title: Martin Luther: Theology and Revolution
author:  Gerhard Brendler 
description: Text: English (translation)<br> Original Language: German
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  The Founder of Western Civilization
  
  
  
  
  
  (1996)
  
  
  
  
  
  LIVING in a post-Christian age, we have forgotten the heroic men who created
  the civilization to which we owe our lives, our freedoms, and our fortunes.
  One of these forgotten heroes of Western civilization is a German monk named
  Martin Luther. This year, 1996, marks the 450th anniversary of Luther’s death.
  
  
  
  
  
  Luther was a pivotal figure in world history. Not that he achieved anything by
  himself, as he was the first to admit, but in the providence and power of God,
  Luther’s intelligence, knowledge, and courage changed the course of human
  history. Before Luther’s time, the Middle Ages – a period of feudalism,
  ignorance, superstition, and church tyranny – stretched for a thousand years.
  After Luther’s time, Western civilization and an age of religious, political,
  and economic freedom dawned.
  
  
  
  
  
  Luther had no intention of starting either a new political order or a new
  church. On the evening of October 31, 1517