Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Interfaith Mary: "Mother Mary And Martin Luther," Reviewed

The web-page, Mother Mary And Martin Luther was put together by a Roman Catholic convert  ("an interfaith, bridge building kind of woman"). The author demonstrates the odd diversity among those claiming to be within the confines of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church. This convert hosts the "Interfaith Mary" site. According to the bio page, the author hopes for "the ordination of Catholic women priests soon," and claims to "attend mass almost every day, spend 2-3 hours daily in some kind of spiritual practice, and fast twice a week. All this is in response to the call of Mother Mary in her apparitions in Medjugorje." This person embraces Marian devotion with an interesting twist: she disagrees with Mary (or rather, the apparitions of Mary) on some issues, like reincarnation, divorce and celibacy. The author also appears to embrace some form of universalism (as demonstrated in the picture on the left).

Let's take a closer look at the interpretation of Martin Luther's Mariology put forth by the Interfaith Mary website. We'll see a number of flaws, including poor documentation, unsubstantiated assertions, out-of-context quotes, untenable historical conclusions, and in some instances, a rewording and plagiarism of someone else's article about Luther's Mariology. Overall, we'll see that the "interfaith" Luther being presented was not the Luther of history.
Martin Luther (like most theologians) condemned any Christian who regards Mary as equal to Jesus or who implies that Jesus alone is somehow incomplete without a feminine expression of God by his side. This is what patriarchal training taught his mind to think. His heart on the other hand, seems to have known that it did indeed need a heavenly mother along with its heavenly father. And so he confessed: "The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart." (Sermon, Sept. 1st 1522)
The opening sentences expresses the author's leanings towards some sort of undefined feminist theology. The implication appears to be that Martin Luther and "most theologians" (males?) hold an imbalanced understanding of the attributes and/or relationship of Jesus Christ and Mary, and that error stems from "patriarchal training." The author also appears to be saying that cerebral facts about theology are trumped by internal feelings because the evidence shows that despite the patriarchal theological system he was reared in, Martin Luther's "heart" needed a "heavenly mother." This is the typical heart vs. head dichotomy,  a logically inconsistent paradigm that ignores the obvious: it's the head that says heart reasoning has a superior knowledge. Perhaps there's a bit of truth with the heart / head reasoning model in that, people do reason according to what their "heart" (emotions, passions, feelings, etc,) are committed to, including feminism, universalism, reincarnation, etc.

For proof of this paradigm, Luther "confessed" on Sept 1, 1522 that "The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart." The date for this quote is wrong, it actually comes from a sermon dated September 8. The dating error popularly exists in cyberspace because whoever originally cut-and-pasted this quote never checked it for accuracy. Luther isn't saying what this Mariologist thinks he is saying, that Luther's "heart" needed a "heavenly mother." In context, Luther's point is that whatever respect Mary was due to her, the church of his day had collectively gone far beyond it. "The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart" is not a positive statement, but a negative statement. This sentence placed back in its context is in regard to excessive Marian devotion, a devotion so rooted in the human heart that "no one wants to hear any opposition to this celebration" of the feast of Mary's birth. Luther goes on to wish this festival day in regard to Mary should be forgotten,  "For there is nothing in the Scriptures about it [Mary's birth]."  Rome distinguishes between kinds of worship. Mary can receive the highest form of worship/veneration, hyper-dulia, short of the worship of God. This type of worship is expressed in prayers, songs, ceremonies and pilgrimages. Luther abandoned the  latria / dulia distinction because biblically, it refers to the same thing. If you search out the times Luther used the word “veneration,” you will find most often an entirely negative meaning applied to the term. The question that needs to be asked to the Interfaith Mary author is what exactly is Marian devotion and veneration? What does it mean for her particular brand of Roman Catholicism to be devoted to or venerate Mary, and what does it mean for Luther to be devoted to or venerate Mary? They are not the same thing.
If one believed Rev. Peter Stravinskas, then this inscription on his heart would be reflected in the inscription on his tomb. Stravinskas published a generally good article on "The Place of Mary in Classical Fundamentalism", but I'm afraid his source made one pious mistake: It maintains that the relief of the Coronation of the Virgin and inscription by Peter Vischer the Younger which is to be found in the Wittenberger Schlosskirche, where Luther is buried, goes with Luther's tomb. I wish it were so, but actually it is the memorial plaque for Henning Göde, the last Catholic Prior of the church, who died in 1521, right during the most turbulent time of Luther’s Reformation.One might credit all the generations of Protestants who took no offense with this very Catholic plaque right next to Luther’s and left it there.
Kudos to the Interfaith Mary website for debunking this false fact. Unfortunately, the Luther's-burial-vault-Mary's-inscription myth still pops up from time to time. Even earlier versions of this Interfaith Mary web-page perpetuated it, see particularly the 2004 version and the 2005 version. In these earlier versions "This inscription on his heart is reflected in the inscription on his tomb" was not negated, but rather served as support for the previous Luther "veneration" quote. The major culprit for the Luther-tomb-myth has been Rome's defender, Peter Stravinskas. His source that "made one pious mistake" was the 1970 Marian Studies article by William Cole: Was Luther a Devotee of Mary? (pages 193-194). Cole states, "... yet is beyond dispute that the sepulcher of Luther has a Marian sculpture." Cole gives off the impression that it was Luther's tomb. He ambiguously says, "Luther was buried by the tomb of Henningus Goden. The sculptural chamber had been adorned by Peter Vischer in 1521 with a sculptural representation of the coronation of Mary..." Perhaps this was simply poorly worded by Cole, yet the information was deliberately worded to prove Cole's earlier assertion that "Luther himself wished to retain images of Mary in homes as well as in Churches." This is the only shred of evidence Cole provides in this section to prove Luther wish to retain Mary images in churches. Cole does not provide any information as to why the sculpture was placed in the tomb, he simply declares it to be Luther's doing.
Generally Luther was against any invocations of saints and against asking for their intercession. But Mother Mary, whom he was happy to call the Mother of God, was a case apart, unlike any other saint. This is probably because he recognized the Biblical precedent for Mary’s intercession. After all, at the wedding in Cana, she obtained help from Jesus for the party even though her son tried to resist her nudging. (John 2 :1-11) So, no wonder that Catholics say, Jesus can’t refuse the requests of his mother.
"Generally" is only a correct way to describe Luther's rejection of the use of the saints if one considers that earlier in his Reformation career, he did allow for the intercession of the saints and Mary. However, for the bulk of his Reformation career, he denied it, including asking for Mary's intercession (she was not an exception or a "case apart"). This denial was not simply a passionless admittance from time to time. Saint worship was equivalent to heathenism, idolatry, and a rejection of Christ (for example, see LW 41:204). Mary was "made a common idol with countless services, celebrations, fasts, hymns, and antiphons" (LW 34:54). The pope's servants "made of Christ a judge and jailer and directed us to the dear mother of God, Mary, and other saints, as if they were our mediators and advocates who represented us before God and acquired grace for us" (LW 57:266). She was put in the place of Christ as a mediator (LW 57:114). Many more similar statements from Luther could be brought forth to demonstrate Mary was not any sort of exception to Luther's rejection of the intercession of the saints.

