Ok were going there - Luther and Scatology (with warm thanks to my interlocutors elsewhere and thanks to the bottom inspectors here too ).
Part 1
One man, whose writings and legacy have often troubled me – with good reason – had a lifelong battle against the satan (I always write the word with a lower case ‘s’ so as not to big up the adversary, whatever that means to you ); namely, Martin Luther. He once reputedly threw an inkpot at Satan and used a great deal of strong scatological language to make Satan flee when he was assailed – ‘here is one of my turds Stan – take a bite on it!’. And although he wrote very affirmably about the joys of sexual congress he must go down in history as having given the most un-gentlemanly reasons for having married – he said that he ‘wedded a nun to spite Satan’.
There is one thing I really like about Luther’s idea of how Satan tempts us. Luther, recovering from the late medieval pessimism about the natural world and the human body, loved the good things of life; music, good wine and company, and the scent of flowers. Late in his life, each morning he would walk in his rose garden and forbid Satan to interfere with his enjoyment. When he was a younger, at a debate where he argued the cause for Reform - and if he’d not gained support in this he would have lost his life - he nonchalantly smelled a rose flower when listening to the counter arguments. And when he survived the debate he went outside giving the open handed sign of victory that the triumphant jouster would make at a medieval tournament – and he cried ‘I have come through’.
Luther was a very brave young man – and was a champion of freedom until he became powerful. But later he went far too far with his battle against an external satan – especially in his revolting attacks on the Jews – ‘ Do not let a foul Jew utter the name of Christ. Smear pig’s shit in their faces and burn their synagogues. And of course there is a defamatory Lutheran woodcut of a Lutheran solider dropping his breeches and farting in the Pope’s face – which did much to dehumanise Catholics. . And when he was dying Luther cried ‘I am ripe shit, the world is a great arsehole and we are soon to part company’. Charming:-D As for me – I think we should wage our wars within rather than looking for outward enemies to throw shit at. People still throw shit today at their enemies – an not all of them are religious people by any means. Throwing shit is the lowest form of humour.
Part 2
I’ve read two biographies of Luther - one by Martin Remarius the Erasmus scholar who is pro Erasmus and so is not fond of Luther; the other by Heiko Oberman who is very pro Luther. Most of the stuff above actually come from Oberman’s thoughts about Luther preaching ‘God’s Word in filthy language’ Luther was up against the whole late medieval tradition of flesh hating and world hating (part legacy of the experience of the black death/great plague)- as well as a Church grown corrupt, arid, and authoritarian - and he was very brave in taking all of that on. There is the old story that before he realised he was justified by faith - that is when he thought he had to be good and mortify his flesh to earn salvation - he thought that God in his anger could see him all of the time even when he was on the toilet - and therefore he was permanently constipated through terror. And once he felt justified by faith he had a healthy bowel movement. Not sure whether this is fact or myth but its a common story.
Luther did make one contribution towards Christian universalism - he loved the Theolgia Germanica - a book of medial German mysticism that Calvin later termed ‘pure poison. It is a lovely book IMHO and contains the words - This world is the forecourt of paradise’; but more importantly for universalist it also contains the words ‘Nothing burns in hell but self will’- and these words were to influence the Pietists and Moravians who became Lutheran universalists. Bonheoffer was also a hopeful universalist and a Lutheran - and a defender of the Jews. He believed that Luther was a very sick man when he made his terrible comment about the Jews - and Bonheoffer was probably right about this.
Part 2
Well I’ve said some positive things about Luther now - and find him easier to love than John Calvin certainly because he was passionate rather than cold and unsmiling (and I’m even still working on trying to see the good in unsmiling John ). We can’t see into Luther’s soul - but to be discerning about his behaviours is not the same as condemning his soul (and Christian’s often make this category error I find unlike their Lord who was ‘humble to God and haughty to man’). I think many evangelicals have issues with this one. Luther was a great liberator breaking chains - a bit of a punk rocker so to speak - but he fell down on the side of rage when disappointed, and violent rage at that.
Erasmus living at the same time took Luther to task for these very things just as Castellio, Erasmus’ follower later took Calvin to task over the judicial murder of Servetus - ‘you think you’ve burnt a heretic , but in reality you have simply killed a man’.
I think we can and should make judgments of discernment - it is out moral duty to do so. But these are different from judgments of ultimate condemnation (which we cannot make because we are all imperfect). In Luther’s mitigation for example I note that when he presided over the execution of Anabaptists he was moved by their bravery - Calvin just wanted the ‘vermin’ exterminated. Also Calvin’s few anti-Semitic sayings are merely cold. Luther’s many of the same spew hot with rage But according to one account he died with tears in his eyes for the Jews.
However, the voice of Luther in hot rage against the Jews reverberated through history in terrible ways that Calvin’s did not. This is what I call tragedy. And tragedy too has a moral dimension.