Martin Luther

MARTIN LUTHER: THE RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY
PROF. M. M. NINAN
possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need. 46With one accord they
continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their
meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,…
Acts 4: 32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said
that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as
many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35 and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
He was a speaker of fire and brimstone of coming of the new age of these egalitarian world with
emphasis on signs and wonders confirming his words.
Omnia sunt communia,
‘All property should be held in common’ and should be distributed to each according to his needs,
as the occasion required. Any prince, count, or lord who did not want to do this, after first being
warned about it, should be beheaded or hanged.
Revelation and Revolution: Basic Writings of Thomas Müntzer (1993)
The people will be free and God alone will be their Lord.
Letter to the Princes as cited in The German Peasants' War and Anabaptist Community of Goods, p. 109
The stinking puddle from which usury, thievery and robbery arises is our lords and princes. They
make all creatures their property—the fish in the water, the birds in the air, the plant in the earth
must all be theirs. Then they proclaim God's commandments among the poor and say, "You shall
not steal." They oppress everyone, the poor peasant, the craftsman are skinned and scraped.
Letter to the Princes, as cited in Transforming Faith Communities: A Comparative Study of Radical Christianity, p. 173
A German Church Office, composed in order
to raise the treacherous cover under which
the light of the world was concealed, and
which now shines forth with these hymns and
godly psalms to instruct and build up
Christianity in accordance with God's
unalterable will and bring about the downfall
of the lavish mimicry of the Godless.
This was a complete and fully translated
liturgy, one that Müntzer had been developing
since at least Easter of 1523. He then went
on to develop the German Evangelical
Communion Liturgy in 1524.
”It can no longer be tolerated, we ascribe some power to the Latin words, as if they were magical
spells, and let the poor people go out of the church more ignorant than when they came in... That is
why I have translated the psalms into a German style and form, rather according to their meaning
than the actual words, but still adhering to the steadfast teaching of the holy spirit.”
German Church Liturgy developed
by Muntzer (1523)
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