Lutheran Reformation notes and stuff

October 31, 1517 marked the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation.  The years that followed continued efforts to restore the Church to a faithful proclamation and practice of the Gospel.  Entire books have been written on the topic, so I will limit my offerings to you here.

Luther Rose

          A seal or coat of arms is usually designed to commemorate an outstanding event or to express the hopes and ideals of the family or person who bears it. Each part of such an emblem has a special meaning. Martin Luther’s seal is no exception. As early as 1517, while Luther was professor at Wittenberg, he replaced his father’s seal with one that he himself designed. Composed of five parts, it suited him better than did the crossbow and two roses of Hans Luther.
          After Duke John Frederick had the seal cut in stone for a signet ring, Luther’s friend Spengler, the town clerk of Nuremberg, asked for an explanation of it. Luther wrote to him, in part:

          The first thing expressed in my seal is a cross, black, to put me in mind that Christ crucified saves us. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.”
          Now, although the cross is black, mortified, and intended to cause pain, yet it does not change the color of the heart, does not destroy nature – that is, does not kill, but keeps alive. “For the just shall live by faith” – by faith in the Savior.
          The heart is fixed upon the center of a white rose, to show that faith causes joy, consolation, and peace….
          The rose, moreover, is fixed in a sky-colored field to denote that such joy of faith … is but an earnest and beginning of heavenly joy to come….
          And around this field is a golden ring, to signify that such joy in heaven is endless….

          Luther explained in detail his reasons for choosing certain colors and the significance of those colors. He also made comparisons between this life and the “bliss in heaven” which is “anticipated and held by hope, though not yet revealed.” But brushing aside the details, the gist of the letter was simply this: The coat of arms tells the story of what I believe and confess.
-- p 94, Martin Luther, Man of God by Morton A. Schroeder, Northwestern Publishing House: Milwaukee, WI. 1983.

Book of Concord -- The book which contains the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church

Lutheran Satire: Diet of Worms, Mixtape Edition

Lutheran Satire: Reformation Piggybackers (noting people who used the Reformation to promote various different teachings)