Saints of the Reformation

By Mathew Block

This volume marks the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 with the recognition that the Reformation was not merely about events, ideas, and movements. It was also the story of people. It is the story of their faith, their witness, their way of handling conflict, and the way in which their personal habits—even apart from their words—have left behind a message for us. Martin Luther and the reformers encouraged Christians to study the lives of faithful Christians who had gone before and to learn from them. This, they said, was the proper way to remember the saints. In this volume, the reader is invited to reflect on the saints of the Reformation. Some, like Martin Luther, you may have heard of before. Others, like Ursula von Münsterberg, are little known. But in the lives of all—men and women, royals and commoners, clergy and laypeople—the work of God is evident. Their witness to Christ and His mercy remains a powerful testimony to Christians today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9781387224012

Book preview

Saints of the Reformation

Saints of the Reformation

Edited by Mathew Block

ISBN 978-1-387-22401-2

New material and design copyright © 2017 by Lutheran Church–Canada.

Portions of this book have been previously published by Lutheran Church–Canada in issues of The Canadian Lutheran magazine throughout 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.

All rights reserved. For further information, contact:

Lutheran Church–Canada

3074 Portage Avenue

Winnipeg, MB  R3K 0Y2

Canada

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

All other Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface: Remember Your Leaders

by Robert Bugbee

The holy writer encourages us: Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7, NIV).

That is part of the reason this little volume has been prepared as we mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the beginning of Luther’s Reformation. The great Reformation of the church was not merely about events, ideas, and movements. It is also the story of people, individuals made of the same flesh and blood as we are. It is the story of their faith, their witness, their way of handling conflict, and the way in which their personal habits—even apart from their words—have left behind a message for us.

To be sure, some of the saints whose stories are told here were not exactly leaders in the way the writer to the Hebrews likely pictured leaders. Father Staupitz probably wouldn’t have seen himself as a crusader for the Reformation, though he did have a formative spiritual influence on Brother Martin, the monk. And Katie Luther’s leadership did not have much to do with classrooms or pulpits, but her tenure as the queen of the first Lutheran parsonage—if I may call her that—speaks volumes.

I hope these pages will help you enter into the lives of these Reformation saints, so that the story of that momentous period in Christian history comes alive for you. These people are well worth getting to know. They can become your friends, and may have lessons to teach which you can use in challenging moments, even though the problems you face are completely different from theirs.

I’m grateful that our Synod is making this resource available to help with your own personal observance of the Reformation anniversary. I want to thank all those who took time to do the research and put their writing skills to work to compile each of the profiles you find here.

May the Lord indeed bless you to remember these saints... to meditate on the wonderful outcome of their lives, which still benefits us centuries later... and to imitate their faith.

Rev. Dr. Robert Bugbee, President

Lutheran Church–Canada

August 2017

Introduction: Why Saints?

by Mathew Block

The title of this book may strike some readers as odd. Saints of the Reformation? you might wonder. Surely the whole point of the Reformation was to do away with ideas like the saints!

Well, yes and no. Martin Luther and the other reformers certainly wished to correct errors that had crept into the church’s beliefs and practices over the centuries—including in the church’s understanding of saints. But that doesn’t mean they did so by erasing everything and starting over. At its core, the Lutheran Reformation was conservative in nature. The reformers held up the church’s theology to the Scriptures: where it departed from the biblical witness, they moved to correct it. What needed pruning was indeed pruned; but what was good was kept and celebrated.

It is in this way that the reformers treated the subject of the saints as well: removing errant ideas but embracing what was in keeping with the teachings of Scripture. And many unbiblical ideas had indeed accrued to the church’s teachings on saints by the time of the Reformation—chief among them the worship of the saints. The reformers rejected this categorically. Praying to the saints for their special assistance conflicts with the chief article of faith, Luther writes in the Smalcald Articles, and destroys the knowledge of Christ. Invoking this saint for help finding your shoes, or invoking that saint when you’re applying for a job? This is not a Lutheran understanding of the saints. This is idolatry, Luther writes.