As an Augustinian monk,Martin Luther questioned the mightiest power on earth, the Roman
Catholic Church. With a call for debate on 95 theses posted on the door of the University Church in Wittenberg, the scholar and monk ignited an explosion
that continues to this day. He placed the Bible in the hands of the common people, in the language of their everyday speech. He offered European man a new notion of himself, preaching access to God without intercession of the clergy. Steering western Europe away from obedience to Rome, he ended the social order of centuries – and sparked a century of bitter warfare. The tree of Protestantism planted by Luther counts scores of branches with 350 million members.
Journey to Eisenach in the Thuringian Forest. Young Martin spent four formative years here studying in Latin School and praying in St. George’s Church. Tour the mythical Wartburg Castle, where the Great Reformer tra nslated the New Testament from the Greek into German. Visit the Augustinian Monastery in Erfurt where Luther spent time as a monk before traveling to Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Stand within Luther’s parish home, the Town Church, the Reformation Hall, Philip Melancthon’s house and garden and the great doors of the University or Castle Church upon which the 95 theses were posted. The original door was lost in the fire of 1760. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia had the door replaced with a bronze door upon which the 95 theses are inscribed. Pause before the house where he lived 500 years ago. A church bell rings
eleven. This is the World of Martin Luther.