Martin Luther : deviant monk or well-meaning reformer?

Abstract

We were brought up to think and believe that a man of faith cannot be a rebel or work for reform. A man of faith should simply assent religiously to a tradition received and to an authority that legitimises. For Catholics, Luther was for a long time simply the heretic to blame for the division of the Western church and all that this implied. Now times have changed, and we can see in Martin Luther both a man of faith and a reformer, we can recognise his genuine religious concerns which to some extent are ours too. As the Jesuit James Martin writes, there is something very significant that united two contemporaries like Martin Luther and Ignatius of Loyola: It was to help souls.