Therefore, that Luther "probably... recognized the Biblical precedent for Mary’s intercession" is an entirely unfounded claim. No evidence from Luther is presented as to his understanding of John 2:1-11. I found an instance that, according to Luther, Christ's harsh reply was due to Mary wanting "God's work done badly" (LW 76"244). When Mary went on to say, "Do whatever he tells you," Luther said, "the mother of Christ pointed the servants away from herself to Christ and she did not tell them: 'Do whatever I say,' but 'Do whatever he tells you.' Everyone is to be pointed in the right direction" (LW 76:245). In any of  his expositions of John 2:1-11 that I've been able to locate, Luther does not say what "Catholics say," that Christ "tried to resist her nudging" but he couldn't "refuse the request of his mother." Read for yourself some of Luther's comments on John 2:1-11 in regard to the interaction between Christ and Mary. Of the sermons Luther preached on this text I located, the subject matter is marriage, not Mary.
“In the resolutions of the 95 theses Luther rejects every blasphemy against the Virgin and thinks that one should ask for pardon for any evil said or thought against her.”
This sentence is an undocumented citation ("...").  The sentence appears to be taken from Peter Stravinskas who extracted it from William Cole's "Was Luther a Devotee of Mary?" page 116.  What Stravinskas leaves out is that Cole places the sentence in the context of Luther's "pre-Reformation period" (Cole, 115), a period in which Luther still adhered to medieval Mariolatry. The "resolutions" are Luther's further explanations of the 95 Theses. Cole is referring to the explanation of point 75 (where indulgences are so powerful that "they could absolve a man even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness"). Luther says of this, "I am forced to call them foolish who hold such opinions, and we should beg pardon from the holy virgin because we are compelled to say and think such things" (WA 1:622; LW 31:240). Luther himself admits elsewhere that during his earlier years, he had a much greater (and misguided) reliance on Mary:  "'Christ is given to scolding and punishing, but Mary has nothing but sweetness and love.' Therefore Christ was generally feared; we fled from Him and took refuge with the saints, calling upon Mary and others to deliver us from our distress" (LW 22:377). That Luther wrote what he did in his "resolutions of the 95 theses" is not an actual expression of Luther praying to Mary, nor does it fairly represent his mature position which denied the intercession of Mary and the saints.
He preached on Mary on all her feast days, more so than most Catholic priests do today. This custom was continued for about a century after Luther’s death. He was also comfortable with keeping celebrated images of Mary in his churches where they remained until the time of “Enlightenment” in the 18th century.
This paragraph appears to be a rewrite of something from the Stravinskas article:  
[Luther's] custom of preaching Marian sermons on the Marian feasts continued in the Lutheran Church a hundred years after his death. Following the example of Luther other great songwriters of the Reformation glorified the greatness of Mary's divine maternity. This lasting piety towards the Mother of God found an outlet in piety so that generally the celebrated pictures of the Madonna and her statues from the Middle Ages were retained in Lutheran churches. According to Heiler, it was only the spirit of the Enlightenment with its lack of understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation, which in the 18th century began the work of destruction.
Stravinskas is once again citing Cole (pp. 101-102).  Cole is actually citing someone else: Friedrich Heller, whose position he refers to as "extreme" in contradistinction to earlier interpretations of Luther's Mariology (p. 101). By the time the information made it to the Interfaith Mary webpage, Heiler has been eliminated completely, even though the "extreme" points are his.

Luther abandoned the festival of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, her birth, and her Assumption, because they did not focus on Christ. He retained the Annunciation, the Visitation, and Purification. These did focus on the birth of Christ, not Mary. When one actually reads Luther’s "Marian" sermons, one finds that Mary is usually not the main subject, Christ is. Mary is often simply mentioned in passing, with perhaps a few paragraphs allotted to discussion about her. There are exceptions to this, but the older Luther became, the less his "Marian" sermons dwelled on Mary.
What did Luther think of the most famous Marian prayers? He directed that the Magnificat be sung daily in all churches. He conceded that the Hail Mary could form part of a healthy prayer life, though he doubted most believers’ ability to pray it with the correct attitude. But the Hail Holy Queen and the Queen of Heaven he condemned as extravagant and “unevangelical”.
The second sentence is a direct plagiarism of Stravinskas: "For example, he directed that the  Magnificat was to be sung daily in all churches. " The rest of the sentences appear to be reworded versions of Stravinskas from his same paragraph: "While struggling mightily with the Ave Maria , especially because he was exercised over the failure of people to pray it correctly and with the proper attitude, he did concede that it could likewise form part of the prayer life of a true believer. He concluded, on the other hand, that the 'extravagances' of the  Salve Regina and Regina Caeli were 'unevangelical.'"  Stravinskas says these comments are based on Cole, pp. 183-190.

Cole says that in 1544 Luther "asked that in all churches the canticle of the Magnificat...be sung daily, since it is inspired by the Holy Spirit" (Cole, 183; He cites WA 49:492 and WA 29:451). Luther does not mean singing the Magnificat in devotion to Mary! The Magnificat is to be used because it is "inspired by the Holy Spirit." The "Hail Mary" comments appear to be summarizing Cole's lengthy and complicated discussion of Luther's view (see my review here of Cole's view). If in Roman Catholicism the Hail Mary is fundamentally a prayer to Mary, that's not what Luther had in mind. For Luther, one could praise God for the gifts given to Mary, but praying to her, or using her as an intercessor was not spiritually correct. Cole notes Luther explicitly says, "It is no prayer." Luther was not a radical reformer: instead of abandoning the Hail Mary, Luther allowed it as a form of meditation and a way to praise God, even though "It were best that the Hail Mary should entirely be laid aside because of the abuses connected with it." If it has to be used at all, this is how one uses it correctly with a "good (firm) faith," as a contemplative meditation. For the "Hail Holy Queen and the Queen of Heaven" prayers, the Interfaith Mary webpage is correct in mentioning Luther's severe disapproval. The word attributed to Luther, "unevangelical" (done so by both Interfaith Mary and Peter Stravinskas) was probably lifted from Cole: "The Reformation turned against all prayers and songs that contained unevangelical statements" (Cole, 188). It doesn't appear to be a word Luther used in describing these false prayers, (if it was, it was their responsibility to document it).  Stravinskas attributes the word "extravagances" to Luther as well, but I've yet to find where he took it from Cole's article.

In the final section of the Interfaith Mary article, eight of Luther's Marian statements are listed. Most of them are not adequately documented. They look like cut-and-pastes from Roman Catholic webpages that were circulating in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Some of Rome's better known apologists are responsible for popularizing a few of the quotes in these bogus forms. Most of them were taken from secondary sources, not an actual reading of the appropriate contexts, and I suspect that even those taken directly from Luther were not taken from the author's actual reading of Luther. Let's briefly take a look at them:
 Luther quotes on Mary:
"(She is the) highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ … She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough. Still, honor and praise must be given to her in such a way as to hurt neither Christ nor the scriptures." (Sermon, Christmas, 1531)
I've addressed this quote here. It originally came from Cole's article. It isn't one quote, it's two quotes from two different pages of Luther's sermon pasted together to make one quote. Typical of Luther, the majority of the sermon isn't about Mary. Rather, the first sections are about the blessed mystery of the humanity of Jesus. Luther goes on for the first 16 points and barely mentions Mary. In the primary sources I checked,  I didn't find the phrases "wisdom and holiness personified" or "injure neither Christ nor the Scriptures." 

