We just launched Martin Luther: Seeds of the Reformation with Alec Ryrie For Individuals and For Groups. Dr. Alec Ryrie is a professor of history at Durham University who specializes in Reformation history. Basically, if you have questions about the way the Protestant Reformation played out in Europe and especially in England, Alec Ryrie is the man you should ask. We are fortunate to be able to include two classes by Dr. Ryrie focused specifically on Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was a study in contradictions. His Catholic faith led him to become an Augustinian monk — and from there to start the Protestant Reformation. He was a theology professor at an obscure university who stayed in his relatively unimportant town — who reached millions of people with his words and ideas. He was driven profoundly by the sense that  he could never do enough to rid himself of the enormity of his sins, though he tried every possible method of doing so — and a  man who ate heartily, advocated drunkenness to combat despair, and disdained the celibate life.

Martin Luther’s work started Protestant Christianity. His writings became the basis for the Lutheran denomination of Protestantism. His protests against corruption helped to motivate a massive reformation within the Catholic church. Through his writings and his especially his translation of the Bible into German, he standardized one dialect of German in a country that had previously been separated into such varied dialects that its people could not understand one another. That’s a lot of work for a career that didn’t begin until Luther was thirty and ended with his death at sixty-two.

In this course, the first of two related courses on the life of Martin Luther by this instructor, Dr. Alec Ryrie examines Martin Luther’s life and career. He offers an overview of how Luther’s early writings created a foundation for a movement that would eventually become the Protestant Reformation.

For a preview of the course, please click below.