Eisleben to Erfurt
The Turk was slashing his way up the valley of the Danube into the heart of Europe. God sat far off, not as a loving father but as a vengeful law-court judge inflicting all sorts of misery on mankind. In the forest lurked witches and demons seeking to drag the unwary to destruction.
Into such a world threatened by the sword, ruled by fear, and plagued by superstition, Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483, in Eisleben, Germany. Within such a world he became a man disdainful of bodily harm, convinced of God’s love and mercy, endowed with abundant common sense—a Christian worthy of study and emulation. Although his station of birth was lowly, greatness sought him out, and the whole world has felt the impact of his life.
The Luther child was baptized in the Church of St. Peter the morning after his birth and was named Martin for the saint of the day. His parents, Hans and Margarethe Luther, were simple, industrious folk. They had moved recently from the farming community of Möhra, home of the Luther family, to Eisleben where Hans hoped to make his fortune in the copper mines.
When Martin was about six months old the family moved to near-by Mansfeld. The first years there were hard and it was with difficulty that Hans scraped together money to send his son to school. By the time Martin was thirteen, however, his father was able to send him to a school conducted by the Brothers of the Common Life at Magdeburg. As was the custom, he earned his board by singing and begging from door to door with one of the school choirs.
He stayed in Magdeburg for only a year and then was sent to the parish school of St. George in Eisenach. While again earning his keep by singing and begging, he became acquainted with Frau Ursula Cotta, a woman of culture and refinement, who took the promising young scholar into her home.
Hans Luther had been working diligently and by the time his son was seventeen the family budget permitted his entrance to the University of Erfurt. Martin worked diligently too, and at the end of four years had passed not only his bachelor’s but his master’s examinations.
Into the Cloister
Obedient to his father’s wishes, Martin Luther on May 20, 1505, began his post-graduate studies at Erfurt, preparatory to entering the field of law. But after studying for only a few weeks he suddenly rejected the whole idea and applied for admission at the town’s Augustinian monastery.
Hans Luther was terribly angry and Martin’s university friends were astounded. Why had he taken such a step? Many factors contributed, but in the final analysis his decision to become a monk can be summed up in the words “religious experience.”