When Luther developed a critique on an issue, he not only had done careful research on the biblical basis for his views; he generally also had extensive first-hand experience on which he drew. Nothing illustrates this better than Luther’s eventual attack on monasticism.
There is no doubt that as a young man Luther dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the monastic life—and was even fanatical about it. The worship services several times each day, the intense prayer life, the devotion to his work responsibilities, and the obligatory control of his thoughts and actions were his ritual. He was a “monk’s monk,” so to speak. As such a monk, Luther was a supremely devout Catholic committed to the teachings and practices of 16th-century Roman Catholicism. In this essay we will explore how and why that changed so completely—and even violently.
In 1533, long after he had left the monastery and had also been excommunicated, Luther, as part of his defense against the charges of Duke George of Saxony, said the following about his earlier life as a monk:
It is true, I was a pious monk, and so strictly did I observe the rules of my order that I may say: If ever a monk got to heaven through monasticism I, too, would have got there. To this all my associates in the cloister, who knew me, will bear witness. If this life had lasted longer, I would have martyred myself to death with the vigils, praying, reading, and other labor.1
It is reported that John Nathin, Luther’s monastic instructor, would point to Luther as a model monk and another St. Paul.2
Luther was twenty-one and had begun graduate studies in law and philosophy when in 1505 he entered a monastery of the Augustinian Order. After his transfer from Erfurt to Wittenberg, he maintained his close contact with the Erfurt monks as is shown by his 1512 invitation to them to come to his graduation as Doctor of Theology. For a time he also served as a vicar, inspecting the spiritual and financial conditions at various Augustinian monasteries and reporting his findings back to Erfurt. His life as a monk could become quite hectic as the following excerpt from a letter to John Lang, the prior at Erfurt, shows:
I am a preacher at the monastery, I am a reader during mealtimes, I am asked daily to preach in the city church, I have to supervise the study [of students], I am a vicar (and that means eleven times prior), I am caretaker of the fish [pond] at Leitzkau, I represent the people of Herzberg at the court in Torgau, I lecture on Paul, and I am assembling a commentary on the Psalms.3
Even after the posting of the Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 and the vehement rebuff Luther received from the Church, he continued to live as a monk in the Augustinian Monastery at Wittenberg. He became upset that so many monks around the country, acting, no doubt, on things Luther had written, were fleeing the monasteries in a sudden and disorderly way. In a letter written from the Wartburg in December of 1521 to John Lang at Erfurt, Luther wrote, “the monks could have parted from each other in a more peaceful and friendly way.”4 Luther himself wore the cowl and habit as a monk until October of 1524—a full seven years after posting the Ninety-Five Theses!
Later, however, guided by the Gospel of grace and faith proclaimed in Scripture, Luther denounced monasticism in the strongest terms, and he analyzed its flaws in detail. In his Smalcald Articles of 1537, a document in which the later Luther summarized his mature positions on the key theological issues, he gave his basic objection succinctly in Article XIV:
Since monastic vows directly conflict with the first chief article [of the Smalcald Articles, a clear statement of salvation only through Christ’s redemption], they must be absolutely abolished. It is about them that Christ says, “Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray” (Matthew 24:5, 23–24). He who makes a vow to live as a monk believes that he will enter upon a way of life holier than ordinary Christians lead. He wants to earn heaven by his own works, not only for himself, but also for others. This is to deny Christ. They also boast from their St. Thomas Aquinas that a monastic vow is equal to Baptism. This is blasphemy.5
Luther’s primary criticism of monasticism was that it promoted, whether explicitly or implicitly, work righteousness and thus stood in direct opposition to a doctrine of salvation made possible solely through God’s grace. Luther saw it as a flagrant attack on the Gospel. And, of course, the criticism applied not only to the monastic life but also to all of the work-righteous deeds that were promoted by the Church at that time and were a part of monastic life. This included devotional use of relics, going on pilgrimages, buying indulgences, purchasing masses, saying a large number of prayers, doing penance by self-flagellation, and others.
