Martin Luther Irreverent? Surely Not!

Martin Luther might appreciate the irreverence to an extent, but residents of Wittenberg, where Luther nailed his famous 85 Theses to a church door and helped bring about the Protestant Reformation, are not seeing the mirth so much.

There are two stories here, one present and past. First to the present:

So an artist named Ottmar Hoerl has created a boatload of colorful statuettes of Luther, in several colors, and placed them in the town square in Wittenberg, to replace the traditional larger statue of Luther while it has been taken away for renovation. The statue will be back soon enough, but it won't be at all soon enough for some people, who don't appreciate the colors (red, green, blue, and black) of the statuettes or the slightly mocking tone of the artist who created them. That the artist has somehow made Luther look a bit irreverent as a statuette — at least more irreverent than he looked as a statue — hasn't helped matters.

But surely those outraged forget that one purpose of good art is to evoke appreciation for the original. (How else to explain all those dirge-like religious paintings of the Early Renaissance?)

Now to the past:

Martin Luther and the town of Wittenberg are forever linked because it was in that town and at Castle Church that Luther posted his first major public condemnation of some of the practices of the then-ruling Catholic Church. It was the practice of indulgences that really set Luther off, particularly the indulgence practice as practiced by one Johann Teztel. Seems the Pope at the time wanted money to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica and sent Tetzel round Europe to "sell" heavenly grace to raise money for the basilica rebuilding project. People would visit the friar Tetzel, beg for forgiveness, and the friar would grant them forgiveness — after they had paid the fee, of course.

Luther, who was already fed up with what he saw as a hypocritical Church, decided to act. He wrote out a serious of arguments, which are now commonly called the 95 Theses, and nailed them to the door of All Saints' Church, for all to see. This act and others by Luther and by other people coalesced into the movement that would become the Protestant Reformation, many of the effects of which are still being felt throughout the world.

Luther was certainly helped by the recent advent of the printing press, which was available to rapidly produce copies of not only his 95 Theses but also the Bible, which he had recently translated into German. The Reformation was off and running.

The statuettes won't be off and running anytime soon, however, no matter how many residents of Wittenberg dislike them. Why? They (the statuettes) are bolted to the ground.