Martin Luther - Quick facts

Born in Eiselben, Germany.

He was a German priest and professor of theology who initiated the Protestant Reformation.

Nailed 95 theses on a church door in Wittemburg in 1517.

His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the emperor.

He even wrote the well-known Hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God."

Luther translated the Bible into German, publishing The New Testament by himself in 1522.

Luther's wife was an ex-nun who had managed to escape from her convent by hiding in barrel that had once contained pickled fish.

His marriage began the tradition of clerical marriage within several Christian traditions.

Luther's hymns sparked the development of congregational singing in Christianity.

His last written words were, "Know that no one can have indulged in the Holy Writers sufficiently, unless he has governed churches for a hundred years with the prophets, such as Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, Christ and the apostles... We are beggars: this is true."

Martin Luther's - other Works

Appeal to the German Nobility (July 1520)

The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (October 1520)

The Freedom of a Christian (November 1520)

Luther's German Bible (1522)

On Secular Authority (January 1523)

The Bondage of the Will (1525)

Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants (1525)

Small and Large Catechisms (c.1529)

On the Jews and Their Lies (1543)