There's no denying Luther said lofty and nice things about Mary. Luther though abandoned the distinction between latria and dulia, so, Luther saying nice things about Mary does not equal Rome's version of devotion to Mary, especially the "Mary" of the Interfaith Mary website. She believes that Mary was chosen by God because of her own innate qualities: she was special and holy without Jesus, which was why she was chosen to become his mother.  She says elsewhere, "God chose Mary for her own qualities to become his mother. Before she conceived Jesus" and "Mary didn’t become holy because Jesus was her son; Jesus became her son because she was already holy." In the same context this Luther quote comes from, he goes on to say,
"If one praises the mother, the praise ought to be like the wide ocean. If either one is to be forgotten, it is better to forget the mother rather than the child. Under the papacy, however, the child has all but been forgotten, and attention riveted only on the mother. But the mother has not been born for our sakes; she does not save us from sin and death. She has, indeed, begotten the Savior! for this reason we are to wean ourselves away from the mother and bind ourselves firmly to this child alone!"
These sentences occur immediately after the quote used by the Interfaith Mary website. It's obvious to see the selective citation employed by the author (if she actually read Luther's context). For Luther, Mary is to be forgotten if she gets in the way of Jesus Christ. Contrarily, the author believes "Mary’s power and grace come from all three persons of the trinity." This is the opposite of Luther's Mary. Even with his lofty description of her in his commentary on the Magnificat, Luther reiterates how Mary is nothing without Christ: "O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, you were nothing and all despised; yet God in His grace regarded you and worked such great things in you" (LW 21:322), "as we ascribe merit and worthiness to her, we lower the grace of God and diminish the truth of the Magnificat" (LW 21:322), "Whoever, therefore, would show her the proper honor must not regard her alone and by herself, but set her in the presence of God and far beneath Him, must there strip her of all honor, and regard her low estate" (LW 21:322).   
"It is the consolation and the superabundant goodness of God, that humanity is able to exult in such a treasure. Mary is its true Mother …" (Sermon, Christmas, 1529)
"Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us, even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees… If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is we ought also to be, and all that he has ought also to be ours, and his mother is also our mother." (Sermon, Christmas 1529)
I'm uncertain which secondary source these quote were lifted from. I traced their online life as far back as 1998. The date for the sermon is actually 1522, not 1529, but it was republished many times. The contexts can be found in LW 52:15-16 and LW 75:216. In those context there's nothing shocking or focused on Mary. Luther's point is that "Christ is born for you and his birth is yours." His birth is given to his people spiritually: "In this manner Christ takes to himself our birth and absorbs it in his birth; he presents us with his birth so that we become pure and new in it, as if it were our own, so that every Christian might rejoice in this birth of Christ and glory in it no less than if he, too, like Christ, had been born bodily of Mary" (LW 52: 15). "This is the great joy, of which the angel speaks, this is the consolation and the superabundant goodness of God, that man (if he has this faith) may boast of such treasure as that Mary is his real mother, Christ his brother, and God his father" (LW 52:15).  "But see to it that you make his birth your own, and that you make an exchange with him, so that you rid yourself of your birth and receive, instead, his. This happens, if you have this faith. By this token you sit assuredly in the Virgin Mary’s lap and are her dear child. This faith you have to practice and to pray for as long as you live; you can never strengthen it enough. That is our foundation and our inheritance; on it the good works are to be built" (LW 52:16). Luther's emphasis is on the connection of the believer to Christ, not on Mary's spiritual maternity. Notice how the author cut out "Christ his brother, and God his father" from her citation of Luther! Read an excerpt of the extended context here
"People have crowded all her glory into a single phrase: The Mother of God. No one can say anything greater of her, though he had as many tongues as there are leaves on the tress." (From the Commentary of the Magnificat)
I'm uncertain as to which secondary source this quote was lifted from. A similar online version can be found as far back as 2000 (with the word "men" used instead of the inclusive, "people").  The quote does come from Luther's exposition of The Magnificat (It can be found at LW 21:326). A footnote at this very place in the LW text describes Luther's comments here as "elements of medieval Marian piety." In Luther's exposition, he does write lofty things about Mary, and it should be admitted that Rome's defenders are within their right to point to this evidence. There are other Roman Catholics though that think Luther's treatise is not the positive Mariology it purports to be. Hartmann Grisar saw it as "an unbridled spirit of attack and of hate."Hilda Graef  "thought the spirit differs considerably from that of the traditional interpretation" [Hilda Graef, Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion Vol. II (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1965), pp. 7-8].  In this very context, Mary's "glory" is that she bore Christ. Luther goes on to say, "Though certain scribblers make much ado about her worthiness for such motherhood, I prefer to believe her rather than them. She says her low estate was regarded by God, not thereby rewarding her for anything she had done, but, 'He has done great things for me,' He has done this of His own accord without any doing of mine. For never in all her life did she think to become the Mother of God, still less did she prepare or make herself meet for it" (LW 21:327).  Whatever niceties Luther was saying about Mary, it was different than that which was popular at the time, and different than the interpretation of the Interfaith Mary author.
"God did not receive his divinity from Mary, but it does not follow that it is therefore wrong to say that God was born of Mary, that God is Mary’s Son, and that Mary is God’s mother. … She is the true mother of God and bearer of God. … Mary suckled God, rocked God to sleep, prepared broth and soup for God, etc. For God and man are one person, one Christ, one Son, one Jesus, not two Christs… just as your son is not 2 sons… even though he has two natures, body and soul, the body from you, the soul from God alone." (On the Councils of the Church, 1539)
I'm uncertain which secondary source this quote was lifted from. I traced its online life as far back as 1998. It may be that whoever compiled this quote actually took it directly from LW 41. Whoever did it, it's obviously poorly documented (no page number or edition). Its compilation is even more troubling. The first sentence appears at LW 41: 99, the rest (separated by a fair amount of text) is a choppy citation from LW 41:100. One would never know from this pieced together quote that Luther is critiquing the Christology of Nestorius and his trouble with the phrase "mother of God." Some contemporary Protestants may distance themselves from the title, “Mother of God,” and perhaps for good reason. The term has evolved in its usage. What was once a rich theological term expressing a doctrinal truth about Christ developed quickly into a venerating praise to Mary. Unlike modern Protestants, Luther did not shy away from using the term, “Mother of God,” and he was fully cognizant of its correct usage.
Luther believed in Mary’s perpetual virginity and in her Immaculate Conception. Only the latter he didn’t think should be a dogma that people are obliged to believe. "It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary’s soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God’s gifts, receiving a pure soul, infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin." (Sermon, "On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God", 1527)
These are shockers that Rome's defenders often utilize. Yes, Luther did have a lifelong belief in her perpetual virginity. He also did hold to the immaculate conception, but only early in his career. I've argued elsewhere he did not maintain it. Luther's later view appears to be that at Christ's conception the Holy Spirit sanctified Mary so that the child would be born with non-sinful flesh and blood. It's true that he says that people are not obliged to believe in the immaculate conception as dogma (LW 32:79-80).

