Renewable Revolution

445,647 views Nov 16, 2020

Vision Video 678K subscribers

The great drama of Martin Luther’s life comes alive in this vivid portrayal of the penniless monk’s quest for truth—a quest that would re-shape the church, and the world.

Martin Luther triggered a seismic upheaval that rocked the western world in the 1500s—with an impact that continues to reverberate to this day. The great drama of Martin Luther’s life comes alive in this vivid portrayal of the penniless monk’s quest for truth—a quest that would re-shape the church, and the world. Perhaps the most faithful movie about Luther’s life ever made, the film does not shy away from the deep theological questions—and answers—that mark Luther as one of the most influential people of the last thousand years.

Director: David Batty
Starring: Padraic Delaney, Gerharde Bode, Jr., Bruno Grzeszykowski

Agelbert NOTE: These quotes from the book Vicars of Christ - The Dark side of The Papacy by Peter De Rosa, help explain some details not mentioned in the film about the Inquisition during Martin Luther's time:

It is noteworthy that one of the few prelates big enough to stand up to Innocent III was Stephen Langton, an Englishman versed in the common law. In splendid defiance of papal absolutism, he wrote:

‘Natural law is binding on princes and bishops alike; there is no escape from it. It is beyond the reach of the Pope himself.’ Such was the intimidation by the Inquisition that no theologian, except ‘heretics’ like Marsilio of Padua and Martin Luther, raised his voice against it. Had anyone spoken out he would have been immediately silenced. Had he written against it, he would have been censored in advance. Tyranny continued unopposed. Not a single bishop in all those centuries raised his voice in protest at the way his flock was being ravaged, further proof that bishops in those days were puppets of the Holy See.

Yet Protestants like Balthasar Hubmaier had clearer heads and braver hearts. Hubmaier wrote a whole tract against the burning of heretics in 1524. In a haunting series of propositions, he wrote:
 
The inquisitors are the greatest heretics of all, since, against the doctrine and example of Christ, they condemn heretics to the fire. ... ...

The curious thing is that Luther had no intention of leaving the church. Until it dawned on him that a divided Christendom was better than one over which the pope rules in denial of the Gospel. Better by far to be ruled by the open Bible than by a corrupt and apparently irreformable papacy.

Western Christians still debate the wisdom of Luther’s judgement. His analysis did not differ from Dante’s. What was wrong with the church was the papacy’s libido dominandi, its insatiable lust for power.

Leo X was obtuse enough to excommunicate Luther even for saying ‘Burning heretics is against the will of the Holy Spirit’. The next few popes were no more perceptive.