Luther also offered many other criticisms of monasticism:
1. The monastic life offers no inner peace, for monks are never certain that they are doing enough to merit God’s favor. In his 1535 Lectures on Galatians, Luther wrote:
I saw many who tried with great effort and the best of intentions to do everything possible to appease their conscience. They wore hair shirts; they fasted; they prayed; they tormented and wore out their bodies with various exercises so severely that if they had been made of iron, they would have been crushed. And yet the more they labored, the greater their terrors became. Especially when the hour of death was imminent, they became so fearful that I have seen many murderers facing execution die more confidently than these men who had lived such saintly lives.6
2. People often enter the monastic life for all of the wrong reasons including doubts about themselves. In 1532, Luther wrote in his exposition of Matthew 5:6 (“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”):
“Despair makes a monk” is a saying that has always been true. It means that a man either has no confidence in his ability to make a living and runs into a monastery for the sake of his stomach, as most monks have done, or that he despairs of the world and is not sure of himself that he will remain pious or help other people become better.7
3. A Christian’s calling is not to run from society and other people but to serve God where they are. In a 1533 sermon on Luke 2:15–20 (the shepherds at Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth), Luther wrote:
These shepherds do not run away into the desert, they do not don monk’s garb, they do not shave their heads, neither do they change their clothing, schedule, food, drink, nor any external work. They return to their place in the fields to serve God there!8
4. Living a chaste life within marriage is far better in God’s eyes than the false “chastity” of forced celibacy. In 1532, Luther wrote:
What have I promised with my chastity? I have renounced marriage; for the unchasteness outside marriage—such as adultery, fornication, impurity, etc.—I need not renounce in a cloister; God has already forbidden these things to the layman as well as to monks. Nay, precisely with this promise I have renounced chastity; for God Himself calls the estate of matrimony chastity, holiness, and pureness (I Thess. 4:3)…. The monk, therefore, who can renounce no more in his vow of chastity than marriage must of necessity renounce marriage as unchasteness.9
5. The vow of chastity and the other aspects of the monastic vow do not change our human nature. The following comment was attributed to Luther:
Aristotle uses fire, which burns whether it be in Ethiopia or in Germany, as an illustration of something. It signifies that nature is not changed by circumstances of place or time. So a monk, if his nature is evil, is the same inside or outside a monastery.10
6. A normal, domestic life can be far more godly.
Let the monks and nuns glory in their works. For a husband, let it be enough if he rules his house properly; for a wife let it be enough if she takes care of the children by feeding them, washing them, and putting them to sleep, if she is obedient to her husband and diligently takes care of the household affairs. These works far surpass those of all nuns. Nevertheless, nuns are exceedingly proud of what they do.11
7. Monastic vows are human ordinances and go beyond anything God commands. In his 1521 attack on monastic vows, Luther wrote:
We need only abide within the limits of the humbler chastity of marriage and not walk according to the flesh. After all, it was not God who commanded chastity, nor did he counsel or recommend it. It was introduced by human temerity and ignorance.12
Several of these points, especially the “primary criticism” and #7 above are addressed extensively in the Augsburg Confession, Article XXVII, and in the parallel Article of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession. Although these sources were written by Melanchthon, they certainly had Luther’s approval. One additional point is emphasized in them—the improper nature of the monastic vow itself—that it is made, for example, by people far too young for such a vow.
In the last twenty years of his life, Luther’s attacks on monasticism seem relentless. But that is not entirely the case. In the very Smalcald Articles of 1537 cited above he also stated the following:
Monastic colleges and communities were formerly founded with the good intention of educating learned men and virtuous women. They should be used for that again. They could produce pastors, preachers, and other ministers for the churches. They could also produce essential personnel for the secular government in cities and countries, as well as well-educated young women for mothers, housekeepers, and such.13
These passages can be reconciled only if Luther judged that the monastic life was not inherently contrary to the Gospel and to a proper Christian life. In other words, a proper reform (consistent with Luther’s intent on “reform”—not “revolution”) would make it clear that the life in a monastery or nunnery is not based on work-righteousness, that it is not superior to any other Christian calling, that the focus should not be on rituals, penance, poverty, celibacy, vows, and the like, but rather on Christian service beneficial to society. Without such change, the doors of monastic institutions should be closed without hesitation.
It is worth noting in conclusion, that there are a handful of Lutheran monasteries in the world today—in Sweden, Germany, and Finland, and there is also one in Oxford, Michigan. Visiting the Lutheran St. Augustine’s House in Oxford, Michigan, and the Roman Catholic Cistercian Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky, made somewhat famous as the monastic home of Thomas Merton, revealed that in a monastery there can be an emphasis on outward Christian service and the gospel can be proclaimed. Nevertheless, the dangers to which Luther pointed, were real and his demands for reform were necessary.