I've done a lot of work on the quote Interfaith Mary provided. This quote made its way into a cyber space when one of Rome's defenders took it from Hartmann Grisar's, Luther Vol. IV. What Rome's defenders typically leave out is Grisar's analysis: he says the quote was eliminated from the text not long after it was published. There's even speculation that the quote didn't originate from Luther at all, but rather Stephan Roth (LW 58:434-435, fn. 10). See my full analysis here.
"…she is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin… God’s grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil… God is with her, meaning that all she did or left undone is divine and the action of God in her." (Luther’s Works, ed. H. Lehmann, Fortress Press, 1968, vol. 43, p.40). 
This quote was taken from LW 43:40, with only minor editing by whoever originally compiled it. It comes from Luther's Personal Prayer Book, 1522. This quote was written before Luther's position on Mary's sinlessness changed. Rather than discussing Mary’s sinlessness, Luther's later writings insist Christ’s sinlessness was due entirely to the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit during his conception. In 1532 he preached: "Mother Mary, like us, was born in sin of sinful parents, but the Holy Spirit covered her, sanctified and purified her so that this child was born of flesh and blood, but not with sinful flesh and blood" (Martin Luther, Sermons of Martin Luther, Vol. 3, ed. John Nicholas Lenker.  (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 291).
"We can use the Hail Mary as a meditation in which we recite what grace God has given her. Second, we should add a wish that everyone may know and respect her." (Personal Prayer Book, 1522)
Despite the shoddy documentation, this quote is also from Luther's Personal Prayer Book, 1522 (LW 43:39). One thing that isn't clear in this sparse presentation is exactly who Luther says the Hail Mary is supposed to be directed to. The "meditation" and "respect" is not to go to Mary, because as Luther wrote in the same context,  "no one should put his trust or confidence in the Mother of God or in her merits, for such trust is worthy of God alone and is the lofty service due only to him" (LW 43:39). He gives the following analogy of how the prayer should be used:
It is very much the same when I am moved by a view of the heavens, the sun, and all creation to exalt him who created everything, bringing all this into my prayer and praise, saying: O God, Author of such a beautiful and perfect creation, grant to me.… Similarly, our prayer should include the Mother of God as we say: O God, what a noble person you have created in her! May she be blessed! And so on. And you who honored her so highly, grant also to me.… (LW 43:39).
He says also, "we should make the Hail Mary neither a prayer nor an invocation because it is improper to interpret the words beyond what they mean in themselves and beyond the meaning given them by the Holy Spirit" (LW 43:39). One could use it to meditate on the gifts of grace God gave to Mary, thereby knowing the biblical personage Mary and respect her. He goes on to add, "in the present no one speaks evil of this Mother and her Fruit as much as those who bless her with many rosaries and constantly mouth the Hail Mary. These, more than any others, speak evil against Christ’s word and faith in the worst way" (LW 43:40).

Conclusion
If you engage Rome's apologists at some point you will come across Roman Catholic criticism of Martin Luther. Fairly common topics include: Luther’s alleged antinomianism, his rejection of certain canonical books, his alleged desire to be a Protestant pope, or his responsibility for Nazi Germany. Interestingly though, when it comes to the topic of Mary, Roman Catholic sentiment towards Luther shifts considerably. Luther becomes the staunch supporter of Mary; a leader that all contemporary Protestants should learn a great lesson in Mariology from. This drastic shift is puzzling; particularly since Luther’s abandoning of the intercession of the saints and his doctrine of justification significantly changes his Marian approach. It's true, Luther had a Mariology. It reflected his commitment to Christ, and stood in antithesis to popular Catholic belief in the sixteenth century. While there may be some points of agreement with Rome's current Mariology, It's fundamentally a different Mary. Luther's Mary isn't to be prayed to or be worshiped. If nice things are to be said about her, they are not said to her. They are said to God.

Interfaith Mary's Mother Mary And Martin Luther has been around since at least 2004. I've even mentioned it a few times on this blog. My concerns are with the quality of the material being disseminated by the article.  The author claims a theological degree, a "director of religious education," and attends "mass almost every day," spending "2-3 hours daily in some kind of spiritual practice." One would've expected a different caliber article based on the credentials. Perhaps we'll at least see a future revision that reflects truth and accuracy. 

Friday, December 22, 2017

Luther: "I, who should burn of the spirit, am consumed by the flesh and by impurity"

Here's a Martin Luther-related excerpt that appeared on the Catholic Answers Forums:

Even when he was engaged in the translation of the Bible, Luther, in the year 1521, while living in Wartburg — to which place this “courageous” Apostle had fled in the disguise of a country squire and lived under an assumed name — wrote to his friend Melanchthon to say: “I sit here in idleness and pray, alas, little and sigh not for the Church of God. Much more am I consumed by the fires of my unbridled flesh. In a word, I, who should burn of the spirit, am consumed by the flesh and by impurity." (De Wette, 2, 22)

This is one of those quotes that I categorically classify as the "Antinomian Luther." They are typically posted by those dedicated to defending the Roman church (but not limited to them!).  Historically, such "shock" quotes served as propaganda used by pre-1930 Roman Catholic controversialists. The champion of this view was Heinrich Denifle (1844-1905), an Austrian Roman Catholic historian. For Denifle, one of Luther's major problems was lust and immorality. It was Luther's craving for sex that led him to not only break his monastic vows, but to revolt against the established Roman church.   Denifle would use statements like this to prove Luther invented the doctrine of justification to excuse his gross immorality. With this snippet above, a further insinuation is that Luther was not morally qualified to translate the Bible. Let's take a closer look at this quote and see what's going on. Let's see if the historical record proves Luther was "consumed by the flesh and by impurity" rather than the Spirit of God, and therefore unqualified to translate the Bible.

Plagiarism
The person who posted the quote provides obscure documentation. Such obscurity usually indicates that the material was not taken from an actual straight reading of text written by Luther . This person also stated,
I am a convert from Protestantism who used to idolize Luther until I read his writings (eventually). Before, and while undertaking my doctorate (early music history + performance), I had learned to read primary sources, this is what also lead me to the Catholic Church - the Apostolic Fathers + St Augustine + Aquinas. Today many people will watch a movie about Luther and think they are well informed about him.
I do question the validity of this testimony of learning, especially the claim of reading Luther's writings and the ability to read primary sources to form opinions. Of the two posts of Luther material this person presented in this discussion (#1#2), neither demonstrates a straight reading of Luther. The material was probably taken from a few web-pages, then cut-and pasted over on to the Catholic Answers discussion forum. I suspect this pagethis page, and perhaps this page was utilized. Unless the person posting this material on Catholic Answers wrote these links, much of the content of these posts is blatant plagiarism. For this quote particularly, this web-page appears to be that which was plagiarized. Even if he (she?) did compose this web page (or one of the others), I still doubt any of the material came from a straight reading (or "studying") of the "primary sources" for Luther. Some of what was posted was directly plagiarized from Father Patrick O'Hare's, The Facts about Luther, especially the quote above under scrutiny. The paragraph appears in a similar form in Father O'Hare's book on page 318. O'Hare states,
That he was consumed by the fires of fleshly lust he admits himself. Even when engaged, as we related in another place, in the translation of the Bible, Luther, in the year 1521, while living in the Wartburg, to which place this "courageous Apostle" fled in the disguise of a country squire and lived under an assumed name, wrote to his friend Melanchthon to say: "I sit here in idleness and pray, alas, little, and sigh not for the Church of God. Much more am I consumed by the fires of my unbridled flesh. In a word, I, who should burn of the spirit, am consumed by the flesh and by lasciviousness." (De Wette, 2, 22.)
What was posted on the Catholic Answers discussion forum (and this web-page also) is an obvious plagiarism of something Father O'Hare wrote over one hundred years ago. Whether the person at Catholic Answers took the quote from O'Hare's book or not, someone at some point did, and that's why it's on the Internet (now being disseminated by cut-and-paste plagiarism). To borrow from this Catholic Answers participant: today many people will read a biased and poorly researched web-page or book about Luther and think they are well informed about him.

Documentation
The documentation provided is "De Wette, 2, 22." This refers to the second volume of Luther's letters compiled by Dr. Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette in the nineteenth-century. The volumes he put together were included in the Weimar Edition of Luther's Works. Here is de Wette 2,22. What's being referred to is a portion of a letter Luther wrote to Philip Melanchthon on July 13, 1521 from the Wartburg Castle.  The same text is also found in WA 2:356-357. The text reads,


This letter has been translated into English. It can be found in LW 48:256-263, and The Letters of Martin Luther, pp. 79-81.


