7 Martin Luther 7the bull of formal excommunication (Decet Romanum
Pontificem), although it was several months before the
condemnation was received throughout Germany.
On April 17, 1521, Luther appeared before civic and
religious authorities at the Diet of Worms. When required
to recant his assertions, he stated that he would not go
against his conscience unless convinced of his error either
by Scripture or by evident reason. The emperor cut the
proceedings short and Luther was allowed to depart.
Luther’s enemies, nonetheless, salvaged something when
a rump Diet passed the Edict of Worms. It declared Luther
to be an outlaw whose writings were denounced. The edict
fettered his movements for the rest of his days. Luther
departed to Wartburg, where he remained until March
- There he translated the New Testament into German.
This volume was published in September 1522 and, like his
later translation of the Hebrew Bible (1534), had deep and
lasting influence on the language, life, and religion of the
German people.
In 1523 he issued a treatise Von weltlicher Obrigkeit (“Of
Earthly Government”), in which he distinguished between
the two realms of spiritual and of temporal government,
and stressed the sinfulness of rebellion against lawful
authority. In May 1525, after the Peasants’ War had broken
out, Luther published the Ermahnung zum Frieden
(“Exhortation for Freedom”), sympathizing with justified
grievances, but repudiating the notion of a so-called
Christian rebellion and claiming that the worldly kingdom
cannot exist without inequality of persons.
In June 1525 Luther married Katherina von Bora, a for-
mer nun who had fled her convent. His home and family
meant a great deal to him and was an emblem for him of
Christian vocation. He included domestic life among the
three hierarchies of Christian existence in this world, the
other two being political and church life.