Theological Origins of Modernity

112 chapter four
his struggle in chiliastic fashion as ushering in the end of days and joined
battle with a much superior force, certain that God would join him and
exterminate his enemies. In fact, it was Müntzer and his “army” that were
exterminated.
While Luther’s teaching had inspired many of the radicals, he himself
saw such radicalism as the work of Satan. Luther was concerned above all
else with salvation and not with political reform, especially in light of the
approaching end of days. Th is is the time of the devil’s raging because he
knows that with the rediscovery of the Gospel, his time is short. It is thus
particularly crucial that princes, however bad they might be, rule in order
to control the chaos of a fallen and satanically misguided humanity. Th e
Peasants’ Rebellion for Luther was a clear example of the devil’s handiwork
in fomenting chaos. Müntzer and the Anabaptists fell into his clutches so
easily in Luther’s view because they abandoned the word of God, the Holy
Scriptures, and drew their inspiration from private revelation. Th eir efforts
at political reform were fruitless, he believed, for only the coming
of God could work such a political reformation. Th e Anabaptists and the
peasants in rebellion therefore had to be suppressed with utmost rigor, lest
they draw men away from their real spiritual concerns.
Th is demonizing of the radical Reformation hardly endeared Luther to
his more radical followers. Many had clearly expected him to lead them
out of the moral morass of Catholic Christianity and out from under the
tyranny of unworthy princes, but this was not to be. Luther might have
combined Augustine and Tacitus to form a new German church and spirit,
or he might have raised the banner of political revolution, but he did neither,
seeking instead to bring men face to face with the theological questions
at the heart of their religiosity. While Luther continued to preach and
write at an astonishing pace until his death in 1546, he thus ceased to have a
larger social impact. However, while the Reformation moved beyond him,
all Reformation thinking remained deeply rooted in his thought.
luther’s metaphysics
In order to come to terms with Luther’s thought and to begin to appreciate
the radical innovation that it represents, it is necessary to consider Luther’s
metaphysics more systematically. On the surface, it may seem strange to
think of Luther as even having a metaphysics. Aft er all, he certainly and
unambiguously rejects not merely scholastic doctrines but scholastic methods
in favor of a form of argument that rests upon biblical exegesis. 39 While
his thought is not explicitly metaphysical, as we will see, it can be illumi-