Context
To Philip Melanchthon, faithful servant of Christ, evangelist of the congregation at Wittenberg
Your letter displeased me for two reasons: First, I realize that you carry the cross too impatiently; you give in too much to your emotions and as is your way you are just too gentle. Second, you extol me so much. You err tremendously in ascribing such great importance to me, as if I were so much concerned for God’s case. Your high opinion of me shames and tortures me, since—unfortunately—I sit here like a fool and hardened in leisure, pray little, do not sigh for the church of God, yet burn in a big fire of my untamed body. In short I should be ardent in spirit, but I am ardent in the flesh, in lust, laziness, leisure, and sleepiness. I do not know whether God has turned away from me since you all do not pray for me. You are already replacing me; because of the gifts you have from God, you have attained greater authority and popularity than I had. Already eight days have passed in which I have written nothing, in which I have not prayed or studied; this is partly because of temptations of the flesh, partly because I am tortured by other burdens. If this thing does not improve, I shall go directly to Erfurt and not incognito. There you will see me, or I you, for I shall consult doctors or surgeons. It is impossible that I endure this evil any longer; it is easier to endure ten big wounds than this small sign of a lesion. Maybe the Lord burdens me so in order to push me out of this hermitage into the public. [LW 48:256-257]
Conclusion
Before commenting on O'Hare's interpretation of this letter, notice his mocking words when he refers to Luther as the "courageous Apostle" who "fled in the disguise of a country squire and lived under an assumed name." The other side of this coin is that Luther was an outlaw with a price on his head, and his being killed as an outlaw during the time-period was an actual possibility, not simply a far-fetched possibility. O'Hare also leaves out the fact that Luther did not plan his own escape to the Wartburg

Father O'Hare's reading of this letter is myopic. He gravitates to one brief section and then makes an inflammatory conclusion. Luther was not "consumed by the fires of fleshly lust" as O'Hare overstates. That is, Luther was not simply dreaming of wine, women, and song all day while hiding away in the Wartburg. A reading of the entire letter will prove that. If Luther was so consumed by lust, it seems odd that he would casually mention a number of his struggles in the beginning of the letter, but then go on for the majority of this long letter to a number of other political and spiritual subjects.

This is not to say that Luther was not really struggling with what he says he was struggling with. W.H.T. Dau long ago provided a fair and balanced view of Luther's stay at the Wartburg:
At the Wartburg, where Luther was an exile for ten months, his name was changed by the warden of the castle, Count von Berlepsch. This was done the better to conceal his identity from the henchmen of Rome, who by the imperial edict of outlawry had been given liberty to hunt Luther and slay him where they found him.
The sexual condition of Luther during the years before his marriage was the normal condition of any healthy young man at his age. Luther speaks of this matter as a person nowadays would speak about it to his physician or to a close friend. The matter to which he refers is in itself perfectly pure: it is an appeal of nature. Do Luther's Catholic critics mean to infer that Luther was the only monk, then or now, that felt this call which human nature issues by the ordination of the Creator? Rome can inflict celibacy even on priests that look like stall-fed oxen, but she cannot unsex men. Mohammedans are less inhuman to their eunuchs. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that Luther complains of this matter as something that disturbs him. It vexed his pure mind, and he fought against it as not many monks of his day have done, by fasting, prayer, and hard work. Yes, hard work! The remarks of Luther about his physical condition are simply twisted from their true import when Luther is represented as a victim of fleshly lust and a habitual debauchee. Luther's Catholic critics fail to mention that during his brief stay at the Wartburg Luther not only translated the greater part of the New Testament, but also wrote about a dozen treatises, some of them of considerable size, and that of his correspondence during this period about fifty letters are still preserved. Surely, a fairly respectable record for a lazy man!
Addendum: Heinrich Denifle, Luther and Lutherdom
Roman Catholic historian Heinrich Denifle discusses why he thinks sixteenth-century monks and nuns vigorously abandoned their celibacy vows. Denifle says there were those lawless people already predisposed to follow Luther's view, then there were those who simply got "carried along by the current of reform." They were swept away by "carelessness." "They neglected communion with God." Denfile then appeals to the quote under scrutiny:
It is no wonder, then, that to such as these the lust of the flesh, caused by their lack of communion with God, gave them much ado. As their spokesmam exclaims: "I am inflamed with carnal pleasure, while I ought to be fervent in spirit. I am on fire with the great flame of my unbridled flesh and sit here in leisure and laziness, neglecting prayer." (Enders, III, 189).
For Denifle, the later group simply didn't try hard enough in their spiritual discipline to maintain their vow of celibacy. In Denifle's view, the person that takes such a vow is one seeking closer communion with God (as opposed to those who don't take such a vow). Let's let Luther respond from his comments on 1 Corinthians 7:
The Holy Spirit has therefore told us through St. Paul that celibacy is a very precious thing and highly to be respected on earth so that nobody, because of the greatness and dignity of this estate, should think himself better than another poor Christian but should rather remain in that simplicity of faith that makes us all one before God. For our poisonous nature simply cannot tolerate that it should not preen itself before God in works; and the better the work, the more credit it wants for it. Therefore it is also blinded by the pure radiance of virginity that it considers no estate higher before God than virginity, because nothing that we do on earth is greater or more beautiful. And so it concludes that just as a virgin counts for more on earth, so it will also be in heaven.
This is the source of all those nonsensical teachings of the devil which prepare special little crowns in heaven for all virgins and make them brides of Christ, as though other Christians were not brides of Christ. Then all the poor misguided young people go wild, each one striving toward this little crown and wanting to fill heaven with virgins and brides of Christ. In the meantime the Christian faith is despised and forgotten and finally extinguished, although it alone can win the crown and make us brides of Christ. Know this, however, and remain certain of it, that such becrowned virgins who rely on such teachings and pretend virginity in this fashion instead of the way St. Paul teaches, not one of them is a pure virgin or can remain one, and at the last they will be found to be neither virgins nor brides of Christ (LW 28:48).

Friday, December 15, 2017

Melanchthon: Luther was so immoral "that he wished they would remove him from the office of preaching”

Here's a Martin Luther-related excerpt that appeared on the Catholic Answers Forums:

“He was so well aware of his immorality,” we are informed by Melanchthon, “that he wished they would remove him from the office of preaching.” (Sleidan, Book II, 1520).

With this snippet, alleged testimony from Melanchton is brought forth indicting Luther not only of immorality, but of being so sinful that Luther wanted to be removed "from the office of preaching." Melanchthon was one of Luther's closest friends, so here would be compelling testimony not only of Luther's depravity, but also a demonstration that he was in no way qualified to usher in a reformation of the church.  A closer look at this quote though will show Melanchthon never said or wrote this. Further, we'll see that the quote ultimately amounts to propaganda: the historical context of the quote is being ignored in order to perpetuate a false historical paradigm.

Plagiarism
The person who posted the quote provides obscure documentation ("Sleidan, Book II, 1520"). Such obscurity usually indicates that the material was not taken from an actual straight reading of text written by Luther . This person also stated,
I am a convert from Protestantism who used to idolize Luther until I read his writings (eventually). Before, and while undertaking my doctorate (early music history + performance), I had learned to read primary sources, this is what also lead me to the Catholic Church - the Apostolic Fathers + St Augustine + Aquinas. Today many people will watch a movie about Luther and think they are well informed about him.
I do question the validity of this testimony of learning, especially the claim of reading Luther's writings and the ability to read primary sources to form opinions. Of the two posts of Luther material this person presented in this discussion (#1#2), neither demonstrates a straight reading of Luther. The material was probably taken from a few web-pages, then cut-and pasted over on to the Catholic Answers discussion forum. I suspect this pagethis page, and perhaps this page was utilized. Unless the person posting this material on Catholic Answers wrote these links, much of the content of these posts is blatant plagiarism. For this quote particularly, this web-page appears to be that which was plagiarized.

