Title: Where Luther Got It Wrong: The Peasants' Revolt - Way To LEAD
Headings: Where Luther Got It Wrong: The Peasants’ Revolt
Where Luther Got It Wrong: The Peasants’ Revolt
Content: In this tract, Luther instructed the German Nobility to strike down the peasants as one would kill a mad dog. This was just what the Lutheran and Catholic aristocracy wanted to hear, and it is precisely what they did. The revolt was put down. When the smoke cleared 100,000 peasants were dead. It is easy with our 21st century, post-American Revolution eyes to judge Luther for his lack of democratic values. Luther was a product of Late Medieval feudal society. He wanted to part in anarchy. Nevertheless, his decision cost him the support of the peasants, who, in time, identified with the more egalitarian Anabaptist movement. He sided with the powerful over the powerless. Because Luther and his parents were neither peasants nor rural, it is likely that he didn’t fully understand their plight.