Painter who was a professor of modern languages at Roanoke College and was a scholar of the history of education. Painter provides several long chapters of introduction to Luther, the Reformation, and Luther's approach to education, and then closes the book with translations of two of Martin Luther's own works: "To the Mayors and Aldermen of All the Cities of Germany in Behalf of Christian Schools" and "Sermon on the Duty of Sending Children to School."

The introductory essays are repetitive, general, and at times, too partisan. I found it annoying how Painter frequently quotes a portion of a letter or sermon twice in two separate contexts, especially because the quoted portions come from one of the two works included at the end of the present volume. Painter gives a simplistic explanation of the Reformation without nuance, and he paints the errors of the "Papists" with a very broad brush. Sometimes, in his zealous agreement with the man Luther, this learned study becomes more of an encomium of praise than a scholarly monograph. These complaints aside, Painter has still given to English-speakers the introduction and access to the German reformer's thought on education. For that, this book is extremely valuable.

Luther's views on education feel broad and modern, while never ceasing to remain situated in the late-medieval German world that he inhabited. He calls for boys and girls to be educated. He wants the ruling class and the church to provide schools, teachers, and scholarships for the young. He encourages the rich to donate money to young scholars, especially from poor stock. He urges for the serious use of the vernacular German at school as well as the ancient languages. Yet, Luther's view of education distinctly emerges from his theological presuppositions. He calls upon the peasant class to not deprecate education or look upon it as simply the means to attain "Mammon," but as an ennobling and Christianizing opportunity. He situates teaching and learning into a vocational theology. He identifies education for the Church (Christian ministry), the state (civil duty), and the school (teaching vocation) to be of inestimable worth. He goes so far as to say in his sermon on the duty of sending children to school that parents who willfully neglect or overlook the Office of the Holy Ministry for their sons are committing grave sins and are in league with the devil.

As a Lutheran pastor myself, I believe this book is invaluable for all Christian educators and should be required reading during Lutheran teacher education at the undergraduate level. The insight of the reformer, his vision, and his single-minded focus on the Gospel all clash with the modern, Deweyan philosophy in Western education today. Luther envisioned his era as a "Second Pentecost" because of the unprecedented possibility for young people to learn languages, read the Bible in its original languages, and absorb Christian teaching. He saw the Christian schools in German lands as sites for initiating spiritual renewal, and he warned against the pernicious influence of the devil at every stage of a person's educational life, thus situating even education within the Christian's own experience of spiritual warfare. This gives his writings an urgency - an eschatological focus on resisting falsehood and ignorance as God's people train together in schools and universities to make society and government places of hope and resistance.

There are many stirring and shining passages within these two short works of Luther, and there are also many surprising and entertaining passages. I'll conclude my review with some of my favorite quotes.

- "And why do old people live, except to care for, teach, and bring up the young? It is not possible for inexperienced youth to instruct and care for themselves; and for that reason God has commended them to us who are older and know what is good for them, and He will require a strict account at our hands" (177).

- "For the devil scented the danger that would threaten his kingdom, if the languages should be generally studied. But since he could not wholly prevent their cultivation, he aims at least to confine them within such narrow limits, that they will of themselves decline and fall into disuse. They are to him no welcome guest, and consequently he shows them scant courtesy in order that they may not remain long. This malicious trick of Satan is perceived by the very few" (184).

- "In a word, since the Holy Ghost, who does nothing foolish or useless, has often bestowed the gift of tongues, it is our evident duty earnestly to cultivate the languages, now that God has restored them to the world through the revival of learning" (188).

- "My idea is that boys should spend an hour or two a day in school, and the rest of the time work at home, learn some trade and do whatever is desired, so that study and work may go on together, while the children are young and can attend to both. They now spend tenfold as much time in shooting with crossbows, playing ball, and tumbling about. In like manner, a girl has time to go to school an hour a day, and yet attend to her work at home; for she sleeps, dances, and plays away more than that. The real difficulty is found alone in the absence of an earnest desire to educate the young, and to aid and benefit mankind with accomplished citizens. The devil much prefers blockheads and drones, that men may have more abundant trials and sorrows in the world" (199-200).

- "[A] man at present can learn more in three years than formerly in twenty; even women and children can now learn more of God and Christ from German books and sermons (I speak the truth) than was formerly known by the universities, priests, monks, the whole Papacy, and the entire world. But even the ordinary pastor and preacher must be acquainted with Latin, which he can no more dispense with than the learned can dispense with Greek and Hebrew..." (236).

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

O Luther, O Luther, what will we do with you?