Even if he (she?) did compose this web page (or one of the others), I still doubt any of the material came from a straight reading (or "studying") of the "primary sources" for Luther. Some of what was posted was directly plagiarized from Father Patrick O'Hare's, The Facts about Luther, most likely, the quote above under scrutiny as well. The quote appears in a similar form in Father O'Hare's book on page 319. O'Hare states, "He was so well aware of his immorality," as we are informed by his favorite disciple, "that he wished they would remove him from the office of preaching." (Sleidan, Book II, 1520)." It appears Father O'Hare himself plagiarized this sentence. The earliest I've traced it  back is to the English translation of Jean François Marie Trévern's Amicable Discussion (1828). Trévern's original French can be found here:


Trévern similarly documents the quote as "Sleid. liv. II, an 1520." What was posted on the Catholic Answers discussion forum (and this web-page also) is an obvious plagiarism of something Father O'Hare published over one hundred years ago, and something Father O'Hare took from something published long before him. Whether the person at Catholic Answers took the quote from O'Hare's book or not, someone at some point did, and that's why it's on the Internet (now being disseminated by cut-and-paste plagiarism). To borrow from this Catholic Answers participant: today many people will read a biased and poorly researched web-page or book about Luther and think they are well informed about him.

Documentation
The documentation refers to "Sleidan, Book II, 1520." No explanation from O'Hare or Trévern is provided as to what this reference means. I searched a number of texts using the quote under scrutiny, and I found no explanation as to what the reference is pointing to.

The reference appears to be to the author Johann Sleidan (Johannes Sleidanus), a sixteenth-century Reformation historian (1506–56). Sleidan put together "a chronological narrative of the reformation from 1517 until 1555." It was a series of twenty-five books. "Book II" therefore is just that: the second volume of the series.  "1520" is not a page number. It refers to the content of Book II: the year 1520. The series was entitled, De Statu Religionis Et Reipublicae, Carolo Quinto, Caesare, Commentarii: Cum Indice luculentissimo. pars altera. Volume 2 can be found here. The relevant text reads as follows:


This entirety of Sleiden's series was translated into English by Edward Bohun:
The general history of the Reformation of the Church from the errors and corruptions of the Church of Rome, begun in Germany by Martin Luther with the progress thereof in all parts of Christendom from the year 1517 to the year 1556 / written in Latin by John Sleidan ; and faithfully englished. To which is added A continuation to the Council of Trent in the year 1562 / by Edward Bohun.
Published in English in 1689, the whole series is available online here in English and here . Book Two is available here and here. Amazon sells a reprint of the English translation. It's probable that Trévern relied on a French translation of Sleidan, the relevant text can be found here. Below is the English translation of the text in question.


Context
To the same effect, on the same day, Luther writes to the Bishop of Mersburgh, that as to his Doctrin, his Conscience bore him witness that it was the same that Christ and his Apostles had taught:* But because his Life and manners were not in all things answerable to the Purity of his Profession, he could even wish that he were silenc'd from Preaching, as being unworthy to exercise that Sacred Function: That he was not moved either by the hopes of Gain or Vain-glory; but that the End to which all his Endeavours were directed, was to imprint a-fresh in the minds of Men those eternal Truths, which were now almost utterly defaced, or else obscured by a gross and wilful stupidity; That those who condemn his Writings, were hurried on by the violence of their Passions; and promoted their own ambitious designs, under the specious pretence of upholding the Authority of the Bishop of Rome: That a great many Foreigners, famous both for Parts and Learning, had by their Letters approved of his Works, and thanked him for his obliging the Publick with them: That this confirm'd him in his Opinion, that his Doctrin was Orthodox: He beseeches him therefore to shew some Fatherly tenderness towards him; and if he had hitherto erred, to guide him now into the right way: That he could not as yet get his Cause to be heard, although he had been importunate in requesting it: That he should think it a great happiness to be convinced of any of his Errours, and they should find he had been mis∣represented by those who had possessed the World with a belief of his Obstinacy.
Conclusion
The immediate thing to notice first is that the very source being cited (Sleidan), does not say Melanchthon said or wrote what's purported. Patrick O'Hare and Jean François Marie Trévern are also wrong when they stated, "as we are informed by his favorite disciple." According to Sleidan, the comment was written by Luther in a letter to "the Bishop of Mersburgh." It wasn't being reported by anyone.  Even if it was the bishop's comment, that bishop was no disciple of Luther, but rather a high-ranking Roman Catholic bishop. The second thing to notice is that Sleidan doesn't mention sexual immorality. He says specifically "life and manners" in comparison to the "Purity of his Profession." Given Luther's meticulous conscience of his own sin and his awareness of the office of minister of the Gospel, this comment need not mean anything as outrageous as Luther's detractors speculate.

A third aspect is to determine if Luther actually wrote a letter admitting his immorality and his wish to be removed from the office of preaching. On February 4, 1520 Luther wrote two similar letters: one to Albrecht, archbishop of Mayence, and another to Adolphus, bishop of Merseburg. These letters can be found in WAbr 2:398-403. While a lengthy section of the letter to Albrecht was translated into English, the letter to Adolphus has not (as far as I can determine). In the letter to Bishop Adolphus, Luther says in part:


One notices that the letter opens with a fair amount of zealous flattery, as if one were addressing royalty. He then mentions all the charges being brought against him by his detractors, and they should not be believed.  Luther eventually says:"usque hodie opto a publicj moveri, relicto docendi negotio,... Scio, quod non vivo, quae doceo, ideoque taedet me officii hujus: tantum abest, ut gloriam quaeram, ut multi mihi imponunt." The immediate question that should come to mind is: why would Luther write a letter to a Roman Catholic bishop, a bishop that was hostile to Luther's plight, and say this? It doesn't make any sense.

The answer comes in understanding this historical context of February 1520. Luther was stirring up a reformed movement in a number of ways, and not all of his ideas were met with approval. For instance, at the time he was arguing that the cup should be given to the laity in the Lord's Supper. Heinrich Boehmer explains,
His suggestion regarding the restoration of the cup to the laity caused such offense at the Dresden court that Duke George denounced him to the Elector on December 27 as a secret Hussite. Moreover, Duke George immediately mobilized the bishops of Meissen and Merseberg against the "very Pragueish" Treatise on the Lord's Supper.  The bishop of Meissen responded by issuing a mandate of his own against the sermon on January 24 [Martin Luther: Road to Reformation, p. 303].
Boehmer says that the Elector found all this "exceedingly disagreeable" and asked Luther to write an "immediate pacifying explanation to the archbishop of Mainz and the bishop Merseberg and probably several other prelates." Before sending the letters, the Elector wanted to look over what Luther had written. After a series of other events that further complicated the relationship between Luther and the bishop of Meissen, "on February 22, Luther brought himself to the point of signing the letters to the archbishop of Mainz and the bishop of Merseburg" (Boehmer, p.304).  An excerpt from one of these letters can be found here.  When Luther writes that "his Life and manners were not in all things answerable to the Purity of his Profession, he could even wish that he were silenc'd from Preaching," he's not making bold personal confessions to his friends, he's attempting to smooth over the bishop by humbling himself (at the order of the Elector). Boehmer explains the response Luther received:
The two prelates were apparently surprised beyond measure at Luther's wholly unexpected readiness to be corrected by them. The bishop of Merseburg could not keep from imparting a sort of censure in his response, but in the conclusion he was very friendly and suggested a personal meeting with Luther [Boehmer, p.304-305].
For a slightly different explanation of the historical context, see Martin Brecht's discussion in Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation, 1483-1521, pp. 357-358. Brecht thinks it may have been  Karl von Miltitz acting "on behalf of Electoral Saxony" who contacted Bishop Adolf of Mersburg to see if it was he who was complaining about Luther to the Pope. Brecht says "Luther was instructed by the court to write letters to bishop Adolf of Mersburg and Albrecht of Mainz about the accusations raised against him." Brecht says the letter "would scarcely mollify the bishop of Mersburg." Miltitz was a papal nuncio and active in attempting to reconcile Luther with the Papacy during this time period. Miltitz was also responsible in getting Luther to write a letter to the Pope, in "the conventional, curialistic style," but the letter was not sent.

Despite the clarity of this historical information, the quote has been used, whole or in part, by those who typically who hold an untenable historical view of Luther. This view paints Luther as grossly antinomian. Those espousing this view are often defenders of the Roman church (but not limited to them).  Historically, such shocking quotes served as propaganda used by pre-1930 Roman Catholic controversialists. The champion of this view was Heinrich Denifle (1844-1905), an Austrian Roman Catholic historian. For Denifle, one of Luther's major problems was lust and immorality. It was Luther's craving for sex that led him to not only break his monastic vows, but to revolt against the established Roman church.   Denifle would use statements like this to prove Luther invented the doctrine of justification to excuse his gross immorality.  Denifle's Luther was an immoral, lust, and sex crazed monk. A section of the very quote in question makes it into Denifle's analysis
“As I knew,” says Solomon, “that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, * * * I went to the Lord and besought him." The Church opposes a spiritual to the carnal “uri.” “Burn, O Lord, with the fire of the Holy Ghost, our reins and our heart, that we may serve thee with a chaste body and please with a clean heart,'' is the prayer in the "Missa in tentatione carnis." Our Saviour Himself counsels watching and constant prayer as a means of not succumbing to temptation. Indeed, Luther a short time before knew this well too. As the strongest weapon against evil desire, he recommends "prayer, contemplation of the Passion of Jesus Christ, as well as the word of God," and a few years earlier he holds up watching and fervor of spirit as an unfailing remedy against carnal lust. I have said that he then still knew this, but not that he still put it into practice. From and after 1516, on his own confession, he seldom found time to acquit himself of the prescribed prayers, the hours, and to celebrate Mass. What he acknowledged in 1520 was even then already verified of himself: "I know that I do not live according to what I teach." ["Scio quod non vivo quae doceo." To Bishop Adolf of Merseburg, February 4, 1520, " Brief wechsel," 2, p. 312].
Notice for Denifle, there's not any sort of mention about either the context or the historical situation that provoked the letter. Rather, Denifle rips it from its context and uses it to propel his predetermined interpretation of Luther. Another Roman Catholic historian, Hartmann Grisar, fair only a little better:
Yet Luther speaks ably enough in 1517 of the urgent necessity of spiritual exercises, more particularly meditation on the Scriptures, to which the recitation of the Office in Choir was an introduction: " As we are attacked by countless distractions from without, impeded by cares and engrossed by business, and as all this leads us away from purity of heart, only one remedy remains for us, viz. with great zeal to 'exhort each other' (Heb. iii. 13), rouse our slumbering spirit by the Word of God, reading the same continually, and hearing it as the Apostle exhorts." Not long after he is, however, compelled to write: "I know right well that I do not live in accordance with my teaching." ["Scio quod non vivo quae doceo." To Bishop Adolf of Merseburg, February 4, 1520, " Brief wechsel," 2, p. 312].
One could easily dismiss the comments from the Catholic Answers discussion forum which opened this blog post, for the Internet is filled with unsubstantiated nonsense. One could even go so far as to give Father O'Hare a pass. He was a popular priest living in a time period in which anti-Reformation polemic was standard. He was a pop-apologist before there was such a thing as Catholic Answers. Denifle and Grisar though were trained historians. They should have been able to navigate correctly through the facts. Their use of the quote demonstrates that for all of us, worldview determines interpretation, sometimes at the expense of accuracy.  

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Luther: “As little as one is able to remove mountains, to fly with the birds, to create new stars, or to bite off one’s nose, so little can on escape unchastity”

Here's a Martin Luther-related excerpt that appeared on the Catholic Answers Forums:

In studying Luther, we must remember that his cardinal dogma when he abandoned Catholic teaching was that man has no free will, that he can do no good, and that to subdue animal passion is neither necessary nor possible. He insists that the moral law of the Decalogue is not binding, that the 10 Commandments are abrogated and that they are no longer in force among Christians. “We must remove the Decalogue out of sight and heart”(De Wette, 4, 188). “If we allow them — the Commandments – any influence in our conscience, they become the cloak of all evil, heresies, and blasphemies.” (Comm. Ad Galatians). “If Moses should attempt to intimidate you with his stupid 10 Commandments, tell him right out: chase yourself to the Jews." (Wittenb. Ad 5, 1573). “As little as one is able to remove mountains, to fly with the birds, to create new stars, or to bite off one’s nose, so little can on escape unchastity.” (Alts Abenmachlslehre, 2, 118)

A number of quotes are presented. This entry will concentrate on the last quote: "As little as one is able to remove mountains, to fly with the birds, to create new stars, or to bite off one’s nose, so little can on escape unchastity. (Alts Abenmachlslehre, 2, 118)." As to the other quotes, I've covered most of them already as part of my Luther, Exposing The Myth series, or elsewhere on this blog.

This is one of those quotes that I categorically classify as the "Antinomian Luther." They are typically posted by those dedicated to defending the Roman church (but not limited to them!).  Historically, such "shock" quotes served as propaganda used by pre-1930 Roman Catholic controversialists. Notice in the paragraph above, the Catholic Answers participant says Luther believed "to subdue animal passion is neither necessary nor possible." Then quotes are brought forth to demonstrate Luther was fundamentally immoral and rejected God's law. The champion of this view was Heinrich Denifle (1844-1905), an Austrian Roman Catholic historian. For Denifle, one of Luther's major problems was lust and immorality. It was Luther's craving for sex that led him to not only break his monastic vows, but to revolt against the established Roman church.

Let's take a closer look at this quote and see what's going on. Let's see if the historical record proves Luther was a sex-driven person who abandoned God's law to fulfill his fleshly desires.

Plagiarism 
The person who posted the quote provides obscure documentation.  This person also stated,
I am a convert from Protestantism who used to idolize Luther until I read his writings (eventually). Before, and while undertaking my doctorate (early music history + performance), I had learned to read primary sources, this is what also lead me to the Catholic Church - the Apostolic Fathers + St Augustine + Aquinas. Today many people will watch a movie about Luther and think they are well informed about him.
I do question the validity of this testimony of learning, especially the claim of reading Luther's writings and the ability to read primary sources to form opinions. Of the two posts of Luther material this person presented in this discussion (#1, #2), neither demonstrates a straight reading of Luther. The material was probably taken from a few web-pages, then cut-and pasted over on to the discussion forum. I suspect this page, this page, and perhaps this page was utilized. Unless the person posting this material on Catholic Answers wrote these links, much of these posts were blatant plagiarism. Even if he (she?) did compose one of these web pages, I still doubt any of the material came from a straight reading (or "studying") of the "primary sources" for Luther. Some of what was posted was directly plagiarized from Father Patrick O'Hare's, The Facts about Luther, especially the quote above under scrutiny. The paragraph appears in almost the exact form in Father O'Hare's book on pages 314-315. O'Hare uses it to question Luther's morality: to prove his "disturbed conscience," and that "he was not a God-inspired man and had no claim to be considered even an ordinary reformer or spiritual guide." O'Hare states, 
In studying Luther, we must remember, that his cardinal dogma when he abandoned Catholic teaching, was that man has no free-will, that he can do no good and that to subdue animal passion is neither necessary nor possible. He insisted that the moral law of the Decalogue is not binding, that the Ten Commandments are abrogated and that they are no longer in force among Christians. "We must," he says, "remove the Decalogue out of sight and heart." (De Wette, 4, 188.) "If we allow them—the Commandments—any influence in our conscience, they become the cloak of all evil, heresies and blasphemies." (Comm. ad Galat. p. 310.) "If Moses should attempt to intimidate you with his stupid Ten Commandments, tell him right out: chase yourself to the Jews." (Wittenb. ad. 5, 1573.) Having thus unceremoniously brushed aside the binding force of the moral law, we do not wonder that he makes the following startling and shameless pronouncements. "As little as one is able," he says, "to remove mountains, to fly with the birds (Mist und Ham halten), to create new stars, or to bite off one's nose, so little can one escape unchastity." Alts Abendmahlslehre, 2, 118.) Out of the depths of his depraved mind, he further declares: "They are fools who attempt to overcome temptations (temptations to lewdness) by fasting, prayer and chastisement.  For such temptations and immoral attacks are easily overcome when there are plenty of maidens and women." (Jen. ed. 2, p. 216.)
Whether the person at Catholic Answers took the quote from O'Hare's book or not, someone at some point did, and that's why it's on the Internet (now being disseminated by cut-and-paste plagiarism). To borrow from this Catholic Answers participant: today many people will read a biased and poorly researched web-page or book about Luther and think they are well informed about him.

Documentation
O'Hare does cite a reference for the quote in question: "Alts Abendmahlslehre, 2, 118." This cryptic reference occurs numerous times in nineteenth-century Luther-related materials, primarily German writings, and then fizzles out in twentieth-century usage.The reference appears to point to the second volume in a book in regard to the Lord's Supper. Whatever is meant by this reference, versions of this quote with a similar reference can be traced back in its polemical usage to at least 1781. For instance,  this eighteenth-century author says Luther lived his early years in constant lust and fornication, and that he freely admitted he was unable to live a chaste life. He the cites the quote under scrutiny:


Notice with this book, also mentioned is a "2" and a "118," which is similar to what O'Hare is citing, but it leaves out "Alts Abendmahlslehre." Unfortunately, what's being referred to by Father O'Hare and this other reference isn't clear to me. "Alts" could be referring to the Altenberg edition of Luther's collected writings. If O'Hare and this author are citing volume 2 page 118 of the Altenberg edition, there's nothing on this page similar to the quote in question, nor is this treatise about the Lord's Supper. Interestingly though, notice the "T. 2. 292" from the 1781 book above. There is something very similar to the quote on p. 292 of Altenberg, volume 2 (which will be discussed below).

Another reference that also occurs with this quote at times is "Gottlieb. 2. Ausg. S. 245." For instance, this book from 1896 uses the quote and adds the Gottlieb reference:

"Gottlieb. 2. Ausg." refers to Briefe aus Hamburg: ein Wort zur Vertheidigung der Kirche gegen die Angriffe von sieben Läugnern der Gottheit Christi, Volume 2 by Gottlieb (Tilmann Pesch SJ). Here is Page 245:


Gottlieb simply cites the quotes with the "Alts Abendmahlslehre"  reference: "In abundance, Luther often says it outright, after man Pure, chaste life is impossible. As little as I can paint away mountains, fly with the birds, hold manure and urine, darken the sun, create new stars, and bite my nose, I can not let go of fornication (Alte Abendmahlslehre 2. 118)."

Context
I'm not sure what source is meant by "Alte Abendmahlslehre 2." However,  as stated above, there is something very similar to the quote on p. 292 of Altenberg, volume 2 (cited in the 1781 text).  Page 292 states:


This page is part of Letter Luther wrote in August 1523 to the Burgemeister at Nuremburg."to resist papal pressures and to appoint an evangelical preacher." Jules Michelet explains:
One of the points which gave the greatest disquietude to the Reformer was the abolition of monastic vows. In 1522, he sent forth an exhortation on this subject to the four mendicant orders. The Augustines, in the month of March, the Carthusians in August, declared energetically in his favour.
To the lieutenants of his imperial majesty at Nuremberg, he writes, in August, 1523: "It is inconsistent with the nature of God to require vows which it is impossible for human nature to keep. . . Dear lords, we implore you to unbend in this matter. You know not what horrible and infamous cruelties the devil exercises in convents; render not yourselves accomplices in his wickedness, charge not your consciences with his guilt. If my bitterest enemies knew that which I learn every day from all the countries about us—ah, I am sure they would at once assist me in overthrowing the convents! You compel me to cry out louder than I otherwise would. Give way, I entreat you, ere these scandals burst forth more scandalously than they need to do."
It is in the context of this letter that something very similar to the quote occurs. This letter can be found in Sämtliche Werke, Volumes 53, 182-190 with the quote on page 188 and also in WABr 3:367-374, with the relevant section on page 372:


To my knowledge, this letter has no official English translation. In this section, Luther says that unless God provides a miracle of chastity, a vow of chastity is impossible to keep. It would be like the miracle of a person flying like a bird (Wer will doch fliegen geloben wie ein Vogel, und halten, es sei denn Gottes Wunderzeichen da?). Mankind was not created for chastity, but rather to be fruitful and multiply. To impose a vow of chastity on someone naturally born to procreate is like a person trying to hold their dung and urine (Mist oder Harn halten).  

Conclusion
I would be surprised if  "Alte Abendmahlslehre 2. 118" said anything different than what Luther 's letter from August 1523 to the Burgemeister at Nuremburg says above. I would also be surprised if some other context (other than this letter) the quote is purported to have been taken from actually exists. True, some of the key phrases are missing from the August 23 letter:  "...to remove mountains, to create new stars, or to bite off one's nose...". After going through years of these quotes, one thing I've noticed is that when a Luther quote provides a number of statements together saying the same thing, they can at times be secondary summary statements put together by someone reading Luther. 

One thing is clear from the context: Luther believed in celibacy for those who were given it by God. Otherwise, Luther believed in the married life as the norm for human beings. Biologically, people are typically designed with the desire to procreate. This desire can either be carried out in a God pleasing way (marriage) of a non-God pleasing way (fornication). During Luther's time, the monks and nuns were plagued with fornication because of the unnatural vow they took. Some of Luther's detractors though (like Denifle and O'Hare) painted a much different picture: Luther was simply espousing blatant fornication. Perhaps these men took issue with Luther here because they themselves worked hard at keeping their vow of celibacy.

Luther wrote often on vows and chastity. In his extended treatment of 1 Corinthians 7, he ends with this summary that well explains his view:
Now we may summarize this chapter thus: It is well not to marry unless it is necessary. It becomes necessary when God has not given us the rare gift of chastity, for no one is created for chastity, but we are all born to beget children and carry the burdens of married life, according to Gen. 1; 2, and 3. Now, if someone should not suffer from this necessity, he would be the exception solely by the grace and the miraculous hand of God, not because of command, vow, or intent. Where God does not effect this, it may be attempted, but it will come to no good end. Therefore they are nothing but abominable murderers of souls who put young people into monasteries and nunneries and keep them there by force, as though chastity were something that could be put on and off like a shoe and something that is in our hand. Meanwhile they themselves take quite a different view and drive others to attempt what they have never even raised their little finger to attempt or would not be able to. It is easy to say: “Be chaste,” but why are you not chaste? It is great for you to eat like a pig and drink like a horse while telling me to fast! But enough said for those who are willing to listen. And what more can one say to those who will not listen? May God enlighten them or prevent them from strangling souls in this fashion! Amen. (LW 28:55-56).